We are moving.

Having spent a huge amount of time planning it and considering my options I have finally decided to take the plunge.  We are moving over to Word Press.  Our new address is  http://mummyandmimi.com/  I hope that you will continue to visit us over at our new site.

Cute cards with knitted finger puppets.

I seem to have been really busy all week but I have been met with a mental block as to what to blog about!  Does anyone else suffer from this?

Today the block appears to be lifting and I have decided to post about my latest project.  The other day I was in Canterbury in Cath Kidson buying Mikes Aunty Maggies Birthday present when I saw they had some cute birthday cards with knitted finger puppets on the front.  They looked really cool but I thought at £4.50 they were a bit on the pricey side so I popped round to my favourite shop of all time The Sewing Shop and picked up a great little finger puppet book which cost me less than two cards.

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Aunty Maggie is a knitting enthusiast and collects chickens (not real ones - the ornament version) so with chickens on my mind I set about my first card.  A finger puppet chicken.

My finished chicken.

And here he is on the card.

I printed the card using Adobe Illustrator.

This book has some amazing patterns, is well set out with great images and the patterns are easy to follow.  The best bit about making these cute finger puppets is you can use up all your old off cuts and you can make one from start to finish in an evening.  I thought I might try and make some Christmas cards for the kids or maybe even put some on etsy.

Party Time

Yesterday we had Mimi’s 3rd Birthday Party.  I am not too sure what I was thinking when I invited everyone.  All I can say is thank goodness the weather was good and they could all play outside, otherwise the house might have been trashed!!!

We ended up with about 12 coming.  There were a few people who either just did not come or failed to even respond to our invites which is annoying.  I am pleased I decided against putting together party bags.  I thought about doing them but having priced them up at Tesco decided against it as how many people ever actually play with anything in them?!?

I spent most of Friday and Saturday morning baking and decorating cakes and biscuits.  (none of this is good for my diet!!!)  Mimi requested a Buzz Lightyear cake. So guess what my Mum and I were doing late Friday night!

We were quite pleased with the finished cake although a little person was so excited on Saturday morning she couldn't resist poking it!!

I have been dying to make some stained glass biscuits for ages.  I doubled the mixture and made what seemed like thousands of the blinking things. and dented my rolling pin in the process – but they look impressive.  I thought they would make good Christmas presents.

Then the usual fairy cakes.  I have developed a new icing which is the best to date.  (A blog post for another day)

She was one spoilt baby who is now fast asleep on the sofa – obviously it was all too much for her.

Colour your own ABC flash cards

This is something I have been thinking about doing for a while.  This week I finally got round to completing them.  Colour your own ABC flash cards.  Just click here for the PDF link then print them off on paper or card.

All pictures have been hand drawn and then scanned in using Photoshop and Illustrator.

Mimi's Birthday

On Tuesday Mimi was 3.  I can not believe how quickly the last 3 years have flown by.

She was totally spoilt and is one very lucky girl.  She was wide awake at 5am and by 6am we were outside in our PJ's jumping on the trampoline!!!!

 Having gone on and on and on about BUZZ Lightyear since Christmas it was lucky the Birthday fairies were listening.  However Mimi informed me that the fairies must have been shopping at Tesco!!  (I didn't realise that there were different Buzz Lightyear's depending on which Toy Story Film he is from)

She is such a lucky girl my brothers (who cant make her birthday party on Saturday) sent presents and cards.  My brother who is currently out in the Caribbean on work rang on the sat phone.  

 Mimi's little friend M came to play for the day and in between the showers there was lots more jumping - I had to keep drying it off with towels for them.

Then to top off the day Mimi was even more spoilt by all of her grandparents who came in for tea and cake.  No Birthday is complete without a Birthday Cake.

We had a lovely day.  Between Mimi and M the house was a tip, I keep trying to tidy it but its two steps forwards and about four back!  There is way too much cake in the house for someone on a Weight Watchers diet.  Now onto phase two: planning and organising for her birthday party on Saturday!

Knitted Zebra

About three weeks ago I brought knitted wild animals by Sarah Keen.

This is a great book with easy to follow instructions and excellent diagrams for beginners.      Even better all the patterns have been designed using cheap wool – quite often these pattern books use wool which cost the earth.The book includes a wide selection of patterns – Elephant’s, Giraffe’s, Zebra’s, Lion’s, Panda’s, Tiger’s, Crocodile’s, Monkey’s, Snake’s, Hippo’s, Rhino’s, Warthog’s, Koala’s, Moose’s and Penguin’s.

After showing the book to Mimi and visiting the wool shop in town we settled on a red and white striped Zebra.  To knit my Zebra I used roughly 100g which cost me about £2.00.

Last night I finally got round to finishing him.

 I think she likes him!  So far today he has gone to playschool and had a lovely afternoon nap.

Now I am contemplating my next project (I will just pretend I don’t have lots of outstanding projects).  I might try the Crocodile – I think he looks great

 However when I was out shopping today I picked up some Louisa Harding wool from The Sewing Shop so now I am thinking perhaps I will knit Mimi a cardigan as I have an idea for a pattern.

My lovely new wool.

Jubilee Cake-Off

This is for all you cake fans out there.  Yesterday the village ran a cake-off to raise funds for the jubilee street party.  I had totally forgotten about it until I was reminded on Friday night so ours was a bit of a rush.

Here is our entry.

I was amazed at how many people entered.  Each entry was £2.00 with categories for ladies, men and children.  The judging was a little weird but it was fun and I am pleased we decided to enter.  We didn’t win anything but hey its the taking part that counts.

Vtech Kidizoom Camera

For Christmas we brought Mimi a Vtech Kidizoom Camera.  I was fed up with her always trying to get hold of my camera!  I thought it would be great for her to take out and about.  

Vtech Kidizoom Camera | £49.99

Ergonomically designed it is easy for Mimi to hold and use.  It has a big screen which is great for taking and viewing photos as well as two view finders.  The lens has been cleverly designed so that it can swivel backwards or forwards allowing Mimi to take photos of herself.
Yesterday Mimi went to see Granny.  Whilst they were out Granny brought her a little princess photo album.

She was very excited with her new photo album so we connected her little pink camera up to the computer and printed some of her photos.  It was funny to look at all the photos from the height of a two year old.  We had lots of photos of shoes and close ups of her face.  Do you remember when we were little before digital cameras? - We would have a film of 12 photos which in invariably wouldn't come out either over or under focused and cost you a fortune to get developed.
This is a great camera for little ones.  It appears to be pretty indestructible and bounces pretty well.  It has a internal memory and lots of functions to jazz up your photos.  Mimi is finally starting to get the hang of using it now and it has become another item we need to carry around with us.

Old MacDonald's Farm.

Yesterday I took Mimi and her little friend M out to Badgers Hill Farm or as Mimi referred to it Old MacDonald's farm.  It is great for little ones.  A working farm and cidery it has a wide selection of animals for the children to look at and feed.  You can buy bags of bird feed and carrots from their country shop.  There are plenty of picnic tables dotted around allowing you to take in your surroundings whilst enjoying a coffee and slice of cake from their coffee shop.  It is an eclectic mix of animals, wind chimes and garden ornaments with plenty to keep the children occupied.  There is even a witches hut which is set up with a sofa and table should it be raining.  Even better it is free - so for the cost of a cup of coffee it's a great outing for the children.

Cute minature houses.

Donkeys and goats which you can feed carrots.

Enjoying a drink at one of the picnic tables

Lots of chickens and ducks which you can feed.

Trip to a real ZOO!!

Yesterday I took Mimi to Wingham Wildlife Park.  We last visited when Mimi was about 6 months old and I thought it was a bit ropey but since then the park has changed hands and has improved hugely.  They have peacocks and chickens which run wild around the park.  A lot of the enclosures have been designed so that you can walk through them and touch the animals.  They have got everything from penguins and flamingos to tigers, lions and snakes.  I felt that for a one off it was a bit pricey; for me and Mimi it would have been£20.00 (children 2-12 are £9.00!) so I decided to shell out for a years pass which was £58.00 that way I can pop in and out as and when we feel like it.  A few of our friends have passes and outside of school holidays its will make for a good coffee stop.  However if it has been raining I have now learnt that wellie boots are a good bet as it was seriously muddy in places.

One crazy baby ready for the zoo -
Luckily she decided to leave her crash helmet and glasses in the car!

Penguins at feeding time.

Mimi pretending to be a penguin.

The very cute prairie dogs which kept popping up
from their tunnels. 

Ever since going Mimi keeps telling everyone she went to a REAL Zoo!  She was funny when she walked past the lions - she said they were too scary and covered her eyes with Mr Doggie and proceeded to ask where the snakes were!!

  

Red Onion and Asparagus Tart

With the need to start tracking my weight again this weekend I made a delicious Red Onion and Asparagus Tart with ricotta.  My photo really doesn't do it justice.  It was probably the best tart I have ever made.

I took the recipe from a book a brought a few years back.  I went through a phase of buying cheap cookery books from the works.   We had it for lunch with a green salad.  A portion is 6 pro points but it felt like a lot more.

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