Zumba Girls



Mum decided to learn Zumba so naturally all us girls decided to learn it too.

Charlotte and Imogen move the table to the side of the room. Mum puts the disk into the DVD player. "This is going to be fun," Mum encourages. I pull a big silly smile. A lady appears on the screen and starts shouting at us.

"Get your heart rate up there. The higher you get it, the more calories you burn. Come on, wiggle those hips. Walk like a crab," she shouts.

I take three steps to the right and then three steps to the left and end up on Charlotte's toes. I pant away. I never thought Zumba would be this hard.A few sore toes later we stop.

"I think that's plenty of Zumba for one day," smiles Mum.

"You have learnt Zumba, but before you start partying, I would like to introduce you to the creator of Zumba," shouts the lady.
 
"It is beyond me how the ladies get their hips all the way round like that," pants Charlotte.

I can move my hips but I keep stepping on Charlotte's toes.    

We keep going back and doing this strange sport. Why? I have no idea. We have no coordination.  
           
Finally it gets warm enough to run outside and we give up Zumba. Zumba is fun but we prefer running.


Yummy Cakes



We always celebrate a special day with a yummy cake.

                                           
                                             My eighth birthday cake    



                                                           Happy Anniversary cake

                                       
                                                              Epiphany Crown Cake                         

                             
                                                            My 9th Birthday cake


                      
                                                Charlotte's First Holy Communion cake  
                                                           

                                                   Easter Egg Nest Cake


 
                                                           Pentecost Cake


                                                        Imogen's 18th Birthday Cake


                                                             Fathers Day Cake


                                                       Sophie's Confirmation Cake  


Tomorrow we will be having another cake. It is Mummy's birthday!


X kisses, O hugs and letters



To Dear Grandmother Charlotta,   

 I am writing to tell you about our holiday. The beach house is lovely.


I am sharing a double bed with Susanna. It is very high and I have to take a run up and leap to get on it.

I have two lamps on my bedside table. One of the lamps has a switch. The other one gets lighter the more you touch it. Susanna has one lamp on her bedside table.

My bedside table has a cupboard attached to it. Susanna has a a wardrobe on the other end of the room. We both share a desk and chair.

Susanna and I did some colouring in.

Mum decided that we should go for a walk down to the beach. The beach was huge with lots of sand.

When we got back we had dinner. 

I love you so very much.

From a very loving granddaughter, Mary-Rose.

                           XXXXOOO



Dear Mary-Rose, 

I like the sound of your bedroom. Can you climb on the bed properly yet?
  
Have you been in the water? I hope you bring lots of shells home.

Are you enjoying yourself?

I am missing you.

I hope the weather stays good.

Does your house have a garden?

I did some cooking today and made huge biscuits. (It is a new secret recipe.) They are very chocolaty.
     
Lots of love from Grandmother.

                           XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX




Dear Grandmother Charlotta, 

Yes, the house does have a garden. It is all mulch. Mum loves it. There are metal fishes hanging in the trees.


The biscuits sound yummy.

Yes, we did go in the water. Today we went down to the lake again and then to the park. It was fun.

 We went home for morning tea and had hot chocolate with marshmallows and ate biscuits. We played some card games while we ate the biscuits (the biscuits that we ate I doubt are half as good as your biscuits.) Irene was on my team.

Dad helped us lower the seats on our bikes. Mum announced it was time for a bike ride. Mum, Susanna, Caroline and Irene sped along. Dad stayed behind and helped me. I am not very good at riding a bike and I kept riding into the gutter. I fell off the bike.

Mum took me to the beach and I made a huge sandcastle.



                                    Love from Mary-Rose
   
      
                                    XXXOOO


Dear Mary-Rose,
             
Our cat Scratchy has had three kittens. We called one Rosie after you. The other two are boys and they are always fighting. Their names are Trouble and Hero.

Trouble is very fluffy. He is light brown with a slightly darker face. Hero is sleeker than Trouble and is mostly dark with light brown socks.

Rosie likes to sit on people. She has a darker brown tip of her tail and dark ears and socks.

I hope you are enjoying yourself,

                                                       Love from Grandmother     


Dear Grandmother Charlotta,

Today Dad decided that we should have a look at the canoe that lives in the shed of the holiday house. Dad and Irene dragged the canoe all the way to the beach on its wheels. Caroline and Dad were the first people in the canoe. Dad is teaching her to row. When Irene came back from her rowing lesson she had a big smile on her face.


After Irene had finished her lesson Dad said he and Caroline could take a passenger along. I got to be the passenger. I had to put on a bright yellow life jacket. 


Caroline and Dad are good rowers. It was very peaceful in the canoe. Suddenly we felt ourselves rock back and forth in the canoe. One second we were in the canoe and the next we plunged into the cold water. Dad got us out of the water and back into the canoe, and Irene and Susanna pulled us to shore. Irene swam out and found the paddle.

                                   love from Mary-Rose 
        
                                   XXXOOO


To my dear granddaughter, 

It sounds like you are having a very exciting time.

Grandfather and I are wondering if you want  Trouble. Trouble and Hero don't get on well at all. They are always fighting.

Rosie and Trouble are trying to eat King the budgie.
   
Today I planted a rose bush in the garden. It is going to have pink roses.

Grandfather and I  hope you are coming home soon.

                        Love from Grandmother  
                               
                        XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO    


Dear Grandmother, 

We are coming home tomorrow.

I asked Mum and Dad about having Trouble and after a lot of persuading, they agreed.

I love the sound of the rose bush.

Today we went to a flea market and I bought five dolls. Caroline bought a bracelet. We went to a shop where Susanna bought a little toy dog. Irene went back to the flea market and bought a bracelet like Caroline's. 

I can't wait to be home.

                                                Love from Mary-Rose              

                                                      XXXOOOO              


When We Went to the Moscow Circus


We went to the Moscow Circus a few years ago. It was very exciting. They had a huge tent. They were very good.


One of  my favourite acts was the trapese artist. Don't you think it would be grand to hang up side down on a trapese? I also liked the juggling. You would have to be very talented not to drop anything.


Circuses go on for a long time but they are very interesting. I wonder what it would be like to be in a circus with everybody in the crowd cheering. I think I would be scared and fall off the trapese or drop balls and sticks on my head. No, I think I will stick to watching the circus and let everybody else do the work.



I like the circus. I hope to go again soon. We might even go next week to celebrate Mum's birthday, because the circus is back in town!          

Vermeer

We have been learning about Vermeer. He was a Dutch artist. These are some of his paintings we looked at.


Young woman with a water pitcher  


Young woman with a pearl necklace 


The milkmaid  
  

The girl with the pearl earring 

I like all the paintings but I think my very favourite one is Young Woman with the Pearl Necklace. Which painting do you like best?

Uninvited Fleas



"Imogen, could you please give those cats a bath? I got bitten last night by a flea," says Mum.

Imogen sighs and turns to look for the first terror (bathing cats is hard work) .

"She is probably in the settee," calls out Charlotte.  

Imogen grabs the first cat and hauls her out of the settee.

I try to clog up my ears and read my book at the same time but it is impossible with those cats yowling and hissing all the time.

Imogen throws Poppy out of the laundry after her bath.  (Poppy is the worst cat in the bath.)


"I bathed the cats, Mum," says a VERY wet Imogen.


"Poppy tried to climb the wall," says mostly dry Charlotte, who has been helping.


"Thank you. Do you think it would be possible to look through the cats' fur?" says Mum.

Charlotte marches into the family room armed with a comb and a cup of hot water.

One after the other the fleas got plucked  out of the cats' fur and into the hot water.

A few months later, Imogen makes a terrible discovery while hugging Sammy.

"Mum, I found a flea on Sammy."

Mum takes Sophie and me to the shops.

"We will see if we can find some flea shampoo and some flea collars."

We come home some time later with a yellow collar, a blue collar, a red collar and a bottle of flea shampoo.

Imogen starts putting the yellow flea collar on Jenny.

"That shade of yellow looks like the worming paste they get on their paws," I say.


"What if she chews through her collar like she did with the one Imogen got her for Christmas?" says Sophie.          

"I doubt it tastes that nice," says Charlotte.

A few days later Imogen is out.

"Charlotte could you please go through the cats with a comb and see if there are any fleas?" asks Mum

Charlotte nods and picks up Poppy who is lying sprawled out on the floor in the sun.

Again in the family room, with a comb and a cup of water, Charlotte, Sophie and I sit down on the settee.

Charlotte holds the struggling animal who doesn't like anybody that close to its tummy while Sophie combs through the fur.

I have a cup of water all ready for the fleas but no fleas come.

We trudge off to Mum's bedroom.

"We couldn't find any," says Charlotte.

"Not a single one," concludes Sophie.

But Mum keeps getting bitten. There are fleas hiding somewhere.




Mum suddenly has a great idea.

Mum jumps into the car and we go off to buy flea bombs.

We come back home with eight flea bombs.

"What are we going to do with the cats?" asks Charlotte. The instructions say the house must be empty when the bombs go off. The house has to be empty for two hours.

"I don't know," says Mum.

The next day we put the cat question to Callum.

"Why don't you put them in one of my cars?" suggests Callum, after a lot of thinking.

"They will boil in the car for two hours."


Finally Mum has another one of her fantastic and strange ideas. "Why don't we take them down to the park."

To the park? We all look doubtful.

"People take dogs down to the park so why don't we take our cats?" says Mum

 We all grin at the thought of us taking the cats for a walk.



Sophie, Charlotte and I hop into the van while Mum and Imogen get ready to set the flea bombs off. We have the cats in their carriers. Mum and Imogen come running out of the house.

"I set off all the flea bombs," says Imogen proudly.

Imogen and Charlotte are in the middle of the van with our cats Poppy and Jenny, while Sophie has to look after Sammy in the back.

Mum starts the van. I listen from the front of the van as the cats start meowing and yowling.


We finally reach the park. Sammy and Jenny stop yowling. They are fascinated by the ducks but Poppy doesn't like it at all. She starts trying to dig her way out of the pet carrier.

Lots of men with big dogs walk by and ladies with puppies. Two ladies stop to have a look at our cats.

"What have you here?" says two ladies.

"What an adorable cat you own," they say pointing to Poppy.


Mum reads part of a book to Sophie and me, while we are at the park. After a while Mum closes the book and I pick up my drawing.


"We can start heading home now," says Mum eventually.

We all get up and Imogen goes to find the cats' bowls which she fills with water, so she can give the cats a drink before their ride home.

Mum pulls in at the driveway. She goes into the house with Imogen and opens the door and all the windows. Imogen then returns to the van.

"Mum is airing the house. She told us to get ice-creams."

We walk up to the village shop and buy big ice-creams.

When we get home, Charlotte opens the front door and a terrible smell wafts up to our noses. Flea bombs smell awful.



I am glad it is all over. The fleas are gone and the house now smells okay.


  

The End

Part 2 of my Imaginary Story

"Hello have a seat."

They stood frozen to the spot.

"I said have a seat." 
They obediently sat down. 

Rain was the first person to speak.

"You must be Melon."

Lark couldn't believe that a fairy could make a room that cold.

"I would prefer to be called Melanie," said Melon.

"You like snakes I see," said Starry.

"No, I don't like snakes," said Melanie.
  
"Then why do you have so many?" said Bloom.

"Because they make good guards," said Melanie.

Then to everyone's surprise she started crying.

"What is the matter?" said Grove.

"Everything has gone wrong," cried Melanie.

"You might as well tell us how you came to be here," said Ruby.

"All right, I will tell you everything," said Melanie.

"Thank you," said Lark

"I was only about that  female fairy's age when I came travelling here,' said Melanie, pointing at Lark. "Everything was so different here and I soon got lost. Then I found the mermaids. They seemed okay at the time. I was happy that there were some people that were friendly and I listened to all the bad things they said about these fairies. Then I got it into my head to help them. They were so happy that they decided to build me this palace and be my guards. They also caught these snakes but then I found out how nice the fairies were...." Her voice trailed off.

"You can come home with us and I will personally explain to the mermaids what happened," said Grove.

"Really?" said Melanie.

"Of course," said Ruby.

"You have been very kind. Do you want something to drink?"  
                                  
They were served cake and tea by a dwarf, a fairy and a gnome. Finally they finished the cake and tea.

"Come along," said Melanie to the maids. She opened two big doors and inside was a majestic Pegasus horse. 

"Hop on," said Melanie to the maids. Rain, Ruby, Bloom and Grove climbed onto their dragons. Lark and Starry flew into the air. They soon reached the cliff.

"Come on, we've got to explain to the mermaids," said Grove to Lark.

Together Lark and Grove jumped off the dragon into freezing cold water.

"What is this underneath me?" asked Lark.

"I am a mermaid and my name is Fishy."

"Take me to your king," spluttered Grove.

"You can talk to me. I am the Princess," said Fishy

Grove explained the long story.

"I will talk with my Father," said Fishy

She came back an hour later.

"Everybody agrees to let Melanie go," said Fishy.

Lark pestered her mother till she decided to let Melanie stay with them.           
         

    
                  

Swimming



I have swimming lessons. I go to the swimming pool every Saturday. It is a chlorine pool.

Mum got me a wonderful pink wet suit because the water there is very cold. I also have a rash shirt, a pink swimsuit and pink goggles. I like pink.

I go and play for five or ten minutes before my lesson. Then I have a half an hour swim lesson. I love my swim lessons. They are lots of fun and I soon warm up. I can do tumble turns, I can dive with a big splash and I am learning breast stroke.  I think I am lucky to get swim lessons.

After my lesson, I play till Charlotte has finished swimming laps. Then we go and get changed into our clothes.

I was glad that Mum got me swim lessons when Dad, Charlotte and I capsized the canoe, while we were on holiday.  We all fell into the freezing cold water. It was deep. I went down to the bottom of the lake. Then Charlotte grabbed me.  We got back into the canoe and Dad towed us to shore.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Rather a Lot of Ideas for Blog Posts



I can't quite decide what to write about beginning with R. I could write about....


Room mates because I share my Room with Sophie.


 Or I could write about Room cleaning because I spent all morning cleaning it. 
  

Maybe I could write about the time it Rained and Rained and Rained until it flooded. 


I could also write about Running, except I couldn't go for a Run today because it is Raining.




I thought maybe I could write a blog post about Restaurant dinners but Sophie got in first and  wrote about them.
   

 How about I write about Robust Rhinos? No, I don't have anything to say about those.


 That is all I can say because I am Running out of time.

Queues


There are loads of different types of queues.

A long queue of buses and cars waiting at the traffic lights.




A queue of rich people ready to put copious amounts of money into the safe bank.


An orderly queue of Catholic people processing to receive Holy Communion.



A two-people-deep queue of hungry people at the busy restaurant.


A queue of smelly tired people, who've been for a run, waiting for a hot bath at home.


A straggly queue of curious people looking at interesting things in the old museum.


A short queue of nerdy people waiting to check out their huge piles of books at the library.



A very long queue of grumpy people at the check-out in the supermarket.


A wonky queue of chatty people wanting to post birthday cards at the local post office.



A queue of impatient children waiting to give Mum a hug. 
Soon they will get too impatient and come running for a big group hug.   

           

Pollys

I have loads of Pollys. Mum keeps buying them for my birthday, Christmas and Easter. I like collecting them.

                                        These are some of  my favourites.



                                                                 Philippa      





                                                               Jasmine



                                                                     Lea


                                                                  Rick


I like dressing my Pollys. I like setting up houses for them. I have some chairs, a table, a bed, some cars and an aeroplane. I have some cups and plates with food on them. I even have some handbags.

I have all the Pollys that used to belong to my sisters. I have lots of Pollys! I am very lucky.




Operetta

I like the Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas. My favourite ones are The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance.

 The names in The Mikado are funny. The heroine's name is Yum-Yum. One of my favourite songs from the Mikado is Three Little Maids From School Are We.

   

My  favourite characters in The Pirates of Penzance are the Pirate King and the Major General. My favourite song out of The Pirates of Penzance is the Major General's I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.



I hope you enjoy these songs!

Numbers



I was born in 2004.

I have 0 brains.

I am 9 years old.

I have 2 hands.

I have 8 fingers.

I have  2 thumbs.

I have 2 big feet.

I have 1 nose.

I have 3 brothers.

I have sisters.

I have 1 Mum.

I have 1 Dad.

I have 23 teeth because I lost one.


(Just Joking about having 0 brains. Of course I have heaps of brains)    

Movies

 Some of my favourite movies are...

Tangled.



Brave.


Muppet Treasure Island.



Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings.



The Incredibles.



Megamind



How to Train Your Dragon




I love having a movie night and watching one of my favourite movies. It is even more fun when Dad makes popcorn and everybody watches with me.