The Problems of Earrings

My first pair of earrings

A few days before my birthday I had my ears pierced. Five and a half weeks later, I was looking forward to being able to change my earrings. Then disaster struck!

I woke up one morning and felt one of my ears and thought, HANG ON! Where is my earring? I felt the back of my ear lobe and found that the back of the earring was still there. I rushed to a mirror and found that it was indeed the front of my earring that was missing. But it hadn't fallen out. Where was it?

"MUM!"

I ran over to Mum's bedroom.

"Look!"

"It appears that the front of your earring has disappeared inside your hole," Mum said.

It was strange because I couldn't feel the earring inside my ear. "How do I get it out?" I cried, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Try to push it back through to the front," Mum suggested.

I tried but it wouldn't come and it was incredibly painful. I tried again and there was more pain.

"I can't do it," I wailed.

My ear was now bleeding.

"I will ring the people who pierced your ears," Mum said. "It will be okay."

Mum rang the people and asked their advice. "They say that this has never happened in twenty-four years," Mum said, "and that I should take you to the doctor."

Mum drove me to the doctor and we sat in the waiting room till the doctor appeared.

"Sit down," said the doctor.

I sat down and she inspected my ear.

"We are going to have to try to push it out the back of your ear," she said.

That sounded painful.

"Lie down on the seat."

I lay down on a dentist-like seat and she began to inspect my ear.

"I am going to need your help," the doctor said to Mum.

Mum nodded, looking slightly unsure about doing something that would hurt me so much.

"It appears the ear is already infected," The doctor said, disinfecting it.

Oh great, not only do I get an earring stuck inside my ear lobe, I also decide to get it infected at the same time. I don't do things by halves!

I couldn't see what Mum and the doctor were doing. All I knew was that it hurt....A LOT. The pain was horrible but at last the doctor announced that they got the earring. I sat up and Mum handed it to me.

My new pair of earrings

"What you will need to do is get some earrings with hooks, instead of studs. I will give you a prescription so you can get some cream to help with the infection," the doctor said.

A few minutes later we were outside heading over to the chemist to get the cream.

Mum sighed with relief. "I felt faint doing that. Are you okay?"

I nodded.

We bought the cream, then we drove home.

"How did it go?" Imogen, asked opening the front door.

"It is out," I said, holding up the earring.

"How are you?" Sophie, asked as we entered.

"Okay now."

"Did it come out?" Charlotte asked, as we came into the kitchen.

"Yes."

Mum had a look in her jewellery box and found a pair of hooked earrings for me while Imogen, Charlotte and Sophie fussed over me, getting me a milkshake and a Tim Tam.


"Here, let me put the earring in for you," Imogen said.

She applied the cream we bought, then very gently slipped the earring through my hole.

"Gemma-Rose, I think you should take the other stud out as well in case the same thing happens," Mum said.

I went to the bathroom and hooked my finger nails under the back and front of the other earring, and pulled the back off. It hurt but not as much as the other one did when Mum and the doctor removed it.

Imogen took the next earring and put that one through my other hole.

I think I am the only one in my family who removed their starter pair of earrings three days early.

Do you have your ears pierced? Have you had any problems like this with yours?

  

Watching Old Disney Movies and Singing

I have been watching lots of old Disney movies recently. Why? Well it all started with a book Imogen borrowed from the library. It was a Disney song book and had lots of our favourite songs in it.

One day Imogen asked us if we would like to sing some songs from it. We all agreed.

Imogen played the accompaniments on the piano and we sang lots of songs. Some of the songs in the books we had never sung before because they weren't in the Disney song book we own. 

I think some of my favourite songs must be "Under the Sea"  and "Les Poissons" from The Little Mermaid. I love the words in "Les Poissons" because they are so funny. I also like "Be our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast.

After singing the songs I found our copy of the movie Beauty and Beast and I decided to watch it. Imogen watched part of it with me. I was a bit disappointed when the beast turned into a prince. His hair was too light and he sounded nothing like the beast at all. I thought he should have had really dark hair and a beard.

Last night Imogen and I persuaded Charlotte to come watch The Little Mermaid with us. It was better than we remembered. My favourite characters are Ursula, Sebastian and Skuttle.

Maybe next time we will watch the Lion King or Pocahontas. I can't wait to watch more wonderful Disney movies.

What is your favourite Disney movie?  

Master Chef

I stared at the camera looming before me. What was I supposed to say?

Sophie stopped filming. " Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"I didn't know what to say," I admitted.

"Say, 'Hi, I am Gemma-Rose Elvis and I am going to teach you how to make my favourite kind of biscuits, oaties," Sophie said.

"Oh, okay," I said, wondering how Sophie had ever talked me into this.

I wondered what my problem was. I mean it was simple, just tell my fans how to make oaties and look cool while I do it. Instead, here I was staring at the camera like I didn't know how to make them myself.

"Hi," I said a little too loudly, "today I am going to teach you how to make oaties...."

I was on a roll. It was quite easy except I had to remember to tell people what I was doing.

With an expert slice, I cut some butter off the block and weighed it. It was the right amount, of course. I had cut it after all.

I whizzed and sliced, tasted, measured, and tasted again before taking the blade out of the food processor.

"Now we are going to put some baking paper on the tray," I said in a I-know-what-I-am-doing voice.

Finally I had a full tray of oaties. I sauntered over to the oven to cook them. A little while later I took them out of the oven and put them on the counter. My arm hit the kettle and the kettle turned on. I quickly turned the kettle off and hoped that Sophie could cut that bit out of the video.

Sophie and I edited the video and cut lots of it out before Mum uploaded it onto Youtube.

I enjoyed being Master Chef but I think that I will be content being "me" till Sophie persuades me to get into the kitchen again.

To make oaties you will need:

125 grams of butter

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

2 teaspoons of stevia

1 egg

1 cup of flour

1 cup of oats

1 teaspoon of baking powder

50 grams of dessicated coconut

50 grams of chocolate

I hope you enjoy my video!

What We Did When the Big Girls Went Away

Imogen and Charlotte were going away to the 'Reasons for Hope' weekend and they would be away for a few days, so that meant Sophie and I were in charge.

When we had waved goodbye to the big girls, we made some eggy bread to eat. Mum said we could rent a movie, so Sophie and I did the dishes as fast as possible.  After looking at a few movies we chose The Croods. Sophie and I made some popcorn then settled down to watch.

The movie is about cavemen and was really good. Have you watched The Croods? I think one of my favourite characters out of the movie was Belt.

Belt

The next day Sophie made porridge for breakfast. We ate it slowly before doing the dishes and all the jobs.

"Girls, would you like to go out for lunch?" Mum asked. She'd promised we could do something special together while Imogen and Charlotte were away. "But we have to do some shopping first."

We smiled from ear to ear.

First thing we had to get from the shops was a present for Nanna. When we had found her something and bought a few other things we went to get lunch.

We entered a cafe and sat down. A lady came up to us. "Would you like a drink?"

"Just water please," Mum said.

The lady walked off but it wasn't long before she came back with glasses of water.

Another lady appeared with some menus and we began choosing.

There was so many things on the list like quiches and salad. Finally we had all chosen. I wanted a egg and bacon quiche. Sophie wanted a chunky steak pie. Dad had salad and Mum had quiche like me.

I stared at the huge plate of salad, chips and quiche that was placed in front of me. How was I ever going to manage to eat all that? All around me people chomped and munched. I tried some salad. Yum. I tried some quiche. Yum.

Sometime later Mum was staring at my plate. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"You're nearly finished," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't think you could eat all of it," Mum said.

"I was hungry," I said.

When we had finished eating, Mum told us to choose ourselves a cake. Sophie chose a slice of apple pie and I chose a custard tart.

When we had eaten the cakes we went to the supermarket and did some grocery shopping.

In the evening we watched The Croods again.

On Sunday Imogen and Charlotte came home.

I enjoyed doing things with Mum and Dad but I am glad the big girls are home again.

Movies, Cat Litter Boxes and Collages

I was sitting in the corner with a book when Mum had this brilliant idea.

"Sophie, why don't you make a film and put it on your blog."

"Could I be in it?" I asked immediately.

"What kind of film?" Sophie asked.

"You could get something out and tell people about  it," Mum said. "Maybe you could post a film once every few days."

We were all full of ideas.

"You could tell people about your sewing or the books you are reading," Mum said.

Sophie found a box that used to hold bags of cat litter.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked.

"I am going to put some books in it for my show and tell," Sophie explained.

"You can't put a cat litter box on film," I said.

Sophie shrugged.

"I will decorate it for you," I said taking the box off her.

"We could make a collage," Sophie suggested.

"Good idea."

The next day Sophie and I found some glue, old wrapping paper from my birthday, coloured paper, ribbons and sticky tape. Sophie ripped up the paper and I stuck it on to the box. In a surprisingly short amount of time we had finished sticking the paper to the box.

"Hand me the ribbons please, Sophie," I said.

Sophie handed me two gold sparkly ribbons. We tied one around the box and secured it with some sticky tape. Sophie cut the other ribbon in half and we glued them the top of the box. I tied them together so that the two flaps on the box stayed closed and we stood back to admire our handiwork.

"Looks good," I said.

"This is our Mystery Box," Sophie said.

"Cool title for the box," I agreed.

In the afternoon Mum put her film camera on the tripod. Sophie and I walked into the living room and waited. We discussed what we should say before Mum turned the camera on.

"Welcome to Sophie's Show and Tell. I am Sophie and this is my assistant, the Great Gemma-Rose and this is our Mystery Box..." Sophie began.

Sophie started to tell people about a book she had read but couldn't think of the right words.

After a few tries we got close to perfect except Sophie didn't know how to end the video.

Finally we had an okay version and Sophie went to edit the film while I packed up the Box of Mystery.

I think we did rather well. If you want to watch the film please go to our blog, Mother, daughters, sisters. It's called Sophie's Show and Tell (Episode One).

A Very Soggy Battle

                                                               
I grab a towel and the cat shampoo before trotting into the laundry. It is bath day. That means that I wash the cats while trying not to get wet myself.

I fill the sink with warm water and march off to find my first victim.

"Meow," Jenny says as I scoop her up from the floor.

I grin evilly and dump her into the sink.

"I don't understand what is going on!" Jenny wails.

I tip cups of water all over her back, completely ignoring her complaints.

"STOP," Jenny screams as I rub shampoo into her fur.

I smile as I rinse the shampoo out from her fur. Nearly done.

"Where is my water going?" Jenny asks as I pull the plug out from the sink. I then haul the cat out of the bath and onto the closed washing machine.

"Stop, that tickles!" Jenny squeals as I rub the towel up and down her back.

"First cat done," I say, dumping Jenny on the floor.

I fill the sink again before walking off to find the next cat.

 Sammy is always easy to find. He has two regular hiding spots. Behind the settee or Mum's armchair. I open Mum's bedroom door and head to her chair. There he is, cowering behind it. "Got you," I say, pulling him out.

We march over to the operating room. "In you go," I say gently lowering him into the sink.

"Help!" Sammy screams and grabs the edge of the sink with his claws.

"Get back in there!" I shout, unlatching his claws from the sink.

Sammy reaches his claws out for the next nearest thing. They sink into the towel I had put on top of the washing-machine.

"Stop! Stop!" I cry as he claws his way out of the sink.

Sammy smiles he is winning the battle. With an extra spurt of energy I pull him back down.

"Why are you so mean?" Sammy asks.

Cup after cup of water gets thrown at him.

"Stop! I am dying," the wet animal screams.

I grab my next weapon. The shampoo bottle.

"That stuff smells," Sammy moans as I squirt the shampoo all over him.

A few minutes the animal is clean. I lift him out of the sink and onto the washing-machine. I smile.What a good job I have done. But Sammy isn't giving up.

"OUCH!" I scream as Sammy digs his claws into my chest. But there is no time to spend feeling sorry for myself while there is still one animal left standing.

I find Poppy sitting in Charlotte's wardrobe, looking as grumpy as ever.

"Why do you always bath us and make us smell of shampoo?" Poppy asks. "I way prefer my stink."

I wrinkle my nose at her statement and think of the horrible odour that usually follows her about.

"I way prefer this nice clean smell," I say, waving the cat shampoo bottle in front of her.

Finally the cat is shampooed, rinsed and rubbed sort of dry.

I am done!

When I look in the mirror though I discover that my victory has come with a price. On my neck is a cut from Sammy and my T-shirt is soaked. But the cats look worse than me. They are miserable, soggy balls of fur.

Have you ever bathed a cat?


Image: by onyx by paparutzi, (CC BY 2.0)

A Three Times More Pretty Picture of Who?

A little while ago it was my birthday. My eldest sister Felicity rang to tell me she was sending me a present and it has arrived.

"Gemma-Rose," Mum said.

I hopped off the piano stool and peeked over Mum's shoulder at the computer screen on her lap.

There grinning at me was a very beautiful girl. Felicity had emailed me a very stylized and three times more pretty picture of who? ME.

"Do you want read the email?" Mum asked.

"Of course ," I said, taking the computer off her.

Felicity wrote that she had a professional artist draw the picture for me.

My smile stretched from ear to ear. It is always special when Felicity remembers our birthdays.

"You could write  a blog post about your wonderful sister," Mum suggested.

I think about it. Yes I could do that.

Thank you Felicity. It is a very nice picture.
   

An Interesting Taste

"Gemma-Rose, I brought home some bananas from the shop so you can cook a new recipe I found," Mum said, handing me a piece of paper with a recipe written on it.

I read the recipe, then read it again. But how ever much I read the recipe it still clearly stated that I was supposed to put peanut butter and bananas in the same batch of biscuits, which I thought was strange. Would it taste weird?

"Er, Mum," I said uncertainly, "are you sure that I am supposed to put peanut butter and bananas into the same biscuits?"

Mum nodded, undaunted by the fact.

 As Mum and the recipe had quite clearly decided that I was going to make this batch of biscuits with that strange combination, I plodded off to the kitchen to start cooking.

I grabbed the bunch of bananas, a packet of oats, the peanut butter and with much reluctance, put the chocolate on the kitchen bench without so much as taking a tiny nibble. Then I set to work chopping, measuring, mashing and stirring. A few minutes later a batch of unusual looking biscuits where thrown into the oven and I, feeling quite proud of  myself  and the biscuits despite the contents, started to clean up the kitchen.

 "Mum, have they cooked for long enough?" I asked, peering through Mum's bedroom door.

"Not yet," answered Mum who had her eyes stuck to the screen of her computer, so clearly she wasn't paying much attention to me.

A few minutes later I was back. "Mum, should I take the biscuits out yet?" I asked anxiously.

"You should leave them in for a couple more minutes yet."

I poked my head round the door again. "Mum, are you certain they aren't burning?"

"Yes, I am quite certain. Go sit down for a few minutes and stop worrying," Mum said determinedly.

I slunk out of Mum's bedroom and sat down at the table with a good book.

"Gemma-Rose, they can come out now," called Mum.

I jerked my head out of my book and sprinted for the kitchen, questions bubbling up in my head.

"What if they were burnt?"

"If they were, would I have to make more?"`

"Would I get in trouble for burning them?"

"No I wouldn't get in trouble because I had asked Mum to tell me when they were done, hadn't I?"

I opened the oven door, and  inside were some biscuits that weren't burnt at all. "What was I worrying about?" I asked myself.

"Mum, the biscuits still look squishy," I said, as I raced into Mum's bedroom.

"That is probably just the banana," Mum reassured.

The next day Mum asked, "Can I have one of your wonderful biscuits?"

I opened the lid of the container and placed one of the biscuits onto a plate. "Here you go, Mum," I said placing the plate on the table. Then I found myself a biscuit and sat down to eat.

"Interesting taste," Mum commented.

I bit into my own biscuit and had  to agree it was an interesting flavour.

"Sophie, what do you think of my biscuits?" I asked.

"Interesting," Sophie answered.

I thought about the peanut butter and bananas I had put in them, and decided that even with those odd ingredients, they had turned out well.

If you want to brave the peanut butter and banana combination......

3 ripe bananas
1 cup of quick oats
Half a cup of chopped up dark chocolate
1 heaped dessertspoon of peanut butter

Mash up the three bananas in a bowl and add the oats.

Chop up the dark chocolate and put it in the bowl.

Take a dessertspoon and heap it with peanut butter, then plop it into the bowl.

Mix all together and then make small balls and place them on a tray lined with baking paper.

Cook for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C

My Mermaid

"Mum, I think the parcel man is at the front door," Sophie cried.

"It is probably a parcel for Callum," Mum said, getting up and heading towards the door. In a few minutes she was back with a package in her hand.

I rushed over to Mum. "Who is it for?" I asked eagerly.

"It is the sewing book I ordered for you and the other girls," beamed Mum.

"Can I open it?" I asked impatiently.

"If you want to," Mum smiled.

I tore off the wrappings and inside was a sewing book called Fleecie Dolls. I started flicking through the book.

"That mermaid is so pretty," Imogen exclaimed.

"Look at her tail," sighed Mum. "It's covered in pretty sequins."

I found a needle, some thread and a piece of fleece and set to work making that pretty mermaid. I really enjoyed sewing the doll and soon the body and tail were finished.

"Mum, you marked the white fleece with a dark pen to show me where to sew the dart..." I started to say.

"Yes, what is wrong? Did the pen show through the fabric?" Mum asked. I nodded. "You had better give your doll a bath to get rid of the pen marks."

I grinned. I was about to give a mermaid a bath. Soon I was scrubbing the doll with a bar of soap. "Imogen, look! I am giving my doll a bath," I squealed.

A few days later I was ready to start putting sequins on my mermaid's tail. Mum showed me how to sew the sequins on and I was soon sewing them on all by myself. But then disaster! "Mum, I have lost the needle."

"What do you mean?" Mum asked getting up.

"When I was sewing my sequin on I lost the needle inside the mermaid," I spluttered, close to tears. Mum and Imogen searched the mermaid and the seat, and even Jenny the cat who a few minutes ago had been perched on my lap.

"I can't find it," announced Imogen.

"You can use my needle to finish sewing the sequins on," Charlotte offered.

"You will all have to watch your feet," Mum warned, "in case the missing needle is still on the floor."

"Mum, I am ready to sew my mermaid's hair on," I grinned. Mum handed me some wool and some orange fleece.

"Do you want me to help you with the hair?" Mum asked.

"Yes please," I thanked. Sewing the hair on was not as easy as I had anticipated and our fingers got frequently pricked.

On Sunday Charlotte drew the face on the doll with a fading pen so I knew where to sew it with a needle and some thread. After lunch I headed to the table all ready to sew the face on. "Mum, the face has faded and now I can't see it," I wailed.

"It has faded  all ready?" Mum asked in surprise.

Charlotte patiently drew the face back on and I started to sew the eyes. After one eye I was already having trouble seeing the face. After both eyes I could not see the mouth at all. The pen marks were fading again. "Charlotte, can you please draw the mouth on one last time?" I asked. Finally the mouth was done and the only thing left to do was the bikini top.

Mum carefully measured out some ribbon to make a top, and then tried to fit it round my mermaid's waist. "She is too fat," Mum declared. "We will need to cut a bigger piece of ribbon."

"Mum, I have finished sewing the top," I announced happily. "Could I please have a button to sew on the ribbon?"

Mum opened up her button box and found a button that looked like a pearl. "Will this do?" she asked.

"Oh yes," I breathed. I sewed the button on. I'd finished the doll.

For the rest of the evening I went around showing everybody my wonderful doll. I love my mermaid.

Next I am going to make this doll called Florence.

                                                          

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!

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.


  

Felicity's Wedding

I like weddings. My sister got married last week. It was a lot of work. We had to order the dresses, which was a great trouble. Imogen and Charlotte's dresses fitted, thought the seller asked, 'Are you sure that the ladies are that short?'

Then we were ordering Sophie and my dresses but we couldn't find the right size. Someone recommended a strappy dress, but we did not like it. We finally found the closest size we could. When the dresses arrived, they fitted, but my dress was a little loose around the top. It had a sash with a clip on bow. My dress was ivory with a pink sash. Sophie's dress was ivory with a purple sash.

We made little bundles of candle. We all had our own jobs. Charlotte cut out circles of tulle. Sophie put the candles in the tulle and tied them up with ribbon. Imogen cut the ribbon into pieces, and I was fetcher. It was hard. I had to find the right sized elastic bands.

While we were making the bundles, Mum brought out the sugared almonds and jelly beans. Imogen packaged the sugared almonds into little plastic bags and Sophie and me packaged the jelly beans.

We also made brownies. But I wasn't able to make them, because I had a cold. The other girls made four kinds of brownies. My favourite kinds was the double chocolate brownies.

Imogen made the wedding cakes. They were little cupcakes with white icing, white fondant flowers and little silver balls. they were absolutely lovely.

We tried to find some shoes for the wedding. We needed gold ballet flats. We looked right through all the shops, but couldn't find any. We had to drive up to a much bigger town, and still couldn't find any shoes. In the end we found some very sequiny shoes with bows. They were silver.

On the day of the wedding, the bridesmaids arrived early in the morning. They took ages just sitting there curling their hair. Mum had time to get Sophie and me dressed, put her make up on, and get the big girls dressed all while they were doing one head of hair.

We headed out the door while they were curling the last person's hair. None of them were dressed, though the groomsmen were. Then we reached the church. We waited and waited and waited but the bridesmaids and bride didn't come. They arrived fashionably late.

The wedding started. Sophie and me started walking up the aisle very slowly. Then we sat in the front pew for the whole mass. I could see everything. Imogen helped with the music as well as being a bridesmaid. She had to keep running up and down the aisle.

After the wedding everyone threw roses petals at the bride and groom. Then the photographers took lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of photos. Imogen carries the sugared almond and jelly beans round, handing them out.

We went down to the park for lunch before the reception. We brought a picnic. I played with my friend. Then the photographer had to take more photos.

After that, it was time for the reception. the photographer took more photos. Then we had a huge afternoon tea. There were lots of speeches. Dad's speak was the best. Then it was time for the cake. It was scrumptious.

Then we gave Felicity and Graham their presents. I gave them a spatula and a spoon that had pig faces. They were so cute.

I like weddings and I like being a flowergirl. But I don't like all the preparations.