Celebrating Papa

This is an update to HB's birthday. As I mentioned before, he celebrated his let me see mmmm... 35th birthday last Thursday. Since he was away, it was only the next day that we held a small do to celebrate papa.

Friday as some of my readers here are aware is quite hectic for us. HB came home that afternoon. In the morning after their mengaji lessons, the girls were busy making something special for papa.

Earlier I baked this chocolate cake & the girls requested to do the
deco. They got started right away.

Wardah icing the topping

Yasmin gave a final touch before the deco.

The chocolate topping completed. OK lah...

I gave them a quick demo on how to pipe the icing. In fact they had once tried cupcake decoration during Yasmin's birthday (you may read here).

Yasmin did a good job here.

Wardah's turn with a helping hand from her big sis.

Not bad at all girls... I called this font the "Cacing Kerawit". Kih Kih Kih

They sure had fun with those flowers.

What a lovely cake! Don't you think?

While we were busy Nadeen was not with my helper. Sri was busy in the kitchen preparing the ingredients to cook for lunch. I as always was doing the multitasking. Monitoring the girls with the cake deco, cooking lunch & keeping an eye on Nadeen.

Nadeen was playing by herself. Here's the same old trick... In order to get a toddler or even a child occupied, you put aside some toys. Take those toys out for them to play & I tell you they will get easily distracted. As for Nadeen that day, I brought down one storage of toys she never played before. My advantage... none of the girls have the habit of putting toys in the mouth.

It worked!

But of course you should expect this...

The girls managed to complete the cake before Balqis came home from her kindy. I had already in mind on how to tackle Balqis if she found out about her sisters' venture with the icing.

HB came home before 3pm. Had lunch & straight hit the sack. Didn't even check the fridge where the decorated cake rested :-) This was the time I spent with Balqis making a special birthday card for her dad. She really loved the idea when I said that her sisters were in charged with the cake but she was responsible with the card... ;-)

Busy at work...


When it comes to their dad, an aeroplane has always been in the picture... (The letters P A P A were her mom's work... hehehe)

Nadeen helped with the final touch. Notice the 2 tine hearts? She pasted that...

Their papa's birthday card

Front

1st page & yes Balqis drew that all by herself

Next page

After school the girls straight showered & had dinner. It was a Friday & we needed to rush to their mental arithmetic class at 8pm. They got ready in record time & presented papa the cake.

The bday boy exclusive shot in kain pelikat... hehehe! (take note that Balqis there was holding the card)

HB asked Nadeen to blow the candle for him but Nadeen looked more surprised than the bday boy ;-)

Right after that, Wardah had to snatch the birthday card from Balqis & handed it to HB. BIG mistake there. Balqis from behind punched her sister's back. It was hard! So my dear readers, there was a bit of chaos that evening. No! Wardah didn't hit back instead dived onto the sofa & wailed. So pening...! I tell you! Anyhow, I managed to clear things up & we continued with cake cutting.

This was HB trying to cheer Balqis up. I think he was asking Balqis about her plane.

Wardah, taking a bite of the cake from her dad :-)

Within minutes she was OK. A drama queen as always... Presented papa the gift. She ordered papa to close his eyes & of course he played along. (I love this pic. Too bad not all of the girls were in)

Touching the gift & making a guess

HB loves his Osprey backpack which cost me a bomb!

A worth buy I guess... Such a lightweight. He is going for a mount hike in Nepal this October for 10 days & the one he has is rather too small. Oh well! It was a tiring day for me but it was worth it. The looks everyone wore made me forget my weariness. To the one we celebrated & the ones helped to celebrate, love you much!

1986 - 2009

I created an FB group for my fellow primary school buddies early this year. Yes, for those who don't know me in person I kind of get carried away with this social networking. Well, anyway it was only quite recently the group became lively.

It all started when a friend shared a few ancient photos of us then way in the 80s. The tagging
did the trick when other members start to join in especially our dear Haza. Not only is she the "CNN" of our school, she is also our google search engine. Knows almost everyone by the full names & their whereabouts :-)

A class photo when were only 12

Those tagged in the photo had a shock of their lives to review themselves 23 years younger! Hahaha! Now the comment boxes have not stopped multiplying & in fact, slowly turning to a chatting thread.

Of course, the highlight of our chats was to have a reunion. Seriously, reunion is such a big word which takes up a lot of times & not to mention the commitment we have to put in. Someone mentioned to meet up somewhere. I replied that I was free Sunday & our dear Haza made an arrangement with another friend who owns a Kopitiam - the venue of the get together.

20 seats were reserved for us. The turn up was not bad at all. It was really wonderful meeting everyone. A few I have met before but mostly I have n'ot ever since the year 1986. The boys especially have changed a lot in sizes... vertically obviously but horizontally too ? ;-D The girls? Need I elaborate? Hehehehe...

Us 23 years later

Planned for our proper reunion. I however look forward to meeting my very close friends then. Most did not make it. We plan to have a small do amongst us soon. Really can't wait.

Oh yes... it's HB's birthday today. Happy Birthday Baby.... He's away & will only come home tomorrow. The girls have something planned & as usual I'm needed to assist ;-) Will update about it in the next post.

My Nadeen In Action

I used to have a monthly milestone for Nadeen in her first year. Remember? It's been like ages since I last updated about my youngest princess.

She is 19 months now, the apple of our family's eyes. As HB put it, she wears this inviting look that makes her very, very irresistible to others. I can't agree more. Every minute, every second with her is always a Geraaaam moment.

A big fan of foods. She goes & offers herself to take a bite of the food in your hands by saying "Nyum! Nyum!". If she enjoys it, a "Daaap..." will come out. Very cheeky!

Her favourite shows are still Barney & Elmo. Can sit down for hours watching the same thing over & over again. Yes, quite often these 2 characters play the nanny for us at home ;-)

I captured a video of her a couple of days back. The video turned out great however, you need to do some adjustments before watching. You see, I used HB's camera to record. Little did I know there was a rotation function. Now the video deleted from the cam & the one saved in my NB is horizontal. If you are watching the video from your NB, kindly rotate your NB 90 degrees clockwise but if you are viewing from a desk top screen please tilt your head to the left ;-)

Did you hear what she said? She replied "Too.." which was supposed to be "I love you too" & "Kaakem" was a "Welcome" to my "Thank You" :-)

Here is another one.

I never taught her to unlock my phone. She was attracted to the wriggly arrow & self-taught herself...

Notice the blouse Nadeen was wearing? I made that. Rather too short I know. I made this blouse & bloomers for a friend's baby & I just fell in love with it. Used the leftover material to make Nadeen's blouse as well which should explain the length.

As for now my project is to complete 5 identical patterns of baju kurung for Syawal. Almost done with Nadeen's & Balqis's, 3 more to go. This is my first time. Not only as the family seamstress for raya but also agreeing to purchase the same exact design of 15m for the 5 of us to wear. I know, it has been long been a trend during raya but I never quite agree to the idea before. Hope the girls won't get too excited about us forming a boria & plan for the same thing next year... :-D

3 mics & 6 friends were all it takes...

I can't really recall when was the last time I allow my singing be heard. Singing & me are like day & night. My cup of tea? Not at all... At any karaoke session I would merely be a tentative listener or an audience, the supportive one :-)

There are exceptions however... ;-) If the day & night once in awhile have to give way to the eclipse, the singing & me need to once in a blue moon make way to my not so melodious voice! With a wonderful company as a booster, this voice could sure go farrrrr.... hehehe!

Attended a get together last weekend. My intention there was more for the company & the foods of course. To sing was the last in my list. I was kind of expecting for the others to entertain me with their singing whilst I catch up with each other & play the photographer ;-)

Only 6 turned up. None with a spouse nor kids. We have known each other for ages & there was really nothing under the sun that could make me feel embarrassed with this crowd. My unmelodic talent could do no harm...

My usual remark, "Well... I'm not singing." didn't really work with them. Not that they were pushy but they made the room so comfortable & relaxed that your hand became magnetised to the mic.

I sang... Opened up my jaw, articulated the words on the screen accordingly to the tune & enjoying every moment of it! Mind you, the tune not necessarily needed to be in rhythm & that was the beauty in it. Hahaha! Loved it! It was indeed a therapy....

So from today onwards, whenever I decide to join for a round or two of this sing-along escapade, I will rephrase my regular statement to - "Give me the mic, I'm singing!" Woohoo... how 'bout that? ;-D

Here are some of the photos. Thanks to a dear friend for her consent allowing me to share a few taken frm her FB. And to you-know-who-you-were, I had an incredible time. We got to do this more often!!

Now, that was the getting used to the feel of holding a mic session... hehehe!

Still the same session... the warming up ;-D

These girls were superb!

This one was mem pimpin'.... (not only in FB, you are in my blog too now... lupakan lah hasrat nak berpolitik...) Hahaha!

Standing up now & di pimpin' by a pe pimpin'... :-)

The standing allowed us to express more of the hidden feelings.

Tu dia... lontaran suara!!


To regenarate & rejuvenate, a great company was all it takes....


& let's not forget the foods as well ;-)

Back to Hectic Saturdays

My weekends used to be pretty hectic. Then their Mental Arithmetic Class was on a Saturday morning, 1030 - 1230. We would reach home half an hour after the class ended & that if we opted not to lunch out. At 1530, off for their 2 hours swimming lessons in Sunway. The next day, we would be at Pyramid Ice for their ice skating practice as early as 0930 or sometimes even at 0900.

Seriously, come to think of it.... how did I manage? Especially when my helper was away & HB at work. Balqis then was about Nadeen's age. A supermom, I was!!

The two girls have long completed the swimming lessons & both are no longer active in ice skating. They did not continue with their ice skating classes ever since Nadeen was born. After all I was, still am & will always be the family chauffeur & with a baby in the picture, my hands were full.

HB did take them to the ice rink once in awhile without me esp during my confinement with Nadeen. It was then when he noticed that both his elder girls were not really serious in such dear hobby he invested. They were most of the times off the rink, rather than in the rink. When they met their friends, the rink was more a play arena to them rather than their practice arena.

On top of that, their school work has gotten tougher & extra time is needed to revise & to complete their homework from school. The costly payment is also another issue. We have other commitments to zero in to. It is a different story if they really take the sport seriously...

Wardah then in action.

Yasmin, doing a crossover.

With their coach during a competition.

Every parent definitely wants the best for their children. Being fair to each one is another effort to show their love. Balqis, at 4 is ready to be exposed to skating. But to a girl that age what they have in mind is to wear pretty things & be graceful. A girl that age is also easily influenced & I used exactly that advantage to make things convenient for me... (bad mama! bad mama!).

I asked her one day whether she would want to learn skating. She looked excited & straight away answered yes.... but suddenly she gave a worried look. Her concern was falling on the cold rink. I took this chance to introduce her to another source of gracefulness ;-)

"Balqis, would you like to go for a ballet class instead?"

"Ballet? Aqis will be like a ballerina? Like 12 Dancing Princesses? Yes!!.."

And so that was how Balqis ended up in a Ballet class. Yes, I would send her to learn ice skating one day but only time will tell whether she will get active like her sisters once did.

Balqis, 3rd from left during a trial class. She made friends with others in no time.

In her new costume.

With her friends (the boy was a brother to one her friends)

Now, a pose....

I don't know where she learned that posture from. This was taken before her maiden class! :-D

The ballet studio also offers music lessons and... Yasmin & Wardah have added another weekly class - a piano lesson. I just hope they are serious in this one. Yasmin had been wanting to enroll for a piano lesson. Wardah on the other hand, wanted to opt for violin but I consulted their music teacher & she admitted that violin would be more challenging than piano. Again... I played my role there (bad mama! bad mama! ;-D) Convinced her to get familiarised in music through a piano first. Not only that the instrument is simpler, it is also ready to be shipped from my PILs' place. Hehehe... An old Kawai, still in a good condition.

Yasmin during her first lesson.

From now on, my Saturdays start as early as 0830. Yasmin's class begin at 9am & Wardah at 930am. Balqis's ballet originally was at 1030 but starting from next week it will begin 45 minutes later (sigh....). Anyway, I try to make full use of the time there with them without the internet & my sewing machine (am still addicted!). As for last week, Balqis read pages of her Peter & Jane book 3b together with Bacalah Anakku 3. Her sisters got busy with their mental arithmetic homework.

Busy at work whilst Wardah was having class. Balqis was colouring, a reward after having completed her reading. (Yasmin was in the school uniform as it was a school day last Saturday. Straight to school after that).

Their piano books are rather too big for their bags. Hence, I decided to give in to my addiction & made them a piano bag....

The piano bag

Open the cover & there you go a Trebel Clef & a pouch.

The musical notes sewed on the pouch... Hahaha! Not a good effort really.

The inside. No compartments as the pouch should accommodate their pencils, eraser & handphone.

The back with Yasmin's name embroidered.

The bag was much an annoyance to Wardah. She questioned her sister's name there when they are sharing the bag. My mistake... Well, my first project on bags was for her. A bag to put her Al-Quran for mengaji.

The bag

Quite simple but sewing the letters was quite tricky.

The inside

I also made this sling bag for a good friend's daughter on her birthday.

My first attempt with a zipper bag. Not that neat... though.

Embroidered her name too...

The inside with my label sewn ;-)