35 & wiser I hope

Yesterday, October the 1st I turned 35. A year older that's for sure but wiser..? I'm praying hard for that ;-) My day started less than 3 hours before my actual birth date. Was at our dear friends' for raya dinner & they surprised me with a cake...

Frankly I kind of expected it. I know HB too well. But what surprised me was how he sacrificed his rest on his off day to go out & get a cake for me. His excuse to go out was to accompany that very friend to the driving range. Little did I know it was part of his plan to surprise me. How sweet...

My HB is no Uncle Lee ;-) To him flowers will go to waste. So cakes & chocolates should do the trick.

The birthday cake

Look at Nadeen staring at those candles... ;-)

Balqis & Nadeen took turn blowing out the candles. Far right is Fatin, anak tuan rumah cum photographer.

First was Balqis...

and next was Nadeen with a little help there ;-)

A family portrait but Yasmin was purposely blocked by Wardah! These girls kan...!

Together we cut the cake...

The famous pout ;-)

Nadeen was having way too much fun with the cake...

The morning on my birthday was the usual. I played chauffeur as always. HB was out at a golf course.

I anyhow didn't cook. Sri prepared my favourite Indonesian Padang cuisine. Ayam goreng bumbu & pucuk ubi with sambal.

My lunch

After sending Yasmin & Wardah to school I put Nadeen to bed for her day nap. A free time for myself so I decided to make a self birthday gift :-)

Later in the evening both Yasmin & Wardah came home from school with a wrapped gift. How sweet of them. When asked where did they get the cash from. They answered simultaneously... "Korek tabung!". How cute.

The gift was wrapped by Wardah & her friend. I'd been told that Yasmin spent her money at the school bookshop for the gift & Wardah used hers for the wrapper. Hmmm... :-)

My gift. Still wrapped

In the box, a candle holder. I really love it. Thank you girls... Muah! Muah!

A birthday card from Wardah

Another one from Balqis.

Yasmin & Nadeen made one as well but it was misplaced somewhere... Grrr!

In the evening I went out for dinner. Nope. Didn't bring the girls though how much Wardah wanted to tag along. I was surprised that Balqis was such a sport. She was OK with the idea. Yasmin? She's the homey type. Nadeen would want to follow I'm sure but dinner was served
on the table & she preferred to have her chicken ;-)

I explained to Wardah why I chose not to take her. If she were to join us, it wouldn't be fair to her sisters. Hence the whole platoon would tag along. Having the younger 2 around, the time to myself is limited. I asked her... "Can't I spare for only a few hours just for myself?" She instead argued... "How come papa can go with you?!". Adoiii! To get the story short, I used the same old phrase "I'll get you something nice...".

We had a hearty dinner. Enjoyed each other company. At the restaurant that night I was not the only birthday girl. I heard at least 2 birthday songs sung.

We were at the non-smoking area & HB as usual would excuse himself for his ciggy break. And it was during that time he made plans with the staff there.

I could smell it. Furthermore a staff naively gave out a clue. You see, I asked for the menu to order dessert but he innocently answered "Your husband has already ordered the dessert for you". Hahaha...!

Since it was quite late & there were less customers around, half a dozen of the staff came to my table pretending searching for a birthday girl. I played along ;-)

Yours truly clowning with the restaurant staff

I've got something even better... Here's a video HB took. An evidence that I make such lousy participant in "Jangan Lupa Lirik" :-)

HB made the staff sang a birthday song to me in Tagalog.. Hahaha!

Now the backward song...

There was one more song but HB's cam ran out of memory. It was sure one memorable night. HB will always be HB. The plan & all sounded very like him. Tx baby. It sure was fun ;-)

Now here's the birthday girl with her gift for life ;-)

A gift? Well, HB has never been on time when it comes to gifts. He will either be too early or too late. Well Baby, I know what I'm getting & I don't mind the wait ;-) Oh yes, yours truly is wearing her selfmade gift on the head. Woohoo!

I thought the day was already over for me today. Not so... Yasmin presented me with another surprised gift. She won 3rd place for an essay writing competition & was given a KFC voucher. A chicky meal buddy which she wanted me to have. Thank you Yasmin. I'm so proud of you. Didn't help her with the essay at all because I thought it was just another school work.

The certificate & voucher.

To those who wished me via FB & sms, thank you so much. Appreciate it :-)