HB is 36

It's July the 16th, HB's birthday. He turns 36 today. The plan was to have an early morning date with the birthday boy. Made a booking for us to play badminton together instead he was called up for duty. Hah! Hated it when my plan needed a reschedule. But with him away, it would be easier to plan for a small party of our own.

I don't know about you but whenever there is an occasion to be celebrated, I always make a fuss over things merely to make the girls excited. I doubt at 36 HB wants a special occasion. He has had enough. (Errr... baby if you read this, I still want my gifts on my birthdays ;-))

There is this new bakery shop at my place. I thought of giving it a try. The truth, I kinda bored with SR cakes. At first my intention going to the bakery shop was to get cooking chocolate & decorate a cake myself (well... was checking my luck). Of course, it was not sold.

Today, I paid the shop a visit again. This time with Wardah & Balqis. Managed to sneak from Nadeen for definitely if she knew about the cake, she would want to have the feast right away ;-) Once I entered, I straight headed to the sponge cakes with butter icing. HB loves sponge cakes. To remind him of his childhood I opted for butter icing. If only they had the same deco with ground nuts decorated at the edge. Remember those days?

What I saw in front of me were the very same cakes I saw 2 days back.

I spontaneously said " Alaaa.. ini kek hari tu kan?"

The salesperson without guilt replied , "Kek yang baru, deco saja sama..."

I started to get annoyed. One thing which doesn't age in me is my memory!

I accused her of lying, "Jangan nak tipu saya!"

She still holding the same irritating look answered, "Dah 2, 3 hari tapi masih boleh makan..."

I began to be bitchy, "Soalan senang aja... Kek ni baru atau lama. Susah ke nak jawap?"

She wore a different look now which made me felt guilty. That's my weakness... Duh! But she gave me the answer I wanted.

"Lama"

I knew the cake was edible but I hated it when she lied. Still I purchased as agreed by Wardah & Balqis.

HB came home somewhere around 3pm. Only Nadeen was home. As he was about to retire Balqis came home from mengaji. As if like a ritual, she headed straight to search for us. I already told the girls to act that we have forgotten HB's birthday. So Balqis was playing her role. Now here's their conversation. How Balqis was trying her best to cover up & HB was taking advantage of her vulnerability.

HB : Balqis tak wish papa pun lagi.

Balqis : Wish? Wish apa?

HB : Oooo... tak ingat birthday papa ye?

Balqis : Hari ni birthday papa? (with a look which I wanted to burst out)

Now Balqis was already on the bed with HB.

HB : Balqiiisss.... Mana kek papa?

Balqis : Tak beli kek pun... ( right in front of her dad, she gave this cheeky wink at me)

HB : Cakaplah dekat mana Balqis hide the cake.

Balqis : Mmmmm... dekat fridge bawah (leaped to whisper at me that she tricked papa coz the cake was in the fridge upstairs)

HB : Betul lah ada kek. Balqis tipu ye... Kan papa ajar tak boleh tipu. Nanti masuk api neraka.

Balqis : OKlah. OKlah. Dekat fridge atas.

HB : What shape is the cake?

Balqis : Round

HB : What colour?

Balqis : Orange

HB : Bila Balqis keluar beli?

Balqis : Mmmm... Wednesday

HB : Tipu lagi ke?

Balqis : Yelah. Yelah. Today!

HB : Beli dekat JJ ke SR?

At this point she came to whisper at me. She didn't know the name of the new bakery show.

Balqis : Mama, apa nama kedai tu. Balqis tak bagitau papa...

Hahahaha. How cute... She tried her best to keep the secret though.

We had a small celebration after Wardah came home from school in the evening. There was another drama though. Nadeen claimed the cake was hers. While we were singing to HB at the verse "Happy birthday to papa...", she shouted "Nadeen! No papa!" So we had to sing the song & added "Nadeen" instead of "Papa".

Went out for dinner & on our way in the car, I asked the girls where they wanted to eat. Yasmin asked her dad to choose since it was his birthday. An instant answer we got was from Nadeen..

"Birthday Nadeen! Bukan birthday papa!"

Us

I have plenty of stories to blog but when everything rushes out to be put into words, there is a massive traffic there in my head. Ever experienced that?

Now this is my attempt polishing on my menglipur lara skill. I shall start with....HB. My frequent readers I'm sure is aware of HB's job patterns. Ever since early this year things have changed a bit. Nooo...! He's with the same company, the same department the only thing that differs is his time.

Nowadays, he is always home. Always means we see him every single day. He sometimes goes to work very early in the morning & will be home by 5pm. At times he goes off somewhere after dinner & comes home right after my daily morning menyupir chore. Most of the time he is home but we can't make plans for he might be called for duty.

The truth, it is kind of difficult for me & also the girls to adjust. We are too used & comfortable with his irregular existence at home ;-) Having him over a week with us is funny.

I am not so domesticated when it comes to house chores. I don't fancy cleaning up. Mopping, sweeping, vacuuming.. what more scrubbing toilets! Unlike HB who is very rajiiinnn. He likes things to be in order & spotless.

My trick then was to chill whenever he was away & make sure the household is presentable during his return. No! Don't get me wrong... My house is nothing like a ship wreck. Those who have been here should know. At a glance things are tidy. I always make sure the living room especially is nicely arranged. The living area is the first you see once entering the main door. I of course depend on such room to welcome my fatigue husband after days away from home.

Remember Monica Geller of Friends? Well, I'm pretty much like her. House organised but I have this habit of dumping things that are an eyesore into cabinets & drawers ;-) Since HB has the extra time at home, he now discovers his wife's imperfectness ;-)

Have I changed over the months? No, I haven't. I have been living with such pattern for too long & it has become my comfort zone. True, I have a helper at home but she is a fast learner to my making things disappear habit. (Sighh...)

How I wish HB gets busy again... Heard that he would by the end of the year. To maintain the house in order is merely a small issue. My concern here is our relationship. I just don't know how others do it but with HB home almost all the time limits our daily conversation. I know there are couples who work at the same place & see each other daily. How do they survive? Having HB around 24/7 & going through the days together... we are sometimes lost of words. No more topics to discuss. Hahaha! Seriously... and I better not forget to make an appointment with my OB/GYN by December. My IUD will due ;-)

Now at this very moment, I'm blogging & he is next to me playing his favourite game in my handphone. We even played Jenga together this afternoon... Hahaha!

Busy, Busy Weekend

HB is home & I'm all smiling ;-) He is tanned & lost some weights. But what I really loved was his unshaved new look. Like Hugh Jackson in Australia.. Hahaha! Too bad our weather doesn't agree to him, so he's back to his usual look.

He arrived in KL before noon but due to my hectic schedule on Saturday mornings, I could only start off to fetch him after half past noon. The plan was to meet halfway at the ERL station in Putrajaya. At the tol after BBP, he rang me up & requested to be fetched at the airport instead. Why? All his bags including his comrades' were all left in BKK (Bangkok)... sigh. You see they failed to catch a connecting flight to KL the day before from Kathmandu. Put up the night in BKK which explains why the bags were stranded there.

Anyhow I reached the airport just in time. All paper works were done & he was ready to meet his girls at Gate 1. The look he wore was rare. True that he is always away. So, we kind of used to the situation. But being separated for more than 3 weeks... that sure is something foreign to us. I was glad I brought along all the girls to welcome their dad.

At home lunch was served. I made chicken rice as HB requested. Prepared it before I left that morning. Err.. sorry no pic but you can always go to my food blog for recipe ;-)

The girls as I mentioned in the previous post made something for their father. Here it is...

A joined effort by all the girls. Including Nadeen :-)

Later that night HB received a phone call from one of his comrades in this Nepal excursion. The bags had all been sent to his place in Putrajaya. We decided to get the bags since my PILs would be coming over the day after & HB had gotten some souvenirs for his parents.

We took my car. HB drove. Still in the neighbourhood, at a straight street HB was trying to over take a motorbike which was on the left side of the road. Midway overtaking, the bike out of a sudden turned right without any signal & hit my side. It was a loud bang. My first experience really. Good that I had myself buckled & most importantly, none of the girls was with us.

I was not hurt alhamdulillah... Neither was HB. I was in shock yes but what lingered in my mind was the motorcyclist. Nervously I turned & saw him limping. That was a relief...!

Passersby came & helped. My door was jammed. Left front light was broken & left front bumper too. Left front tyre punctured & the rim dented. We were grateful the incoming car was further away...

We made the police report right away. But I doubt the motorcyclist did. His bike was not insured, no road tax & above all no license! It was a long night. Came home at 3am. Still I had to wake up early to prepare lunch. Playing hostess to my PILs. Plus a friend was coming over to have a look at my tudungs.

Sorry that I have no pictures at all of the accident, including my car. So many things in my mind. But... I do have a few pictures to share. HB's shots from his recent excursion to the Himalaya. Enjoy them :-)

The food they had no choice but to consume, Dhalbhaat - rice with dhal ;-)

Enroute to Pokhara from Kahtmandu

In the van from Pokhara to Nayapul

Crystal clear water

Bumped into this group from Malaysia. All ladies in their 50s... They did 4D3N Poon Hill trek. Amazing!

The ladies made it & the guys took a farewell pic with them before continuing to the ABC (Annapurna Base Camp)

The journey to ABC continued. Remember the bag? ;-)

Chilling out with a Spanish couple at Chulle

View from one of the many teahouses along the trail.

Enroute to MBC (Machhapuchhre Base Camp)

Met face to face with the real Sherpas

On the way to ABC

At last reached ABC safely. HB was amongst the firsts . This photo would be perfect if I were to be next to him.Hahahaha!

A memorabilia made by HB.

It was freezing cold. The brook was frozen..

All of them together with guide Santos at ABC. Mission accomplished!

The climb down

He's Coming Home!

Yes, you read it right. My baby is coming home. Either tonight or tomorrow morning. It depends whether they manage to get the connecting flight to KUL frm BKK (Bangkok) on time.

They completed the trek smoothly alhamdulillah... In fact they cut it short to 8 days instead of 10 days. But they were stuck in Pokhara for a day due to a roadblock caused by the Nepal's Maoist rebels. (that sure made panic!) Anyhow, HB assured me that tourists are usually left undisturbed. Still...

They reached KTM (Kathmandu) the day after safely & once in KTM, HB has been calling us a lot. He is undoubtfully homesick. Even admitted that this trip made him long for all his girls at home terribly.

We chatted through YM & the moment he saw his girls on webcam, I could feel the love all the way from Nepal. The way he wrote... The questions he asked... Too bad he had no cam nor speaker by his side.

Wardah however, grabbed the opportunity & asked her father of their school holiday plans. You see HB once made a promise that he would only entertain another trip for this year if only both the girls obtain 1st place. Wardah was 1st in the August Test but HB clearly puts it that it has to be the final exam results.

Results are out but none is 1st in their class. Yasmin is 4th & Wardah 2nd. Noticed her father vulnerability Wardah typed in one of her chats with HB.

"Can we go to Hong Kong papa?"

What do you think was the reply from KTM?All the way from home... Missing his girls... Yes, it was a yes. You should look at their dance of happiness! ;-D

The girls have prepared something for HB. I will update on that. For the time being, I've got to make sure that the house is in order & prepare something for HB's late supper if he can make it on time.

ps- He could not make it on time for the connecting flight. Should reach KUL by noon tomorrow. We are sooo looking forward. It will be a tight schedule for me tomorrow. With piano, ballet & drama class, I've got to plan something wise tomorrow. At the mean time, I need my good night sleep :-)

From Kathmandu With Love

This morning after sending off the elder girls for their mengaji lessons, I as usual stopped at a mini market to grab some fresh vegetables. Opposite the road I saw HB's regular nasi lemak stall & I, as if hypnotized bought one. I'm no fan of nasi lemak really, unlike HB who loves it with ayam masak merah & telur mata kerbau. Seriously, I really had to force myself with the nasi lemak. I rather had toast :-)

Yes, I miss him. It has been 3 days since I last heard of him. They have started the trekking to Annapurna Base Camp. No contacts ever since. He called the day before he left & warned me that he might not be able to contact me for 10 days. Yikes... I hate the feeling for not knowing. The best I can do is pray for his safety & insyaAllah he will pour me with all his experiences once he's back to civilization.

Later in the afternoon we received a postcard. A greeting from Nepal. HB obviously posted that before he left for Pokhara. The girls were really thrilled. It slipped my mind that HB promised to send the girls a postcard but he remembered. It shows that he misses us too ;-)

Balqis can now read simple words. She is now at 4B in the Ladybird Keyword Series. Keeps repeating the first 2 lines from the postcard. "Hello to my Amirahs. Papa is in Kath... Apa mama? Kathhh...man..du.." Asked me to help her read over & over again... Later in the evening I found a piece of small paper pasted on the wall of the study written - I love you papa. Ohwww... I assume she was replying to her dad's postcard which almost put me in tears.

Yasmin & Wardah are most of the time occupied with FB games now that the exams are over. Oh did I tell you Wardah won the first place for a story telling competition in school? She was so proud of it (always wanted to be like Kak Yasmin) & I know deep inside she can't wait to tell HB.

Nadeen is getting cheekier day by day. She's picking up words slowly from her sisters. When asked about papa... she would simply answer "Byyee...". :-)

Me? To avoid thinking of him most of the time, I surrender myself to sewing. It really can put my mind off him. Last week I uploaded a few photos in my FB album. Received a very good response from my FB friends & have been sewing tudung & tudung & more tudungs. Hence I have to postpone the construction of my blogshop for a while.

To my readers who are interested to get tudungs from me but not my FB friends, post me your email add & I get back to you :-) Now that I have a mannequin & products... what I really want now is the cloth label for my tudungs. Anyone here has any contacts to share?

I shall update on HB next week. Have a good weekend :-)

Off He Goes Again

HB is away. Yes perhaps it is like a norm to me & the girls but not exactly this time...

He used to operate a 10days trip but that was a long, long time ago. I'm too comfortable with his flight patterns nowadays. Not too long & not too often home either :-)

This time, he is away for leisure. Off to another excursion. Not 5 nor 7 like before but for 20 solid days! Where to? The Disneyland to backpackers - Nepal. No..!! He's no Hillary to climb the Everest. Merely venturing the famous trek - Annapurna Trail.

Some photos of the Annapurna Trail I uploaded from the Net)

The trail should take him 12 days but he had to be there earlier for some ground preparations. His flight to Bangkok was at the wee hours this morning. From there he would take a direct flight to Kathmandu - the capital of Nepal. Nope. I didn't send him off to the airport. He drove himself & would drop the car key in his box. A friend not other than David no2 (Remember my moonlighting episode? You may read here), should drive home with my car.

HB has long been wanting to go to Nepal. Way before I conceived Nadeen 2,3 years back. I didn't really give my consent at first but I come to realise how sensible he is with this hiking thing. He won't force himself beyond his limit. No risk taker.

HB & the gang at Rinjani

We will miss him terribly & reading his FB status last night made me almost in tears. Have a safe journey baby. All my doas to you. Enjoy yourself & don't worry about the girls. I will get them entertained. Missing you... May I'm bestowed with the strength. Love you.

Our Eid This Year

Now here's an update on our Aidilfitri this year. HB, Alhamdulillah was on leave for 4 days despite his decision not to apply for raya leaves. His reason was merely to make it fair to the other colleagues. You see ever since I'm married to him, he has always been around with us on the first day of raya. There was once though when he had to operate the 4am flight to Kota Kinabalu on the 1st of Syawal. His duty ended before 8am hence decided to fly back to KL to be with us on raya morning. Sent him off to the airport later that evening to continue his duty.

Aidilfitri this year was not tiring for him. He started his leave 2 days before Syawal. Unlike the years before which ends on the eve. He had his ample rest.

As usual we were in Klang. I managed to arrange the girls' Saturday schedule so that we were free a day before Syawal. The plan was to shoot early to Klang & help my MIL with things. Instead we reached Klang around 2pm.

I felt bad but my PILs were cool about it. In fact this year I hardly gave a helping hand. I was busy finishing up my last minute beadings. But Sri was around to help her.

Did I tell you that I slept at 2am to complete sewing those beads? I chose to retire & continue to sew in the morning.

The first thing HB asked when he woke up was about the beading. His concern over my unfinished attire surprised me. You see he is not a man with sweet words. Ever since I started sewing, his best comment was merely, "OKlah...". That goes the same to my cooking so I am kind ofused to his limited praising vocabs.

I was not sure whether he was aware of what he was saying. It was something like " I'd help if I can but I really don't know how to sew those beads. Kalau siap cantik ni...". Trust me those encouraging words made me going until
2am.

In my previous post I shared how the baju turned out. And here are some pictures of us on Aidilfitri this year.

Raya banner this year made by Yasmin, Wardah & their little uncle Ajib

The girls one by one on raya morning with HB in the spirit of Syawal.

Balqis

Wardah

Yasmin

Nadeen

Nadeen with her sisters seeking for forgiveness from atuk Klang, the beauty of Aidilfitri

She appreciates duit raya this year. But only the various colours of packets not the cash though ;-)

Nadeen with Kakak Balqis. Balqis is thrilled getting the chance to be on the chair & someone younger below.

Wardah & her way asking for forgiveness from sis Yasmin.

With their mom

The girls with bibik Sri

A family pic

In our boria attire ;-)

After visited HB's eldest aunt, we made a move to my grandmother's place in Rembau. Chengkau to be exact.

In front of my grandmother's house

A solo pose by Nadeen

The 5 of us again

This is my dad's kampung somewhere after Kota or Koto as how the Negeris address it.

Nadeen was really enjoying her kampung getaway :-)

Completed & Sent

It is already the forth month of the year. Somewhere last week HB came home & presented me with an assignment. I have been delaying it. After a second reminder from him, I chose to do it today.

Based from my past experience, it is kind of simple which explains me procrastinating the task. But again, today is the 20th & knowing Malaysians, they or should I change the pronoun to we, love to do things at the very last minute. In the end it will result to a malfunctioning system. It happened last year & I won't be surprised at all if history repeats.

Need I remind you that the last day to submit is on the 30th of this month. Mine is completed & sent. How about yours?

For more details, do visit this site:

https://e.hasil.gov.my/

Hmmm...! To HB , it was not a free service. I don't charge by the hour. Anyhow, appreciate it if the excess tax paid amount is transferred to my account. Thank you. It is a pleasure serving you. Hehehehe.... Muah! Muah!

Sharing? No more!

Am here proudly announcing that I am now the sole user of my NB. Yes, the NB is all to myself!! Yippee!!

All this while I have to give in to HB. He's always away & whenever home, I feel that I have to part from my toy & give more attention to being a good wife. Right? Hehehe... So, imagine my agony whenever he is in deep concentration with my good buddy. My heart aches as I too want to be connected to the virtual world. The things that he does is facebooking & facebooking &... hmm, that's the only thing he does really! Facebooking & oh yes, his mails of course.

HB is not a computer savvy. Not that I am... well almost. Hahaha! Perasan! Well, in comparison to him, I can be considered more literate & show more interests. It was me who signed up for his email (which explains why his email ID is a combination of our names... hihihi!), as well as his facebook. His passwords? Of course I created that too & I have access to his acc. He was once so engrossed with the games in FB & I at home had to log in using his acc. to play under his instructions. What was the game.. ? The Ability game or something.

It was really me who bugged him of owning a NB, a wireless connection, a PC cam (when I bought my NB, built-in cams were rather rare) & a PC mic (next in the agenda is to upgrade my handphone... ameen!). We have a desktop but now both of us find it too convenient lazing on the bed browsing the net which explains the fleshy us ;-D The desktop, we have handed over to the girls...

You can't imagine how I felt when he proposed to get himself a new NB. Extremely overwhelmed! The main reason is not FB lah.... (my husband has a better life than that!). He has been chosen as a trainer/instructor. As far as I know, flying instrument changes as frequent as the fashion industry. Hence, he needs this 21st century organiser to equip his knowledge for his benefits & those under his guidance. Another valid reason is due to a long holiday that we plan for next month. Based from my passion in photography, I need to get another cf card for my dslr & a bigger memory card for HB's point & shoot. Having a lighter NB saves us the cash from spending on those extra cards that won't be applicable unless during a long holiday (which has always been a once in a blue moon...). The latter points were of course brought up by yours truly. Reversed psychology! Gave him reasons of the things we were able to save on from buying ;-)

OK. I've to make some calls now. Need to register HB's new NB. I'm sure when he comes home this evening, there are more things that he would ask me to download. Not to mention the manuals I have to read & later elaborate to him. HB, he is so used to having a PA. A good one I must say... ;-)

11 precious years together...

Alhamdulillah.... today marks the 11th year of my marriage to dearest HB. It feels just like yesterday but no doubt I can no longer fit the baju kurung moden I wore for our akad nikah... hehehe. Neither can he buckle up the waist to his baju Melayu trousers! Oh well... but doesn't that validate our happiness? Thank you Honey Bun for your ridiculous humour, your persistent support, your remarkable patience & most of all for your gift of love.

I was browsing through you tube the other day when I found the song I dedicated to HB alooooong time ago. I was only 17! Hahahahahaha.... (Seriously! Now, I'm worried for my girls. It's very likely that one will inherit their mom's bold certainty).

It was our first song together, followed by a cassette recorded of his acoustic guitar attempt with Unchained Melody. This song in a way answered to the song I dedicated. The Love Songs Language, I would say ;-) Come to think of it... I've known him for almost 17 years. Of course there were hiccups along the way but making it this far on our 11th wedding anniversary, you HB have indeed granted me with want I asked for in our song, The Gift of Love by Bette Midler. Enjoy the song & lyrics.

You ask me what I want
You ask me what I need
It's nothing you can buy,
My heart's not ruled by greed
I don't love a diamond,
Diamonds you see through,
I want you to hold me,
I want you to be true.
Give me the gift of love,
Look me in the eye,
Say I'm the one you're dreamin' of
That'd be the best surprise.
Give me the gift of your sweet love
In the light of the day,
In the dark of night.
Like the colors of the sun
The feelings in your heart
That's all I want from you,
And when the sky is dark,
I'll have you beside me
Who could ask for more
I'll just wear a smile
When you walk in the door
Give me the gift of love,
Look me in the eye
Say I'm the one you're dreamin' of
That'd be the best surprise.
Give me the gift of your sweet love
In the light of the day,
In the dark of night.
Give me the gift of love
Look me in the eye
Say I'm the one you're dreamin of
That'd be the best surprise.
Give me the gift of your sweet love
In the light of the day,
In the dark of night.
Give me the gift of love
Look me in the eye
Say I'm the one you're dreamin of
That'd be the best surprise.
Give me the gift of your sweet love
In the light of the day,
In the dark of night.
Always

Happy Wedding Anniversary! Am looking forward to the years to come. InsyaAllah....

Envy Me?

By now I'm getting used with this new supermom role. Pure supermom without a helper... But seriously, how can those true supermoms do it? I'm only hanging on until October the 6th. The day my helper is supposed to come back!

OK, I survived another morning on a school day alone with the girls. Not that chaotic really. The only thing was Nadeen & her early morning project... That girl will definitely poo right after she gets up. I prefer not to wake her up until I'm done with her sisters. She & her jolly mood in the morning is normally distracted by this sensational look of relief. Hahaha! Me an expert now managed to clean up in record time this morning. All reached school on time.

Another update of my helper's daughter. She called again informing me that the kanker has attacked the heart. That is difficult to swallow. She is not yet 30 with a 4-year-old son. Praying for her recovery.

HB is away again & should be back tomorrow night. Things were so much easier when he was around. I normally send off Yasmin to school & let him continue his sleep. The other day, when I got home from Yasmin's school & was about to get the other girls ready, I found Wardah & Balqis both showered. Nadeen? In the bathroom. Apparently, she did her business again & that time stained her jumpsuit. Hahaha! HB made a beautiful picture bathing his youngest in the babytub.

I ferried the other 2 girls with happy Nadeen tagging. Suggested him to continue his sleep since he got home quite late the night before. Did he? Once home, I found Blanco whiter & fresh. Someone groomed him! Went upstairs to get Nadeen's bip & discovered all beds were made. After her breakfast, as I was about to put Nadeen's to sleep, I heard the vacuum cleaner roaring. Later in the afternoon as I was almost done with cooking for breaking fast, somebody grabbed a broom & got busy in the kitchen. Late night, I felt a presence of someone at the porch. The same person was chalking the girls' school shoes. During Sahur, right after I was done eating, Nadeen woke up. Rushed upstairs to nurse her & later I found the dining table cleared.

That's my Cancerian HB. Envy me? ;-)

Happy Birthday B...

We celebrated HB's birthday yesterday. Of course when it comes to birthdays, the girls are the ones who get overexcited. As their mom, I am always at their service being the medium of the excitement.

They made a special birthday card the night before. Told Yasmin to put the card inside HB's pilot case (He left for work at 530 in the morning on his own birthday) but the card was hidden among my novels instead. They got too engrossed with card making & totally forgot such simple instruction... never mind that. I just wanted to cheer him up in the wee hour of the morning. Pictured him smiling with pride & showing off the card to his colleague. Anyway, I had to proceed to plan B - present the card when we surprise him with his birthday cake.

This is the front page of the birthday card (joint effort between Yasmin & Wardah)

Inside (Wardah's)

The back page (Yasmin's)

Yes, a birthday cake. That is a must to us especially the girls. As usual, I baked the cake. Moist Chocolate Cake with chocolate topping. Didn't plan for any deco at all but Wardah insisted. I settled with edible beads forming the big number ;-)

HB's birthday cake

He was home by noon. Did a short sector to KB & back. But I still have to wait for all the girls to be home only to proceed with the plan (in fact, the cake was not fully completed - no topping yet). Whille HB took his nap, I sneaked to prepare the topping.

It was only in the evening after Wardah reached home from school that we finally sang the birthday song. Frankly, it was really no surprise... HB saw the toppingless cake in the fridge but somehow was surprised with the number on the cake though.... hahaha!

Here are the girls celebrating papa. I love these photos. Just look at their contented faces! But Nadeen was of course confused with what was happening... Check out her irresistible cute frown!

We totally forgot about the birthday card. Another surprise backfired. HB was scrolling through the photos in my camera when he saw a picture of the card which I snapped earlier. Silly us!

All of us went out for dinner. Besides dinner, I had to pay another visit to the place I bought HB his gift. Apparently he has lost weight. I bought a size bigger. Didn't really plan to buy that really as I have something else in mind. But to my girls, a cake, a card & a gift are a complete packcge of a birthday. I can't agree more... (Eileen, he gets double gift this year. Can't bear to wait until August for his real gift which obviously is a belated ;-D)

The birthday boy with his gift for life. Hahaha!