Happy birthday

Teehah's first birthday makan2 at Riverside Park, Chester Lee Street.

Kuih raya

While the children were at school, kami buat kuih raya. Me, kzu, ayu and marlina. Penat banyak buat kuih raya ni. Selalunyer kat Malaysia, buat kuih tunjuk jer. Kat sini terpaksa le buat sendiri kalau nak makan. Masa bakar kuih tuh, terliur jugak sebab harum semerbak bau dia.

I was certain that the kids will love the kuih raya.

True enough, balik sekolah jer Farah terus bukak posa and gulped a few Almond London, makmur and some chocolates. The boys, though, were not the greatest fans. The kuihs were not tempting enough, especially for Iman. Ihsan, at least makan jugak a few makmurs and Almond London, but Iman had none. Instead, dia targeted the hazelnut chocolate. Hmmm penat masak kuih tapi tak laku plak...

Ailong makan gak kuih. Tadi lepas tadarus jer, belum buka lagi, dia terus capai sebijik makmur and makan. Lepas tuh baru teringat dia puasa. Apalagi, terus dashed to the kitchen sink and gurgled.

Fatihah plak, makan jer semua. Lepas tuh poo poo. Aduiiii!

Family

Family...
trust
love
compassionate
united
care
....and the list goes on.




One of my favourite pics, taken at Newcastle University...a few days before Ramadhan..

Akhirnya 2

Akhirnya.... after three weeks into Ramadhan, Farah finally managed to fast for the whole day. Alhamdulilah...Well done! I was immensely proud of her. Though she almost bukak posa for a few times, I managed to cajole her to remain strong and wait until maghrib and plus, I promised to give her 3 pound if she posa. So, that was a good enough motivation for her to persevere.But after buka jer, terus tido zzzzz....kesian kakak!

Akhirnya 1

Akhirnya...

Selama ni ihsan asyik merengek jer nak ikut me and farah to the swimming pool. Good news, sekolah dia ada buat swimming lessons for year four students. He was excited beyond words! So, every Thursday, he will have his lessons at the Swimming bath in Durham city Center. Seronok lah tuh...smiling from ear to ear..hmmm

lagi gambar camping

camping snapshots

Gambar2 masa gi camping kat Ashfield Caravan Park, Hartlepool. Khemah besar warna biru yang glamer tuh ours lah...

One week into Ramadhan

Last night, during sahur, ihsan, in his half awake state, asked me, "have you updated your blog about Ramadhan? "No", I said. "I have been busy". "Well",he continued while drowsily chewing his food, "you should". That was the end of the our conversation. Well, I think ihsan is right. I need to replenish my blog with new entries for his grandparents, our relatives and friends to catch up with things.

One week into Ramadhan, iman and ihsan are fasting every single day, masyaAllah...Diligently, they fasted without much complains. They even seemed to have all the energy to bound about in the house though it was time for iftar. Farah, up to now, has yet to fast. Every day, right after zuhur, she would whine to break her fast. Unable to cope with her insistent whining, I relented.

So far, Ahamdulillah, Ramdahan has been good. But I must confess, after almost five years of experiencing it abroad, I really miss performing the terawih prayer among families and friends, having iftar at my sisters' or brothers' place and most of all, food shopping at bazaar Ramadhan. Home sick la ni....

First day of Ramadhan

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadhan. The first night of Terawih and makan sahur. Fajr was at 3.48 am, while Maghrib was at 7.59 pm. So, more or less, we had to fast for almost 17 hours! Iman and Ihsan managed to complete the first day without any hiccup. So far so good, alhamdulillah. Farah, on the other hand, only managed to persevere until mid day. She caved in to the temptation of a cheese string and plain water. Imagine that! Nonetheless, she promised to fast the following day. We just have to wait and see!

The boys followed ailong to the mosque for terawih, while Farah accompanied me and teehah to auntie midah's place for ours. Teehah also seemed to understand that Ramadhan is a special month because whenever we wanted to pray, she would be the first to que in the saf and repeatedly said in her ever so adorable baby talk "Awahh abat" (translated as Allahu Akhbar).

We would like to wish Mai, Tok, aunties, uncles, cousins and everyone else a blessed Ramadhan. Ramadhan mubarak!

p.s. iman and ihsan and farah and teehah would like to receive some musical raya cards and of course the usual duit rayalah...