Goodbye 2014...

2014 was a trying year for most of us. Personally, I suffered from a fair share of disappointments and the lost of a very dear friend. As a nation, we had to go through several tragedies and natural disasters. It is a year of heartbreaks for me.

However, I believe Allah is fair, with each trial and tribulation there's always a better thing waiting for us. Maybe not today or tomorrow, maybe it won't even happen in the near future, but one day InshaAllah. We just have to have faith.

Another important lesson that I learn in 2014 is that sometimes the things that we don't have is a bigger blessing than the things that we have. Sometimes we don't realized that things like money, power, looks etc is more of a curse than blessings. These things may push you astray from god, sever relationship with friends and family and actually do more harm than good. So other than be grateful for the things that you have, don't forget to offer thanks for the things that you don't have and is not good for you :)

Despite several lows in 2014, a lot of positive and awesome things happened in 2014. Alhamdullilah. My biggest blessings has and will always be my family. I'm so grateful that I was born in a loving family and are now entrusted with a beautiful family of my own. May Allah continue to bless me with this precious gift of love. All the sacrifices, pain and exhaustion is worth the smile on my family member faces.

I'm also thankful for the chance to travel and explore with my children. I believe I've created several mini travel bugs in my munchkins. I do hope one day they'll remember the fun we had as a family and the lessons and knowledge we collected with each places we go to...

May 2015 brings in more travel opportunities to experience and appreciate the beauty of the world that Allah has created for us to explore. InshaAllah. 

I pray for a better 2015 for myself, my family and friends. May we be protected from harm and may we become better persons everyday. Thank you to everyone who gave me a reason to smile even for a bit. I love you and I appreciate your presence in my life. 

See you next year, InshaAllah :) 

Project Birthday 2014

PART 1 : The Party

We decided on a more low key birthday celebration for the kids this year. However, Ryan desperately wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friends so we asked his teachers permission to hold a small party at the kindy. Thank god his teachers was up for it :)

Since Ryan, Iman & Ranya's birthday is just a week apart we had a triple celebration (as always).My challenge was to merge 3 themes into one celebration or in this case one CAKE. I went to Nadibakes and she came up with this : An Elsa, Jake and Tinkerbell cake. Cute, huh?

The munchkins can't stop smiling when their friends started singing them the  birthday song.

So cute.

Cutting the cake together-gether.

My babies with their teachers and friends.

Party favors for their friends. We decided to go with the Pirates and Princess hemes. The best part of the day was the reaction from Ryan's classmates when they received the gifts from us. It was so sweet. Some came to me with the sweetest smiles and thanked Lan and I for the favors. Worth every cent I tell you :) Alhamdullilah

Ryan chose the gifts for his friends. Again we managed to avoid the "junk food" route and gifted the boys with crayons, puzzles, lego and Pirate cookies. For the girls we went with tinkerbell cups, puzzles, pirate telescopes and princess cookies.

PART 2: The Staycation

We wanted to close our 2014 with a short gateaway. However due to the unreliable weather and time constraints we decided to choose a resort close to home (30 minutes away from home to be exact) for our staycation on 20/12/2014. Sunway Resort was chosen because of its strategic location and good review. Alhamdulliah the kids had fun.

Check out our hotel review : Press Here

Ryan chose to have his birthday dinner in Fullhouse. I was quite reluctant because I've read a not so encouraging review of it online but I was proven wrong because all the food that we ordered was delicious :)

Later we all had ice cream as a treat for the birthday babies 

The celebration continued on Sunday, where we met up with atuk and nenek for their birthday lunch in Sari Ratu, Subang Parade.

 Yes it was as good as it looks :)

We sent the twins home with their grandparents and  watched The Hobbit movie with my little man. He was really into it and is now obssesed with my LOTR picture book. Yeay I have a fellow Middle Earth fan at home. 

All 3 kids are very happy and I thank Allah for giving Lan and I the means and time to celebrate their birthday together. Alhamdullilah, I am very blessed :)

The one when my baby turn 5...

Happy 5th Birthday to my very own SUPERMAN, Muhammad Ryan Daniel. In just a blink of an eye, my gorgeous baby boy have grown into such an extraordinary young man. I thank Allah everyday for blessing me with you, Abang. You make mummy and daddy proud everyday with all of your developments and achievements.

Thank you for being such a good big brother to your sisters and for taking care of them in school. I know they're currently driving you nuts, practically hanging on the back of your shirts at school (figuratively and literally haha) according to your Teachers you will still play with them instead of ditching them to play with your friends.

So dear Ryan, Mummy wish for you all the goodness in the world and May Allah keep you in his good graces and bestow upon you Iman, Intelligence, and Love, inshaallah. Mummy, Daddy and dedek love you very much, always remember that. 

P/S: I'm saving atuk's messages on FB here in my blog, so that one day when you're older you can read this and know that you are loved by many.

Hugs and Kisses,

Mummy (201214)

Super Nonsense....

People usually enjoy being complimented including myself. I love it when people compliment my new dress, my looks, intelligence etc. There is just one title that makes me feel like a fraud though and that is when people call me a "supermummy"

I actually get this a lot. Maybe because I'm a working mum with no maid raising 3 small children, or because of the activities photos that I posted on social media. Browsing through my IG page it does look like I'm doing A LOT but like I've reminded my friends a gabijillion times, what you see on social media is just about 20% of the things that is actually happening in real life.

When you're associated with anything "super", it only means one thing -> You do not make mistakes. The problem is I make mistakes EVERYDAY. I sometimes yell at my children, lose my temper, feed them junk food and the list goes on and on. Life is stressful enough without the added stress of having to maintain perfection all the time.

I know some people are thinking, "urrrghhh what is the big deal, people are just trying to be nice, just accept the compliment and don't make a big thing out of it". Trust me I'm grateful but I just don't appreciate the negative attention and scrutiny that comes with the so called title.

Example: 

• When your child behaves well 80% of the time but when the 20% happens and they throw a tantrum, people will make a bigger deal out of it as compared to a child who misbehaves 80% of the time (or)
• The one day you allowed your kids to play with the tablet for like 15 minutes (out of 168 hours in a week), people would suddenly label you as a hypocrite and not walking the talk (whatever that means)

I don't exactly want to be label as a bad mother either, I actually prefer not to be labelled at all. My life is far from perfect, I have my issues. It's just that I prefer not to broadcast my problems be it at home or at work on social media. That is not me being a hypocrite. It is just me trying to be responsible and protect the aib of people around me and myself, whenever I can (Having said that I should really try to gossip less haha)

I also wish people understand one very important thing:-

My choices as a parent is not a reflection of other people's ability to parent.My choices are made based on my family, my lifestyles and my upbringing. Please don't take my personal choices as a criticism of your personal choices. 

It it just me or people are extra sensitive these days???

Happy 3rd Birthday Iman & Ranya (121214)

Last Friday was Iman and Ranya's birthday. I decided that it was high time for a mother-daughter outing with my princesses. I bring Ryan everywhere with me once he started walking, but I've never done any solo outing with the twins. I was nervous but Alhamdullilah everything went well despite not having another set of hands to help :)

We didn't do anything fancy but I can tell the twins enjoyed the outing very very much. They have mummy at their beck and call so they behaved very well the whole day. We went to the bookstore and got some books, had our lunch at TGIF and I treated the twins to a sundae instead of a birthday cake.

The past 3 years have been a "test" on so many levels. The twins taught me a lot than I ever did them. My girls has made Lan and I better team players :) Only people who've been through our experience would understand the kind of physical, mental and emotional challenges that come with raising twins. There are days which were very very difficult but we're lucky that the good days overrun the bad ones. Lan, Ryan and myself are so lucky that we're blessed with Iman and Ranya. 

They brightened up my day with their cheekiness, intelligence and super duper cuteness. I  pray that Allah will protect them from harms ways, and bestow them with his good graces and make them grow up into solehah, intelligent, beautiful young ladies. May they become faithful servant of Allah, obedient daughters to Lan and I, caring sisters to Ryan, loving grandchild & nieces to their grandparents, uncles and aunties, excellent students and a respectable member of society one day inshaAllah (Amin Amin Amin)

Iman Khadeeja and Ranya Fatimah, if you ever read this in the future, please know that I love you very very much, even on the days where we may have our disagreements and you may not like me very much, I will still love you and will be there for you forever, InshaAllah. I hope you like your birthday present :)

 Atuk's birthday wishes for the girls. Alhamdullilah, you girls are surrounded by people who care and love you very very much.Please remember that and always pray that Allah bless atuk and nenek with long healthy life and happiness :)

Loads of hugs and belly kisses.

XOXO

Mummy

Our Cuti-Cuti Malaysia : Johor Adventure

OMG I can't believe that it is already end of November 2014. In just a blink of an eye it will be 2015. So much happened and I have yet to find the time to sit down and properly blog about it, the usual year end work rush, I guess :) 

Anyway I will start with our Q4 family holiday. The initial plan was for us  to go to Penang but with the bad weather and last minute changes to our plans, we decided to visit Johor. Johor is the best choice for the kids as there's plenty of things to do and visit and the 3.5 hours drive there won't drive Lan and I nuts :p

No drive to Johor would be completed without a visit to JPO. We got my sister a new Coach bag for her birthday (yes I'm awesome) and we did some shopping for the kids and my parents. Lan also bought me a new bag from MK which I love because it is HUGE :) All in all a satisfactory visit for this lil' old shopaholic...

We stayed in Doubletree by Hilton. Loved the location of the hotel which was right smack in the city. We really enjoyed our stay in the hotel and would definitely come back. For full review: Press Me

The next day we went to Legoland and Legoland Waterpark. This is our first visit to the waterpark and we loved it as much as the theme park (maybe a bit more hehe). We were in the waterpark for 3 hours and went on to spend another 5 hours at the theme park. It was so much fun but my legs were like jelly at the end of the day after all that walking :) The most important thing is the kids had fun and since Iman and Ranya is older we managed to do a lot more as compared to our previous two visits. For more pictures and review of Legoland Waterland : Press Me 

Our final destination on our weekend "jalan-jalan" list is to visit the Angry Bird Activity Park in Komtar JBCC. The kids had fun despite the time limit imposed by the park. The activities are a bit different as we have yet to see it in other activity parks in Malaysia. So it is worth the visit if you're around the area. More information on the park : Press Me

At the end of the day, what I cherish most about our weekend break is not the places we've been or things we bought but the gorgeous memories we get to have of each other. Hopefully Ryan, Iman and Ranya had as much fun as I did. Love love all my babies so very very much. Alhamdullilah, thank you Allah for another day with them :)