Fit for a princess....

I'm a person who need projects...

Not like boring type of projects, but personal and creatives ones which makes me happy. It takes a lot of my time but somehow it doesn't leave me exhausted.

Currently, Lan and I are redecorating the second level of our house. When we first bought the place 6 years ago, we were on a very tight budget and only spent on necessity. The  downside of buying a corner house means we needed to shell out double on grills and window treatment, and with a toddler and twin babies we just wanted a livable space. Having a home straight outta Homes and Living magazine was not a priority (and mainly because we can't afford it haha)

Along the years, we've made tiny changes to our space. I'm pretty happy with how my first floor looks like at the moment. My next project is to set out a room for Iman and Ranya. Currently the twins are sharing a room with Ryan, since they're turning 6 and Ryan 8 soon, we don't think it is appropriate for the munchkins to share a room and I'm sure Ryan would be needing his privacy very soon . The room that are meant for the girls, have been acting as my walk in and some sort of a store room for the past 5 years. You can imagine the junks we've accumulated. 

During the Thaipusam weekend, I've managed to clear up my clothes and moved it into our newly decorated Masters Bedroom. I tell you, after 4 days of sifting and arranging clothes, I told myself I never wanna buy anything ever again. I HAVE SO MUCH JUNK. Like why do I ever need PVC leggings for? I wonder how long my new resolution gonna last, and all those". Your shopping cart misses you, please come back email" is not really helping. 

Anywayyyyyy.... It has been a slow process clearing up the room, I'm at about 60% done and now at that stage where I'm stuck trying to figure out should I throw away all the babies clothes, walker etc or should I keep them. So while trying to figure out my arah tuju kehidupan, I've been busy searching for ideas to decorate the twins room

My current Pinterest mood board. I'm attracted to this simple pastel decors which hopefully will last until the girls are a bit older. No overly princessy character theme rooms for my babies. I'm giving myself a 3 months timeline, hopefully we'll be able to finish this project before puasa. Wish me luck!!!

Project Birthday 2016 - Iman & Ranya's Birthday Celebration (121216)

I plan to blog more this year. For some reason I feel saner after I write, even on the most mundane stuff. As a start I shall start recording the "important events"  like birthday celebration, holidays and school stuff  that I've missed blogging about. A good reminder of things to be thankful about. 

Initially, Lan and I was not even planning to have any elaborate birthday celebration for the kids. We just wanted to opt for a simple dinner. However, my inner party fairy took over and we decided to throw a small get together on the twins birthday. At 7pm the night before, we were rushing around to get cake and deco's. I put a limit of RM30 on deco and surprisingly everything turned out beautiful. The twins wanted something "princessy and pink" - obviously. My deco job was made even simpler with all the princesses and pink stuff strewn around the house.

We bought a small cookies and cream cake from Baskin Robbins and I stuck a RM2 birthday banner from the cake shop. The tinfoil balloons cost RM3.90 each and the dolls, tiaras and castle is from Iman and Ranya's toy box. 

The cake stands are leftovers from the twins "early" birthday celebration in TCAZ sometime in November. I made it from some Styrofoam, wrapping paper and felt. The idea came from watching some cake making programme on AFC on dummy cakes. Took me about 15 minutes to assemble each stand. I got a lot of compliments on it despite the minimal effort. Goes to show that you do not need to spend loads of money to get awesome results. Just a tiny bit of creativity. 

The twins gorgeous princess dresses is courtesy of Atuk. Iman and Ranya were so happy, they can't stop smiling all day. I guess it is most little girls dream, to be able to dress in gorgeous dresses and tiara. I'm so glad that we were able to make the twins dream come true. 

I'm so blessed to have them. 

A big credit goes to Lan. When most guys won't even bother with all this little party details, he came with me to get the deco's and food preps and was even on chef duty minding the BBQ all day.  Best daddy ever. Alhamdullilah

Big thanks to my parents, my sis and bro in law and the twins Cik Thirah, Cik Nani and Maksu for celebrating with us. Despite being a small celebration, we all had so much fun. 

The twins birthday wish from Atuk. Saving this for them, hopefully they get to read this one day and realized how loved they are by many :) Love you Iman and Ranya, may you'll be blessed by Allah always....

Things that matter Part IVV

As much as I hate to think about it, I know there will come an inevitable time when we won't be receiving sweet birthday postings from my dad anymore. I hope and pray that Allah grants my parents and parents in law a long and healthy life (InshaAllah) but in the meantime, I make it a habit to document this sweet messages for Ryan, Iman and Ranya's reading later on. 

The 3 of you are so loved by the people around you. Don't ever forget that and always be grateful. Love you babies....

 Print screens from Atuk Hanif's FB for Ryan's 6th Birthday (201215) and Iman and Ranya's 4th Birthday (121215)

Happy 4th Birthday Iman & Ranya (12 December 2015)

My babies is now 4 years old. Can't believe how fast time flies, such bittersweet moment for me to watch them grow but at the same time wanting to freeze time and protect them in my embrace forever *sobsob*

Since we already pre-celebrated their birthday with the kindy mates, I didn't want to have any big celebration done. The twins begged me for a cake to cut on their actual birthday, so we had a small celebration with my parents and our siblings in attendance. Of all the themes they can choose from, the twins decided on the one that is not easily available in Malaysian stores -> "Doc Mcstuffins". There's Minnie Mouse, Frozen, Sophia the First etc but noooo they had to choose Doc Mcstuffins. One of the sales assistant was like "who? what? Princess Elsa nak?" hahaha

I found a set of Doc party hat in GM for RM6 and that is it, no cups, no plates, no nothing. I don't want to spend a lot of money on the personalize ones online so I DIY 90% of the deco and cake.

The Deco: Super simple but the twins loved it. I used readily available table cloth and trinkets in my house to minimize spending and got some helium balloon from GM which cost a small fraction than if we were to purchase it in party shops. The twins were grinning from ear to ear, awesome how kids appreciate the simplest gestures...

The balloons came in the pack of 5, but Lan and I decided to only use 3 and keep the remaining two hehehe. Made the whole deco even more festive :) 

Ice cream cake made by moi. OMG I think I'll just bake the cake the next time. Don't get me wrong it tasted good and looks presentable, but it took me 2 days to complete the process and once it is out of the freezer, it melted within 10 minutes, so it was super messy. Thank god the twins loved the cake.

Clockwise: Party packs and birthday cake banner ( I designed the label myself and printed it out), store bought party hats and plain paper cups with Doc Mcstuffins stickers I bought for RM0.60 per sheet. So much cheaper than the paper cups ones sold online. A little creativity will bring you a long way :p

 Happy babies...

A hug and presents from Abang. They fight all the time, but they are fiercely protective of each other...

 Our tetamu terhormat :p 

Finally, Ranya got the Baby Alive she wanted. The twins received a pair of Nerf Guns, a makeup table (which Lan hated), new wardrobe for their Barbies, Princess Legos, Stationery set, a cash register and new bags for school. Alhamdulliah murah rezeki my babies....

Ohhh not forgetting the gift from their Pak Long : Their own giant bubble set to play with at home. I think we shall start our own giant bubble business at home after this. Hahaha

Alhamdullilah, thank you Allah for blessing me with these two angels. They have made me a better person and also made Lan and I better partners. Mummy, love you very much Iman and Ranya. I pray that you'll grow up into intelligent and solehah young women, who one day will change the world for the better, Inshaallah. Amin

TCAZ 2015 End of the Year Activities

I've been religiously collecting pictures of the munchkins from their kindy's page so that I can document it all in my blog. I'm sure one day they would love to see their old photos and in case there's no hard copy photos around, they can always rely on my blog *Inshaallah*

Warning: Picture heavy post. 

Little Spy Day : The 5-6 year old was given the task as "spies" to locate the kidnapped 4 year olds. They had to follow the clues provided by the teachers in order to complete their mission :)

Ryan as a spy

Iman and Ranya as kidnapped victims

Trip to KL Bird Park : A trip to learn about birds and its habitats. The children was also encouraged to bring their own camera, and a team of professional photographers was at hand giving the children lessons on how to aim and take pretty pictures. 

My babies together-gather. Last year where they'll be in the same school togather *sobsob*

Festival Kesenian dan Kebudayaan Islam Antarabangsa , Putrajaya : Ryan's trip under his Pra Tahfiz to observe artifacts on  Islamic cultures. There's a video of Ryan being interviewed by a TV crew, will try and extract it from FB and post it here. 

Toys Day Out: The children are encouraged to bring their own toys from home and play together with their peers. I was around during this exercise and I find it very interesting. A good lesson on sharing. 

Sambutan Hari Jadi Perdana November and December Babies: The school had a mega celebration for Nov-Dec babies before year end so that these children will be able to celebrate with their friends. My children insisted on birthday cake a month before their actual birthday and I obliged :p ( I'm a sucker for birthdays hehe). The look on Iman and Ranya's face is worth the trouble, they were so happy and excited. 

I got them cakes from Wondermilk and made the printouts myself. Happy that the kids liked it.

 There's 7 other kids celebrating together with my munchkins

My Babies!!!

Alhamdullilah for a good learning year :) May Allah grant us with more learning opportunity and beneficial knowledge 

Photos credit :TCAZ FB Page. 

The one where my baby graduated (from kindy but still....)

With just a blink of an eye, it is already December 2015, so much good stuff have happened for the past few months and I shall proceed to blog about it all before the end of the year.

Date: 25 October 2015 (Sunday)

Venue: Crystal Crown Hotel, Klang

Occasion: Ryan's Graduation Day and Iman and Ranya's Talent Day

After 3 years in Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah, my baby boy has graduated and will be starting standard one next year, Inshallah. He have grown and developed so much and I'm super proud of him Alhamdullilah...

1. Ryan is now able to speak in a more eloquent and less "pelat" manner.
2. He's more comfortable speaking in English and I've seen him use more complicated sentences of late (rather than his usual 2-3 words structure).
3. He's able to independently read his Iqra' textbook, memorize 12 short surah and the first 18 ayat of Surah Yassin.
4. He's able to remember all the actions for all 5 waktu for prayers, we still need to work on his recitations of course. 
5. He's able to read quite fluently in BM *yeay*
6. He's able to understand simple Math's concept (numbers, more-less, big-small etc). He's also quite good with additions (both on paper and mental calculation). 
7. He has awesome geography skills (at least for a 6 year old). He is starting to appreciate the differences between state and country :) He knows for example that New York is in US, Kyoto and Tokyo is in Japan and London is in England. 
8. Ryan love drawing. We got him a sketchbook which he call it his "game book". He will draw his Superheroes, battle plans and maps and pretend that it is a part of "video game".
9. He's able to float and swim for a few short strokes. He's a bit rusty, hopefully we'll be able to synchronized our timetable and get swimming lessons back in our roaster early next year
10. He have become quite a "Master Builder" and is super obsessed with Lego. A hobby that I encouraged. 

As much as we're happy that he's thriving academically, I'm more excited about his emotional, mental and physical development. It is no secret that I'm a huge supporter of "learning through play" and I credit Ryan's improvement in relation to his phonological issues based on the play activities that was conducted at home and his school. Alhamdullilah, we made the right choice in choosing TCAZ for Ryan and his sisters. I admit we don't see the development in 3Ms instantly unlike the more "academic" schools but what I do see is this...

Not only does he have the ability to READ, but there is the love of READING,

He not only know how to COUNT but what COUNT most...

We can't thank the teacher's enough for their dedication. Hopefully Iman and Ranya will also benefit from the school, Inshallah.

Muhammad Ryan Daniel was awarded the Anugerah Mutiara Putera 2015 for his developments and achievement this year. Alhamdullilah he won the special award two years in a row :)

My handsome boy confidently leading the ikrar, My heart burst with pride as a mother who watched him struggle to speak properly 3 years ago. 40% of his development can be attributed to the teachers and family support but I will say the rest he did himself. One of the most determine person I know (adults included :) )

Reciting Surah Yassin as a part of his Pra Tahfiz performance

Play acting the life of a "Turkey Boy"

Princess Ranya who had a meltdown earlier but quickly bounce back and gave the performance of her life :p

My Bollywood Princess Iman, who can't get over the fact everyone was clapping after she and her friend did the cute Indian dance head bopping thingy. "Mummy, kenapa semua orang gelak bila kakak nyanyi???" Hehehe

 My sweet babies, during their first kindy performance. 

 With my little superstars...

The Azlan's Merdeka Day Weekend

In continuation of the wedding celebration we had last week, we managed to cram in a whole load of family activities during the Merdeka weekend. We did not plan to go anywhere this time around as we wanted to avoid the Merdeka/Bersih crowd, so our activities are mostly confined around the Selangor area.

Date: 30 August 2015 (Sunday)

The kids cooked breakfast for mummy and daddy. We made savory bread and butter pudding together. They had so much fun and have already requested for us to bake a cake next. I find cooking to be an awesome way to teach the kids in taking instructions.

Restaurant Review: Zawara Coffee
Been meaning to check out this cafe for ages since my Aunt reviewed the place a few months back. The restaurant is situated in Bukit Jelutung and is quite easy to find. Very spacey (with a in house surau/toilet etc). The place is quite laid back, a nice place to lepak with family and friends.

We tried a few dishes, the kids had the Spaghetti Arabiata (not in picture but taste wise it's spicy and nice but nothing special), I got myself the salted egg buffalo wings (nice but would have been better if it was spicier), two types of churos, one with ice cream & chocolate sauce and the other is with butterscotch sauce ( I prefer the chocolate sauce to the butterscotch, but the churos itself is very nice, crunchy on the outside and lighly dusted with cinnamon, super yums, we originally ordered one box but the kids loved it so much we  had to order extras:))

For drinks we had the Tinkerbell ice blended (super bland, I don't like it at all) and Lan had the Hazelnut Latte (he said it's ok) and two bottles of mineral water. We paid around RM85 for everything. Not cheap but the price is pretty much standard for cafe food in Klang Valley. 

Did we enjoy ourselves? A BIG FAT YES and I would totally come again to try out the other food items on the menu. 

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Date: 31 August 2015 (Monday)

We celebrated Merdeka by celebrating my little Malaysians. We treated them to rides, lunch at their favorite restaurant, shared an ice cream sundae, had a haircut, planted a tree and just spent loads and loads of quality time together. Alhamdullilah like Malaysia, my life is not perfect but there's more good than bad in it, and for that I'm thankful :)