Busy as a cute bee !

Salaam ,

The fasting month Ramadhan Al Mubarak is just a few days away . My husband and I are devoting our time to open up a stall at a Bazaar Ramadhan near our residential area at the same time will strive very hard to perform Solat Tarawih at our surau near home . This year will be extra special because Umaira is already old enough to understand what solat is and she has been following us everyday in performing solat in her cute little mini telekung a present from her Mak Long .
By the look of things , I will not be able to update my blog very often in Ramadhan , so I am taking this opportunity to wish all Muslims , Selamat Menunaikan Ibadah Puasa dan mohon ampun dan maaf sebelum kita memulakan ibadah puasa . Semoga Allah mempermudahkan segala urusan kita di bulan yang suci dan penuh berkah ini . Amiin2

Attached is a picture of Umaira wearing mask which is the 'in' thing right now and will continue to don it during Ramadhan and Syawal .... hmmmm

Rombongan Cik Gayah ke Malacca

It's been many weeks since I last posted anything in my blog , which of course is no excuse for a stay-at-home-mom like me ! Well , you are wrong , the recent weeks were filled with many activities and almost everyday I was tied up with work , family , home and charity activities . On one particular weekend , 8th August 2009 (Saturday) , I lead a group of women to go on a trip to Malacca , the historical city !

The group consisted of women from Kumpulan Marhaban Kg Pandan and it was organised by Kak Yah the leader in the Marhaban group . We were there to pick up the passengers early , at 7.15am we were already there at the pick-up point . We departed on schedule at 8.00am and everyone was excited to explore and see as many places during the daytrip ! Wow , for a group of middle aged makciks , they sure are an excited bunch !

The first stop was the Taman Mini Malaysia and we were there for 2 hours and the next stop was Taman Buaya Melaka . We were there for an hour or so because there weren't that many things to see from my point of view . The group of makciks were more interested to shop at the many shops near the roads that sells belacan , various crackers , cencalok , handicrafts etc.

Next we head straight to Masjid Selat at Bandar Hilir for our Zuhur prayers , we were all mesmerised by the mosque which is facing the sea ... it so reminded me of the mosque I went to in Jeddah many years ago ... Then off we go to Bandar Hilir , everyone dropped of at Dataran Pahlawan and went on to have lunch on their own . They were there for almost 3 hours , so most of them made a beeline to visit the Maritime Museum , Menara Taming Sari , The handicraft centre , lunch at the famous asam pedas restaurant in Bandar Hilir . As for me , I headed straight to Mega Mall Malacca and did some serious shopping at Branded Outlet store ... I was pleased with the things that I bought for my daughter , Umaira and my hubby . Well done , Leena !

Umaira had the time og her life when dear daddy decided to give her a treat by getting her first ride in a trishaw !!! She was thrilled to bits and I couldn't say the same thing for me simply because I felt so sorry for the poor Pakcik Nasir who had to cycle using all his mighty to go around that 30 minutes right up and down the hill ! My weight was a major concern for me and in the end I paid him extra RM5.00 for the "extra weight" he has for a passenger .... lol

It was already 6.00pm by the time everyone boarded the bus again , by now all the makciks were already dead tired from all the walking so the river cruise was out of the question . They wanted to have Ikan Bakar at Umbai for dinner and that's where we headed next and it was our last stop . After dinner , everyone were sleepy and tired so the ride home to KL was quiet . They were entertained by Umaira who took over the microphone by singing all the nursery ryhmes and songs she learnt at school !!!

All went well , and the group arrived home safe and sound at 10.00pm . Thank you to my cousin , Kak Tik for recommending us and to Kak Yah , thank you for giving us a chance to serve you and to the rest , thank you from the bottom of our hearts ! See you next trip !

Balik Kampung ......

Last weekend started with a bang and ended with a bigger bang ... went back home to my parents-in-law's place in Muar . Umaira had a great time playing with the next door neighbour , Aiman who is 5 years old , and enjoyed the time spent following her nenek around the huge house and compound . The best part of the day for Umaira was when Nenek went to the chicken coop to feed the chicken , Umaira would simply sit on her little stool and watch the chicken eat and fight for food ... hilarious ! At one stage , I overheard Umaira's conversation with her Nenek ;

"Nenek buat apa tu ?"
"Nenek marah ayam tu ...nak makan bergaduh pulak !"
"Kenapa Nenek marah ayam tu ? Nanti dia nangis .... "
"Ayam tu memang patut kena marah sebab dia gaduh nak makan .... bertuah betul bocah wadok ni ...." Hahahahaa .....


I had a great time bonding with my mother-in-law last weekend , we talked about many things all night long and I feel like I am more closer to her nowadays compared to before ... everytime I come home , I will make sure I spend some quality time talking and listening to her which is a good therapy for her . I truly understand her feelings and frustation of having to take care of her husband (my father-in-law) who became sick after a freak accident 4 years ago . I wished and pray very hard for Allah SAW to grant her good health and strength to carry on in life and face any obstacles with good faith .

Oh well , let's talk about a more cheery subject on durians - the king of fruits ! It is the durian season everywhere and you can see and smell durians in almost every household !!! Who doesn't love eating durians ??? My daughter , Umaira hates the smell and won't even take a bite .... the smell puts her off .... hahahaaa . My mother-in-law's durians are simply delicious , and I mean DELICIOUS ... it's perfect , dark yellow flesh and slightly bitter taste ... yummy !!!


My hubby will be going back to Muar tomorrow and I'll make sure he brings back more durian from his kampung .... hmmmmmm

The grandchildren !

Salaam ,

My nieces , Eyna and Leya have taken many pictures of the latest additions in our big family and looking at all those pictures make me feel happy and sad too . Happy to see the cute bundle of joys turning into cute babies and feeling sad at the same time simply because my late mother is not here to see her great grandchildren grow up into adults . The only consolation to my weeping heart is the fact that arwah Mak (or lovingly called Tok Mi) was able to see and raise my daughter Umaira although it was only for about 18 months . My late mother will have been gone for 2 years in August this year . Al Fatihah to arwah Hamidah Binti Ali , we still missed you so much !

Well enough about sad things , we shall concentrate on the younger generations - my daughter and my three grandchildren who called me , Tok Cu . My daughter , Umaira Maisarah is the youngest aunty at 3 years old to Amirul Hakimi , Aleysha Sofea and Arifah Areyana ... what a big responsibility for her ... lol

Amirul Hakimi and Arifah Areyana are the children of my niece , Leyn and Aleysha Sofea is the daughter of my eldest niece , Leya . They are all Umaira's playmates especially Amirul who is only three months older than my daughter . I am looking forward to the day when Umaira can sit down and play "masak-masak" with her two young nieces , Arifah and Aleysha .... hehehe