What a memorable night! (A rather emotinal and long entry)

Salam to all,

In yesterday's entry, I told you about the potluck farewell party at Peachgrove Playcentre. The farewell was for Terena (another member who's also leaving) and me. We (my daughters and I) hubby tak nak ikut sbb dia lg suka duduk rumah  sorang2 arrived at the playcentre quite late since I wanted to perform the Maghrib prayer first.

When we arrived, they were just about to start having dinner. There were 2 types of pasta bake (including my curry pasta bake), fried rice (somebody bought it from an oriental shop), two types of salad, baked sausages and lasagna. You might wonder why I didn't prepare a Malaysian dish. Well, at first I thought I could bring special rice (like tomato, chicken or coconut rice). But then it was hard to bring the special rice as I need more than one plates/ serving bowls. The curry pasta bake is taken from one of Malaysian's magazine. (MAJALAH RASA EDISI KHAS-sebenarnya biasa org kita panggil Makaroni Bakar). I would share the recipe in tomorrow's entry. So, be patient okay....

The first agenda was having dinner while chatting and catching up in a more relaxing atmosphere compared to the usual one when we are on sessions. I could still chatting, smiling and share some jokes with the others. Fathini and Hafizah were eating while talking to their friends too. They can't wait to go out and play with other kids. So, I asked them to finish up their food quickly.And I managed to take a picture of them near our new mascot at the playcentre; Gruffollo(based from the kids favourite character taken from a storybook).

You can see from the photos that there were not so many members turned up. Only about 1/3 turned up. When it was the speech time, Annalise started off by asking the kids to make a lot of noise first before she asked them to be quiet. It worked! Annalise gave a little speech by saying that they really appreciate what Terena and I had done and they are going to miss us. Then, Leah said that Ella (Fathini's BFF) is going to miss her and she appreciates my efforts in writing learning story especially for Ella. Terena didn't say much as she was already shedding some tears. I had prepared a little speech that I wrote on a piece of paper. I prepared it because I didn't want to be speechless. I shared how I really felt about the playcentre. Would you like to know the content? Yes? All right:

Kia Ora,

I just want to say thank you to all for having us here at Peachgrove Playcentre since May 2008 until now. We've had heaps of valuable and sweet experiences while we were here. We are sure going to miss all of you and of course this place too. We've felt that you and your families are part of our family too as we've grown up and become closer each day. (I had to pause here because I was about to shed some tears...huhu). If you happen to visit Malaysia in the future, please let us know. I'll write my address and my contact no. in the next newsletter. Thank you. 

Ka Ki Te Ano and Kia Kaha.

Right after my speech, I was given some souvenirs with the farewell card signed by the other members. Annallise as one of my close friend there, gave the present and the card to me. Fathini and Hafizah couldn't wait to open it and  they asked my permission to tear up the wrapper. We discovered that we received a beautiful photo album that contains the photos of us at the playcentre and a special book called "Magic Moment". Again I felt so touched especially when we went through the photos together. betul2 dah nak nangis sgt masa tu

By 7, most of my friends had to leave as their kids had to go to bed early. (Their kids normally go to bed by 7.30 or 8 p.m.). I took some photos with those who had to leave first like with Karlene (in a white jacket), Kim (long blond haired friend), Joe (a rather new Maori friend there), Allison (in a black jacket) and Sarah Young (carrying her two kids). We said good bye, wished each other good wishes and glad to know each other.

The others like Annalise, Tracy, Sarah Hudson, Annette, Terena and Maree stayed and we had a nice coffee time with some fruit cakes brought by Annalise.  The mood was changing to happy again as we just chilled out and chatted. Leah made everybody a cup of tea/coffee. She was like the barister who took orders from us. (LOL). Fathini and Hafizah entertained themselves by playing with Maree's eldest daughter, Isla. Annette who's always like to share some jokes shared some funny stories and made us laughing. I thought that I wanted to take a photo with each of them but since I brought the tripod, I asked them to gather around for a group photo. Thus, we had two lovely group photos at the end just before the sad moment again. I couldn't hold my tears anymore when I hugged each of them as they were among my best friends at the playcentre. 

How do you handle farewell? Have you ever shed some tears when you had to say good bye?

Happy Last Day to Fathini and Hafizah.

Salam to all,

These are the photos of the cake that I promised yesterday.

Presenting...........

And.....

What do you think? Well, please ignore the sloppy job that I did. hehe. This morning (Wednesday, 31 March 2010), we brought this cake to Peachgrove playcentre. As this morning was Fathini, Hafizah, Ella (Tini's BFF) and Reuben last day (for the full session), each mommy had to bring a plate of food to be shared for the morning tea.

The first thing that Fathini and Hafizah did was spelling their names by choosing the magnetics letters and put them up on the white board. Fathini who was so quick in doing that (since she already knew how to write her own name since she was 4), helped Hafizah. However Hafizah didn't really want her sister to help. She was happy choosing some letters that she already knew like "H", "I", "O" and "M". Yup she recognize some letters and it's so randomly picked. They somehow moved on to the playground area where they were happily joined the other kids at the swings and the obstacle course. They actually spent a good half an hour at the playground.

By 10.30, most of the kids were called inside to help preparing the special tea food. Some were asked to help making some sushi and the others helped to cut some fruits. We had heaps of food at the Kai table today. Fathini, Ella, Reuben and Hafizah were seated side by side so we could sang "Happy Last Day" song. (based on Happy Birthday song). We had to sing the song four times to let each of leaving kids to blow the candles. Hafizah was the only kid( who are leaving the pc) that refused the blow the candles and she even tried to hide her face. After the singing, the kids and the adults enjoyed the kai (food) like sushi, chocolate cake, corn sandwiches and fruits. The kids really enjoyed the egg-free chocolate cake. So, without egg, a chocolate cake still became a great cake. Most of the kids didn't stay so long inside before they moved on to play outside again.

 

Fathini and Hafizah resumed to play at the playground. Dug (the only dad who joined as a member), helped them when they wanted to cross the planks. Fathini and Hafizah had gained so much confidence now especially when they wanted to cross the planks on their own. Fathini also copied Isla who was climbing on a tree and pretended to be a monkey. They were both on that tree for couple of minutes. Few minutes later, we had to join the others in the Fire and Earthquake drills. The kids already knew what to do in both situations. For the Fire Drill, we would go outside of the area and stay at the designated meeting point for the roll call. For the Earthquake drill, they asked the kids to go to the fort (in the playground area) and practiced the "turtle sitting" position.

Just before the clean-up time (by 11.30 a.m.), the four kids; Fathini, Ella, Reuben and Hafizah were asked to sit on the designated chairs. It was the certificate ceremony. I felt a big lump in my heart and I did shed some tears during the ceremony. Why? Well, we've become the playcentre members since May 2008 and we feel so attached to the place and of course to other wonderful members. Each of the kids received a certificate, a playcentre pencil case with a playcentre plastic cup and a farewell card. We stayed there to help with the clean-up time and I also helped Ella's mommy (Leah) to do some jobs as she seemed to need extra helps anyway. Fathini and Hafizah were happy to stay longer too as they could play with Ella and also Ryan.

Using a scrap book to keep our children's treasures.

Salam to all,

In the previous entry, "The Emergence of young artists" I shared about my daughters masterpieces in artworks. My daughters have had produced approximately hundreds of artworks since they attended playcentre in 2008. I received some comments from the other bloggers (thanks to my loyal readers xoxo) about the artworks. There was a suggestion that I should submit the artworks to Conteng Conteng website and some suggested that I should frame the artworks and also keep them well.

What I forgot to mention in the previous entry  is that in our playcentre, we do keep the best artwork (not all because the children tend to create so many artworks) in their special scrap book. We call it their PORTFOLIO BOOK. Every child who attend this playcentre (in fact most of other playcentres around New Zealand) will have at least one Portfolio Book. As the parents in this playcentre, we take turn to write something about our children and also other children. Normally we would snap some photos of the children especially when they are busy playing and learning through their play.

Would you like to know the contents in a Portfolio Book? Let's see the examples of Fathini and Hafizah's Portfolio Books. (Fathini has had two portfolio books now due to my eagerness to compile each and everyt crafts and paintings she made. )

So, what do you think? Is it this a fabulous idea to keep our children's treasures? From this portfolio book we as their parents are getting some benefits.

The Benefits are:

• We can see our children's development by reading from the learning stories. (done by us or other parents who observed our children).
• We can show this portfolio books to them once they grow up.
• We can read other parents' stories about our children.
• We can keep their best artworks or paintings too.

 I really like this idea. I reckon this will be a cool idea to be adopted in the kindergartens in Malaysia.
Well, that's what I would do if one day I'm able to open a kindergarten. Insya Allah.

Clean-up time!

First and foremost, I would like to wish "Salam Maal Hijrah 1431H" to all Muslims. My entry today is about what I did this morning at Peachgrove playcentre. jgn boringla nak baca .hehe

The school holiday officially starts today here in NZ. As usual, before we leave for the holiday, we (the playcentre members) need to do the end of the term clean-up. There are two clean-up sessions and there are also some take home jobs. Last term I did one of the take home jobs; cleaning the Duplo set and I cleaned the set at the very last minute before the term started. I actually hate to do the take home job as my daughters would like to play with the toys first before I could clean them and that means I need to do the cleaning during the eleventh hour!

Right, selalu tulis pjg2 sgt sampai nak lari topik! haha I went to Peachgrove playcentre this morning at 9.15 a.m. When we arrived, nobody was there yet. We had to wait outside since I don't own the spare keys. Luckily we didn't have to wait for so long when Cherie (the President) arrived with her two boys. She quickly unlock the gate and asked me to choose the clean-up jobs.

This time I chose to do the playground /odd jobs clean-up. Here were the things that I had to do:

• Wipe down all outdoor stage boxes and any equipment that is attached.
• Sweep fort and surrounding blue safety mat area.
• Remove gym mats from the store room and wipe down with warm soapy water.
• Wipe down both rocking horses and fingerpaint table.
• Stack tyres neatly by the largest tyre beside the fence.
• Ensure all playground equipment is securely locked.

What a list! banyakkan kerja. huhu As I didn't want to waste the time, I quickly get a bucket, a towel and two green cloths to do the wiping job. I asked my daughters to have their breakfast on the deck area while I started cleaning at the playground area. When I wanted to sweep the fort, Dug (one of the members who was cleaning the shade)offered to help me by using the blower because it's so much easier and quicker. nasib baiklah Dug ni kwn yg baik. Somehow I gave it a try with the blower saja gatal2 nak cuba.hehe, but it was too heavy and it's quite noisy too. Better give the job to the expert!
Here is Dug:

Can you see him? (sorry gambar jauh sbb benda tu bising sgt nak gi dekat2)

I moved on to the other jobs on the list. I took out the gym mats, rocking horses and fingerpaint table.

I started to clean the rocking horses first. Fathini was keen to help me, so I gave her another cloth and we wiped the rocking horses together. Hafizah just watched us and at one time, she tried to ride on the wet rocking horse! Wiping the rocking horses was quite easy except that we had to scrubbbed some paint stains. But when I started to wipe 4 gym mats, I had to take some time as each of the mats was heavy! berat woooo Want to see our photos doing the jobs? Ok, take a  look down here:

Fathini was wiping one of the rocking horses.

Those were the gym mats!

I was not sure how to stack up the tyres neatly. What I did was to get all the tyres and arrannge them at the nearest spot of the huge tyre. Since there was no specific instructions in arranging the tyres, I used my own discretion. hehe. pandai2 sendirila sbb nak cepat2 balik sblm hubby nak guna kereta gi smbhyg jumaat hr ni. Fathini, Hafizah and another kid named Flynn decided that they wanted to play at the tyres area while I arranging them. I just let them played for few minutes before I told Tini and Fizah that we had to go back.

There were few other people who were there as well. But I only managed to snap another two more photos of other people doing the clean-up jobs. sebenarnya tak tahu mcmana nak explain kalau ambik gambar diaorg banyak2. kira ambik gambar curik2 le ni. hehe.  ermmm tak baik ke?

Cindy was cleaning the carpentry stuffs.

Terena and Sarah Young were cleaning up at the sandpit area.

By 11.15 a.m. , I managed to finish my jobs and I also went inside to eat Cherie's chocolate chip cookies before we headed back home.