Tiring but a meaningful celebration

It's been 2 days since my last entry. I was busy since Friday afternoon when I prepared some food for the first day of Eidul Adha. While I was busy cooking in the kitchen, my eldest daughter, Fathini had her own project. She cut her own hair using the scissors meant for cutting papers! I didn't realized what happened until she called me to see what was happening. "Mama, come and see me", called Fathini. When I went to the living room, I could see some hair laying on the carpet and she was grinning with a satisfaction look as if she had achieved something. Her hair looked like a layered hair but the hair-wired layered. (mcm kena tobek2). I was so furious at that time and I couldn't help myself but to slap her on her right cheek. maybe some of you think that I'm a bad mother. Then, I asked her to collect her hair and put it on a newspaper. I had to repair her hair afterwards i.e. cut her hair. The result; well let's just say she's now has a very short hair. When I wrote about what happened in the status box in the facebook, my friends shared some interesting views. Most of them said that that's normal.

All right I had to go back to my intention of writing this entry. It's about the celebration of Eidul Adha in Hamilton, New Zealand. We celebrated Eidul Adha on Saturday, 28th Nov. 2009.(well, a day after Msia and other countries). Early in the morning sesudah subuh, we woke up, dressed up and ready to go to Hamilton Garden. (solat raya kat tengah2 pdg kat garden tu). We were among the first to arrive there. dah hubby sibuk2 suruh siap awal2 sampai tak sempat nak breakfast The first thing I noticed was the gap between the men's and women's prayer spaces. They marked two lines with strings. We (the women) had to be moved few times before they finally decided how far the gap should be placed. susah betul nak pindah2 tempat sbb kita dgn 2 anak lps tu ada tikar lg. The prayer started about 8.15 a.m. and by the time we finished praying, I could see there were many muslims here. Most of them were the refugees from Somalia. The rest were from Saudi, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia (kwn2 kami yg belajar dan bekerja di sini) and India. My Malaysian friends were sitting at the second line as they arrived just before the prayer started. We (my daughters and I) sat beside an Indonesian lady and her 7-year-old daughter. She has been here for 9 years and her daughter was born here. She even shared some cookies that she brought along while we were listening to "khutbah" (the sermon). Some Somali women were chatting so loudly after the prayer until the Imam told them to keep quiet or get out from there. But they were so stubborn and the warning didn't affect them at
all!

Right after that, we went back home to have our breakfast before we headed off to Morrinsville (about 55 km from Hamilton). We went there to get one part of the slaughtered cow. (kami buat aqiqah untuk Hafizah). We thought that we were going to see the whole slaughtering scene there. However, when we arrived, we were told that the slaughter man had slaughtered the cow in a farm near Cambridge. So, we only saw the pieces of cow that had been slaughtered to few parts. The cow was a huge cow because when they weighted the parts; it was about 210 kg! The men had the job of cutting the cow into smaller pieces while the women became the photographers and the quality control managers. tukang arah2 We had the chance to taste the cow when they started to cook them on the BBQ set. Before we went home, we also had the chance to taste the yummy beef soup.

The second day; Sunday, we had two houses who organized a feast. We collaborated with another family to have a feast at their house. (niat aqiqah tadi). We made satay, bbq beefs, noodle with soto soup, mashed potato and gravy, special raya cake made by the host and fruit salad. The preparation began the night before at Dr. Sazali's house(the host) and I did ours at our house. At 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, my daughters and I went to the house to help preparing for other food. It was good to have so many helpers who didn't mind to lend their hands. biasala sambil buat kerja, borak2 dgn gossip2 sikit. hehe By 2p.m. all of the food were ready except for satay and BBQ beefs that would be done during the feast. By 3.30 p.m. the feast started. There were about 100 people who came and luckily we had plenty of food for everybody. K.Ija (Dr. Sazali's wife), was quite busy entertaining the guests and topping up the food on the table. I helped her around too since we were collaborating in having the feast. Throughout the event, we had nice time, chatting to our friends and cathching up with each other's latest news. The feast somehow ended at about 8 p.m. nasib baik skrg asar lambat habis sbb dah summer-hr makin pjg.We went back home first before we went to another house that served "Laksa Sarawak". It was the first time for most of us to try the dish. My daughters really liked it. kena belajarla mcmmana nak buat ni We stayed at the house only for half an hour because we were so exhausted by the end of the day.

Eid Mubarak (EidulAdha), Happy Birthday Sayang & Happy Anniversarry.

Today Muslims in most countries are celebrating Eidul Adha (10 Zulhijjah 1430H). While here in NZ, we are going to celebrate it tomorrow, Saturday 28th November 2009. Hopefully this will be the last Eidul Adha for us here. We miss our families and friends in Msia so much and  we know that they miss us too. It's hard to give to tell them when exactly we are going back for good since my hubby is trying his best to finish his thesis. What I normally tell them is "Insyaallah we'll be back by the end of April next year".

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating Eidul Adha, my hubby's birthday and our 6th anniverssary. We are going to Morrinsville which is about 45 minutes from Hamilton to attend the "sacrificing event"(my attempt of literally translating it. hehe) or it's actually the slaughtering event. I'm not sure when are we going to celebrate my hubby's birthday and our annoverssary, but I'll bake a cake for us later and maybe we can have the celebrations at night. My hubby is going to be 30 this year. baru 30 , aku dah nak masuk 32 thn depan huhu .

Last year's bday & anniverssary celebration

Maybe 6 years is just nothing for others but for us it meant a lot. We knew each other when we were 18/19 years old. We met through Taekwondo club in PPP/ITM and the first time we started talking to each other was when we were on the camping trip with Taekwondo club members to Pangkor Island. Basically we've known each other about 7 years before we got married. (well, we were engaged 11/2 year before got married). Like other relationship, it's not a smooth sailing relationships. There were heaps of ups and downs and we even broke up 2 times because of the disapproval from my parents. But we don't want to dwell on the things on the past. We are looking forward for the future and appreciate each other and of course our daughters. Alhamdulillah(Thank you ALLAH for what YOU have given us).

Contest Si Manja Berkaca Mata

Kali ini saya nak mencuba nasib dalam contest Si Manja Berkaca Mata anjuran Ummu Mishkah. (harap2 Ummu Mishkah terima penyertaan dr org Msia yg berada di luar negara). Jom kita lihat dulu syarat2nya:

• Buat satu entry pasal contest ni dengan title Contest Si Manja Berkaca Mata dan jangan lupa linkkan entry ini dalam post anda.
  
• Upload gambar si manja anda yang berusia 1 hari hingga 4 tahun dengan aksi berkaca mata. Hanya sekeping gambar untuk seorang peserta diterima kay... jadi silalah pilih gambar anak anda yang anda rasakan terbaik.
  
• Nyatakan nama dan umur si manja anda.
• Jangan lupa letakkan banner contest ini di entry dan side bar blog anda.
• Tinggalkan komen anda di sini dengan link entry blog anda.
• Contest ini akan dinilai oleh Mr Hubby aka Abu Mishkah.
• Keputusan adalah muktamad dan akan diumumkan pada 20 Disember 2009.

First experience in playing in the snow! (read: org2 jakun main salji. hehe)

Last Sunday (22 Nov. 2009), my hubby brought us to a place called "Snowplanet". It's a place where we can play in a snow bukan snow betul sbb skrg dah summer. We didn't go to Mt Ruapehu (the nearest place to play in a real snow during the winter) because my hubby was always busy and when my PIL were here, my FIL said that he wouldn't go to a cold place. So, it was like something that had been promised by my hubby for so long.My hubby said that there's nothing special playing in snow as it's like playing in sand except that it's cold. Tapi dah kami (my kids and I) agak jakun dgn snow terpaksalah my hubby bawak jugak

I brought some food and water with us since the place was about a-2-hour drive from Hamilton(where we live). Snowplanet is situated at 91, Small Rd, Silverdale, Auckland. We took off from our home at about 9 a.m. My kids were so excited and they started singing some nursery rhymes on the way. But half away through, they both fast asleep. We arrived there at about 11-ish tak ingat nak check jam betul2 pun pukul berapa jadi agak2 je. The place was next to an Indoor Go-Kart and it was a huge building.

Once we were inside, we could see the counter, a cafe and a shop that sell winter clothings. My hubby bought the family pass as it was cheaper. Then, we each got a stamp on our wrist. Fathini and Hafizah thought that the stamp was like the stamp that they normally received when we go to the local library. The family pass was about $119 and my hubby rented a jacket @ $10. Fathini, Hafizah and I already had our own winter jackets. What we needed then were the suitable gloves. Since they didn't have the rental gloves for hygienic reason, we had to buy some gloves. We chose the cheapest gloves. However, when we bought 4 pairs of gloves, my hubby ended up paying $109.95! parah jugak.  Before we went inside the playing area, we had to put on the boots, jackets, gloves and beanies. Only Hafizah didn't have to put on the hired boots since there were no tiny boot sizes.huhu.

Once we were inside, we could see the fake montain with the fake snow. (yelah sebenarnya kat Auckland tak de snow ye). There were some people with the ski equipments, toboggans and other equipments. We decided that we were just going to try the toboggan as we didn't know how to use other equipments. kan dah cakap jakun. hehe  Fathini and Hafizah hopped on the toboggan and my hubby pulled them up the slope. He let them go once they were on top of the slope. I was waiting at the other end to snap their pictures. Fathini looked cheerful but Hafizah wasn't. She couldn't stand to be in the cold even though she was kind of part of being kiwi (she was born here during the winter in 2007!). We managed to snap few lovely pictures of them. yelah bukan senang nak pergi lg ke situ sbb mahal .My hubby had few rounds on the toboggan as well after Fathini and Hafizah decided to play at the edge. I also got my chance to try on the toboggan. I couldn't brake once I was sliding down the slope and it was kind of funny especially when my hubby took the picture of me trying to stop the toboggan. I spent some time looking at other people who were skiing and sledding. siap tolong gelak kalau ada yg tortonggeng jatuh. tak baik kan. hehe.  If I was skiing, I reckon I would stumble down or have few accidents. We were the only ones who went crazy taking heaps of pictures. The others were just having fun there. There were some who were attending the skiing lesson from their professional  coaches. After about one hour there, we decided that we had to go out. Hafizah started to have runny nose and she was quite upset and cold. We found a nice man who was kind enough to take our family picture just before we went out.

We had to return the rental jacket, boots and helmet after we had finished our session. Actually we could stay and playing there all day as the pass was the all-day pass. Well, we were sure even if we spent another hour there, Hafizah would be freezing! I asked hubby if we could get some hot drinks right after we had returned all the rental equipments. My hubby was reluctantly agreed. dah namanya cafe, harga pun faham2 jelah. We ordered 4 cups of hot chocolate and 3 plates of fish and chips. dah alang2 minum kat situ, mkn terus walaupun ada bawa bekal crumbed fish dgn nuggets. hehe . I felt guilty when my hubby said that he had to pay about $70 for the food and drinks. However, it's not that we eat out every week! In fact, we had only been eating out few times since we've been in NZ.

Thus, it was actually a real treat for me and my kids after been so patient and tolerating with my hubby's demanding job now. (finishing  his phd is in fact a demanding job not just for him but us too).

When we went into the "no entry sections" of a supermarket....

I want to wish my dearest sis Yatie Chomeyl a very happy birthday (21st November) before I continue writing up this entry. May Allah bless her and her loved ones. It's been years since the last time I managed to celebrate her birthday. I miss you my dear!

Last Wednesday, we went to the Supermarket trip with the Peachgrove playcentre kids and mums. The supermarket that we went to was "Countdown" on the Anglesea St. It was raining like cats and dogs but luckily the trip took place inside of the building. You might wonder why did we chose to bring the kids to a supermarket? Well, since our team is responsible for the BIG KIDS SESSION which takes place every Wednesday, we reckon that it was a good idea to bring them to a place where they can learn some processes.

We were greeted by the manager "Hayden". He told us to be careful and to keep our hands to ourselves. He also gave us funny white head covers.

I was the only one who didn't need to use the head cover because I already had my own head cover! (tudung ler). Hayden said that we need to cover our head because they don't want any hair falling down and contaminating the food. The first place that we went to was the bakery section. We could see how to bake cakes, muffins etc and made variety of breads. The mixer was 10 x bigger than what we have at home! There were about 3 bakers who have to go to work at 4 a.m. every morning! Imagine that! The ovens that they have were so huge and definately so hot! We could see there were heaps of supplies inside there.

The next section that we went to was the fresh produce section. It was where they store fruits and vegetables. The fresh produce manager was kind enough to cut us a pineapple and some Australian mangos and let us tasted them. The pineapple was not a ripe one but the Australian mangos were sweet and yummy. We also went into the huge freezer where they store the vegetables but we didn't stay too long as it was quite freezing. (nak ambik gambar pun tak sempat sbb dag kena keluar dari situ).

The next section was the seafood section. It was only a small section so we didn't spend so much time there. Hayden managed to show us "Tarakihi" fish and some kids made funny faces! (ada yg tak tahan bau ikan. hehehe). I somehow managed to ask my friend Cindy to snap my photo here.

We proceeded to the poultry section where they showed us a huge freezer where they stored the pre-packed meat, chicken, ham, lamb etc. There was nothing like what you normally see in a butcher because they got the pre-packed supplies so they don't need to cut any meat.When we were at the luncheon section, they gave us free salami. (Of course not for me and my kids. My friends pun dah cakap siap2 kat diaorg jgn bg kat kami ok).

The last section that we went into was the huge store room for the other household item supplies. we could see boxes of household items there. There were two workers who looked so busy with their work. According to Hayden, as Christmas is just around the corner, they are going to be busy restocking and preparing the Christmas gift baskets.

Before we went out of the supermarket, Annalise (one of the mums), gave some coins to the kids and asked them to choose a seed. The seed was about $2.99 each and the kids somehow chose variety of seeds. Then we headed to the counters and they took turn to pay for their seeds. Well, some of the kids didn't have enough money to pay so the mums had to top up the coins. We had planned to plant the seeds next Wednesday during the session. (tak sempat nak ambik gambar budak2 bayar seeds kat counter. cuma ada gambar Tini & Fizah pegang Spinach and Leek seeds). We also spent some time outside of the building to have our morning tea at 11.30. It was still raining and we were starving after the end of the trip.

Contest Anak Dara Ku Bertocang by Sitisifir10

Here comes another contest that I would like to try on. This contest has been organized by Siti Sifir from the Siti Sifir Supernova Share-Out Space blog. 
Let's see the banner of the contest:
 

Syarat contest :

• Sila letakkan link ke blog ini. Pastikan nama yang keluar di bloglist kalian adalah Siti Sifir's Supernova Share-Out Space. (Pijah!! Cerewet nya ngko nih!!!)
• Sila letakkan linkkan blog anda ke blog penaja Fitrah Cinta dan jadi follower Fitrah Cinta. Sila jengah ke sana dan tinggalkan komen tentang blog k.Sari di entry contest blog masing2.
• Anak anda itu hendaklah perempuan, berumur bawah 3 tahun. Gambarnya hanyalah sekeping sahaja supaya senang untuk dinilai. Jangan risau, kami bukan nak cari calon menantu
• Letakkan banner di sidebar...(kalau ramai masuk maka merata2 lah wajah Arwa ku kan kelihatan...ngeh he he..ops itu pun kalau ramai ek...) Sila abaikan banner yang ala kadar itu..kerana tuan buat contest ini sangatlah tak rajinnya nak mengedit gambar :P
• Tolong beri tajuk Contest Anak Dara Ku Bertocang by Sitisifir10 di entry anda.
• Tarikh tutup 30 November 2009 jam 12 pm (tengahari)
• Sebagai menambah perasa, sila rajin singgah dan beri komen. Mungkin ini caranya untuk merasuah saya... :P walaubagaimanapun biarlah gambar bertocang anak anda menyengat ye...( tocang budak ada sengat kah??)
• Tinggalkan link anda dikotak komen di bawah.
• Pemenang akan diketahui petang hari yang sama jika saya tak ada kesulitan lain insya ALLAH...dan jika ada peserta, kalau takde nak umum apa?? 

All right now let's see the photo of my youngest daughter:

 Name: Hafizah bt. Ariff

DOB: 22 June 2007

Age: 2 years 4 months.

This photo was taken in Peachgrove Playcentre when we had the "Pyjamas Day". She was sorting out the balls when I snapped this photo.

Thanks to Siti Sifir for organizing the contest and to K.Sari @ saricorner.blogspot.com

A story of my little misadventerous and my silly ball.......

Have you noticed the different layout? I had a little misadventerous this afternoon when I tried to change my blog layout and the header. I tried to change from 2 colums to 3 columns and changed the header. What happened? Due to my eagerness gatal tangan punya hal, I almost lost all the widgets! Luckily I managed to go back to the original template. At the end, I chose the simplest template and I don't think I would ever attempt to change again in the future unless I'm so sure of what to do. Mesti siapa yg baca ni pelikkan. Anyway I just want to keep learning on how to improve my blog until I'm confident enough. When I read the explanation on how to change the template, I felt like learning additional mathematic which I failed with flying colours!  haha...My brain must have automatically shutting down some of weird coding stuffs. huhu.

And now regarding my silly ball, let's see what I'm referring to:

I bought this ball last Tuesday. I've been aiming to buy this exercise ball for ages. The name 'silly ball' is given by my hubby because he thinks it's silly to exercise on this ball. I'm going to prove that he is totally wrong. I've been using this ball to exercise few times and I really like it! All I need now is to find now is how to use this exercise ball effectively. There are some examples given in the booklet that comes in the box.

 

 Wish me luck in using this exercise ball. I hope it won't be a toy for my daughters instead of my exercise ball a.k.a silly ball.