School Break

Last week was the school holidays for the North Dublin Muslim National School. While other national schools had finished their mid-term break a week before, my kids just had theirs last week to coincide with Eid.

On top of the Eid celebrations on the weekend, we also had a small birthday celebration for Husayn as his birthday this year falls on the same day as Eid. I didn't officially send any invitations out to my friends as I know it's Hari Raya and in truly Malaysian open-house style, people were most welcome to come and join in the party.

Anyway, here's a few pics of what we did for the rest of the week...

We went to McDonald's. A must to keep the kids happy and entertained.

We went spent most of the day at our local Leisureplex.

We visited a few bike shops and finally got helmets for all (except dear Mummy - boohoo!).

We made Cupcakes together. That's Husayn holding up his specially-designed cupcake for Daddy.

And, we just had as much fun as we could...

Now that the kids' break is over. It's time for me to finally get a break!

Art Activities at Dublin Mosque

Before the school holidays started, Ameera handed me a form about summer activities that will be held during holidays. Basically, by paying a small, nominal fee kids can attend a summer camp of sorts while at the same time, Mummy can get some much needed time off from minding the kids. Great idea.

Unfortunately, the place where the camp would be held is quite far from our house. So basically, if I wanted to send her to the camp, it would mean that I would have to sacrifice my day dropping her off and then picking her up within the space of a few hours.  It doesn't sound like a big problem but having to drag around my two relatively active boys in town while waiting for Ameera to finish is not something that I look forward to.

Hmmmm...but being a good mum (well, I do try) and as I had sort of promised Ameera, I went anyway and surprisingly, even though Husayn was not yet old enough, they accepted Husayn as well. He gladly decided to go along under the impression that he would have his big sister to mind him all the time but unfortunately, that was not the case.  The two were separated into their relevant classes and Husayn was less convinced of his initial decision.

Well, too bad for him. I had already paid the non-refundable so, reluctantly he stayed. So, that  left me alone with Hisham. A much more manageable arrangement.

As most people might know, over here you can see huge red SALE signs everywhere in a shop. Very tempting indeed but, being a good girl, I decided to stay away from all the shops even though I did see a few things that I really like but weren't actually that necessary to have. So, I decided to chill and get some coffee instead.

With hindsight, it wasn't actually the best of ideas when I had my little cranky Hisham with me. He was in the buggy for only the first two minutes and soon after started screaming and climbing on the table like little Tarzan running amok in the African jungle.

When time was up, I went back to pick up the kids from the mosque and they were both so excited, especially Husayn.

He "survived" the day at camp and even made some friends. He did lots of arts and crafts and still can't stop talking about it until today. That's his version of the Ka'bah in the pic above. Ameera was kept busy too and was excited about her old-school string phone (it actually works!).

The School Holidays Have Started!

Lots of things happend over the past few weeks and I've been busy with pretty much most of those things. One thing's for sure though, the school holidays have officially started yesterday. Mmm... I guess from now on, the Mummy-On-Call duty will never stop.

 

As usual, the kids have lots and lots of energy and ideas for things to do. Thank God the weather was kind enough to us allowing us some outdoor time. Nothing worse than kids being stuck indoors for hours on end. So, apart from some general fun in the back garden, this was the kids's first activity for the day.

Well, that's Day 1 over. One down and another 62 days to go! Ideas, ideas and ideas. That's what I'll be needing to get through the summer as a mentally sound person. The kids will be asking/crying/demanding for more fun things to do. If I don't think of things to do, I'll go mad just listening to all the whining...Waaarrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Wish me the best of luck, OK? And, if you have any tips, do pass them along.

Husayn and his friends

Oh dear, it's been almost a week since the snow started to fall and the snowfall is getting heavier and heavier by the day. Our back garden was fully covered with snow and the kids made an even bigger snow man. No school and no going out whatsoever. Yes, unfortunately as we don't own a 4-wheel drive vehicle (or something equally useful in the snow) our one and only car has been stuck in front of the house for these few days. To make things worse, for the first in a very, very loooong time, I had to walk to the shopping centre. Walk!

But, the kids enjoyed themselves immensely no matter what, I guess.

Anyway, on one of the snowy evenings, before getting ready to go to bed, Husayn and I had a chat about his friends at school. Because of the weather, Husayn has missed the whole week of school and I suppose, he somewhat misses his buddies...

Who is this mysterious Hanok? Errr...and he still miss his one and only girl friend.

Nadine's Mom, when is Nadine coming back???

Visit from a very close friend

What a busy bank holiday weekend. Let's start from the very beginning...

A few months ago, I received an email from a very close friend of mine (and also my ex-housemate, roomate and college mate) who was planning to come over and visit us here in Ireland. We were so excited and couldn't stop counting the days as it has been such along time since we had last seen each other. Needless to say, an opportunity like this one doesn't come around too often in our lives especially since we live so far away from each other.

So last Thursday, my husband went to the airport to fetch them. We've known each other for more than 10 years now and they are still the same. Very much like us. Yes, we're a little bit grown up (sideways if talking about my dear husband), have our own lives, careers and kids. As all of us went to the same college even our circulation of friends are almost identical.

To be honest, we had planned to do plenty of things but as always, there was so little time. Invitations to other friends' houses and eating non-stop were our main activities for the weekend. I do hope they enjoyed their stay over here. The most important thing really is I'm glad that they came and was really happy to see them again after such a long time.

My kids were so delighted and seeing my son smile again (after his best friend left for Malaysia a few months ago) and enjoying the company of my friend's son made me feel so happy. They couldn't pronounce each other's names but adorably called each other My Friend instead.

To... Ida & family, I know you don't even know the existence of this blog. But if somehow you do,  I just want to let you know how over the moon I was to have you guys here. I really hope you enjoyed your holidays even though it was not that great. You are more than welcome  and I really, really hope to see you again. It has been many years, I hope our friendship will remain the same and last forever. Thanks babe!

School Holiday Project 2

I finished my house chores for the day and as the kids had been extra well behaved, I decided to do some art work again. Working with paint is a big hassle for me what with all the mess it creates but a loud agreeable Yeay! for the kids. By just telling them that will be doing some art work just makes them so excited.

So, this is our second project for the second week of the school holidays: Make Treasure Boxes.

OK, you will need a couple of empty tea bag boxes (the ones where the top part/lid opens) or something similar, some paint and any art and craft-type stuff lying around the house like buttons, ice cream sticks, pipe cleaners etc...etc... Not to forget some gloopy glue to stick everything together. That's what my kids call it anyway. Oh, they love that too.

While waiting for the painted boxes to dry we had a break and watched some movies. Look how focused they are while watching cartoons (including the lil one....)

As soon as the paint dried, we continue working...

Unfortunately, we had to wait until the next morning for all the glued stuff to properly stick together.

Muka lepas mandi xsikat rambut

Ameera's

Husayn's... muka tension jek..

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 Treasure boxes- Handy for collecting rubbish and bugs in the garden. Errk...

It's officially the School Holidays

As I've mentioned before, the school holidays have officially started. I love it because I don't have to go out early in the morning to send Ameera to the bus stop. On the other hand, it does mean that I have to have lots of ideas, time and energy to entertain my kids.

Seriously, Ameera doesn't sleep during the day time. So, when she's at home, Husayn won't sleep during the day as well (he normally does). She gets bored easily when she has nothing to do. Going out is the last thing I'd want to do, because I have to take into account a few other factors that involve lots of other things.

To keep the kids occupied, I've ingeniously introduced little projects to do during the holidays. This is our first project: working on arts and craft at home!

 

They just loved it when it came to messing with things. Painting, glueing, sticking and creating things are just the kind of things they wanted to do. Before this, we used to have a big book store near our place and they always have a free craft event for kids but now since the store's closed, I have to do it with them at home. Well, it's really fun until we get to the cleaning part! Sigh...

Hmmmm.... just another 60 days to go...60 VERY long days...

Last day of school

Last week was officially Ameera's last day of her first year at school. She's been in the same school for two years prior to this one but those years count more as her pre-school/kindergarten years. Usually, she'll be back home by school bus but that day, I decided to pick her up from school instead.

Waiting for his sister

The minute she entered the car she was in tears. She was so sad thinking of the school holidays, because it meant that she won't be seeing her school friends for a long time and added to that, she doesn't know whether she'll be seeing her class teacher again in the next school year.

We went to the park straight after school. Seen here pretending to be a statue. She can be funny too!

Ameera just loves school so much. To be honest, I've never had problems waking her up early in the morning to get her ready for school. Sometimes, she even wakes herself up before I do and takes a shower straight away because she is just so excited and doesn't want to miss any school days. Am I so lucky or what?

She just doesn't like the idea of the long school holidays and keeps asking me how many days are left until school re-opens. Two months? Errr...this year, it could be even longer than usual as Eid (or Hari Raya to the people back home) falls in the first week of September so, instead of re-opening then, the holidays will be extended by another week or so to accommodate Eid.

Anyway, I am just so proud of her especially for all her achievments in school. Besides being student of the month, she came in second in a sporting event (and got a silver medal for her troubles). I guess she's also one of her teacher's pets.

Well, I know that when she was in junior infants she definitely was her teacher's favourite because until this day, she still keeps in touch with her favourite teacher and whenever we meet her, her teacher never fails to stop and have a good chat with her. This still happens even though that same teacher no longer teaches in the same school!

I suppose every kid would love school if they get lots of attention.

Well, I just hope it will last forever, InshaAllah...

It's Monday again!!!

Woke up in the morning as usual. It's Monday!!! Arghhh...not again. Have to take a shower, get everything ready as my daughter's going to school and my husband's going to work. Ooops...I just remembered. It's the school holidays. Yay!!!



So, while still wearing my PJ's, I went down and made my husband his breakfast and his sandwich for lunch in the office (isteri mithali gitu). I went back upstairs hoping to continue my beauty sleep. The kids were all wide awake.

Husayn: Mummy can we go down? My tummy's rumbling. I'm hungry. Ameera: Yes Mummy, can we go down? I want to watch TV. Mummy: Give Mummy 5 minutes ok?
ZZZzzz...not in peace but more like trying to close my eyes while my kids kept on whining to go down.

I give up! So here it goes.

I am happy because it's the school holidays and I don't have any obligation to go out in this miserable Irish weather early in the morning to walk to the bus stop. But knowing my kids, who are all very energetic and full of ideas, merely staying at home and curling up under the blankets is just not an option. I have to think of something else. Well actually, lots of things.

Two weeks!!! Well it just made my day. I'll be very busy for sure.

My daughter just made a list of things to do and somehow, I was duped into promising her that we'd tick everything off her list. The good thing is, at least I had planned what to do over this Easter bank holiday weekend. I'll let you know about it soon so, you guys out there who are in Ireland could maybe come and join us.

The best part of the plan is that it's free. I promise. Well, most of it anyway.