One Demanding Play-Schooler!

Adam, play-schooler in the house, been complaining, nagging, whining for dayssssss *eyes roll* that he he's been improperly dressed for school everyday. Well okay. Maybe Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Mebius are way too unsuitable. But he includes Angry Bird, Transformers and all as well.

He charmed us out (via endless pleading, hundreds of 'please' and whatnots) for proper school uniform 'baju putih sekolah macam abang tu.... yang kecikkkkkkkkk je' dengan 'seluar panjang biru yang kecccciiiikkkkkkkk tu'.

Thing is, his kindy will provide uniforms, we ordered 2 sets to be exact. But that little boy just got too impatient to wait. No wanting to dampen his spirit for school, few days back we made a pit-stop at Jusco and bought what we thought as the closest resemblance to his definition of baju sekolah..

White tee Trudy&Trendy. Mahal ya amat, RM29.00 untuk sehelai baju yang asalnya mungkin tak sampai 1m kain pon! Tapi budak SG tu kata, 'ni dah murahhh Kakk.. dah best buy neh'. Sebenarnya kami dah cari yang brand Jusco, Alpha, Kiko, sumer xde size dia. Layann. Pants cap Pooh. Sungguh tak rock la Adik heh heh. Janji ada kanss. Ni plak RM22 selai pas diskaun 50%. Pehal baju budak2 dah nak sama harga dengan baju mak pak nih? Tapi sebab dah lewat (singgah after work), beli kan ajer. Tak larat nak tadah telinga mamat kenit tu merengek-rengek. Dia ni kalau merengek ala-ala over. Dengan muka inesen, mata bulat berkaca-kaca. Mulut plak tak renti-renti bercakap. Cair okay. Cair. Sindrom anak bongsu?

One happy boy that he is now eh?.. All smiles. Despite Iman's 'alaaaa tak cantik punnnnn' Iman, you're one sour-grape there okay.

Namun...

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Few days later.. Adam kembali bersuara 'Saya nak kasut putih macam Abang tuuu... yang keccciiiiikkkkkkk jerrr' *muka inesen* *mata bulat berkaca-kaca* *mulut tak renti-renti bercakap* Adoilah...

Innalillah..

My FIL passed away early morning 7th January 2012. About a week after we parted for KL having spent the week earlier in Tgg.

Thanks to those who sent condolences via sms, fb.

We were shocked indeed. Tebby was broken for a while before he could collect himself and later we sped off to Tgg. I wished I had known how to drive his car then. How stressful it was having to face the death of a very close family member and at the same time having to drive all the way from KL to Tgg.

To cut things short, syukur, semua berjalan lancar. Semua anak-anak arwah dan menantu sempat tengok arwah sebelum dikebumikan. Semua cucu-cucu kecuali 2 orang sempat menatap arwah. I remember how cold he was when I kissed his forehead. But I didn't make it to the grave for burial. My MIL was not able to go due to her health so we waited at home and received visitors.

How fragile life is. My MIL was unexpectedly calm and composed. But she broke away when we salam and parted for KL, after 8 days in Tgg. Sesungguhnya kalau keadaan membenarkan, I'll be most willing to bring us to stay with us. Whatmore when Tebby is an only son. But she has her own thinking and for now we'll just let her do things her way.

Moga arwah FIL, Haji Ismail b Awang ditempatkan bersama orang-orang beriman di sana. Moga Allah permudahkan urusan harian MIL di kampung.

This is the 3rd consecutive years that death of close family members occured. Mid 2010, my nenek passed away. After Eid 2011, my uncle passed away. And early 2012, my FIL. Yes, we broke down in the beginning, absorbed in our feelings. Later we carried on and moved on. Not to say we forget, we never do. But life itself needs us to move on.

Al-Fatihah to all those that has passed away.

Kakak - Big Cat Series

Yang bawah ni pulak drawing si Adam, banana katanya. Hurmpp.. bagus Dik, ada gak la rupa pisang :)

Adam the Kindergarten-er

Adam mula tadika hari ni. Same tadika that Kakak and Iman went to. Dia sangat excited. Dari pagi dok check beg sekolah dia :D That's the spirit Adam! And that makes semua my children bersekolah already. Kakak in Primary 5, Iman Primary 2 and Adam in kindy.

Unlike last time when my elder two was small, kindy tak banyak choice in this area. Kindy yang femes pun was CEC. Few years later ada Krista and Smart Reader. For convenience sake, all my children, kami hantar pegi Aftal Excel. There's Genius Aulad, BBIM and few more but all requires Adam to travel. He's only 4. I won't risk it. Atfal Excel charges RM200 monthly fee. Masa Kakak it was RM150, then Iman RM170 and now already RM200.

Yang tak pakai uniform tu either newcomers or 4yo. You one lucky boy Adam, tu ada gegirl comel lote tu. Kalau tanya Ummi, the one in scarf tu yek hihi.

When I picked him up, adoilah. Banyak betul cerita dia. He insisted that he had homework to do and scolded me for not putting exercis books and whatnots (macam Kakak and Iman) dalam school bag dia. He grows too fast :D

Sewn With Love

Hand sewn with love (and hope).

Hers.
Pretty straight forward to sew.

His.
A bit more complicated as it is sewn on pockets. You don't want to stitch the pocket opening as well. Name tag is sewn on top of badge. Relatively easy. Just that it is thick, I really need to push the needle to get the thread through.

Anyway.

Kakak started her Primary 5 yesterday and Iman, Primary 2. It's gonna be another 3 years for another Primary 1 drama :D Had it not been a paranoid-me, things would've been much easier. For Kakak, we did not worry too much. She's Primary 5, she's gonna be 11 soon.

Iman, on the other hand, lined up in the wrong class to begin with. Then somehow he parted ways with the teacher who brought them up to their class after assembly. We saw him asked another teacher for direction. That's my boy. Smart and getting independent.

When they came back from school, I was relieved to see happy faces. They had homework, which was a surprise. On first day? Really?

Asked Iman how he was doing. Went eating alone in the canteen. OK. Independent but please make friends with others. He couldn't find his class after recess but he told me he kept on looking until he found it. Persistent.

Kakak made new friend with a newcomer in Aftal Sayang. Same age. I am glad since she's very much a loner actually.

1st day went smoothly. Alhamdulillah.

If you are interested in what happened in 2011 and 2008, continue reading..

Read how emotionally drained I was with the school thingy here.
Read Iman's Orientation Day here.
Read my heartfeeling on Iman's first 2 weeks in school here.

Read my thougth wayyyy back in January 2008 when Kakak started Primary 1, here.

Adam and His Way of Gardening

Few days back, we, me and Adam planted seeds in this planter above. Iya, itu adalah bekas telur. I mean ex bekas telur. There's timun jepun in a section. Sweet pea in another. And cili padi as well. Adam insisted he put the seeds so we ended up doing that process for a good 15 minutes *sigh*

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And the next day, Adam saw this. Can you imagine how excited and ecstatic he was? Dia ingatkan those seeds has bloomed up into these :P

'ABAHHH!! ABAH!!! ABAHH!!, Semalam saya tanam bijik. Hari ni, ni pokok dia!!'

Balik Kampung Losong..

I have tried to spice up my wardrobe. More vibrant, more happy colors, But I am always drawn to kinds like this. Earth tone, soft and pastels. Photo below adalah kain dibeli di Pasar Payang.

Almost everytime balik kampung, I'd come to Pasar Payang. Each time balik kampung, almost always ada orang kirim barang. Kaftan usually. Some buah tangan for my parents, kain batik, kain pelikat, tudung etc. There's a shop selling cheap kiddy t-shirt - Ultraman, Ben 10, Superman, and the latest hit, Angry Bird of course. Those are blessings in disguise as I can chip mine in as well :D I love silk. Delicate, soft and individual.

Some people ask why I do not buy extra. I dare not. Chances are, I'd be buying those extra, from me for myself :D :D But I am thinking of buying silks in bulk and re-sell. One fine day, insyaAllah.

The kids while waiting. Iman was actually goofing around with Adam. Adam dah lari, tak masuk dalam gambar.

Look at the back. Hasil selepas memilih. Thing is each kain I touched, budak tu sure bukak and gayakan. Each kaftan, each kain batik. How could I not buy eh?

Tingkat bawah Pasar Payang. Food section. Divided into dry products and wet area. Dry products for keropok (abundant of them! macam bukit!), kuih kapit, sagun and fruits as well. Wet area pulak ada very-wet-area, tempat jual hasil tangkapan laut. Not-very-wet pulak jual sayur-sayur, kampung products, ikan masin, budu etc. Photo above adalah gambar not-very-wet area. Belakang tembok simen tu adalah very-wet-area which we did not go to sebab the kids tagged along and two of them adalah tak boleh diam :D

Varieties of ikan masin. We bought ikan gelama jeruk. Sangat sedap ok. Makan nasi berlaukkan itu saja sudah cukup. It reminds me those time zaman-zaman banjir kat kampung when I was small. My father would stock up ikan masin. Makan dengan nasi or ubi kayu. Those were the days..

Swiss Garden Resot & Spa 24th-26th December 2011

En-route to Kuala Terengganu, pit-stopped 3d2n at Swiss Garden Resort & Spa (SGRS) Kuantan. The kids were ecstatic. How would they not, they love swimming pool. Beach would be an added bonus.

Booked ourselves a Studio Room. The biggest that we could afford. There was a sitting area with sofa set. Which later turned into goofing area for the kids during the day and their sleeping area during the night. Me and Tebby occupied the bed ;P In our defense, we wouldn't want any of them fall from the bed and hit the floor, which was not carpeted.

We asked for extra blankets and pillows for the kids. Pushed aside the sofa and coffee table. Luas kan. Roomy and comfy enough for the five of us. Plus, unlike One World Hotel, One Utama, we could control the temperature. No one shivered under the duvet this time around :D (Read out brrr-ing time in One World OU, here)

Morning kids!! Bangun solat jom! Selimut tu sendiri punya. Very nostalgic hihi. So yesteryears punya corak. The one Iman was in used to be my selimut during my STF's days.

First trip to the beach. Equipped with buckets, shovels and what nots. The kids decided to hunt for seashells. The waves were kind enough that we did not hesitate to wait and dip our feet. Sand was very fine. The weather was not too cooperative. Cloudy and windy. It didn't rain heavily sepanjang we all kat sana. The kids still got their fair chance of going to the beach and had fun in the pool.

First dip in the pool. Hey, look kids, sharks! Not one, but two! :D It was so cold and pool was not heated. I was shivering just by looking. But look at these kids :D It rained a bit a little later, everyone rushed and got out, as though not to get wet from the rain! Hi hi!

Iman sea-horsing Kakak. You're one mean boy Iman..

Second trip to the beach. SGRS coast guard warned us against going near the water. Ombak besar. The boys played with the sand instead. Kakak and Tebby went hunting for more seashells.

My boys. Iman is mini-me. Adam has striking resemblance of Tebby. Some say the boys look the same. Perhaps me and Tebby lived together long enough that we replicate one another?

Their last dip before checking out. It was C.O.L.D. Adam gave up later and both of us went back to the room. The elder two 'pruned' themselves in the pool. Suka hati koranglah ye anak-anak sekelian.

Back in the room. Adam in his little H.E.A.T.E.D swimming pool - bath tub!

While we were at the room, Iman found a crab in the children pool. Perhaps it wandered a tad bit too far and found a home in the pool. Tebby thought Iman was imagining things but the truth was, the crab, big enough for chilli crab, was there all along. Nasib baik takde sapa-sapa punya ***** yang kena sepit!

Our room during our short stay. Put aside its buffet breakfast and small bathroom cum toilet, I put my highest vote for SGRS (with comparison to Impiana (read here about our stay in Impiana) and Holiday Villa Cherating)

Info can be found and booking can be done here.. http://www.swissgarden.com