Happy Birthday, Mami!!

My mom was born on 15 Dec, 68 years ago. This post is a little belated, I know -- but a significant event such as the birth anniversary of a person who gave birth to moi deserves a special entry.

At 68 years of age, my mother shows no sign of slowing down. I can safely say her life is even more hectic than mine, attending to business, events and social functions. I thought I'd never say this, but I hope I'd have half her zest for life when and if I ever reach that age!!

As the second eldest sister in a matriarchal Minangkabau family (elder to three younger sisters in KL - eldest sister lives in Kedah), she is the leader of the pack—head honcho if you would. Mami is the sixth child out of 10 – five girls and five boys. Except for one, all four elder brothers have passed on while Mami and her two younger sisters are widows.

She is indeed the pillar of strength amongst our family members – the ‘orang tua’ we all look up to. She is the glue that keeps the family together.

We surprised her on Sunday with a little birthday do attended by close family members.

So, to Mami -- Happy Birthday and I pray I can be the anak solehah that I should!! And though these words seldom come out from your only biological daughter, I know that you know I love you!!

Happy birthday, Mami!!

* the yummylicious birthday carrot cake was baked by my niece, the budding baker Mya.

A surprise for moi!!

My phone kept ringing every 15 minutes since 5pm on Friday. Like a broken tape recorder, the phrase, "bila mommy nak balik", "what time are you coming home," ajelah yang Maira & Misha asyik dok tanya...

I purposely wanted to stay a little late at the office to try and finish up all the work... it's a busy time of the year now. My plan was to leave after Maghrib, pick up the girls and head straight to my mom's for our monthly majlis ilmu with Dr Fatma.

At 6.45pm another desperate call came again. When I told Maira that I won't be coming up to the apartment and for her to just wait with Misha and Bibik at the security post when I call later, I could hear worried voices in the background. And I heard a couple of voices too.

"Macamana ni... mommy tak nak naik atas..." I heard in the background... hmmmm... I knew the girls were up to something!!!

"We haven't finished our Kumon worksheets, mommy kena naik atas laaa,"... I knew it was a trick... they must have something up their sleeves, I told myself. Haahaa... it was funny...

And since we had to be at my mom's by 9pm, I decided to pack my things in the office and head home. What'dya know?? The moment I came in the door, "SURPRISE!! Happy Birthday!!" with confetti strewn at me!!

The lights in the house were out, two girls were holding a birthday cake and another two holding a giant birthday card!!

It's a surprise birthday party for me!! (tho' my b-day is not until 2 days later ...)

Maira, her two best friends Maisara & Azreen and Misha + Bibik had decorated the house with balloons + Happy Birthday banners + streamers and a birthday spread on the table!!!

I was impresssed!! I told the girls my birthday isn't until Sunday, but they said it would've been impossible for them to plan a surprise for me had it been a non-working day. Betul, jugak kan?? hehe... so they decided Friday was the best day to do it!!

On the table was nasi goreng brought by Azreen, the cake was bought by Maisara's mom (thank you, thank you!!), Bibik made fried meehoon, some mango jellies they took home from class party, oranges and leftover muffins I baked for their class party. I was soooo soooo touched!!! And soooo proud of the girls!! And to think that they managed to keep it to themselves!! Tu yang paling impressed hehe..

It seems they waited and waited for me to come home... sampai laparrrr sangat!! Kesian!! It was half past seven when I got home and apparently the last time they ate was at their class party earlier!! They said they were busy preparing everything and was nervous sampai tak boleh nak makan!! So cute!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you gurrrrrllssss... mommy/auntie really really appreciate it!!

And the birthday card was so touching as well....

What can I say but Alhamdulillah... thank you, God for blessing me with everything that you have chosen just for me... I am indeed blessed.

To Maira & Misha, my best birthday present is of course having you as my children... to have met your dad and build this little family of ours... may Allah bestow his blessings upon daddy, ya girls... Ameen... The three of you are indeed the best things God had given me... and this time of the year is indeed special... I married my soulmate just a day before my birthday 11 years ago...

To Muslim readers reading this, hope it's not too much of me to ask you to recite Al-Fatihah for my beloved arwah...

Al-Fatihah...

Maira's 'lil birthday do

We had an early 'lil birthday do for not-so-little-anymore Maira yesterday. My daughter Maira will officially turn 9 on Tuesday, 20 May 2008.

Notice the cake? Beautiful, isn't it? Siapa lagi yang buat, if not the wonderfully talented Wiz! I had written about Maira's request to have a handbag cake for her birthday here. Thank you, Wiz for the lovvvvely cake!!!

Pic taken from here. With permission, ok??? ;-)

Maira invited some of her schoolfriends over and the first to arrive was Azreen and her brother. The invitation said 2.30pm but they arrived at 1.15pm!!! ;-)

Maira, Azreen and bro posing dulu with the cake before the party started. PS: Azreen's brother checking out the cake! hehe

And soon, the rest of the Adni gang arrived. They are so muslimah, aren't they? Alhamdulillah...

Azreen, Maisara & Maira

I organised some games for the children. I hope they had fun. After three games, they wanted more and so, they organised their own treasure hunt!!! As long as they are happy, right? Gave me some time to mingle with the adult guests...

Misha (right) and Nurin. Dah berpeluh-peluh main tengah padang!

Cake-cutting time!



Little hands grabbing the cake deco!

My first-born is turning into an 'anak dara' by the day!!! I hope she becomes the best that she can be!

Maira @ Nov, 2007

LOVE YOU, MAIRA! Make Mommy and Daddy proud, ok?

Putting on the party-planner hat again!

"I think we should start planning for my birthday party la Mommy...," said Maira Friday night.

Yup, my first-born will turn nine May 20. And she definitely has figured out what she wants for her party!

For starters, she'd like to have a 'handbag cake'. Amboiiii... baru sembilan tahun dah pandai nak handbag, ye??? haha... girls these days. Well, I have that taken care of by Wiz. And I'm sure she's going to come up with yet another masterpiece!!!

Maira wants to invite all her classmates too, but girls only. This is because she's embarrased if the boys see her without her hijab!!! pandai malu!!! (my girls go to an Islamic school and wearing hijab is part of the uniform).

We got ready-made invitation cards at MPH today after their Computertots class. Being a cheap-skate, (haha) I had thought of asking them to make the invitation cards themselves, but remembered that they will have their first term exam next next week and knowing them, they will spend all their time creating, decorating and beautifying the cards and I sure don't want that to happen when they should be doing their revision.

Last year, it was just a quiet birthday for Maira. May 20, 2007 was just 3 months after their daddy's passing and with me still in my iddah, we had a quiet cake-cutting do with some family. This year, she is expecting a PARTY!!!

I have decided that I will let her have the party that she wants. If daddy was around, he'd give in to her, too. And yeah, I will gladly organise everything everytime.

The next two weeks will be a mega-busy time for me on the workfront. We are participating in a world congress -- sort of like the Olympics of the IT world and I anticipate the 'panic state' will start tomorrow onwards!!! hehehe... arrrggghhhh...

Since her birthday falls on a Tuesday, we will have the party on Sunday, May 18 as the following day, May 19 is a public holiday for Wesak. That way, I'll have a day to recover after all that!!!

But you know what? I just found out that we will be involved in a press conference on Wesak Day itself! WHAT??? There goes my rest! Another aarrrggghhhh!!!

On another note, I hope I'll be able to organise something memorable for Maira. Nine days after she turns nine, I will be leaving them two with my mom as I will go on a two-week trip which I have been looking forward to for a loooonnnngggg time now.

May is a busy month for me but come May 29, I hope I would be able to leave everything behind and just enjoy my trip. Insya Allah...

Another birthday bash!

My nieces Maya and Tini lovingly organised a birthday bash for their mom, my eldest sis Kak Long as well as for my second sis, Kak Anim and her grandkid, Lisa this afternoon. Like my dad, all three of them are April babies.

It was makan, makan and more makan!!!

Maya the kitchen goddess baked blueberry cheesecake, a scrumptuoliscious chicken pie and fried popiah. Another niece, Jasmine baked apple strudels and also made some trifle. Rajin bebudak nih!!! The main dish was laksa Johor... aahhh... my tummy still hurts from the over-eating!!!

The birthday girls!!!

The kids enjoying some party games...

Can you spot Pooh and Tigger on the chicken pie below?

April 24

It's my late father's birthday today. He would have been 89.

Papa lived his life to the fullest. He was bold, a straight-talking-kinda-man, a non-conformist and a loving dad.

May Allah bless his soul. Ameen.

A very young papa (standing, right) with his partners in crime.

Happy birthday kiddos!

Happy Birthday Aiman & Azra!

My sis' grandkids had their birthdays celebrated in a little do Saturday. My sis' grandkids = my grandnephew and grandniece! Yup, I'm a grantaunt alright! hehe...

And this old granny had mixed up the birthdays of her grandnieces -- I had thought it was 6-year-old Lisa's birthday in March, but in fact it was her lil' sis, 3-year-old Azra's b-day! Ape la Tok Tin ni... (had ordered cupcakes with Aiman and LISA's name spelled out -- thank God Azra can't read!)

Aiman and Azra shared a gorgeous birthday cake baked by their aunt, my bride-to-be niece, Maya.

Above: Birthday boy, 8-year-old Aiman

Above: Lil' Azra blowing her candles

The kids goofing around...

Below: Maya's homemade donuts ala Krispy Kreme... yummy!

Yummy cuppies...

What a work of art!

Thanks, Linda for the cupcakes...

My niece Jasmine and her two kids, Aiman and Lisa will be having a lil' birthday do at my sis' tomorrow and I've ordered these cupcakes from Linda, whom I call a cupcake artist.

I knew about Linda's work from fellow blogger Wiz, from whom I initially wanted to order cupcakes from (Wiz is another cupcake artist), but Wiz' orders for March are already closed.

Picked Spongebob and Dora since the two kiddos love these characters so much.

I hope they'll love the cuppies. Oh, I'm sure they will!

Generous Linda was so kind to add on 4 little cuppies especially for my girls. God bless you, Linda... Allah murahkan rezeki you and family...

A little party for Misha

Here are pictures from Misha's birthday do, attended by close family members.

Misha getting all excited while waiting for guests to arrive ;D

The girls with a pic of their daddy.

Happy birthday, Misha!

My dearest daughter Misha Munirah,

You are 7 years old today. How time flies. Thank you for coming into our lives. I thank Allah for you.

May you grow to be solehah. May your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small. And may you never need to carry more than you can hold. That is my wish for you.

I love you.