Birthdays

The kids with Yasmin's BD cake (I forgot to take it out of the pan)

Yasmin just celebrated her birthday last week. She is the first kid to celebrate her birthday during the fasting month. So we didn't perform our ritual which is going out to eat at KFC or Pizza Hut but instead we ordered 3 pizzas (1 large peperoni, 1 large Hawaiian chicken, and 1 regular veggie lover)for breakfasting. Sorry Danial, you missed that one. Yasmin wanted to have a cellphone as a present. Steve almost gave in but hey I have the veto power. So she got a few novels instead. Not a bad deal considering the extra costs - money wise as well as health wise - that will be incurred by cellphones. I got my first cellphone when I was 40 years old, as a birthday present from Steve. So I think Yasmin still has many more years to wait (maybe not until she's 40) to get that little gadget.Well, we can not have what we want all the time.

Harris was cutting his BD cake

They got to eat out at their favorite restaurant

Last month was Harris' birthday. I didn't get the opportunity to be there with the kids because I was busy playing tennis at the inter-varsity tournament in Malacca. We only managed to enter the quarterfinal round but we had a great time. We got RM200, two weeks unrecorded leave, and most importantly we had a chance to meet with friends from other universities around the country. Anyway, this entry is not about the tournament but it's about Harris' birthday. Sorry, I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, I was not home when the celebration was taken place. However, I left my camera with Steve so that he could take some photos for me to see when I got back. Of all the places that he could have taken the pictures, he took them in the middle of the mess! That's why I had to crop the first 2 pictures (if you guys noticed :)). I guess that shows how creative men are ;) Like I said earlier, I was not home ( for almost a week) therefore my house was in a shambles. At night they went to have their regular birthday dinner at one of the Pizza huts in town.

Birthday Time

Today is Steve's birthday. As usual we don't celebrate or give each other present anymore because for us everyday is a celebration, hahaha. But it is different with our kids' birthdays, we must celebrate or else... Since yesterday was Najla's birthday, Steve baked our family tradition's moist chocolate cake. At night we went to eat at ECM Pizza Hut. I guess the kids were really starving because they ordered 2 large pepperoni pizzas, 3 orders of bread-sticks, 3 cups of mushroom soup, iced lemon tea, orange juice, and pepsi. I ordered a regular crispy-crust veggie-lover's for me. Before we entered the restaurant, we bumped into parents of one of Steve's students. Just for the sake of conversation, we mentioned that it was a celebration for Najla's birthday. Little that we know, about half an hour later they gave a box of present to Najla. Wow! That's what we call rezki. My mom who is with us for this whole week, also bought a present for Najla. As soon as everyone "inhaled" the food, we left the mall so that we could get our beauty sleep before enjoying another day of life. These are some of the pictures I took yesterday:

Happy birthday

Today is Hannah's birthday. As usual we bake a chocolate cake as that is the kind that all my children love to eat. It has been a family tradition to bake a chocolate cake the day (or night) prior to the day of celebration. It is safe to say that Steve and I have become experts in baking it so if one cannot do it, the other will automatically takes over the responsibility. Since I was busy cooking porridge and chicken soup (along with hot and spicy soy sauce, yum, yum) he baked the cake. It is exciting because Hannah's birthday is going to be the first to be celebrated in our new home. I wonder if Steve has bought a present for her yet. I feel bad because I said something unpleasant to Hannah this morning because she has a habit of not using a prayer rug when she prays. I hope that incident does not spoil her day. I feel even worse after I read Prof Kamil's and Zaid's blog entries about raising children this morning. I know all the theory about raising children but when it comes to practice ... I guess that is part and parcel of being a parent. Happy birthday Hannah :)

9th Birthday

We celebrated Hannah's 9th birthday early last month. We had our normal rituals which involved cutting a homemade chocolate cake followed by a pizza dinner at one of the "fatty outlets" in town. In the past we frequented the one in Ktn Parade but this year we went to ECM. I think that was the first time or maybe the 2nd time I went to that mall. It looks nice from the outside but it's not as user friendly as I would like it to be. Other people seem to be enjoying that place. I guess it's just me because I am not a shopping freak. This year I decided to bake 2 different shapes of cake: one was a regular round one and the other was a heart shaped. The kids liked the heart shape and Najla has already requested to have one for her birthday which is coming up next month.

Yasmin’s 13th Birthday

Hmm... I wonder what tickled 'em

Yasmin has officially turned a teenager on 12 August 2009. Steve asked her how she felt being a teenager and she said “just the same”. That’s right! What’s a big deal anyway? I have turned a teenager several decades ago and still feel the same! Hahaha! Ooops, is there something wrong with me? Anyway, we celebrated Yasmin’s birthday at a pizza place in Mega Mall. Boy, the kids ate a lot! We ordered 5 servings of breadsticks, a plate of spaghetti, 2 large pepperoni and 1 regular veggie lover pizzas, soups, and a variety of soft drinks. All are disastrous for human health but we don’t do it everyday. I guess that’s ok. We also bought 2 novels as presents for Yasmin: Necropolis & Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox. Of course, as usual, we had to buy a book each for the other kids too. After dinner, the kids ate some ice cream and then we went to see G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra. By the time the movie ended and we arrived home, it was too late to cut her birthday cake. So we did that the following evening.

Harris’ 11th Birthday

Having 5 children means celebrating their birthdays 5 times a year. Well, that’s not so bad. Looking for the right presents 5 times a year is sometimes tough. We don’t want to buy something too expensive because that will drill deep holes in our pockets but at the same time we would like to get something which would please our kids. Since Steve is not so busy at his office at the moment, he went shopping for the present. Harris wanted a Nintendo DS but we (the parents!) disagreed. Besides being expensive, it will just transfer Harris’ attention from the computer screen to the game screen. That would be bad for his eyesight! Steve decided to get him a remote control car and Harris loves it. At least something takes his eyes off the computer. He didn’t open his present until 10 o’clock last night, after we got back from a birthday dinner at Pizza Hut (a ritual for the past several years). We didn’t cut his chocolate birthday cake until this evening, after Steve and I got off work. The chocolate cake is homemade, and it is another family ritual ever since we celebrated our eldest son’s first birthday in 1995! They aren’t tired of the taste yet. Happy birthday Harris.

At Pizza Hut (Ktn Parade)

Harris is taller than abang Danial?

Najla must be full to be able to make that expression

Harris! Get off the counter!

Mmmm, yummy icecream

How does it feel to be 11 Harris?

Harris with his present

Najla got a present too, a diary. See! she's writing in it!

Smile... You are on candid camera!

The same old chocolate cake

Be careful Harris, don't cut yourself

Harris' present, the batteries are dead already!

Yasmin, Hannah, and Najla got one of this diary each

Danial got this mouse and he has to share it with me!

Danial’s 15th Birthday

Danial’s 15^th birthday was on Monday 4 May 2009. Usually either Steve or I would bake our kids’ favorite moist chocolate cake for their birthday the day before the celebrated date. But this time we didn’t bake Danial’s cake until the evening of his birthday itself because we attended a friend’s wedding in Lenggeng and had to travel back to Kuantan at the time we were supposed to bake. So I had to do it on Monday evening after work. He didn’t get to cut the cake until 10 pm on Tuesday. By then all the other kids (except Yasmin) were already sleeping. Danial said “it was nice and quiet”. Maybe he was just trying to make me feel less guilty. What a wonderful son.

The kids' favourite : Moist chocolate cake

Hmmm... yummy