Mosaic Art

One of those activities which I randomly grabbed off the shelves at a bookshop. It is useful when you don't have that extra time to plan an activity for them. It turns out to be a hit with them especially Balqis as she simply loves to peel off those tiny foam stickers. She also learns to comprehend a different style of instructions ( colour codes according to numbers) .

Getting ready for P1

I can't help being overly worried as to how Ilyasak will survive primary one. I think it's a normal phase which every mom goes through.
The last few weeks had been all about me preparing his school items. From books, school bag to labeling every single item that he will be bringing to school. How paranoid can I be right! I just can't help it.
Here is a snap shot of one of the tasks that I had done this past week. A typical kiasu Singaporean parent.

Ilyasak's reading journey

Ilyasak has ventured into quite a bit of Roald Dahl's books. I am so glad that he could now read thicker books with many words on a page. Although, he still needs someone to guide him along every page just to ensure that he has the correct pronunciation as well as to understand the meaning of certain words which were difficult for him to comprehend. He has yet to master the art of reading without putting a bookmark on every line so as to reduce his tendency to skip a line. It can be quite tiring for me to actually to give my fullest attention (checking on every single word) at each reading session but nevertheless I am very happy to do that.
To date, he had completed, 'The enormous crocodile', The minpins'( he hated this book actually), 'The giraffe, the pelly and me' ( it's boring in his opinion), 'The twits' ( he adores this book), 'Esio trot' ( another book which he really adores) and 'The fantastic Mr Fox ( a 'so-so' book to him).
These are all books with pages less than 130 pages so they are actually short novels with quite a fair bit of pictures to aid young readers like him along.
His current read is 'James and the giant peach'. He is into the 5th chapter and I must say that this book will the toughest of what he has read so far because there are now fewer pictures and about 141 pages. Thankfully, the plot of the story is interesting unlike 'The minpins' and 'The giraffe, the pelly and me'.
Though I foresee that this journey (rowing 'James and the giant peach') will be quite difficult but we will still strive to ride through the book and complete it and insya Allah we will get there.

A dish whipped out in 30 minutes

I did this simple dish sometime last month which is a fairly simple all-in-one dish- stir fry bee hoon.
We ( Balqis and I) rushed home after our library trip during Ilyasak's time in school. I was lucky because the time was extended to 1 pm instead of the usual 12 pm because he had a field trip to the science centre which warrant us an extra hour.
Nevertheless, we got back at 12.30 pm and immediately headed to the kitchen to fry the noodles. All the stir frying took me less than 30 minutes. Fine! I cheated a bit, I boiled the beef strips and soften the bee hoon before we left for the library.
Well, it was still an achievement to me considering that I usually spend quite a lot of time in the kitchen- yeah, I worked like a tortoise when it comes to cooking and cleaning. 

Past the 3km mark

Yeay!! Made it past the 3 km mark and finally stopped at 3.2km at 26 minutes. I know it's not a big deal to some but it definitely is to me. I used to think that I will faint or collapse on the threadmill if I ever exceeded 2km. So here is to many more future runs on the threadmill. Certainly making full use of the 'bomb' I spend on it.

Keeping fit + an impulsive buy

I started exercising quite regularly after Balqis turned a year and a half. Suddenly, it dawned upon me that I should do something about my health since I hit the big 30 and also constantly reading or hearing about people in their early 30s getting 'stroke'. That is enough to scare me. I start watching my diet and in checking what goes into my mouth. I stopped indulging in my prata, thosai and 'nasi campur' fixes and anything in the name of unhealthy food. I reduced my habit of dining out during breakfast on a weekend. I stopped scooping biryani onto my plate during weddings and functions. The maximum biryani which goes into my mouth will just be 2 spoonfuls.
With all these reasons, I made an impulsive buy a week before ramadhan. I bought a threadmill! It took me quite a while to get over the fact that I made an impulsive buy over something which cost me above $1500 and its not even a Gucci bag which u dreamt if day and night. I must be out of my mind... but the hubby coaxed me that its my health investment considering that its quite difficult for me to find the time to go jogging outdoors since the free time that I have usually is at 4 pm daily when the kids are napping. That would be the time when 'mr sun' will be shining ever blazingly and I can't be leaving them unattended while I go jog.
Therefore now, with my threadmill position right in the master bedroom, I can jog anytime I want. All I need is a mere 25 minutes and I am done. I don't need to get properly dressed and all. No excuses for not exercising.
To date, I have not treated it like a 'white elephant' and has been making good use of it. So here is to many more runs on the threadmill and targeting to hit 3 km.

Picking Arabic again

Recently, I made the decision to pick up Arabic again. After much research on some centres which offer the language, I picked one which charged reasonable monthly fees. Coincidentally, this centre was recommended by my ex-collegue and and my bestfriend. It was also the centre which my mom took her Arabic many years back. Such a coincidence isn't it? My mom was motivated to pick it up again when I told her that I had already signed up for the course and my bestfriend signed up with me for the course as well. Hopefully, I have the 'istiqamah' to stay on long in this class.
I had 4 classes so far and it had went on well, and am motivated to even revise the stuff which was taught. I even taught Ilyasak and Balqis what I learned so they pick up some basic Arabic too. I planned to research some Arabic learning materials suitable for kids also. I really hope the 'fire' to learn and teach my kids stay on for long till we achieve a certain level insya Allah.