First Week of School 2014

its been a week since school resumed. kinda weird starting school on a thursday but good actually, since i noticed most parents only took leave on the first two days of school, thursday & friday. and that gave the first full week to us stay-at-home parents to drop by during break time.

first day of school was tiring. i never spent 7 hours in school before. it started with a quick drop off at BiCDC for akmal, then i was at SRA for 3 hours in the morning. got home to prepare lunch and prepare the boys for school.

then it was SK in the afternoon. i didn't intend to stay too long but when we got to SK there were so so soooo many cars, we had to park so far away. the thought of walking back to the car then coming back and parking still so far away and walking back to school was worse than actually sitting in the canteen waiting for ariff's recess time. then i thought, well, since i'm here, might as well wait to see asyraf and then amir to have their break. lo and behold, it was already 4.30pm and i've spent 4 hours in the canteen.

the second day of school was much better. i dropped the boys at SRA before making my way to BiCDC with akmal. since i didn't get to see him in his new class the day before, i wanted to send him but he said he could go in on his own (oh no my baby *sobs*). i went for a quick breakfast before making my way back to SRA for ariff's recess.

good thing SK starts later than usual on fridays so i had time to make the boys rice with ayam kicap and soup telur for lunch. and after sending the boys to SK it wasn't a long wait before ariff comes out for his recess.

this week is more easy going. ariff's gotten used to school, he's easy going, pretty relaxed, not at all interested in buying food in school, asks for simple roti nutella or roti butter in his lunch box for me to bring. there's not many parents around during recess and i've gotten the right timing to avoid the crowd when i send and pick the boys up. and akmal's gotten back his nap time routine during the afternoons, alhamdulillah.

New Year 2014

2013 has passed wonderfully. i don't make resolutions, instead i make plans and wishes. syukur alhamdulillah, my wishes for 2013 was granted by Allah subhana wata'ala. on 15 aug, we moved to DP and on 23 dec, hubby began his 'working-in-kl' life.

2014 for me is to concentrate on the boys' schooling as three are now in primary school. amir have been selected as prefect for agama school, ariff is entering year one and akmal will be alone in kindy. our focus for the new year is healthier food and to cut down on fast food. we have stopped consuming KFC and McDonalds, Burger King (which we convince ourselves is healthier than McD hah!) will be next on the list. i'm still all for pizza, though. i'm trying to cut canteen food for the boys, but that takes effort from me and the boys. sometimes, they buy the same things i've prepared in their lunch boxes which can be very irritating. i know its purely the thrill of buying food. at least they buy just food and don't waste their money on sweets, ice cream and drinks.

as the boys grow more independent, i wish to travel more. i have a few traveling booklets started and hope to actually make them a reality, insyaAllah.

our new year's day started very late. the boys were still in dreamland at 9am. good luck to me trying to get them ready and out of the door in time for school tomorrow!

hubby and i made plans to get a few things in 1Utama…hubby more than me. we dropped three boys at the play area before making our separate ways to get what was on our list. mine didn't take too long, as the items i wanted weren't in stock while hubby was walking around, grumbling they didn't have anything that met his taste. but he did get everything he listed except one. akmal went with me, occasionally complaining that he was bored walking around, poor baby. lunch, as usual, was at chili's.

the boys have prepared their bags for school tomorrow, i'll get their uniform ready tonight. everyone's toothbrushes have been changed. my calendar is up, already filled with school schedules for the year.

may the year ahead be filled with love and laughter, good food and great company; may Allah guide us in our quest in becoming a better muslim, insyaAllah.

Year One Orientation

my third Year One orientation in three years. the first that i went to without hubby who had to work, the first that i went to with the boys in tow because our resident babysitter was on holiday, the first that i'll actually write about - don't know why i haven't blogged about the other two.

anyway, i was ready very early for this. it started at 8am but i told the boys we'll have to leave by 7.15am latest. of course, we left at 7.30am. we got to school 5 minutes after and i got a nice parking right in front of the gate. i came prepared, i brought along chocolate rolls for breakfast (but without water!) and fully charged iPods. but we were too early that the teachers were not even at the counters. they opened them while we were having breakfast and when i got to the counter for ariff's class, there were already 2 parents ahead of me. oh well, better than the number 20+ i got last year.

ariff was quiet throughout. he only asked a handful of questions, not at all like the ariff we know. we sat towards the back because i was not in the mood to listen to the teachers babble on and on. the boys were already hooked on the iPods and ariff was looking all pensive and nervous. when they called out for the students to line up according to class, i took ariff over to his fellow classmates. the class teacher (who was asyraf's year one teacher) and the assistant teacher went around giving the students their identification tags.

then the children went up to their respective classes and the parents had to endure hours of lecture. asyraf followed auntie lily to the canteen but i was preoccupied with something else and with akmal who refused to move (izzat malu lah dengan auntie lily *grrr*). when they got back, the first lecture was still ongoing, and by the time the second lecture ended we got totally bored and went up to the classroom for payment and registration. ariff's class teacher gave a brief introduction about herself, the payment and the forms/files that she distributed. payment was collected quite fast and i went down to ariff's classroom to pick him up.

ariff had to do an assessment, english and maths he said. according to him, he could answer them but emphasized on him being a good boy rather than the work he had done. oh well…its ariff. i hope the assessment wasn't too difficult for him to do.

since i never had an entry about amir and asyraf's orientation, thought i'd add some photos of them here…