The Baby Is A Whole Hand

for a whole five years, he has graced my life. after three, you would think you've been there, done that, seen it all, but he kept giving me things to learn, things to wonder, things to ponder upon. from his bird's chest and small airway and milk dripping for six months to his need to read and count and dance everyday.

not that i'm choosing one over another but akmal is just pure joy. he is lovely to have, wonderful to talk to, excellent to have around. he has his bad points, seriously he does - he's whiny, he's cries quite a bit, he can be an irritating shadow, he has some strong lazy bones in him - but he is just wonderful. ok, i don't actually know if that is true or its just that 'youngest child' syndrome i seem to suffer from but let's just entertain the blogger and go with the former.

akmal's been looking forward to his birthday. its been quietly tucked away because he had his school trip the week before but once that was over he became excited again asking about his birthday. he's pretty easy to entertain, they all are actually, he doesn't ask for much. he just said he'd love to have a jake and the neverland pirates party and hinted strongly he would love the jake lego set that's been airing on telly.

i got a friend to bake his jake cuppies for school. then i got another friend to do a simple jake thank you stickers for his party packs. his party packs were pretty easy to do, just a box of milo, a pack of cookies, a party toy and a pirate tattoo. i did 30 sets within an hour. unfortunately the thank you stickers did not arrive on time and i put a pictured sellotape instead.

on the way to school, he asked if i was coming to school to celebrate his birthday. i gave him a hard time, asking who is doing a party, who is getting a cake, what about his party packs. he got a bit upset and i said, let's see if i have time this morning. when i came to school bearing cuppies, party packs and a tub of fries for his friends, he was absolutely excited.

he went around giving out the pirate party hats and the party packs, smiling widely when his classmates sang the birthday song. it was a short and sweet party for him but he was so happy, repeating 'i love my party' throughout the day.

we opted not to go out for dinner like other birthdays. instead, we got food delivered from our favourite birthday dinner outlet. while the boys bathed, i set up the table with the food, cuppies of his favourite colours - red and purple, his birthday gift and leftover party packs for the four boys.

his brothers of course we excited beyond words to surprise him. when they led him to the dinner table, akmal was glowing and laughing and smiling. and he didn't stop saying 'i love my birthday and my party'. ah so easy to please, all the more reason to adore him.

Ten Years of EISEAI

alhamdulillah we reached our ten years of marriage today. ten years seem to fly by with four pregnancies and deliveries, knee surgeries and eye surgeries and skin grafts, stopping work and restarting and then stopping again, SAHM trial and SAHM actual, hospital admissions, new job and new job and new job and new job and new job (for hubby, at least), moving house, packing and moving again, schools, exams, doctors appointments, fits, fevers and flus. there's never a dull moment in our household.

1 family

2 teams

3 footballers-in-the-making

4 boys

5 year-old akmal

6 of us

7 year-old ariff

8 year-old asyraf

9 year-old amir

10 years today

praying for many more eventful years, insyaAllah...

Amir's Surprise Barbeque

after many, many cancelations, postponements, dates checkings, we finally had amir's surprise birthday barbecue during the long weekend. the boys didn't know we were having guests over and when they found out, amir didn't know it was for him as his birthday was during the earlier part of the month.

he was absolutely surprised when the cake came out and it was lovely he got a dinner with his aunts and uncles as he wanted, and he probably would ask for it again next year. oh well…we'll think about it in a year's time.

i prepared lemon and herb chicken, beef kebabs and salad. i also had burgers just in case those were not enough. my mom brought roti daging to go with the barbecue and nescafe jelly. my sister made mashed potatoes so the table was pretty full.

if anyone wants the recipe for the chicken and the kebab. not patting myself on the back or anything but the lemon and herb chicken was excellent.

lemon and herb chicken
chicken drumstick
sliced lemons
rosemary
salt and pepper
put all in a tupperware and stick them in the fridge for a few hours then pop them on the grill (easy enough hey?)

beef kebab
beef cubes (marinated with mixed herbs, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper for a couple of hours)
cherry tomatoes
capsicum
button mushroom
put the beef cubes, tomatoes, capsicum and button mushroom on a satay stick. leave them in the fridge until they're about to be grilled (err…yes another easy one)