A Short Recap of End of 2014 Happenings.

So, as you all know, I've been slow at updating this blog so I'm gonna try my best in doing a recap of what's been happening...

I've graduated from pre-school last year and have just started my primary school in January. We had a graduation ceremony and another party in school on our last day before school holiday started.

Last day of school

Last school holiday was a holiday I looked forward to the most. I will tell you why...

First, I was excited since at the end of that holiday, I was going to start a new chapter - Primary One. I had ballet performances in the beginning of December in One Utama shopping mall for their Christmas events and on one of the days I had the performance, we bought my new school uniform right after I was done with the show. 

On the 5th to 7th of December, we had our PJ Family Day in Ulu Rening. It was our family's turn to organise it. We really enjoyed our time there. We played games planned by each family and we also played with water at the nearby stream. The theme colour was Orange. It was an exciting short weekend getaway for all of us!

So that was our last holiday of 2014 before my most awaited and memorable trip after this holiday. I will tell you about that in my next post very soon. Watch this space! :)

Nek Wan - In Loving Memory

I know in my last post I promised to tell you about what happened during my birthday month but don't worry, that will come soon. This is about my great grandma, Nek Wan.

Nek Wan left us in March, just less than a month before my birthday. She was already suffering from Diabetes and her kidneys were deteriorating. She refused to go through dialysis as she felt that she was too old for it and didn't want to go through the pain and discomfort. At the end, her kidneys failed her.

I managed to spend some time with Nek Wan during her final days as she was staying at Tok Abah's house. She was happy, I think, as she got to spend time with Idzhar and I and Idzhar always made her smile. Idzhar misses her sometimes although he doesn't really understand why Nek Wan is no longer with us now. Sometimes I think he knows that she's not around anymore but is just in denial. That's because a couple of times when we went back to kampung in Rembau after Nek Wan left us, mommy overheard Idzhar talking to himself reassuring himself that Nek Wan is there or is sleeping (he said that when he saw her during the funeral too). 

I'm not sure how much Idzhar remembers her but I do remember her. Mommy has quite a few photos of Nek Wan too so I'll show them to Idzhar from time to time so he won't forget his Nek Wan. 

Anyway, with Nek Wan gone, there goes the last of my great grandparents. Going back to kampung was and never will be the same again after that.

Nek Wan, you'll be dearly missed by all of us. I love you, Nek Wan.

AlFatihah.

Recent Activities

Let me update you on what I've been doing for the past few weeks.

On the 23rd September, the whole family took part in a charity walk for breast cancer organised by Aunty Alma's company, Avon Malaysia. We try, as best as we can to support charity events for cancer, especially breast cancer after we lost our dearest Tok Mae not so long ago to the evil disease. Read about it here or here.

We woke up really early that morning and travelled all the way to Putrajaya where the walk took place. Everyone including little Idzhar (although he still couldn't walk at that time) and bibik joined the walk.

        

It was quite a fun event except for the fact that I had to wake up really early :p

Then, Tok Abah, Tok Mama, her sisters and their spouses were scheduled to perform their Hajj this year so on the 17th October, on Idzhar's birthday, they left for Mekah. They didn't all get on the same flights, though. Some left earlier and some later. 

On top of that, Pak Su had to also fly off to Perth, Australia to work for a few months so we sent him off too, with everyone else who's left in Malaysia.

Mommy said, "we've sent off practically everyone and have been to the airport several times in a month. Maybe one day they will send us off at the airport to go for a trip out of the country!" Hehe... in my heart, I'm wishing for that too. The last time I took a flight away from the country was in 2010 when we went to UK to visit Uncle Keith and all 'our Scottish families', Aunty Shaly and Natasha, and also attended Aunty Rachel and Uncle Steve's wedding reception in Scotland. You can read about that here.

Coming soon - Where did Dadda and Mommy decide to take us while everyone's away? 

See you real soon! :)

Happy 1st Birthday Lil Bro!!

Today is the 17th October and a year ago, I became a big sister!

And now, my lil brother, Idzhar Khaliq is 1, so HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY to my lil brother.
Kakak loves you soooo much....! We all do.. ;)

We celebrated Idzhar's birthday a bit earlier as later we'll be sending Tok Baba & Tok Mama for their Hajj trip to Mekah. Idzhar & I are going to miss them sooo much. 

Please Allah, keep them safe and have a blessed journey.. Ameen.

Also, on Friday, we're off to Legoland...! Can't wait...

Will update more stories soon!

How I spent my Aidil Fitri

This post is looooong overdue...

I've been really busy lately so sorry for taking such a long time to update this blog of mine.

Syawal just ended a few days ago. The end of Syawal means the end of the Eid month. This year, my Syawal was a bit hectic than usual (as if it wasn't before this :p).

This year, we went back to Tok Mama's hometown in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan on the eve of Eid. I woke up early that Eid morning and put on my new baju kurung Mommy tailored specially for Eid. It was also Idzhar's 1st Eid-ul-Fitr so he had on his 1st ever baju melayu.

Idzhar and I with Tok Abah and Tok Mama

Idzhar was really happy that morning. It was as if he knew that it was Eid. He was smiling non-stop, especially when we were receiving money packets from everyone including Tok Abah.

I also received a money packet from Dadda and Mommy.

Money packet from Nek Wan :)

In the afternoon, we went to visit our relatives homes around the kampung. 

The next morning, the 2nd day of Eid, we travelled over to Muar, Johor to visit Adida. Johor is also Tok Abah's hometown and his mother, the late Nyang O was from Muar too. Mommy was about 5 months pregnant with me when she passed away.

From Muar, we drove back to Rembau, took our things and came back straight to Subang Permai, Tok Abah's house.

On the 3rd day of Eid, we had a special occasion. In the Malay tradition, before a couple gets engaged to be married, we normally have a majlis merisik. This is when the family of the groom-to-be pays a visit to the bride-to-be's family to ask for permission from the head of the family for their children to be joined together in matrimony. It is not a big ceremony, just a few family members from the boy's family visiting the girl's family to get to know each other. 

The spokesperson is normally not the father, but the uncle or other male relative.

Discussion on the engagement ceremony

After the discussion was over, we then proceeded to the dining hall. Since it was Eid, we took the opportunity to 'beraya' as well.

The future bride and groom in pink and purple

So you must be wondering who I was talking about all the while, right? Yes, it's Pak Su! He's getting engaged to Aunty Shakynaz on the 25th of December and to be married next year, InsyaAllah. Notice how I was absent in all the photos. I was actually there when the event took place at Aunty Kynaz's house but I was suddenly down with fever and just sat with Dadda while they were discussing. 

Can you see me sitting on Dadda?

Yes, I had quite a high fever the whole night after that event and when I woke up the next morning, I found marks on my body! Mommy and Dadda immediately took me to the clinic and it was confirmed that I had chicken pox! So, there goes the rest of my Eid... sigh...

That very Saturday, Cik Ah got engaged to Uncle Hafiz in PJ. As you might have guessed, I wasn't at the ceremony. So, Mommy and Dadda took pictures of her for me.

Cik Ah looked pretty with her hand bouquet :)

Thankfully, it only took slightly more than a week for me to recover and I recovered in time for our open house in Subang Permai.

A lot of Tok Abah's friends, Tok Mama's friends, Mommy's friends and even Dadda's  friends came that day. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Mama Lyana and Papa Dam slept over at Subang Permai that night so it was fun nevertheless!

Apart from the chicken pox, my Eid was a blast! I hope you had an awesome Eid too. Will be updating more soon. 

Gotta catch up on all the overdue posts...