My younger brothers are destined to celebrate their birthdays with their nieces every year. So their cakes are girl-themed cakes like princesses, pinks, and all that young ladies love. Danial shares his birthday month with Aurora and Matin shares his with Anim.
When it comes to birthdays, my sister is the bomb! She just loves planning out birthday bashes and celebrations. She is that good. She rented this water bouncy castle that costs RM250/24 hours for the kids to play. The food spread was nice too with nasi ayam, laksam, pizza, tarts, jelly and the most delicious teh ais kaw with cincau.
I bought my niece the JOJO toy from ‘Didi and friends’ line of merchandise. I gifted my brother a drawing tablet. Overall, the kids (and adults) had fun even though it was just us. Looking forward to more birthdays this year.
The Uncle & The Niece.
Although my niece looks like she is about to cry – that is actually her smiling face. She is so confusing. Ha ha ha.
It was my first time trying AHA. It is a restaurant that serves steamboat and chicken covered in cheese. My sister booked a table there in conjunction with the birthday celebration for September babies. This time round, Brother D could not join us because he was working.
The newlyweds
Sister and fam..
We ordered the served-buffet meal which was priced as below.
I was not a fan of the sauce but it wasn’t that horrible to begin with. Overall, it was a splendid meal and we surprised our dad with coconut ice cream for his birthday.
I managed to record a few clips for my personal vlog. Something to look back on in the future. Insya-Allah.
In Malaysia, the start of the new school year starts in March, in contrast to the usual January start. It has been like this since Covid and has yet to be changed back to how it was before. Therefore, end-of-year graduation ceremonies and concerts are organized around this month of the year – February. My daughter had hers a fortnight ago and my son, just last weekend.
I asked my daughter if she felt nervous performing in front of the crowd. I used words like scared and shy instead of nervous cause I don’t think she is able to understand that yet. She said she wasn’t. In fact, she was excited to perform on stage and show us (our little family) her dances, singing and hadith recitation. I find it interesting how they do not recognize the need to feel anxious about it at this age.
Come to think of it, the teachers have prepared her for this at least 2 to 3 months earlier. They did daily practice perfecting small steps. In a way, the kids would be more confident and make fewer mistakes in their performance. The teachers would constantly tell them that even if they messed up, they gave their best in their acts.
I suppose this is something I could remind myself to do as well. Practice makes perfect. It is easy to be overwhelmed with new tasks or they could be a usual, routine task but resides out of my comfort zone. An example of this would be to give public talks. Ironically, despite my not loving the task, I am in charge of a health portfolio that requires me to give mass patient education on a regular basis. Diabetes, hypertension and asthma are my bread and butter. At the moment, I am revising my portfolio programmes to include the team and other supporting services. It seems that I’d have to slow down on my psychology studies to give way to these exciting activities.
Brother D and my niece Ororah share the same birthday month of February. So a celebration is a must and we decided to host a mini party in Melaka at a homestay with a pool. After much searching on Airbnb, I managed to secure a semi-D at a price of RM 757/night. The owner collects the additional RM250 security deposit separately and the transaction is carried out outside AirBnB. I booked the home for 3 days 2 nights.
Unfortunately, Brother D contracted Covid-19, so the whole house members at BSP had to undergo quarantine. That means Dad and Uncle Tin are also not coming. Leaving only Onty L and the fam free from Covid19. Hence, are able to make it to Melaka. I have to say, my sister is very resourceful when it comes to birthday bashes. She found several food vendors in Melaka (where I live!) who could bake desserts, cook nasi arab and make western dishes deliciously. I just did the decorations.
Ororah is turning 1 this year – my borderline prem niece. She has yet to walk but Mak Wa feels that she will be running around soon.
The moist chocolate cake
nasi arab, pizza arab, lasagna, tarts
the birthday girl and the cousins of cousins and cousins
Le Camar is situated at Bukit Katil in a new housing area. It has 4 rooms that are fully air-conditioned. the living room also has an air conditioner. There’s a small kitchen with an induction cooker, rice cooker, pots and pans, cutleries, dinnerware, a fridge and a water dispenser. It would be great if they have a microwave to heat leftover food. It was challenging to reheat our cold pizza for breakfast. The highlight of this homestay was the pool. The depth of the pool was about 4ft. I was on my period so I didn’t jump in but the kids seem to enjoy the water.
the amenities are superb
The place is worth the money. Like I said, having a microwave would be a fantastic touch. It would be good to give a heads up regarding the security deposit in their Airbnb description too. Takdelah terkejut sgt tetiba nak bayar deposit kan.. The playground slide needs to be cleaned. So does the tangki at the back of the house for fear of Aedes breeding site. Putting those points aside – Le Camar is not that bad. Will consider for future staycations.
This year I had a really strong urge to provide goodie bags for Haneem’s friends at daycare. Coincidentally another child is also having his birthday on the same day. So I chipped in for breakfast. I have never done this for Haneem before. Probably because I wasn’t up to it cause it does take some time. However with Covid19 being rampant, I figured its time to be more sociable with the teachers and all. Building relationships they say.
She is so big now, she can follow instructions
I assembled a simple goodie bag using stuff I bought from my local RM2.10 store. I did not want to overshadow the other parent. My initial plan was to put the items inside a clear ziplock bag which parents could re-use but I worry that it would be a controversial move. We don’t want to upset anybody. ha ha ha. In the end I settled for a polka dot bag. I prepared bags for 60 pax. As for the teachers, I used the pretty bags I have at home and gave them some mini perfume I had and a hand lotion.
Inside the bags for the kids were a small carton of chocolate milk, a pudding and a bubble toy. I bought a birthday cake from Italy Cake House and a banana cake I ordered from an online bakery on Instagram. I also typed out an appreciation letter to the teachers of the school. I feel that they need to know how valuable they are and that they are doing a good job. Indeed they are the best external moms a kid can have.
I spent about RM300 for everything including my share for the kids breakfast. Looking from the pictures, seems like Haneem really enjoyed herself. As for birthday presents, she received a cute owl pillow from her aunt, Aunty Ell. Then an Olaf toy from her dad. I decided to give her a cereal bowl with a duck face on it. Ee, her older brother has one too.
Happy bday love
This year the mandatory birthday buddies picture with Haneem’s uncle will have to be postponed to a different date. I hope she will be more cooperative with the picture this year.
Guess it’s time to think of Ee’s 9th birthday celebration next month.
Minci Moss 