GD, Memory, and Mac

December 12, 2009 at 2:17 am | In Amusing, Baking, Cake Decorating, Family, Kids, Kitchen, New Mexico, Quran, Speech Therapy | 4 Comments

Many developments that I am so behind in documenting. I realize that I rely on this blog to remember what we have done in our homeschooling. And I certainly have been slacking off a lot on this blog lately. Well, I hope to be picking up and catching up where I left off biizhnillah.

Baby Z has finally ‘talked’ alhamdulillah. He has finally opened up and is talking more now. In fact, with the voice, he is becoming more demanding. he was very easy going and submissive before, very, but now, he has learned to assert himself. One example;

I used to, whenever he asks for something, tell him,

“Go ask N,” and he;d willingly go off to ask his sisters or brother.

But now, he says,

“Mamamamama,” indicating that he wants me to get it for him.

and I can’t help but oblige because he’s too cute to refuse.

And as I realized that he really loves letters and numbers, counting, which his therapists have been doing with him, I decided that maybe it’s high time I picked up where I left off with the Glenn Doman reading and math. So we started up again with the Glenn Doman thing and he is now doing both the reading and the math.

I can see though that he loves the reading more than the math. He would pick up the flash cards, bring them to me and ask for me to do the session with him. To the point of utter annoyance on my part. Seriously. But, alhamdulillah. So I do it with him more than what is required.

And he now recognizes some words, alhamdulillah. And some letters, thanks to his therapists. So if this keeps up,inshaallah by next Ramadan, he’ll know how to read and if he still wants to do the math, he may be able to add, subtract, multiply too inshaallah.

I hope at least the reading goes through, because once they know how to read it gets a whole lot easier, and I have S to prove it. Alhamdulillah all the kids are avid readers, though only S learned the Glenn Doman way, whereas the other two learned to read mostly on their own; through Between the Lions, Glenn Doman (inconsistent though), and Starfall. In fact, I told the kids to introduce Baby Z to Starfall too, though to be honest, I don’t like the music part of it. And that is why I’ve been avoiding it like a bad disease.

I have been doing my own hifdh and my own pathetically slow pace, and I’ve used jamaah salah time to practice those hifdh. In fact, I’ve recited the last ten verses of Aali Imran so often that once, (and my only purpose of blogging about this is to look back on this years later and realize how much Allah has given me, alhamdulillah) I got completely stuck in salah while reciting it. I couldn’t for the life of me retrieve the next set of verses from my memory and guess what, H came to my rescue when I really didn’t expect him to. Why didn’t I expect him to when I totally relied on him on the surahs in the last 2 juz? Because he doesn’t memorize the last 10 verses of Aali Imran, or so I thought/believed.

He said, “Rabbana faghfirlana…”

and I picked up and finished the ayah, in salah.

Later on, I asked him,

“How’d you know?”

“Well, I heard it so many times!”

See. I don’t have that talent. I can listen to something over and over again but I will not memorize it like that. I have to know what it means to memorize it. I’m not so high on audio.

And subhanallah, H is like that. He can listen to a surah and get it just like that. Amazing, alhamdulillah. May Allah preserve this ability in him. Ameen.

As of now he is still working on his hifdh by himself. Oh how I yearn to be in a community where he can actually learn from someone qualified. Right now, the brother who used to take him under his wings is busy so only hubs is monitoring H at this time. After Fajr, he is to ‘do his surah’ and so far he has done it without much pushing, because we have agreed on it and he has written it down in his planner.

Hubs recently got a Mac, and it’s for the kids. H is the techie guy in the house and with that Mac, they have been creating movies on it. In fact, hubs put one trailer they did on Youtube. Another activity they have been delving in lately.

Talking of delving in lately, how can I not mention this? H and his baking frenzy. Pita bread, donuts. The checked out this book they had checked out before from the library; Knead it, Punch it, Bake it, and when the frenzy strikes them, they’d bustle about in the kitchen, whipping up some amazing things, mashaallah!

And life is wonderful when you have associates in the kitchen. When we fasted Yaumul Arafah, I cooked rice for the collective iftar, and some chicken for an iftar at a prison, and carrot cakes for iftar at the masjid. To put it in a nutshell, I am grateful S had taken cake decorating classes, because in the throes and hustle of getting everything ready (including my niqaabi self- and I say this because it takes a little extra time to get that little piece of cloth on, which adds up to my ‘getting ready’ time) within hubby’s announced, “10 more minutes!”, S helped me frost two carrot cakes. She made the frosting, colored some of it to pipe the vines and leaves and flowers and I did the hadith writing on the cake. To our despair, we realized that we were out of powdered sugar to make a second batch of frosting for the other cake, so we utilized some ingenuity and cme up with what a friend termed a tie dye cake! Alhamdulillah.

I’ll let the  photos do the talking. All in all, these carrot cakes were a hit (when I thought people wouldn’t like them because they were ‘Carrot cakes’) and what was best, was that it was an effort of a mother-daughter team, and the frenzy was akin to that in Iron Chef! Ha! How great is that? Yeahhhh!!!

Please excuse the little blur. The lenses got greasy because we were all rushing and so with greasy fingers tried to snap quick photos of our creations before we had to rush to the masjid because we were running very late!

Winnie the Pooh for Baby Z

December 12, 2009 at 12:49 am | In Family, Homeschooling, Kids, Projects, Siblings | Leave a Comment

I don’t remember now how it all came about, but I ended up suggesting to H, as an alternative to something I didn’t prefer them to do,

“Why don’t you make a mural for Z on the wall? Like a Winnie the Pooh that doesn’t have animals or people in it. Use felt and put it up on the wall.”

(Though he did make a Pooh with detachable clothes that Baby Z could clothe and unclothe)

He took that suggestion heartily and enthusiastically, and set to work, such that what he was supposed to work on for school (I think it was the science fair project) was neglected for a while. When I saw that he was really serious about it (he was designing the mural in his notebook rather intently, whereas I was just throwing out a suggestion to keep him out of whatever it was I didn’t prefer him to do), I told him,

“Measure out everything, what color and what not, write them down, and then we’ll go to Jo Ann to buy them. I have coupons we can use.”

He had showed me his design for Z’s mural. It was of Winnie the Pooh’s house in the tree. I asked him,

“How are you going to put it up on the wall?”

“Tack it,” he said.

“But then you’ll have tack all over it,” I said,

“I know. That’s what S said too.”

“It’s ok. We’ll figure it out later,” I replied.

He’s really serious on this impromptu project.

So, it was on Eid day that we decided to venture off to Jo Ann after the salah, because the coupons we could use were to be used before noon that day. So he brought along his list of felt colors and measurements (no wonder he had asked me the conversion between yards and feet before) as we drove off to the masjid for the Eid salah.

While the people were playing, eating and sitting around, H and I went off to Jo Ann, leaving the rest of the family at the masjid. It took two carts to get all the bolts of felt he needed, and as we stood in line waiting for the felt to be cut by the yard, I looked over his list. I made sure he knew how long a yard was, and the ruler on the cutting table helped. And as the Jo Ann staff cut them felt for him, she helped him out too.

“You think this is big enough?”

“Is this long enough?” I kept asking him as she opened up the bolt of felt on the table and measured it.

He adjusted some measurements on his list and I realized that he really knew what he was doing, especially later on when I saw the finished product. That was some math exercises and problems in the works!

The staff eventually asked him out of curiosity,

“So what are you making? Can you tell me?”

When I told her that he was going to make a mural for his little brother, she said,

“Ohhh that is so sweet!”

After using the coupons it all came down to lessthan $15! I had expected it to be about $30 and H had even budgeted and estimated the cost. So it was some really great savings we incurred that day! Alhamdulillah!

He worked on the mural, and he worked on the mural. I was really impressed by his enthusiasm and focus on this project I had randomly suggested. It was learning taking place without any,

“Did you do your work yet?”

It was amazing!

And when it was done, it was an amazing sight to behold! He had truly did some on the dot measurements mashaallah, but we still had problems with how to put it up. Alhamdulillah for the staff help at Jo Ann. When she found out what H was making, she told us of felt glue, and we bought it. There was one problem with H’s mural though. The pieces were not firmly connected, so when I pointed this problem out to him, he began to fall into his despair. He had worked hard on it and for me to tell him he has to redo it or back it was a big put off for him, and I understand. To this day, the mural is still not put up. I intend to help him with this one because to be honest, he really has done a great job with it. And it was not easy dealing with a ‘life-size’ Winnie the Pooh house which required a lot of floor space and some meticulous planning.

I have to say this is one example of self-learning without much prodding. Self initiated project, ultimately involving utilizing math skills and planning skills. Unschooling in the works. Amazing! And best of all, a show of love to one’s siblings (seeing how much Baby Z loves Pooh) in a way that incorporates learning, and homeschooling at its best. Alhamdulillah!

We Brought Ohio all the way to New Mexico!

December 12, 2009 at 12:35 am | In Deen, Desert life, New Mexico, Thoughts | Leave a Comment

Yes we did. I have asked many people, and they all said that it barely snows here. Yet, a few weeks ago, it snowed! It truly did! I’d say there was about 3 inches of it on the ground. Ahhh…beautiful!

The night that it snowed, I was busy cleaning up my Taleem notes, and when I looked out the high windows, I remember noticing that the skies looked purplish greyish, but because I was too busy, I didn’t take much notice of it. It has begun to chill lately and so being cold was something normal, but it was only later that night, when I was done with my notes, that I happened to look out the window and with a gasp of pleasure and utter delight, I exclaimed to myself (because the kids were already asleep and hubs was doing his Arabic note taking),

“I can’t believe it’s snowing!”

I opened the sunroom door leading out to the backyard and took in the beautiful pristine sight that greeted me; white fresh snow blanketing the trees, brick layered backyard, neighbor’s pine trees and more snow was still falling from the sky. I ran back inside and looked out the window from the dining area, where hubs was, and the side of our house which usually are covered with pebbles were covered with white snow!

I ran upstairs and looked out the windows. Our roof were covered with snow! Our neighbor’s roof were covered with snow!

A few days earlier, we also had snow and I only realized it in the morning, after Fajr when I happened to look at the ceiling fan from my room’s balcony. it was moving because of the heater but then my gaze fell upon the school building’s roof tops and part of the tree branches from our neighbor’s house. There was snow! Hubby even called S’ cell from his office just to tell her there was snow outside that morning.

But that day the snow melted away pretty soon. There was not that much.

But the second time, it was a significant amount, at least for this town. I was ecstatic! The snow pretty much stayed for days, and when the snow in town melted, the mountains remained snow covered. I felt like we were in Europe. Just beautiful!

I have missed the midwest so much, and having this sudden downpour of precipitation in the form of snow was a very welcome reminiscing. Alhamdulillah. Even the kids were surprised when I said,

“I wish it’d snow again!”

“I didn’t know you like snow this much,” they responded.

Well, I guess when you don’t have something anymore, you start to appreciate it.

At Albertson’s, I happened to glance at the magazine rack ominously placed by the checkout cashier. Whenever we go grocery shopping and are about to pay, we’d always take the kids away from this very evil aisle. That’s where they place all the tabloids and magazines with faahishah photos, subhanallah. Hubs’d tell me,

“Take the kids somewhere else.”

And I’d tell the kids to go and wait for us further up front. Even the kids know this routine by now, and they willingly and obediently move themselves away from the faahishah aisle.

It was on that day, one day, that I happened to glance at a magazine cover depicting Rachael Ray donning a soft winter hat with a bob on it, and there was snow and twinkles splattered on that cover. It made me think of how serene winter, or rather, what we have come to associate winter with (Christmas) is. I grew up watching winter-Christmas related cartoons on TV during the winter holidays. Yes, I grew up in Malaysia where we don’t have winter, but Christmas is still celebrated as a holiday in Malaysia. All the movies, display, etc of Christmas makes it so appealing that even though I know this, I still felt a yearning for it, in a way I can’t explain. I am not saying I yearn to celebrate Christmas, but all the hulla balloo about Christmas makes it so appealing.

And then I was brought back to reality. No. Jannah is appealing. Imagine now. Close your eyes and imagine this. Snowflakes falling slowly to the ground. A calm, serene silence surround you. You open your eyes and all around you is white. The soft curves and rolls of the blanketing snow lines your immediate horizon. It feels so … indescribable. In Jannah, we may have this, and its beauty will surely be magnified. No having to deal with slush when the snow melts. No unbearable chill. Just pure beauty, pleasure, enjoyment that just gets better each day. I know I’m lacking the flair and words to describe and explain this, but then again, no one has ever laid eyes on Jannah. It’s something that remains hidden from us. The root of the word Jeem noon noon, meaning hidden. The same root for the word Jinn and majnoon. Jinn are hidden, and insanity(majnoon – one who is insane), is also hidden, you can’t see insanity itself. You can only see the effects of it.

Allahumma innee as alukal Jannah, wa najjinee mina annaar.

Oh Allah I ask you for Jannah, and save me from the hellfire.

Repeat three times after each salah, and you might just be granted it. Inshaallah

Ameen.

And these below are snow in Ohio…

Nanowrimo 2009

December 11, 2009 at 9:58 pm | In Homeschooling, Kids, Writing | Leave a Comment

This year, both H and N are participating in Nanowrimo. We knew November was going to be busy and that they might have some trouble writing everyday because we were going to be out of town most of the time, but they still wanted in, so I signed both of them up.

So they didn’t write everyday, but they wrote when they had time. They set their own word goals based on the guide at Young Nanowrimo.

Lo and behold! H reached his word count goal and received a winner badge! N, surprisingly slacked off in writing and so didn’t get anything nor did she reach her word count goal.

Ahh…it is N that we deem having more of a flair in writing, but in this race, it’s not the flair, but reaching the finish line that is emphasized. Reminds me of the hare and the tortoise. Though it wasn’t intended to be a race for these two.

And H just told me that Createspace is offering a Free Proof Copy for the winners of NanoWrimo 2009, in which a paperback copy of the winner’s novel will be made available and even shipped at no cost to the winner. The winner also has the option of making the novel available for purchase to the public. H has been asking if he can print his own book, and I told him that the cheapest option I can think of if Kinko’s and I also told him about Lulu.com. And now, voila! he has this opportunity. Mashaallah! My kid is going into print before I do!

4 H Awards Night

December 11, 2009 at 8:22 pm | In 4-H, Baking, Family, Homeschooling, Kitchen, New Mexico | 2 Comments

With horror, I realized that we had missed the Awards Committee meeting on Nov 10 because I had failed to write it on my planner and google calendar. Tthe girls had signed up to be part of the committie, but qadr Allah, they missed that meeting.

We did attend the awards night though, which was last weekend, on a Saturday night,  and just one word, or maybe 3 from me: I dislike it.

There was a dress code, no spaghetti straps, no mini skirts, but obviously they didn’t abide by it, not all of them anyway. The awards night was held at Elks Lodge. Last minute, i realized each family was supposed to bring dessert. Alhamdulillah I had made some agar-agar and the kids had made Boston Cream Donuts, so we brought those.

To make a long non-story short, we left prematurely, because Baby Z wet his pants and we didn’t bring any extra clothes for him. So, we left without having had the kids receive anything. I know they had certificates, but we didn’t stay long enough for the time when their certificates were given out I suppose and to this day, we still haven’t heard from them. I guess, we’ll just let it be then.

This coming Tuesday will be the first 4H club meeting for the next year. At least this year the kids will get to choose projects they really want to do, inshaallah. I’m counting on their involvement in 4H for the aspects of homeschooling I am not able to provide with lack of support group that I want to be a part of. As of now, I am wishing we are in a community with a lot of Muslim homeschooling families in close proximity.

Arizona Museum of Natural History – Tuesday

December 11, 2009 at 6:27 pm | In Family, Homeschooling, Travel | Leave a Comment

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah for this opportunity to visit two different museums during our stay in Scottsdale, Arizona. I had been in contatc with the staff in charge of group visits, and I was told that we could come either on Tuesday or Friday, because Wednesday and Thursday would be packed. So we decided to go on Tuesday, and save Friday for the Arizona Science Center.

Parking was very convenient, alhamdulillah. There was barely anybody there, so our visit was quite calm and peaceful. We were able to tour the museum at our own pace without having to deal with crowds.

The Flash Flood was set to go off at I think every 15-30 minutes, and it was amazing. Dinosaur Mountain spans the height of the whole museum, from the fourth to the ground floor. The Flash Flood is pre-empted by flashes of ‘lightning’ from the fourth floor, where the Arizona Gallery is and then gushes of water bursts forth from the very top of the mountain and pours down the mountain all the way to the bottom floor, where the kids workshop is. It was a really nice set up.

The main floor where we came in from had of course, dinosaur exhibits, geological exhibits with information on rocks, minerals, caves. The kids took notes on whatever it was they had decided to do. I have to say that the museum was pretty big, and we were not really done exploring it when my camera’s battery ran out.

On the fourth floor was Elvis the alligator and also the snapping turtle, which fascinated Baby Z. I simply loved the Arizona Highway gallery on the top floor. Breathtaking images line the walls.

We also spent some time in the kids workshop where Baby Z discovered the world of little dinosaurs. We had some trouble getting him to leave.

The jail was I should say the highlight of our visit, because it was an actual jail, which caused me to cringe whenever H and Baby Z ventured into the actual cells and touched things in there. The history of it was amazing. It was so secure that they used it to hold really dangerous criminals, and no one has ever managed to escape it.

Outside was another highlight of the museum, to me at least. That’s where we learned about the 5 C’s of Arizona, though I have to admit, we only got 4; Citrus, Cattle, Climate, Cotton. The one more elusive C that we didn’t spot was Copper. Those are Arizona’s five major resources. It was amazing to see an actual cotton plant, and citrus trees. The kids were begging me to pluck the oranges, but I said no.

While N and H tried their hands at panning gold, Baby Z followed suit. There was a man-made stream supposedly containing gold bits, and pans were provided for visitors to use. They even provided small plastic baggies to put whatever gold bits visitors manage to pan. In my haste of snapping pictures, I failed to stop Baby Z when he attempted to follow his brother and sister cross the ’stream’ to get to the gold-panning site. So he got his shoes wet.

When we went back in, we dallied a bit at the mining site, and then went to the Hohokam exhibit. The Hohokams used to settle in much of what was Phoenix today, and one thing about them that stood out was their elaborate irrigation system. Their canals were organized and complex. Even as we drove through Phoenix, I noticed canals still withstanding. In fact, there is an archeological site of the Hohokam ruins, if I’m not mistaken in Mesa, where they supposedly lived. As I was reading the history of Scottsdale, it was also said that they Hohokams used to live there too. I love that part of the museum, though not as much as the gallery. The kids didn’t really linger long there though. They loved the dinosaurs.

At the end of the visit, we stopped by the museum store and picked up the kids’ memory packets I had ordered as part of our group visit. Even Baby Z got a packet of pencil, erasers, and other little trinkets.

It was really a nice beginning for our stay in Scottsdale. We spent the rest of the day at the resort while hubs attended his conference’s function that night.

Scottsdale aka Snobsdale – Wed & Thurs

December 10, 2009 at 8:12 pm | In Family, Homeschooling, Kids, Travel | Leave a Comment

November turned out to be one bustling month for us, alhamdulillah. I had been looking forward to this Scottsdale trip for months after I coaxed hubby to take us with him there for his conference. Alhamdulillah he acquisced. And since his conference were on the weekdays, we had the weekend to ourselves! Automatically a plan emerged and we ended up spending that weekend visiting an old friend who moved away from Columbus first to California and then to Flagstaff; St and her hubs.

I prepared for this trip in terms of food for us and particularly baby Z. I researched what to do in Scottsdale and Flagstaff, and this preparation was during the week after we had come back from Tempe the weekend before, so it was pretty…busy.

Alhamdulillah though, by then, or rather, by now I think the kids know the ins and out of packing for a trip, and I think they also know how meticulous I can get about the details of preparing for a trip. My to do lists are my anchors, and these to do lists are spread throughout the week on a daily basis. Hey…I know some people would make fun of this, but during the drive, as we were listening to Anwar Awlaki’s Hereafter Lecture CDs, my meticulous planning was justified or rather affirmed by the prophet’s saw meticulous planning for the hijrah to Madinah from Makkah. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! That’s what they say. Not my words.

This trip was probably the longest ‘vacation’ we have taken in the United States so far. Hubs got us a room in a 5 star hotel (which came with his conference site) for 4 days alhamdulillah, and the cost of a fridge (which was not in the original room) was waived due to Baby Z’s allergies…alhamdulillah!

My ongoing pre-trip research paid off alhamdulillah.

We left home Tuesday morning, early morning, and I had secured a group discount rate for the Arizona Museum of Natural History (thanks to Jn, who shared this homeschooling tip with me the weekend before). So we headed straight for the museum, and during the drive, after reading through the printed educator resources from the museum’s website, I told the kids,

“Look at this, and you can choose to do an activity, maybe a comic, story, diagram, anatomy, model related to anything in the museum.”

So when we got to the museum, they brought along their book bags that I had told them to equip with their portfolios, and writing and math notebooks. The trip was going to incorporate our schooling as well. I was not going to waste it like that. I love the museum, especially the Dinosaur mountain which had flash flood every 15 minutes. It was awesome.

The kids took notes while I took pictures till the camera’s battery died out on me. At the end of the visit, the kids received a memory packet each, as part of the group visit. It was nice how we were able to go in as a homeschooling group as just one family. Alhamdulillah!

I had tried to prepare the kids with lessons on Native Americans, particularly the Apaches and Navajos before the trip but I was too ambitious. Plus, I didn’t know the Hohokams were also a major part of Phoenix, Arizona.

We left the museum for the hotel that evening, and spent the rest of the night in our room. A 5 star hotel is what the kids would call posh, and we’re not used to staying in a 5 star hotel, so it was really nice.

From the museum trip, we had learned about the Arizona’s five Cs, and one of them is citrus. At the hotel, there were loads of citrus trees with oranges dangling lusciously within our reach. The citrus trees lining the driveway up to the fountain and lobby the kids called ‘Chinese hair trees’.

I  had planned on taking the kids to Downtown Scottsdale on Wednesday and Thursday in the morning,  because in the afternoon, I would be having my Taleem classes from 3:30 – 7:30 pm. However, that Wednesday, seeing that I hadn’t reviewed the maps we had printed, I asked the kids if it’s ok to not go out that day and go take a walk around the resort area instead. They said yes.

So we went to the pool, and alhamdulillah H had packed Baby Z’s swimming suit. I wished the girls had packed theirs too. I remember asking hubs if we should and he had said,

“Just bring them,”

but it wasn’t on my original To Do list so I forgot amidst some final preparations for the trip that night before we left home. Qadr Allah.

So the girls didn’t get to go in the pool and they were pretty bummed out about it. I reminded them,

“You’ll get something much better inshaallah.”

H was happy with the fact that hubs wasn’t there to supervise his time in the pool, because as he claimed,

“He doesn’t let me do whatever I want to do in the pool.”

Hubs has been taking H to the university’s pool and drilled his underwater breathing and kicking.

I wished I could have gone into the pool, because as it turned out, I ended up instructing H how to do backstroke, and let me just say that I’m not really good at giving verbal instructions without physical aid. I know, I know. I homeschool, how could I not? With swimming, it’s easier (for me at least) to demonstrate it alongside verbal instructions.

Initially Baby Z seemed a little hesitant and maybe fearful of getting inside the pool, which has warmed water, alhamdulillah! (because it was quite chilly that early in the morning and only about 1/3 of the pool was warmed by sunshine.But as he discovered that he was pretty secure and safe (there was a ledge on the side of the pool that he stood on without having his head underwater) he truly enjoyed it. He even piggybacked on his brother quite joyfully.The ends of the pool was about 3 feet deep, so H was able to walk in it.

I had brought along the kids math books, the Letter About Literature lesson plans, as occupying activities while I attended my Taleem online in the hotel. I assigned them exercises, and they were supposed to do it while I was having class.

Alas! I didn’t foresee technical problems with the hubby’s work laptop. I couldn’t bring mine becuase the wire was worn out, and for my notes, I always make a note template every week before class so I could easily fill in the notes for Word Analysis. Hubby’s laptop’s Microsoft Word wouldn’t open my files and I spent about 5 hours just trying. The kids, meanwhile, watched TV. Yes. I let them watch some programs on PBS and NatGeo. And they know enough to mute when there is music and turn it off when appropriate, alhamdulillah.

When I finally decided to forgo accesing my note template and take my notes on Google Doc instead, I tried logging into Paltalk. That day was a ‘I-Hate-Computers’ day for me. Paltalk wouldn’t let me log in. I decided to call hubs even though I didn’t really want to bother him at the conference since he had to be transported there by the hotel’s transportation and so it would be a hassle for him to come back and go again, plus he would miss whatever it was he wanted to attend at the conference.

To make a long story short, he came to my rescue (I picked him up) and by then, my frustrated and exasperated self calmed down even though I was missing my class since it had started and I wasn’t able to log in. Well, alhamdulillah I still go to attend till the end, but I was prepared for the next day.

That night we went to Rm’s mom’s house because she had invited us over for dinner. So right after my class ended we left the hotel. It was a fine dinner alhamdulillah, though N fell asleep on the couch at the house.

Thursday came by and I took the kids to the swimming pool again, and soon after, we left for downtown Scottsdale. I had planned to go on the free trolley, but on that day, I ditched that plan because we were short on time. H insisted he wanted to go on the trolley. So we went to the Civic Center Public Library, parked at the free public parking garage, and oh how we all loved the library! I wished we lived in Arizona then.

Since the trolley only started at 11 am, we were in good time, and spent about an hour or more at the library before getting in the van again and parking at free public parking in OldTown Scottdale.

S helped read the map for me, while I also used the GPS, which didn’t really help. Oldtown Scottsdale was quite nice. When we did finally get on the trolley, the three older kids ran to the very back and Baby Z and I sat in the front.

There were not that many people so it was really nice alhamdulillah. We almost missed our stop (a round trip) even though I had pulled the cord to signal for a stop, and had we not gotten down where we did, we would have really wasted precious time and left a hungry hubs at the Conference Plaza.

While we were walking back to the van after getting off the bus, he called S’ cell and told us to pick him up. It would take about 20 minutes or so to drive back from Downtown to his conference center, so he waited quite a while before we picked him up. To make it worse, baby Z needed a diaper change which I did in the van.

That night, we went out for dessert at Ihop and Big Lots to buy N her unmentionables. We very very rarely eat out and so it was quite a treat. Poor baby Z though. WHile we all devoured our dessert, he sat and colored. He did watch us eat, but hubs gave him his cell and got Baby Z’s asmaul husna on Youtube playing to occupy him. And as for me, I got my first experience eating out in niqab. Alhamdulillah the Ihop was pretty much deserted except towards the end.

Friday was our last day in the hotel, and we were to drive 2 hours to Flagstaff through Sedona to pay a visit to our friend St, who used to live in Columbus but then moved to California when she got a job and moved to Flagstaff with a job change.

One of my last minute change of pre-trip plans was museum visits. Since we had visited the Natural History Museum on Tuesday, we visited the Arizona Science Center on Friday, in the morning. Hubs, N, Baby Z and H had already gone to the Science center when S and I took Meaningful Prayer in Tempe. In fact, N won several drawings, she came back with a mug, the Robots DVD and free admission tickets for the Science Center and Planetarium. Our plan was to drive to Flagstaff around 2 pm, after hubs was done with his conference and we were done with the museum visit.

Hubby dropped us off and drove back to his conference. It was about a 30 or more minutes drive for him one way.

Divine Speech in Tempe, Arizona

November 25, 2009 at 3:16 am | In Bayyinah Institute, Community, Deen, Family, New Mexico, Quran, Travel | 1 Comment

We had planned for this for months. The time finally came and we were to go to Tempe once again for a Bayyinah class, this time, the much raved Divine Speech!

Kids agreed to watch Z at the babysitting, and this time both hubs and I were taking the class. Last time we went to Tempe, S and I took the class and hubs babysat the kids. This time, as hubs is taking the Arabic program with Shariah, he might as well take this class too, so he did alhamdulillah.

We were stopped at the border patrol for quite sometime while they checked our passports, and that was the only ‘glitch’ in our road trip alhamdulillah. Alhamdulilah we did get there in time for the class, and that Friday, all the kids went in the auditorium as it was a Free Friday.

Br. Nouman blew us all away with his presentation. it was Al Fatihah for 4 hours that Friday. The kids had initially agreed in sitting in and I told them,

“You can leave after the break if you want.”

But guess what, they stayed throughout the whole 4 hours. I think H was reading a book, so he didn’t get much, but S was paying attention and even expressed that she liked it. Nouman is funny and the kids love that.

We had originally planned on missing Friday because hubs had out-of-town work on Wed through Friday, but subhanallah, one of his conferences was cancelled and we ended up going on Friday, Allahu Akbar!

Sisters who already took the class kept telling me not to miss Friday, so I was really grateful to Allah for getting the opportunity to attend the Free Friday. It was truly amazing subhanallah.

However, with that change of plans, hubs had reserved a room in Days Inn for us only for Saturday night, so for Friday night, he reserved a room with American’s Best, which we stayed at last time and…let’s just say, it was cheesy.

But I was just so happy to be attending Friday that the pack and leave and check in hassle became a very small matter. On Saturday, it turned out that the room hubs had booked was a smoking one so we ended up in a room with a King bed and Jacuzzi. Alhamdulillah for H’s sleeping bag (which he always brings on our trips because if we get a room with two queens, he’d still end up sleeping on the floor). Hubs and him slept on the floor and the rest of us slept on the king. What a waste of space that jacuzzi made. Could have fit another king in space of it.

Babysitting was good alhamdulilah. It was at the masjid which was about 5 minutes walk from the class on campus. I loved the arrangement.

We arrived home on Monday at 2 am. Alhamdulillah. It was truly a beneficial and great class. We went home with an increased appreciation of the Quran. At least I did.

Iron Chefs?

November 25, 2009 at 2:58 am | In Amusing, Family, Kids, Kitchen, Mothering, New Mexico | Leave a Comment

That reminds me. The kids love watching Iron Chef. Since we don’t have TV, we watched some shows off Food Network’s website. I enjoyed Ace of Cakes too.

Well, ever since I enrolled in Taleem Quran, my schedule’s at least pertaining to cooking has been pretty much squashed to rush-rush-cook. So there were many days when I had to utilize my oldest daughter’s height and age (at least that’s how I justify it) and put her to work i nthe kitchen to cut down cooking time.

“S, please clean the chicken!”

I had shown her how to clean chicken by trimming the fat and skinning it.

Back in C-bus she was squeamish about it, but now she’s much better.

So, while I went about my work, she cleaned the chicken I had defrosted and often, she’d leave them for me to cook. There were also times when I showed her how to cimply cook a chicken dish by blending onions, garlic, chilli paste and whatever I fancied dumping into the blender, then either baking the cleaned chicken pieces in the blended mixture(as marinade) or cooking it on the stove and dumping thr chicken pieces in while it releases fragrance.

Simply put, I had no time for fancy schmancy dishes anymore. It’s all dump and cook.

I have to say my life is made interesting by the sense of humor my children have inherited from either hubs or me, or both. Don’t know if that’s good or bad actually.

Well, one day, S cleaned chicken and when she was done, I went to the kitchen to cook the cleaned chicken and voila! What did I see?

The roaring 20s! Chicken dance! Bbock Bbock Bbock!!! Didn’t your mother tell you not to play with your food? Even if it’s not cooked yet?

Can you do the chicken dance? Flap your arms and say, Bbok, Bbok, Bbok!!

 

Dress it up with red spicy sauce...Chicken hot!

And I think that same day I also stuffed a fish with spicy chilli mixture and baked then broiled it. It didn’t look that presentable after it was done. In fact, it looked like it had a pretty tough time in the oven with blisters all over, but ahh…alhamdulillah we had good food on the table. Alhamdulillah.

The fish is 'bellied'...stuff stuff stuff!

 

Blistered Stuffed Baked Broiled Fish coming up!

Yeah, we Iron Chefs rock!

 

 

 

 

 

Wilton Cake Decorating Level I – final cakes

November 25, 2009 at 2:37 am | In Baking, Cake Decorating, Family, Kitchen | Leave a Comment

Cut to the chase, because I’m exhausted from cleaning up my alhuda notes the whole day, and I guess the photos will speak for themselves.

N said that S made her roses for her because apparently S said that

“N might ruin it.”

I had to protect these cakes from what my mother dubbed ‘hungry Mexican wolves’ in order to snap these shots and even then I told them not to dig in till the next morning because I had already done all the dishes and mopping.

The lighting at night was just poor and so I was really glad my Mexican wolves (hubs included) held their devouring paws at bay till I could get these shots.

The girls made their own frosting. S helped N. Alhamdulillah. I had no hand in it whatsoever.

S’ pristine yellow cake with pink roses.

 

N’s thoughtful choc fudge cake with dark purple roses. She had everybody’s initials on it, including J’s.

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