who's who?

the girls at few months old - yang mana satu Aisyah, mana satu Aliyah

Aisyah on her 1st & 2nd birthday (in 2000 and 2001)

and with mummy tok on her first birthday

and several years later...

Aliyah on her 1st & 2nd birthday (2008 & 2009)

over 8 years, see how much both of us have aged...

happy birthday yaya

yaya is how she calls herself.. and we kind of agreed with her
on saturday night, we had a small makan2 to celebrate her 2nd birthday.











menu - nasi tomato with daging bamia, grilled curry coated chicken, salad; mimi made pulut kuning makan dengan sambal tumis ikan bilis (hubby made); dessert - agar2 dewi & agar2 kentang which kak rozi made and i baked nigella old fashioned choc birthday cake.

guests - of cos mimi & family, kak rozi & co (we fetched them from sheffield on friday nite), elouise (aisyah's friend) and my colleague sani and his friend azmil. we miss atan and his family this year.

aliyah & rashdiyan enjoying pulut kuning

her birthday present from us is a collapsible tent which is currently taking up the space in the living room. aunty mimi bought zara blouse & skirt...

she's 2

tomorrow, our kenit is going to be 2; some say "terrible 2"... how time flew.

she's turned into a cheeky girl with a mind of her own; looks more and more like daddy day after day..., fair with pronounced forehead (dahi jendul) like her great granny mak long wan wok, has curly hair like mak tok cik neng.

the 7 years gap between her and Aisyah is really a blessing; Aisyah had been a great help - looking after her adik, bathing her, putting her to sleep on days when i teach full day and only get home after 6pm by which time she's already gone to sleep.

bangun aja pagi " mummy ....downstairs, tv!" - mickey mouse (she calls him ba-ba) & his friends, tigger and pooh, animal mechanical, johnny & the sprites, little einstein, dora the explorer and in the night garden characters - iggle piggle, mukka pukka, upsy daisy.. and sometimes tengok sponge bob square pants with Aisyah.

she eats whatever she wants - likes yogurt (either in tubs or in fruit shaped tubes), yogurt drinks, cereal, soup, roti, chips, not really a rice person but loves pulut kuning, luuurvvee walkers cheese flavoured quavers crisps, jacobs cheese crackers & made in malaysia biskut ikan, rasp/blue/black/straw berries.

semalam baru berhenti susu badan without much difficulty, used a bit of psychology (tak payah letak kopi/jadam/mustard ...) and it worked! memang la tantrum but not as bad as i imagined it would be...so now u-hu (susu) is "susu baby bottle" becos tin susu "cow and gate 1 year + (untuk siang) and cow and gate good night milk (untuk malam)" ada gambar baby.

she's sociable, bilingual; uses and understands lots of english & malay words and sentences, dah pandai pilih her attire from hat to shoes, very observant - she knows which ringing tone belongs to whose mobile phone....

blooming hyacinth

we got this pot of hyacinth (that time were only bulbs) from Gill sometime in November, when she dropped by in Notts on her way to Sheffield.

when we got home from Cornwall, the hyacinths started blooming and the lovely smell fills the room..

i planted a few bulbs in the front garden in november, supposed to bloom in springtime... we'll wait and see

guests from Kuching

last week hubby's sister, Kak Rozi was here with her hubby Abang Madi and their grandson Rasydianshah. they came to the UK at the end of Dec to attend daughter Raudah's graduation ceremony which is held today at Sheffield Uni. Raudah completed her masters prog with distinction in Sept and continued with phd in nov.

kakak took them jalan2 at notts city centre.

while they were here for 5 days, sempat la kak rozi masak macam-macam such as nasi biryani, soto madura, kueh sejuk; just like how cik neng used to cook. kak rozi also introduced (and made berbalang balang) savoury cornflakes kacang which got us hooked; and even got mimi to 'berguru' with kak rozi.

on saturday we took kak rozi & co to the Cotswolds; our favourite english kampong. we've been there a few times, at different seasons. managed to cover only 2 villages - Bourton on the Water and Chipping Campden. the weather - freezing cold, subzero temperature but dry. on the way, it was white and grey winter colours which looked absolutely fabulous! most of the photos were taken from inside the van while on the move cos tak ada layby to stop.

bourton on the water

the 2 kids window shopping!

lovely cottages at Chipping Campden

they left for Sheffield on Sunday afternoon. we hope to see them again next weekend when they come for Aliyah's 2nd birthday makan-makan.

3F morning

these pictures were taken yesterday morning before we went out; first to the dentist for Aisyah's fluoride treatment and then to work.


it was Frosty, Foggy and Freezing!!!

Itchen Abbas

after a gud nite sleep and a hearty late breakfast, we went out for an hour walk around the golf course and in the woods near Gill's house.

aliyah looking out to the garden, from the living room

view from the dining room window

gill's house was in the older days, Avington Park gatekeeper's house and is a grade 2 listed building.

road leading to Avington Park, a private residence

apa cerita kat tepi sungai tu? River Itchen flows next to gill's house

view from front lawn

ada budak kecik merajuk...

someone found a horse..

walking towards the house

after the walk and crispy fresh air, we had a snack and left for notts at 3pm and got into our cold house at 7pm. it took almost 12 hours to get the house nice and warm again...