8 years into parenthood: Muhammad is 8

Muhammad Abdurrahman , our eldest child turns 8 today n effectively that is our parenthood anniversary. We now have 3 kids, with Iman, 5 & Asha, 3 and at the moment there no plans for more :)

This year Muhammad celebrated his birthday at his school (Kindycare Kuala Belait), as most of his friends are from school (unlike his daddy in the old days, our friends were our village boys - budak kampung). It was really tough to manage 90 kids, but at the end of the day, with the teachers help and also my sister, the event went well. Alhamdulillah.

Happy Birthday Muhammad, Semoga Hidupmu penuh berkah, dimurahkan rezeki, dadamu dipenuhi iman dan kebijaksanaan, dan sentiasa taat perintah Allah dan ibu bapa. Amin.

My Ben Ten - Awangku Muhammad 'Abdurrahman

His schoolmates... photo grabbed from my sis' blog

Muhammad flanked by sisters, Dayangku Izzan 'Aaeeshah @ Asha on the left, 

and Dayangku Iman 'Aaliyah @ Iman on the right

The sweet 8 year old smile

Muhammad with his brithday presents

As revealed here. Thanks Muhammad's friends, he is sooooooo happy with the gifts, but as exam is looming, we have to put it away for the mean time.

Man Utd cake, a special gift from a very special friend

And the cake chosen by the birthday boy himself!

Going 35... with da family over weekend!

We had the family over on Saturday night for the Thanksgiving or Do'a Selamat, to celebrate my 35th birthday. The following are some pics taken from the night, but you can view more at my facebook link. Salam all and have a great weekend.

p/s - I am looking forward to two Red teams to deliver their goods tonight, to make my birthday! (Manchester United playing vs Manchester City; and Ferrari competing in the Barcelona F1).

Cake contributed by my dad and my siblings

Prayer or Do'a to bless the ceremony, praying for health, faith, happiness, wealth, success. Amin.

cutting the cake with Gembo-Kids.  We had stuffed mushrooms with cheese for appetizer, and main course is Cheese Rice, Roasted Lamb leg and Lemon/Rosemary Grilled Chix, plus Spaghetti with Tomato/Meat sauce.  Dessert were Fruits and mix-fruits cocktail.  

Present from Ka Gina (sis in law).... from Hong Kong.... no swine flu, ok!

And this is  gift from my Abang and his wife, Ka Yati... they sure know what I like heheh. Lets try the lamb shank for a change ah.

Going 35.

Alhamdulillah, I am blessed with love of my darling wife and loving kids, and families and friends, and blessed with life, that I can celebrate my 35th birthday. 

As my big day fell on a weekday (6 May), we had a quite low key celebration, just us a family of five, with a big makan planned over the weekend when close family members are available.

I thought of only having satay, but was surprised by my wife with the Blackforest cake (thanks Sayang) and by my son Muhammad, who sponsored the satay with his school allowance. Semoga Muhammad murah rezeki, belanja Babah. Amin.

the Cake

blowing out with the 3 angels

Drugged Sleep

We brought our 5 weeks old kittens to the vet recently, and were given anti-worm syrup.... apparently it makes them sleepy . . . . this is by far the worst, it slept even at the vet hehehe

KindyCare School Visit 25.04.2009: Forestry Dept

Muhammad's school, Kindycare organised a school trip to visit Brunei Forestry Department & Museum last Saturday. I offered to be the photographer and was kindly given a seat on the bus.For more pics, please go to my facebook album 

The museum is open Monday to Thursday and Saturday, during office hours (8 - 4 pm), and entrance is free. The museum showcased the history of the department and the resources from Brunei's invaluable forest - we were told the sandlewood (Gaharu) can cost up to B$40,000 per kg!


Prayer before the trip

Queuing to the bus. It was cosy, with entertainment (tv) and very good airconditioned. And 2 point seatbelts for all the seats.

Muhammd with his trip buddy, Zakwan

 

 The Forestry Department

 

Or Forest Tree Repartmen heheh

The school logo on the school sports cap.

Muhammad posing near the museum's entrance

some of the exhibit at the Forestry Museum: this is a tool to measure distance (one chain = 66 feet).... maybe this is what my late grandad used to call "serantai jauhnya"

more exhibits: notice the long axe!

special tool to mark the trees to be cut

The history of uniforms worn by the Brunei Forestry personnel.

Brunei is still 80% covered by forest.... Is that good or what for the CO2 balance? The department however have to ensure that Brunei maintain/improve the ratio for the future generation.

Muhammad posing at the Forestry Dept recreation park

Group photo at the park

Finish off at the Ayamku Sungai Liang

For the kids

A little boy looked so sad for days, and was approached by his teacher when he was about to be picked up by his grandad after school. The teacher was worried, the boy had lost weight and was not his usual chirpy self, and asked him if he was ill - he replied, with tears pouring, "I missed my daddy so much!"

That boy is our son, Muhammad Abdurrahman, and I learnt this a couple of weeks ago from my mom's cousin (my office mate), whose little daughter is my son's school mate.  Not a good thing to share in the office, as I really had a hard time fighting back tears.

My wife used to bring the kids out for good meal, mostly during weekends. During my recovery, the 'outing' was merely "reaaaaalllllly healthy food" (read: porridge, soups etc) at home.  I promised my wife and the kids though, that I'd treat them to a very sumptuous meal when I got better.

Alhamdulillah, my health improved and I started working about 3 weeks ago (2 weeks in the mornings only).  And as promised to the kids, we drove across the border to Miri and treated them to a great dinner at Secret Recipe a week before last. 

We've brought Muhammad to the Secret Recipes in KL and Singapore, and he loved the lamb shank, prawn macaroni and that giant curry puff (I can't remember what its called). So we ordered the giant curry puff for Muhammad (2 piece!), I had my lambshank (he ate a quarter of it), Princess Iman had a macaroni (Muhammad ate half) and my dad in law had a caribbean style fish fillet (Muhammad ate a quarter). My dear wife had a laksa, and guess what, Muhammad had a few slurps hahah - talk about APPETITE! The pictures are shown below, and what's so great about the meal is its very good value for money - from where we come from. At RM160, it is roughly B$60 and for a meal for 5 including drinks, that's great value.

"Daddy, can I order Oreo Milshake?"

"This one here?"

"Thanks Dad! I love you!"

Admiring the cakes - pity we're full at the end, otherwise wouldn't have mind to have a couple of cakes for desert.

Daddy's lamb shank... oh no, my mouth waters as I am writing this!

Dad's caribbean style fish fillet

Princess Iman's macaroni

And Muhammad enjoying his giant puff!

For photo enthusiasts looking for reviews on Canon 450D, these shots are taken with no flash, ISO1600 and speed 1/13 (of course, with IS kit lens)