Iftar Weekend with the SPK Girls

I am never one to break tradition.

Last weekend, the SPK girls had our yearly Iftar. And like every year, it was held at my house. As usual, it was a potluck, and after that the kids (and mummies!) frolicked in the garden playing fireworks. Read about last year's iftar here.

This year it was slightly different. I received news that my step grandmother (who took care of me when I was under pantang after delivering Aiden) had slipped into a coma. So we made plans to pay her a visit, and my very supportive SPK girls told me not to worry about preparing any food for berbuka. I just needed to provide the place; everything else they would do. So while I was in Ipoh, I didn't even have to worry about anything. The girls were so comfortable with my house and my maid, that they were running in and out of the house masak bubur lambuk, siang sotong, goreng sayur, hantar periuk nasi, all without my presence!

Heck, despite being the host, I even managed to fulfill my responsibility with the Cahaya SPK Welfare Committee by selling bubur lambuk at our Ramadhan Charity Bazaar, where proceeds from the sale went to an OKU home in Rawang. However... that's a different story altogether. (Hard lesson learnt: next time when selling bubur lambuk, forgo the condiments because they will either turn soggy or emit an unpleasant smell after a while.)

Posing with my last bubur lambuk (everything else sold out!) with part of the Welfare Committee. 

I digress! Anyway, when I arrived home just half hour before Maghrib, the dining table was covered with food! Everyone had contributed something to the table, including desserts from the earlier mentioned bazaar. My very capable maid even found the time to make buah melaka and creme caramel.

Part of the spread. Missing on the table were salted squid and lasagne.

The aftermath! Ignore the mess on the table please. *chuckles*

Next up - fireworks! While we gossiped indoors, the kids had a field time playing fireworks in the garden. In fact, we had to hide some of the bunga api besi for our own 'tradition'!

Even Dafiya joined in the fun. Ian was nowhere to be found, as he was more interested in walking around in the garden 'supervising' the older kids.

They even got all creative and started planting fireworks in the ground.

Group effort!

Finally, after the adults were done with the gossiping, and our designated photographer (read: Hubby) arrived home after terawih, we finally got to business. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you would have noticed how we would end the night by 'writing' words using fireworks. Like last year, highlights of this tradition included the excitement of practicing, choosing which letter to "write", running to the fire to light up the bunga api and reminding each other to maintain the same height, to smile, and to not block your own face! Well this year, we took it one step further by even using slippers to mark the each end of the line so that we would be uniform and straight! *giggles*

After four takes, we finally acceded with this shot with the lopsided hearts, and accepted that Raya is spelled as 'Rayo'. *giggles*

This year, even the men/boys joined in the fun. Aiden was responsible for the number 1!

Thanks for the Iftar gathering, girls - you know who you are!