And Yet Another Pink Baby Shower!

I had just finished drafting the blogpost for my baby shower, when I was surprised by yet another!

This time it was by the SPK girls. Similar as the last time, it was a semi surprise. Why? Well, Hubby learned a hard lesson the last time, hence he gave me a heads up that he was planning to take me out for an intimate lunch. What he failed to realize was that he had scheduled it just before Friday prayers... and I know my husband very very well. Never in a million years would he skip solat jumaat for lunch, even for me!

By the time we stepped foot at Empire Hotel Subang, I looked at my watch and was feeling very suspicious. And as expected, it was yet another surprise baby shower, this time courtesy of my #neighbourslikesisters gang!

They decorated a corner table beautifully, ironically with some items from my DIY room party stash! *chuckles*

I immediately recognized my disco balls and silver sequined cloth.

Love the 'GIRL' balloon! Definitely coming with me to the hospital too.

Beautiful cake - the sleeping figurine is soooo adorable!

Yeay for diaper cake!

Love the personalized door gifts.

Bath and body works cream for each of us. 

Placemats on doilys.

Yours truly beaming in our beautiful corner.

It was a buffet lunch cum high-tea, and we stuffed ourselves silly. It was definitely a great outing with the girls. Different from my prior baby shower where it was all games and hoohah, this one was more of an intimate chat and catching up session, plus gossip of course! We did play some games, but interestingly it was a questionnaire about how well they knew me. Funnily enough, I couldn't even answer some of the questions... one if it was, "What was Liz's favourite childhood toy?" (Erm, did I even have one??!!) *chuckles*

Answering questions... ignore the messy table!

Cake cutting session.

So much love for these girls. 

Thank you girls, for the intimate time out. So touched with your efforts and your presence. Oh baby AY, if only you can see how excited these aunties are for your arrival!

Salam Ramadhan 2018

Hello everyone! *blows cobwebs away from the keyboard*

Sorry for the quiet hiatus. This pregnancy is making me have absolutely zero interest in anything and everything. Well other than work (cos that pays the bills) and family, of course.

How is your Ramadhan treating you so far? Alhamdulillah for us, it has been quite a breeze although I am bracing myself for the upcoming turbulent period when my helper goes for her annual balik kampung. (She initially wanted to balik kampung later in the year but with the baby coming, she decided to return home earlier cos she expects to have her hands full once baby AY is out!)

This is Aiden's 3rd time attempting to puasa penuh, so far so good. Last year he was extremely cranky during sahur - but surprisingly this time around we don't get so much drama. He doesn't want fancy food during the wee hours of the morning so it's usually ayam Bob, fried egg or roti boom for sahur. As for Ian, he's starting to show interest in fasting (from exposure at the kindy), but still doesn't fully understand the concept - especially since he insists on enjoying food and drinks in front of his brother, much to the chagrin of the latter! *chuckles* In one instance, Ian siap offer food to his Babang, "Babang you want some?" *giggles*

Spiritually, it's slightly different for me this year. Due to the pregnancy, I am already praying guna kerusi, so terawih is slightly challenging especially when the surau/masjid is packed. I've been doing my prayers at home but I look forward to walking to the surau as usual this week, as the crowd usually dissipates by the second Ramadhan week onwards. Other than that, this is my third year wearing a headscarf during Ramadhan so it feels significantly easier for me. The only tricky bit was managing perception at the start, especially as I am in a new role at work. My Upstream peeps are used to seeing me in tudung, but the Downstream folks have never seen me in one. But Alhamdulillah, so far Allah dah banyak permudahkan the transition for me.

In matters of worldly preparations, I am absolutely done with Raya shopping. *pats self on the back* Again, due to the pregnancy, we made it a point to head to Jalan TAR two weeks before the start of Ramadhan. Which was an excellent idea because we ended up making so many stops to eat and drink cos it was so hot! My bulging tummy did not make it easy to shop for clothes (and I didn't bother on tailoring anything to wear only once). In the end I settled on a simple batik long dress from Jakel in peach. Armed with that, we then headed to Masjid India to get coordinating baju melayu for the boys. Recycle songkok and sampin from last year. Settle!

Sneak peak of the boys' outfit - siap ada tag lagi! BTW Ian no longer cries at kindy - it took him a good 4.5 months to cultivate the love of school!

I also bought two new telekung for Ramadhan - one from dUCk (love the bag that comes with it) plus a very comfortable piece from Siti Khadijah. As for the kids, we bought for them new jubahs as well, plus a few pairs of casual baju raya. The only person that I cannot stop shopping for, is for this little princess in my tummy! Oh my gosh - so many cute outfits! I've even had to resort to taking flat lays of her outfits according to size just so I have an inventory of what I've purchased. *shakes head in dismay*

Our first Ramadhan was spent at my in-laws, and then they came over to our house for the second Ramadhan iftar. But the most memorable was the third day; I was so excited to head to Param Seksyen 13 but by the time we arrived, we all got caught in the most horrendous downpour. Even with umbrellas, we were soaked to the bone! Ian clung to Hubby like a koala bear while saying "I want to go home!!!" but by the end of the trip he ended up enjoying the whole affair, jumping into puddles and all. We climbed into the car with wet clothes and our shoes filled with rain water. Absolutely crazy, but oh so worth it - everything we bought (rojak, roti john, akok) was so tasty.

If you're ever in Shah Alam and a big fan of akok, this stall gets two thumbs up from me!

Last Friday, I had the SPK ladies over for iftar. Two couldn't make it while a third was late due to a last minute emergency. It was a potluck affair, so three families feasted over mee kari, daging dendeng, ikan kurau masak lemak nenas, ayam goreng kunyit and sayur buncis goreng. *nyum* This year, my helper's specialty was daging dendeng which was definitely a crowd favourite that night. For dessert, other than kuih melayu we also had a scrumptious birthday chocolate mud cake - interestingly flour-less but very chocolaty!

Birthday cake and present for the birthday girl. Unfortunately no pictures of the food - totally terlupa!

After that, we adjourned into the garden for our yearly tradition - our 7th year writing messages using sparklers! As usual, here is a compilation of our sparkler shots since 2012:

Seven years in a row... and counting!

Unfortunately we didn't get it right on the first try. My trusty Samsung camera is starting to give me problems *cries* so a lot of fiddling with the settings and shutter speed before we finally got it right.

A new try for us this year - writing in jawi! I nearly peed in my pants with this one. To write 'ya' we had to enlist a husband's help to do the double dots at the bottom - literally cium buntut bini! *rolls on the floor laughing*

Behind the scenes.

Phewww... that's a long enough update, I think. To my Muslim readers, I wish you all a blessed Ramadhan, and selamat berpuasa! And hopefully I get my blogging mojo yet again. *chuckles*

Annual Iftar Weekend

Oh my! Last few days of Ramadhan and I barely blogged about my Iftar adventures.

As usual, I simply must blog about the annual SPK and BBGS girls iftar. Similar as last year, both events were held during the same weekend. Purely coincidental in nature!

On Friday night, the SPK gang came over. This year, we were five instead of six. *cries* The other family moved to Kedah and couldn't come home for our annual affair.

Potluck style as usual, but a simpler spread this time. My helper made ayam penyek (special request from one of the gang). We also had daging salai masak lemak, sotong telur masin, sambal tempe ikan bilis, sayur campur, telur dadar, ulam and sambal belacan. For dessert I made kek sarang semut and the rest supplemented with murtabak, roti john and tepung pelita.

Glorious food!

No pretty baju kurung photoshoots this year, since some of us were in jeans (moi included). Perhaps a proper gang picture session is required in Syawal! We also took the opportunity to celebrate Ayu's birthday. Since we've all been severely Ducked, we decided to give her a Duck gift card. Beautifully wrapped too!

A dUCk gift card for a special person.

After terawih, we moved to the garden for our yearly tradition. This will be our 6th year writing messages using sparklers. As usual, here's a compilation of our sparkler shots since 2012:

Six years in a row!

Raya 2017! We got this right in the first try!

This year, the anak anak dara dah besar, hence we decided to include them in our yearly tradition too.

"Iftar" with an additional underline at the bottom, and then all the kids joined in the fun too!

Fireworks galore.

The girls' lepak session at the outdoor gazebo.

Past midnight, the men decided that they needed a lepak session at the local kedai mamak. In return, the ladies decided to leave the kids at home and crash the men's party. When we arrived, we quietly took a table mere meters from the men, but behind a pillar... kononnya nak do some sleuthing as well. It was good fun, cos we were giggling away while looking at our spouses. But to the rest of the restaurant patrons, we must have looked suspicious, ogling at men in the middle of the night. *chuckles* But I guess the joke's on us, because after just 10 minutes, our men stood up and walked to the car (to go home). They saw us, smiled, and instead of joining us as we expected them to, they drove off! We laughed so hard that night. Thank god one of us had the decency to bring her wallet, kalau tak basuh pinggan la kitaorg kat kedai mamak tuh.

Spying on our husbands... not!

On Sunday night, Fiza hosted the BBGS annual Iftar. Since the host decided that KFC was the way to go this year, we simply supplemented with desserts and such. I bought murtabak!

For the first time in a longggggg time, we managed to get everyone together under one roof.

Lighting up our sparklers, for our now yearly tradition...

Tadaaaa!

Kids in the garden, before they started throwing pop pops around.

The ladies then continued with our group photo shoot inside the house, while the husbands took care of the kiddos outside.

Formal shot.

Informal shot!

Thank you SPK and BBGS ladies, for a wonderful Iftar together. You know who you are! *smiles*

Birthday BBQ

After a whirlwind of celebrations for Hubby's birthday, we finally ended the festivities with one last BBQ night with our close friends. It also marked our first event at our newly sanctioned outdoor gazebo. Since it was a potluck gathering with a couple of equally crazy Le Creuset fans, I decided to turn it into a Le Creuset party! I requested for everyone to bring their goodies in their prized Le Creusets. Bless their sporting souls; absolutely everything arrived in Le Creuset cookware - cast iron, stoneware and even ceramics.

Officiating our new outdoor gazebo.

Photobombed!

The men hard at work.

The women did their fair share too.

Raw seafood posing in their own Le Creuset.

We had a feast that night! I made Hubby's favourite beef lasagna. But since it was my first time making it in my LC stoneware yang besar gedabak, I underestimated the ingredients required. (Note to self, next time it needs two packets of minced beef and four canned tomatoes!) We also had mee goreng, grilled hot dogs and corn, marinated lamb, squid, fish and chicken, complete with air asam and sambal!

Everything on the table was Le Creuset, except for the cake stand.

My beef lasagna. My neighbour's mee goreng was served in the exact Le Creuset - we both bought it together at the Mitsui Outlet in Sepang.

My neighbour's famous air asam. Sticker LC pun tak bukak lagi! While the yellow cast iron Le Creuset in the background was my first LC, purchased dirt cheap in Houston. Around RM350 for a 5.5 quart Dutch Oven. Crazy murah!

Gang kuat makan.

One last pose before everyone started gobbling the food.

While the men ate, we tended to the barbecue pit.

Nampak sangat tipu cos we were all crammed in front of the pit!.

These two... kejap Ian taller than Dafiya. Now Dafiya pulak taller than Ian.

For the cake cutting ceremony, of course the kiddos jadi mangsa buli. Hubby forced them to sing the birthday song on repeat! But Ian was the happiest; now that he finally knows how to smile and also understands what a birthday means, he was the most excited of them all. Nowadays he would enthusiastically tiba-tiba sing the birthday song with his name in it. Macam tau tau jer his birthday is coming up at the end of the month! (And Mummy is back on party planning mode!!! *sigh*)

The kiddos surrounding the birthday boy.

Ian and his pursed lips, helping Daddy blow out the candles.

Happy 35th birthday Hubby. Love you to the moon and back! Cukup lah kan tiup lilin sampai empat kali? Now let's see how you top this... for my birthday! *good luck*