Baby Blue Aqiqah

Oh my... I just realized that I never announced the arrival of our first nephew, on my blog!

My youngest sister-in-law, who got hitched to the man of his dreams exactly one year ago, gave birth to the most adorable baby boy about two months ago. (Bunting pelamin woot woot!) We were over the moon! He is absolutely an angel - tak banyak ragam and soooooo baik. Jarang sangat dengar dia nangis unnecessarily. You can literally leave him in his crib and he would coo himself to sleep. Ian pun excited sangat with the newborn. Peluk, cium, gomol... asyik mintak for us to put the baby in his lap. The first day, he even asked to bring the baby home!

So last weekend, we had an aqiqah for baby Ahmad Daniel Firhad. The mummy wanted a baby blue theme, so we worked with the desired theme. Everyone contributed to the dessert table - I made fondant cookies and macarons, my sister-in-law made brownies, fruit cheese and tartlets while another made sugar cookies and mini cakes. I even went through my arts and craft box and found old props and ribbons that I bought for Ian's aqiqah four years ago. Some were even still wrapped and unused!

The front view. 

My fondant sugar cookies. One of my mother-in-law's guests took home like ten of these, muttering about making the same for her future cucu. *chuckles*

Sugar cookies in the shape of milk bottles and baby rompers.

I found the ribbon with those adorable baby footsteps unopened, deep in my arts and crafts stash box. Also found the baby blue paper doilies at my local baking supply shop.

Sunlight was pouring directly onto the table, making it hard for me to get decent pictures.

Chocolate brownies, topped with desiccated coconut tinged with a hint of blue. Such a creative way to make desserts match the desired theme. 

Three batches and macarons, tapi still tak cukup. It was quite a hit with both the adults and kids. Love those Prince ribbons; leftover from Ian's aqiqah.

A view from the side.

From the top - kek lapis Sarawak, blueberry tartlets, and fruit cheese (fruit cocktail topped with cream cheese). Baby carriage topper from the US.

This one is a funny story. My sister-in-law attempted to tinge the cookie batter blue, but it didn't quite match the theme, so she saved the day by topping it with baby blue icing.

Baby mummy cutting the centerpiece cake - a Ferrero Rocher cake that she baked specifically for the occasion. Baby blocks and cake topper from the US.

Reused the baby blue tissue flowers that I used for Ian's aqiqah nearly four years ago. You can read that entry here. Flanked by marshmallows and crunchy love letters in apothecary jars.

Okay, I honestly think I'm done with the baby blue theme. When can I start decorating with pink??? Doa banyak banyak for a baby girl to make an appearance soon in the family. Amin!

A New Brother In Law!

When I first started dating Hubby, this girl was only in Standard Six. Fast forward to nearly twelve years later, this little girl is not only married, but siap langkah bendul two of her elder sisters lagi. *giggles*

Alhamdulillah, the wedding is now done and dusted. Thankfully, the bride was gracious enough to hire a wedding planner and exempt yours truly from making the wedding dessert table. Therefore, this whole wedding experience was soooo different from the last wedding we organized in the family. No baking cakes or carting mason jars around. Seriously, all I had to do was look good.

Hence here are the photos of all of us looking good during the day:

One with the sister-in-laws.

Hubby looking dashing in emerald green.

Photobombed by the groom.

Love this hand drawn poster.

One with the bride, with the dais in the background.

The view in the morning before the event. Tables were still naked!

The afternoon nikah (solemnization).

Family members matching in green.

Door gifts for our guests.

Cuties bertugas pegang bunga manggar.

Check out this cutie! 

The two boys.

The poolside wedding at night.

One with the SPK girls.

And their husbands.

Aiden completely ignored the wedding, he was too busy playing this at the clubhouse.

With the new brother in law, this brings the family to a total of 12 members!

Raya 2016 - Part 4!

So this is Part 4 (and my final post) of Syawal. In keeping up with the theme of cramming everything and everyone that weekend, we invited people over to our house that Sunday!

In the morning we had my in-laws and their extended families. We decided to do a repeat of the Breakfast Aidilfitri we did last year (you can read about it here). I wanted to keep it simple and mess-free; so since Nasi Lemak Turbo is a good friend of mine, I pre-ordered 15 packets of nasi lemak, with ayam goreng berempah and their famous sambal sotong. Hubby then supplemented those with roti canai and nasi dagang, while I made some homemade buttermilk pancake batter so guests could make their own pancakes on our electric griddle.

The spread in our dry kitchen that day.

Scrumptious nasi lemak and nasi dagang wrapped in banana leaf.

Seri muka and talam durian. Roti canai presented on banana leaves that came from our garden! Buttermilk pancake batter in the background.

My handsome cook. (Bagi chan lah puji sikit... rindu time time offshore nie.) *giggles*

Check out our latest pets at home. Three tortoises that have grown so much since they arrived at our home barely six months ago.

We had quite an intimate breakfast that morning. My in-laws even invited my sister-in-law's wedding planner over so that we could finalize the details for the wedding. (October is going to be a crazy month for me!) After breakfast, we even had time for a photo shoot in the garden.

So apparently there is this new trend in town, where instead of taking still photos or videos, you do a still video instead. Therefore one has to stay still all the time, suspended in motion, while the videographer walks all around the scene making it seem like a 360deg atmosphere shot. Easier said than done, really! Hubby cracked jokes (which made our noses flare up in giggle suppression), wind blew our clothes around, and a darn butterfly even flew into the shot! *chuckles*

See how happy I was holding a broom?

Still photo with my sister-in-laws. Wearing a recycled baju raya from The Calice.

Hindustan style at our front lawn.

After they left, we had my ID contractor and his family over for tea. Remember that future renovation that I mentioned in a previous post? Well, should be happening soon, insyaAllah. (Oil price, we need you to stand strong!)

Later that night, we had Aiden's ex-kindergarten mates over for dinner. The Real Kids mummy-hood is still as zealous as ever, despite our kids being in different schools this year. One of them is heading for greener pastures overseas, so we thought it would be a good idea to have everyone together for one last time before they left. We did this potluck style, so all I had to do was make the food that they brought look pretty in my glassware. (Oh, I did buy satay though!)

See how I made takeaway pizza look so good? *giggles* Satay Kajang from the R&R at Elmina.

Yummy mee sup with meatballs! My maid said it tasted like bakso. Put a generous dash of sambal kicap... yum!

Selfies in the kitchen.

Waiting for one more to arrive, and missing two more! I was wearing a modern kurung from Deir.

It was amazing to see how the kids easily bonded with each other despite being apart in different schools for over half a year. It was so seamless, they literally jumped into conversation the minute they met. Takde malu malu shy shy. 

Kids were running everywhere, upstairs... downstairs. Meanwhile, the 'responsible' parents *chuckles* were too busy enjoying themselves eating and chit chatting. Since it was raining outside, we couldn't open the patio up to make more space, so in the end everyone kinda crowded around the dining table. I think it was at this point that both Hubby and I realized that we needed a bigger dining hall!

We couldn't squeeze 5 couples in! Check out my 'instant' daughter, so cute with a bow in a hair *smiles*

And another photo with Hubby, kain pelekat and all.

The ladies. Wish Erma and Nely were with us!

Our antics - posing for photos and then vetting through them. Memang tak ingat anak.

Anak pun tak ingat kat mak bapak. Love this photo of Ian balancing precariously while peering curiously at the iPad.

Candid pose while the kids were busy watching TV.

Mommies and daughters.

So many paparazzi!

And that marked the end of Syawal, well for me at least. Bring on Zulkaedah already!