Happy Birthday Amelle (and Malaysia)!!

Happy Merdeka peeps...

This year, we not only celebrated Malaysia's birthday, but also Amelle's first birthday! Amelle is my future neighbour's daughter. By neighbour I mean right opposite our new house. Aiden and Amelle were both born in 2009 and I bet they will become close playmates due to the close proximities of our houses.

This neighbour of mine, not only is she a lawyer, but she is a budding business woman as well. She has opened a kindergarten in Cahaya SPK - the one and only, in fact. So what a great way to not only celebrate her daughter's birthday, but to also provide an opportunity for parents all around the new neighbourhood to check out her brand new kindy...

Thanks for the great picture Wan. (Cilok from Facebook)

Aiden had such a great time exploring the educational toys in the kindergarten.

Khusyuk trying to hammer the 'nail' in.

Soon, Aidan (Wan's first son - pronounced Aiden as well) joined in the chorus of bangings.

Amelle - proud to be a Merdeka baby!

This is how the downstairs hall looks like. The walls were all painted in cheery colours, decorated with Malaysian flag streamers and balloons.

They even had a corner for cupcake decorating - complete with small Malaysian flags on toothpicks!

Unfortunately, Aiden was too small to join in.

He kept himself occupied with books instead (muttering "Yeih, yeih, yah" all the way - his favourite phrase for now...).

Upstairs, they organized a colouring activity for the kids. Colouring the Malaysian flag!

Outside, Aiden was having the time of his life running around with the other big kids.

Checking out the grounds, he couldn't decide which one he wanted to do first.

First was the slide.

After he had slid he way down, he decided he wanted more, so he climbed the other way up!

Daddy helping Aiden while the whole queue on the slide became a stand still.

Next, he wanted to play house.

"Knock, knock, who's there?"

"Peekaboo, Mummy!"

"Daddy, look at me!"

Of course, not to forget his favourite past time - checking for house defects!

Inside, the kids were playing pass-the-ball and musical chairs.

Adnan, proudly showing off his lil' sister's cake.

And then it was time to eat. Kiddos only. Adults puasa!

And finally, the birthday girl arrives. Happy birthday, Amelle!

Last picture for the day. Thank you for the invite, Wan! Aiden certainly had fun exploring your kindy and loved the goody bag - his first encounter with sumi jelly and lollipops.

After that, we went to pick up poor Baby Beemer from the workshop.

Shouldn't call him 'poor' anymore, he looks great! Just in time for raya...

Yes, Hubby splurged on a new spoiler for Baby Beemer...

And removed the 3-series nameplate.

Welcome home, baby!

Poor Baby Beemer...

Poor Baby Beemer is imperfect... and it was all Hubby's fault.

We were having a late night dinner at the Kopitiam depan rumah and Hubby decided to park illegally by the road side. And while we were having dinner, I noticed a car trying really hard to reverse out of his parking spot, backing into our car. And I actually exclaimed, "Kereta tuh boleh keluar ke?", but Hubby simply shrugged and continued wolfing down his nasi goreng.

The next morning, we noticed the damage. Poor Baby Beemer had a dented side. Horrible timing as well, as it is so close to Eid! Sending the car to the workshop for fixing wasn't as simple as it seems, as it will take more than a weekend to fix, therefore I would have forcing me to drive Hubby's manual car to work and also figure out a way to pick up the car during a workday.

Finally, after procrastinating on it for over three weeks, we finally made the time to get it fixed. No way were we going to drive a dented car balik kampung!

The morning before sending the car to the workshop. Aiden has officially lost his Michelin arms. *sob*sob*

Aiden peering down the steering wheel, as if hoping he could make Baby Beemer all better.

Unfortunately, the damage is exterior, not interior lah Aiden!

Aarrgghhh... look at that. Poor Baby Beemer!!!

Hubby also took the opportunity to makeup the car with... something... (why do men enjoy splurging cash on cars rather than more meaningful and worthy commodities like handbags???!!!)

After dropping the car off at Sunway, we proceeded to PKNS to purchase baju raya for Aiden and Hubby and then break fast in Subang Empire. It was actually our first time in Empire (jakun kah??)...

Thankfully, dear SIL arrived earlier and managed to book a seat for all of us.

Surprisingly, Tarbush was fully reserved! Malas betul orang Subang masak kan?

Aiden woke up and had his favourite - papadom.

Muka stoned.

We had Chicken and Lamb Briyani. Also my favourite above - hummus!

In the end, all that was left was this.

Bitten By The Train Craze...

News flash, news flash! There is a toy store in Pavilion going bankrupt. Okay, that was simply mean. I mean they're having a moving out sale.

I have been eyeing this Chuggington carry case like for the longest time. But it was so darn expensive... 3 digits okay! But the shop was giving a 20% discount. So I got it for Aiden. Well actually Mummy was more excited!

It even came with 3 Chuggington die-casts. Comes with compartments to store even more die-casts. And yes, I do know that the light blue train is Thomas, not Chuggington....

The shop even had 50% off all die-casts.

" Toby... well let's say, he's square!!!"

So what are you waiting for? If your son (or even daugher or even yourself) is as train-crazy as my son, go now! Before they close for good...

Beading As A Side Income???

When my friend, Noris, talked me into trying out beading, I was convinced that I would be a total failure at it. Hello, this is me you're talking about. I am a failure at anything that requires a needle and thread. I also take this opportunity to hereby confess, that I sent my Kemahiran Hidup sewing project to a tailor (thus scoring an A for that subject, one of my straight 8As for PMR). However, being a queen hoarder, I still have the musical tissue box and tailored cover somewhere in my store. Hubby has repeatedly asked me to throw it away, even threatening to display it in our living hall if I don't do so.

Anyway, back to beading. The main reason why I finally tried it anyway, was because no one, I repeat NO ONE, wanted to accept tempahan beading for Eid anymore, despite enquiring about it early last month. I had no other choice but to try it out, or go for Hari Raya beadless. So I decided to try it out on an old baju kurung.

And lo and behold, I was bloody good at it! (Angkat bakul, naik lift...)

I started beading on the first day of puasa. This picture was taken a week after - I was already halfway through.

A close up. Beads are big enough to eat!

And two weeks since the date I started, I was finally done!

Whadya think? You reckon I could make a living out of this should anything happen to the Dutch Oil Company (touch wood!!!)....???