Kids' Ramadan progress

Alhamdulilah so far the kids managed to complete their fasting. Since Ramadan started, Syafiq tinggal 2 days coz he felt so tired after he came back from school.

The greatest challenge for them at school is most of their school mates tak puasa! Even nadia's classmate in Grade 5 tak puasa. So syok aje their frens makan dan minum macam biasa depan they all. Canteen pun mengalu alu kan budak beli makanan!

In Syafiq's class (grade 3) he is the only one who is fasting! So u can imagine how my poor syafiq has to control his urges to join his friends yang tengah syok makan and minum...I'm so proud of him and nadia coz day to day they have to face these challeges and still managed to keep their fast. Off course bila balik sekolah, masuk pintu je the first word they say - mama bole tak nak minum.... which I usually answer back..la kejap lagi je nak buka puasa ..rugi...(tho masa tu lagi 4 jam nak buka!) So far it works ;-)

Rupanya arabs kat sini tak emphasis for their kids to start fasting at a young age. When they reached adolescence then only fasting will start for them.

Totally different from us huh.... where kids started to fast from 5 years old and in fact sum kids fast for full month since they are 6! Most of the time it's not becoz the parents force them too but the kids themselves wanted to fast. Off course one of the reason are usually the RM reward per fasting day :-)

Teringat masa my time dulu, (ages ago!!) even at 10 yrs old, I still selamba je minum kat sekolah, siap bawak bekal air lagik!*malu*

This is not to be told to my kids! heh..heh.....

Citer citer bulan Ramadan

Day two of ramadan today. Alhamdulilah both Nadia and Syafiq managed to fast full days. Their greatest challenge has yet to come as only tomorrow they will start school after the weekend break. Although the weather is a little bit cooler now it is still tiring to be in the hot sun...Fortunately their school starts at 9am so after sahur they can still continue their sleep...

I do hope Syafiq can hold on as this is the first year he is fasting full day. Past years we let him fast for half day only coz he is so so skinny and he will whine and whine about "I must eat" and ate he did! Which is unusual coz on normal days, it was a struggle to let him eat!

Nadia alhamdulilah, she's already a 'pro' at fasting :-)

These past 2 days, our buka puasa is as simple as can be. One becoz hubby is working on afternoon shift so there's only me and the kids. I made agar agar marble yesterday, thank god it turned out fine! Minum air oren and just rice and ayam masak merah.

Sigh.......how I miss the kemeriahan bulan puasa in Msia! not that I'm a great fan of the ever famous bazar Ramadan but it's just that the way we msians with Ramadan.....and also the convenience of having the choice of not to cook on your lazy days. (usually on most days!)

Ahh...all the kuihs, lauk pauk, murtabak, air yg berbagai bagai rasa......most of all I miss buying kuihs at this makcik's gerai in menjalara. Her goreng pisang is the best ever! During ramadan, she will sell more variety of kuihs. After work, I will just make a quick turn to her gerai and buy kuih lopes for hubby and Nadia(Its strange but they go nuts over kuih lopes during ramadan) some karipap, seri muka, goreng pisang etc etc....(mengikut naluri nafsu pada hari itu!)

I seldom go to the TTDI ramadan bazar coz it's too crowded and pening nak pilih wat you wanna buy coz they are so many stalls and so many people! My usual stop overs were gerai makcik or Uncle's Rahim shop (bihun sup daging sedapppp!!!!) in menjalara. Paling jauh in Sri Damansara where I usually bumped into my frens Han and Has dengan tangan yg penuh beg plastics! *Nostalgic betul teringat citer camni malam nih......*

I also miss the terawih....bila buat terawih kat masjid then U feel that your puasa is more complete... here ladies are not encourage to go for prayers at the mosque. Nadia luvs going for terawih coz she enjoyed the moreh(food) after the prayers!

Puasa this year in Riyadh is different alright.....it's actually a very quiet event. During the day, most of the saudis stayed in their home. Most of shops are also closed till after asar. Only after terawih prayers, the streets are busy.

hu..hu....sure miss kemeriahan ramadan back home....

Salam Ramadan 1428

Insyallah esok puasa...This will be our first experience berpuasa di tanah arab.(mcm jejak rasul pulak!)

As now the weather is moving into the cold season, magrib is earlier. (yea!) Subuh of farj time is 4.17am. That means we will have our sahur at 3.30am. Breaking fast will be at 6.02pm and it be earlier as days goes by.

Best thing here, for the kids during ramadan their school will start at 9am and ends at 12.30. (normal school hours is 7.30am to 1.30am) As for office people, they start at 10am and go back at 4pm. Best gile!

Unfortunately as hubby works on shift, no change in the working hrs for him. Just that for breaking fast and sahur, they have a buffet prepared daily in the office. Ala ala hotel gitu...

As for me, I hope this ramadan will bring blessings to our family....

P/s will also be bz trying kuih recipes for berbuka as here no bazar ramadan, hu..hu..hu.......

New routine

Sigh...since the kids started school, my life is full of chores! First of all, waking up in the morning is quite a task as Im not a morning person. Fortunately here by 5.30 am it's already so sunny so senang sikit nak bangun compared to msia where at 6am it is still so dark.

The kids go off to their bus by 6.45am. Stimes after they go off, I go back for a short nap which I consider as luxury now that I dun have to rush to the office! More than often I continue with the laundry, masak etc etc....sampai la the kids came back from school by 2.00pm. Yet I dunno why tak habih habis kain baju yg nak di lipat! Macam gunung! *I so hate lipat-ing kain, i rather iron the cothes than folding em*

In between my daily chores, occasionally I get sum stolen moments on the net between 1 to 2 hours. Then by the time they came back, its lunch time for them and homework time! 5.00pm to 7.00pm they have their quran session with the ustaz which is rotated between 4 houses. Normally we will each prepare a dish for the kids and ustaz to eat beramai ramai after their magrib prayer. So still no rest!

Balik from mengaji time for them to mandi, have their dinner, continue with homework or sum revisions (ada la tengok TV jugak sambil sambil tu) . By 10pm the kids will already fall asleep. kesian they all.....

Which after that, yours truly will also go zzz......

So how cum I tot being a full time stay at home mum gives me more leisure time?????Hmmm....

The funny thing is, when I whined to my kids how tired I am...Syafiq said, "now I know why they say mom's job is never done!"

Exactly my son.... :-)