A birthday fit for a royal prince

2nd June 2011

We were among the lucky group today who were invited to Istana Nurul Iman to attend the royal birthday celebration of His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Wakeel in the afternoon. Since it's Thursday, daddy took the day off from work while mummy came later right after office hours is over.

At one point of time, I was out of sight and daddy searched for me amongst the invited guests. Daddy then spotted me talking to His Majesty The Sultan together with other children. When he got the chance to talk to me, he immediately asked me what was I talking about. Hehehe... I'm sure he's worried that I spoke inappropriately to our beloved monarch!


You know what I said? I asked His Majesty two questions. Firstly, when was the ceremony going to start? Secondly, I asked why was he talking in English and not Malay? Hehehe!

The main event of course was the cake-cutting ceremony, and we were amazed to see two gigantic birthday cakes! It was also a great honour for us being in the presence of Their Majesties.

There were definitely lots of food around but it seemed that the adults are the only ones interested to eat. That's because all the kids could not resist the temptation of enjoying the carnival. There were lots of games and prizes to be won. Safiya and I also enjoyed climbing into the bouncer castle to play with the birthday prince as well as his baby sister, Her Royal Highness Princess Ameerah who happens to be Safiya's classmate at school.

Today was definitely a memory that we will cherish forever.

Happy Birthday Prince Abdul Wakeel

Health and fitness mode

29th May 2011

We started off our Sunday morning today by visiting Bukit Shahbandar for an early morning exercise with daddy. It was quite a challenge for us hiking up the hill but we were proud of ourselves once we reached the top. We also had some playtime at the play area.

Then, in the afternoon we attended cousin Lizam's 3rd birthday party at the Royal Brunei Recreation Club. We were very excited not only because we get to enjoy the party, but also because of swimming activities afterwards at the RBRC swimming pools!

After a satisfying meal, Safiya and I showed off our swimming skills. Our parents are very proud of us... it shows that all those weekly swimming lessons at school prove to be a great help for us. Safwan also took a dip for a very short while but decided he was not up for it. Perhaps the cold water was too much for the little guy.

What a great day!

Safwan's 2nd visit to the barber shop

28th May 2011

Our baby brother's hair is getting longer, and so our parents decided it was time for him to get a hair cut. Safwan was very cooperative and patient. He didn't move a lot and shed no tears at all. The barber was impressed too.

Special Needs Fund Raising Week

26th May 2011

This whole week, JIS has been hosting a fund raising week and all students and staff work hard together to collect funds to be donated to children with special needs here in Brunei. Last Tuesday, Year 2 had a bake sale and mummy helped me by donating some banana cupcakes. When mummy came during lunch to see the sale, she discovered that the bake sale was so successful that all baked goodies were sold out during the morning break. Safiya was a bit frustrated as well as she didn't get to buy anything from the sale.

As for her class, Safiya and her friends undertake to do some house chores for two days. A certificate is then made with the help of parents showing which chores were done. In return, parents donate $2 towards the fund. Here is Safiya's finished certificate:

It's very good that we are exposed to fund raising activities at our early age. Our parents hope that this provides a strong message for us to carry into our future because there are people out there who need our care, love and support no matter where they are.

Baby Safwan's new trick

14th May 2011

It's a Saturday and mummy is not feeling well. She is having early signs of a cold or flu infection and the doctor gave her the day off from work. Not wanting to disturb her rest, we all went downstairs early in the morning and had breakfast with daddy.

Out of the blue, Safwan expressed his intention of trying to feed himself. As such, daddy prepared the table and gave each of us small bowls of rice porridge. Then it happened... Safwan played tricks on us. He seems to be busy eating his own food, but as soon as Safiya looked elsewhere, Safwan took the chance to take her big sister's food instead. He then pretends as if nothing happened and continued on with his own bowl.

It's amazing what a 14 months old baby can already do! Hehehe...

Small Mother's Day celebration

9th May 2011

We had a special dinner last night. Our grandparents, Machar & family and Bungsu Hazim gathered at our house in celebration of this year's special day for mums. We had seafood steamboat with the choices of seafood and tom yam soup. The buffet table was full of various items -- prawns, fresh fish cubes, mussels, Brunei's own kupang (clams), fish balls, fish cakes, squids, noodles as well as vegetables.

We also witnessed our three celebrated mothers cut an ice-cream cake.

~ Another memory to remember the good times ~

Early Mother's Day presents

6th May 2011

Mother's Day is coming this weekend but lucky mummy received her presents in advance... today! I made mummy a card with a self-made bouquet.

As for Safiya, she made cut-out cards that spell MUM and delicious chocolate treats as her present this year. Safiya was really good at keeping her gift a secret and apparently she has been busy making them this whole week at school with the help of her teachers. From mummy's conversation with one of the other mums, a friend of Safiya had actually leaked out the secret and told his mom what the present was going to be. Lucky mummy, Safiya is good at making surprises!

To our beloved mummy... Happy advanced Mother's Day!
Lots of love from Syafi, Safiya & Safwan

Chinese yam fritters

24th April 2011

Being half-Chinese, daddy loves Chinese dishes. One of which is yam fritters that's usually served in Dim Sum restaurants. In the afternoon today, daddy had his first try at making them. The filling was stir-fried prawns with mushrooms and of course, the outer batter (a dough, rather) consists of steamed and mashed yam mixed with wheat starch and some other ingredients. Since it was our first try, we shaped the fritters into flattened balls instead of the usual triangular shapes served in the restaurants.

Our first attempt at frying them was not that successful whereby most of the fillings came out. With mummy's magic hands in "repairing" the dough, voila! We successfully created yummy-licious crispy yam fritters, just the way daddy likes it!

Hehehe.... Mummy told Wawa Jay about it and she already requests that we make them next time we have our family gathering!

Our first cousin of 2011

13th April 2011

Alhamdulillah, a new cousin is born. Syahmi is now officially a big brother, and he will soon have a friend to play with at home. The baby boy was born weighing 2.9kg and has distinctive Chinese-look features all over... just like the lucky mummy! Congratulations to Bungsu Diana and hubby, Bungsu Hj Raihan on the birth of your adorable bundle of joy.

Welcome to the world, Syamim Ar-Rasyid

Cute, isn't he?

Playing with mummy's iPhone

10th April 2011

Mummy took some pictures of us playing with her new smartphone. It's true what people say, the phone is user-friendly and is easy to use, even for children like us.

Nevertheless, we are definitely not at liberty to play with it all the time. We only have limited usage during schooldays - only when we are in the car with mummy on our way to and from school. School nights are dedicated for reading and a short time for tv. We also have little time to play with it on Saturdays since mummy brings it to work. As such, we only have the weekend night and Sundays to have the phone to ourselves. Then, when we are attending gatherings, mummy would ask us to stop when prayers are read and it was time to eat. The biggest rule of all - we must ask her permission before anything else.

Sounds boring right? But we guess that mummy doesn't want us to be too involved with playing so much that we will slowly start to ignore people around us. It's a common sight nowadays that kids do not mingle around, especially with the elders, since they are too busy with the gadgets. If mummy and daddy believe its for the best, then we believe that too.