Monday, November 15, 2010

Day of Arafah

The Prophet (salalaahu'alayhiwasalam) was asked about fasting on
the day of 'Arafah and he said “It expiates sins for the preceding
year and the following year”

[Reported by Abu Qataadah in Sahih Muslim]

The day of 'Arafah is upon us.  Let us take this time to reflect.
There is great reward in fasting this day, so let us take full
advantage of making dhikr and making lots of du'a, InshaAllah.

May Allah accept all our du'a and good deeds. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Re-purpose : Used Crayons

Do u  have too many old and broken crayons that you don't know what to do with? We were in a similar situation and so was Ru and U. Here is our bag full of crayons..



With a blade I carefully cut the wrapper lengthwise and passed it on to the kids to peel them off. This itself was an activity on its own. They loved doing that.



Now, that we had all those peeled crayons, we broke them into small pieces. We had the oven preheated at 250.

The kids made their own color combinations into a mini muffin pan.


Then we baked it for about 10 minutes to melt all the crayons. We let it set again at room temperature for another 10-15 minutes.
S was too impatient and poked her finger into the last one on the bottom right while it was still wet.

Then we inverted them onto a plate. If you find them hard to invert, put the tray in the freezer for a few minutes..

Look at these beauties...  I would like to name the green and brown one 'Mint Chocolate Chip'. Awesome job kids, High-Five!!!


And best of all, they are fun to color with and don't break as often as the traditional ones..

N scored the Principal's Honor Roll..

In my kids school, grading starts from Second grade. Before that its S (Satisfactory), N (Needs Improvement) and U (Unsatisfactory). We were excited to see that N managed the principal's honor roll for the first marking period. Her teachers are wonderful!! N, we are so proud of you... Keep it up!! We want to see more of these coming..



Saturday, November 13, 2010

R's Scary Night!


R's Scary Night: One scary night, I closed the lights and I heard an owl.
 The door was closed, And then the door was opening slowly.
And I saw a Ghost. And it was my Dad.







Monday, November 8, 2010

More fun at OSC

After the "Who takes you fun places?" poem by N, Father had to take them somewhere fun of course!! And common consensus was the Orlando Science Center. this time Ru and U were joining along so it was double the fun!!









This is the Hurricane Simulator. The wind is blowing
 around 78.9 miles/hr as this pic was taken





















And this one is the Tornado Simulator






















Learning about Volcanoes

R and myself were reading about Volcanoes as he was very interested in them at the Orlando Science Center. He wanted to surprise me after we were done by going an extra mile and making this display out of construction paper and an empty tube of M&M's. I thought it was pretty impressive, given that he made this out of whatever materials he had on hand.. The red part is the lava and the green area is the grass.. And of course there had to be a rescue helicopter in the picture!! 






Cake Pops and Pie Pops

Here are the pics.. for the cake pops that I made for Ru & U's bake sale at their school.. If you haven't heard of these delicious treats, they are cake balls on a stick with hard chocolate/candy coating and some sprinkles on top..






And Some Pie Pops too.. I am getting obsessed with these lollipop sticks now... (HELP!)  I wanna make some cookies on these sticks now...should I attempt???




These are pretty simple to make. I will post the step by step instructions on the cookbook page soon! If you want it soon-ER, feel free to bug me and rush me until you see the recipe posted :D

Also, I tried making some cupcake bites as well..



Sunday, November 7, 2010

What a nice way to start my day...

When I woke up in the morning, N asked me to check my email as she had sent me something that I would love to read.. Here is what I got. Yes, I did love it..especially when she said "who takes you to fun places?' towards the end...

Who do you love first?
    Your mother.
                                                                  Then who? 
    Your mother.
                                                                    Then who?
    Your mother.
         
And then your father. 
                                                                     Who took care of
you when were born?
                                                                         Your mother.
                                                                       Who were you born from?
                                                                              Your mother.
                                                                        Who fed you milk?
                                                                               Your mother.
                                                                             Who takes you fun places?
                                                                                   Your father.


Remember think about all the people that don't have mothers or fathers.
Also make dua's to Allah and thank him for giving you a mother and father.
Remember how our prophet (Muhamamad salalahhoalahissalam) use to live?