I am almost ashamed..

.. to share this but this is what my darling daughter thinks:

Note to Self: Kids observing a lot !!

The Golden Ticket

We took the kids to Chuck e Cheese's last night and as usual, they never get tired of it. There is just something about that place in the kids hearts...
Anyways, what reminded me was that sometime last year, we had gone to Chuckee with the kids and there is this 'Extreme Cards' Booth where the kids sit in front of the camera and their picture gets printed on these credit card sized card with Fashion Diva or Skateboard Pro or CIS investigator or  something like that.. if you get the idea... And my kids have spent a great deal of time and coins over that. They collect these cards. So one time, R came upto me and showed me an unusual card he got from there. It said 'You have Won the Golden Ticket' and on the bottom it said that that card could be redeemed at the counter for 10 tokens. It may not sound like a big deal but it sure was a big deal to my kids as this was a rare card!
Upon seeing that card, N demanding the same one. Which of course is not in my hands.. so when we were ready to go home, N's chin was almost touching the floor with remorse and regrets..
When we got home, hubby asked her to read two Rakats of Salat-ul-Hajat and make duas to Allah SWT for one instead of crying over it.
It did take her a couple of days to get that portion done..We went again the following week. The first hour passed, no golden ticket.. the second hour passed.. still no golden ticket.. and then it was time to go home..
With a sad face she looked at me and told me if she could try one last time.. I gave her a go and went along with her, making duas that she hits the score.. She put the token in and to our surprise, the machine said that it was out of cards and need to inform the staff. She looked at me with a thousand questions and I told her to go inform one of the staff members to refill the machine. Slowly but surely, a person came with a few pack of cards to refill the machine. I started chit chatting with him and told him the story about the golden ticket. I asked him to see if there was a golden ticket in the pack of cards he had. He was kind enough to go through the stack of cards mumbling that there is probably just one in a pack of 500 to a 1000. I was persistent and so was he. Finally he found the golden ticket after a few minutes of searching, put it on top of the pile of cards and loaded them into the machine and asked N to go ahead and insert her coin into the machine. Sure enough, N followed directions and once the picture was taken and the card printed out... saying :  'You have Won the Golden Ticket!!!!'


That made her day and my day too!! She realized the power of Salat-ul-Hajat! (So did I)

I am back here.. Finally!

I heard you and I heard you yet again.. I know you are sick and tired of watching the Toronto/Buffalo pictures every time you stop by to see if I have posted anything new. So I decided that I should take some action.. and there is no better time than NOW!
Well.. I have sat down to write something but then I think there are a hundred things that I want to write about and I am not sure where to start off.. So N suggested that we could warm up with some jokes..
And she wants to share some jokes with all of us right now..
So I will let her dictate as I type...

1.Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?? 
2.Why is Six afraid of Seven?
I know that one!!!


I know.. Just don't tell yet! Remember Mummy, answers in the end!


3.Which Driver never gets a ticket?
4.Where did the baseball keep its lemonade??
5.Which bug do firefighters really dislike?
6.What color is a burp?
7.What has two humps and is in the North Pole?
8.What kind of a Phone does the Ocean have?
9. What do you call a cat that is frozen?
10.What's a dog's favorite dessert?


And the answers....










No Peeking...










No Cheating.....










Take a guess first......












Here ya go......








Now...








Now that is...










1. To get to the other side.
2. Because Seven Ate Nine
3.A Screw Driver
4. In the Pitcher
5. Fire Flies
6. Burple
7. A lost Camel
8. A Shell-Phone
9. A Cat-sicle
10. A Pup-Cake.

Toronto / Buffalo Trip

We went to Canada back in November over the Thanksgiving weekend. We flew to Buffalo and then drove to Toronto. It was a unique experience and was thoroughly enjoyed. On our way back from Toronto, we left Super Early in the morning and were able to see the snow in Buffalo. Since we had about two hours before we were to check-in for the flight back, the kids go to play in the snow and have a snowball fight. We were also able to see Niagara falls in the morning and it was so calm and peaceful with only a bunch of people admiring its breath-taking beauty. And this was the first time, we as a family crossed the US/Canada border via the Rainbow Bridge. 

As soon as we crossed the border and say the welcoming signs of New York....

We saw a Food Vendor right on the border and if you notice close enough on the yellow side of the canopy above the truck... you may be able to read *Halal Food*

And the beautiful rainbow which is pretty much seen throughout the day over the Niagara Falls.

Hajj Lapbook

More coming soon..

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. 

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..