Second day

Second day for school but it's Farah's first day for taking a school bus.

Looked nearvous in the morning. Seemed she would cry but she didn't. She was so quiet.

Arif said to Farah :

don't cry

don't scream

don't talk

don't talk to me

do not talk to my friends

do not sit down next to me

just sit down nicely in the front or sitting next to Emir

I'm sitting down on the very back row

you sit down next to the woman in the very front row

"Mas, it's not nice you're saying that to her, you should encourage her", I said to Arif.

Emir told Farah :

it's Ok, Farah

mas Emir is sitting down behind you, ok. You will be fine.

Yeah, that's my boy. When the school bus came, finally, mas Arif who escorted her to the bus. I smiled (big smiled).

I made sure everybody buckled up.

si ganteng chubby Emir

At home, Farah told me that she enjoyed the bus. I'm sure she's ready.

Go back school

After 9 weeks my kids had holiday, today is the first day for them to go back to school. They were all so excited.

I was also excited yet sad. Maybe some people who knew me were amazed. Yes, despite that I like to go out everyday (well, almost), hang out with my friends, having lunch outside (well, almost), shopping a lot, going to bangkok (well, almost everyweek), but when it comes for holidays and having my kids all day, I am really super duper happy .

It is fun for me being surrounded with all my 3 kids. Yeah I know, they fought each other like they wanted to kill each other. My house was like this : Farah screamed... "mas is bothering me..", and Farah cried and the brothers would say "stop crying" !!, or Emir and Arif fought for the books, the playstation, the games, even the TV channels !!. Oh God..., but it's ok they are still normal for me. They love each other (yeah they should, or else... !).

The boys are getting bigger now, they like to stay at home all the time (I know the reason), they don't want to go outside with mama, especially to Bkk. Sometimes I asked them for having lunch outside. I wanted to take them to fancy rests, and the results were sometimes yes sometimes no, hi..hi.. They liked to go to fast food rests!!, just ordered food and took them home. Haah..?? it was not fair, ya ?. They just wanted to go home as soon as they can, hi..hi..(I'm their mom. I know why), no way guys... "after this we go for groceries shopping" and the boys face were ... you know, not willingly !!. "Come on, better that you just come with me nurut sama mama".

One thing that yhey never say no if I take them to the book stores. Yes everybody in the family love books. Especially the book stores in Bkk !!. Yeah in Bkk the book ranges are so huge and various. They have everything. I'm the one who need to control their books budget otherwise we just buy, buy, buy.... seems like we need them not want them, yeah it seems that all the book need to be bought !!, very important books, hi..hi.. yeah for us sometimes we must think if we want this book or need this book. Otherwise the money for the other things will gone..!!.

While they were at home, I liked to cook and try new recipes and the kids always enjoyed my food, that's why in holidays my kids always look chubby. They are all putting on !!, but Arif always take good care for his shape. He always said that he doesn't want to be fat because he needs to run and jump a lot. He wants to be a basketball player !!. (yeah son, after your finish your..... dasar ibu pemaksa !!). On the contrary, Emir needs to eat a lot, especially next month is ramadhan. Now his weight is perfect.

Anyway, this morning I got up very very early morning (before subuh !), got ready myself, then prepared the breakfast, then the lunch boxes ( 4, including for my dear husband). Everything was perfect ! The kids were easy to get up and get ready (off course, their first day, still going smoothly..), and I made sure Dudi to leave early, cause I needed the car for taking Farah to the school.

Arif now in secondary (year 7, british system), although for american system he is still in the 6th grade. So today was his first day to go to the big building and from now on he's wearing a long pants and a tie (must !!, for daily wear). Wow, he is so ganteng !!. (memang kedua anak lakiku pada ganteng2 !! )

My boys left with the school bus. I went with Farah because I wanted to take her to the school, eventhough today she should be on the school bus with the brothrs.

Ok my kids, my prayers are always be with you... (doa mama menyertaimu nak, hi..hi.. terkesan puitis sekali ?, tapi beneran !! )

Grandparents

Just 2 days ago, Dudi's parents went back to Indonesia. So sad.... For the last 17 days, we were so happy for having them here. They'd arrived here at the day after Emir's birthday (July 15th). They came with Dudi's niece (Aa). Aa was here (instead of 17 days) for only a week he needed to go back to his campus in Jogjakarta.

This was a second time for mimih and bapak visited us here in Thailand. Farah was so close with her grandpa, almost every morning they had their own routine. It was like this, Farah would ride her bike with mbah de. While she was pedaling her bike (with high speed) mbah walked slowly behind her, far left behind actually, but Farah would be happily going back to mbah, then they went together again... but Farah was speeding up again and she would come back to mbah again. Again..and again. It was so nice to see them.

My kids were just happily to do shalat berjamaah with mbah de as an imam. Most of the times Dudi managed to come home before 7 pm. (which was still sunny a little bit -still summer here in Thailand !!). Did sholat berjamaah and having dinner together.

Despite of her disability (due to her advance stage of osteophorosis -both arms and both legs), my mom in law still has great enthusiasms. Especially when it came for shopping. Liked to go shopping so much !! (mostly for oleh2, off course).

While they were here (mbah ii couldn't go upstairs) so they slept in the TV room, I'd converted it into a bedroom. Nice and cozy. Easy for mbah ii, very close to the dining room and bathroom. Mbah de in his age (78 yo), still in an excellent conditions, for him going upstairs was not a problem. He liked using the upstairs bathroom (because of the hot shower), sholat in the musholla, and spent some time with the boys in my boys room.

I often cought my in laws, in the middle of the night (around 1.00am), they still awoke and did sholat malam, zikir, and ngaji.

I became so creative !. When they were here, I needed to think what to cook so everybody could eat. Mbah de needed to eat something soft but tasty and spicy enough, but for mbah ii not too spicy and she hates terasi -shrimp paste- and to make me more challenge was mbah de loves terasi.

The breakfasts were always heavy and must be Indonesian meals !!. A big NO for simple breakfasts like sandwiches, cereals, omellette, etc (bye..see you next time) oh ya, instead for breakfast I made pancakes (for afternoon tea with filling chocolate chips, and cheese then folded, it was almost like martabak manis). Breakfasts menu usually were nasi uduk dan lauk-lauknya, ketoprak, mie ayam bakso, lontong sayur, nasi goreng and so on... I forgot. You name it, probably I made it. Fortunately I had enough time to prepare them (still holiday... the kids don't go to school, no needed to be in a hurry). Breakfast time moved to 9 am. But this condition couldn't go for Dudi, he leaves at 6.30 am -for the office-, so his breakfast just sticks to his simple sandwich & yoghurt & milk.

I took my in laws to watch Miss Tiffany's show (dancing -performanced by transsexual people-). It was soo...funny. The show is everynight and always full house with the tourists.

Kata bapak : "bapak baru sekali ini lihat banci banyak banget pada nari2"

Kata saya : 'lho jangankan bapak, lisa aja dah 3 tahun disini juga baru sekali"

I am so grateful for my kids they still have 2 grandmas (my mom and dudi's mom) and a grandpa. I remember, one day I told my brother that Farah is really close to her grandpa, and my brother simply said that she's a lucky girl. Yeah I know, she is. My brother and me never knew our grandpas (from both sides -mama and papa-). They'd passed away, long before we're born. We took a lot of pictures !!, but accidently Farah deleted some (almost all !!) from my camera before I'd saved them to the computer. Faraahh..... !!

Below are "the survived pictures" :

The pictures