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My boy!!!

Imran, whilst canoeing, at Glasbury!!

April 2010

Imran is away on a week long school trip. I'm missing him terribly and the house is way too quiet!!

Here he is all packed up & ready to go.



In the school hall with his friend Arjun & mum Jag.



With his buddy Roshan as they walk to board the coach.



I know he's going to have a wonderful time at Glasbury and I look forward to hearing about it. But I'm going to miss his goodnight kisses! Love my boy.

my first post of 2010!!

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Pancake Day

I love Pancake day!! Usually we're all in the kitchen tossing our pancakes but this year I decided to make savoury rather than the normal lemon & sugar. So I adapted a recipe & came up with chicken & pesto pancakes. They were a hit with the family except Imran as he just wanted his lemon & sugar!!! Can't please them all can you!



Also sharing with you an altered letter I'd made for a friend's birthday. What do you think?



Our friends' Najma & Soyab came over from California for a flying visit so we all arranged to go out for a meal. It was a great evening with wonderful food.

Rashida, me & Durrat


Soyab, Abdul, Hatim & Akber

Snow Days

Hey how great. We finally got a heavy snowfall!! It's been quite a few years since our last real snowfall, the news is saying about 18 years! Wheesh that long really? We've had some snow in the past few years but not "the whole country grinds to a standstill" type!

It all started lste Sunday afternoon. By the evening Hussein & Kaizer were out in the street with the neighbours having their first of many snowball fights.

That night it snowed constantly and we woke up on Monday morning to this:



The news reported that the bus service in London was suspended due to the snow. So obviously that meant no school. Kids were very happy of course.
Their cousins came round a little after 9 and the rest of the day was spent having loads of snowball fights. I did ask the kids to help Imran make a snowman but they were more interested in pelting each other! They even got me a few times till I went back indoors. Then I was on hot chocolate making duty!! Nothing changes eh.

My SnowAngel!

With my niece Zuhra o/s our house

Kaizer getting ready to throw! Thank god it wasn't at me!

Hussein & Mohammed Aziz


Today was a bright sunny day and the snow has started to melt. Kids & I go back to school tomorrow (me for the first time in 3 weeks eek).
But the weather forecast says we may have more snow later this week, up to 10 inches OMG!!!! So Imran might get his snowman after all. Fingers crossed.

Monday

Ok it's Monday and I'm still off work with this persistent cough. Visited the doctor yet again and and the conclusion was for me to go for a chest xray tomorrow. She's also signed me off work for another week.

So while I'm off I've managed to get some scrapping done. And I entered a competition. Don't think I'll get anywhere but at least it got my mojo going.
At the moment I'm thinking of having a go at doing 12x6 los. The size seems really manageable an therefore appeals to me. So if you've done any, can you share your los with me please? Oh and also what album you've used. I'm toying with either American Crafts D ring or a Bazzill one.

I've also just started the second book in the Twilight series. Finding it a little difficult to put down!!!

That's all for now so have a good week. Ciao for now xx

I've been busy!

Still off sick from work so I've kept busy by actually doing a few los!

The Cupcake Quiz

Your Cupcake Says You Are Your Own Biggest Fan

At parties, you tend to be a social butterfly. You enjoy making conversation and making sure everyone is having fun. You have absolutely no restraint in your life. You live life with reckless abandon. The most important thing in your life is love. You are dominant, vain, and a bit of a show off. To know you is to worship you.

The Cupcake Test

Well darling hubbie does call me a social butterfly so that bit's spot on!!!

Still ill

Finally got an appointment with my doctor who said my chest was very tight!!! Too right! I feel like an old woman or a 20 a day smoker the way I'm coughing. In fact she asked me if I was a smoker!
So now I'm on antibiotics, steriods AND an asthama pump. Just can't wait to get rid of the cough. It really wears me out.

Went to see a panto yesterday at the Theatre Royal in Stratford. I hadn't orginally planned to go but there was a spare ticket on the day so I joined the staff & pupils at the theatre just before the show started. Imran was chuffed to have me there. It was an enjoyable show. The ice cream was nice too!!
But taking 90 kids on the train was a real experience!!




Looking forward to tomorrow....my favourite day of the week...yes!!!

Happy new year

My first post of the new year...took my time didn't I haha.

Awoke this morning to snow. Ok there wasn't tons of it and in fact it's all gone already. But fingers crossed we might get some more.

Went back to work today but still got an awful cough which doesn't seem to want to shift. I've been drinking a fab herbal tea from Whittards that my darling hubbie got for me...Lemon, Ginger & Echinacea which is supposed to boost your immune system. Well admittedly since drinking I haven't left as lethargic so it seems to be working.

What else is new..well nothing really except to wish that 2009 is a happy and healthy year. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Merry Christmas

Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas.
We sure did. Totally over indulged ourselves...as you're allowed to!!! We had some lovely days just enjoying ourselves & chilling out. Also managed to visit my parents for a few days too.
Here's some photos taken during the last week.


Out for dinner with Jamila, Fouz & Pavinder plus secret santa gifts too!

My yummy advent calendar. Usually only the kids get one but this year I treated myself.

The famous Bull at the BullRing, Birmingham.

My lovely new toy & it's pink yay!!!

Last night was our Islamic new year. It's tradition to have loads of dishes. How many can you count?

Blessing the thaal.

The boys with their paternal cousins.


My nieces

Sad news

On Wednesday 10th Dec we received some tragic news. My cousin Shabbir's wife Nafisa had suffered a fatal accident. They were out on their motorbike when they had a collision with another. The force caused Nafisa bhaibi to fall off the back of the bike, where she was sitting, & fell on the ground hitting her head badly. She died not long after.
My mum & I are so so upset. It's hard to come to terms with it. She was only in her late thirties & has left behind a teenage son. Shabbir is obviously distraught at the loss of his "jaan" - Nafisa was his everything.

Finally

Well I've been computerless for over a week and gosh, it's like horrendous without it.
I mean we just can't survive without being connected to the www. I must admit that I've really struggled. The boys were ok as they could either go online at school or go to the local cyber cafe. Akber was obviously ok at work. But it's quite difficult to go online at the school plus facebook is banned there.
So now we have a swanky new desktop with a huge monitor which we all love. Now I'm just waiting for my laptop to be repaired.

So in the last week or so I finished reading an amazing book. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers.



I'd orginally bought it for Hussein but I decided to read it first. And I'm so glad I did. I was hooked from the first page & could barely put it down.
So I'm going to add the next book to my Xmas wish list!

Ok so you all know that the new James Bond movie has come out. And obviously with a house full of guys we're gonna go watch it at some point or other. So I thought I'd better have go at watching last year's movie - Casino Royale. Last time we watched the dvd I fell asleep! Plus I wasn't so keen on Daniel Craig which is probably why I fell asleep in the first place! My particular favs are Sean Connery & Pierce Brosnan in that order. But I sat down one afternoon and at the end of the movie I was converted. Daniel Craig is just gorgeous!!! And I think he makes a stunning 007!

It's bitterly cold here. Had a bit of snow yesterday but it was gone by the afternoon.

No pictures to share this time as I still need to get my photos transferred over to this pc. So enjoy the last week of November. Ciao for now.

It's been a while....

I know it's been long time since my last blog entry but, seriously, life has been pretty hectic.
Loads has happened so I've had to resort to my calendar, diary & photos to remind of what I've been up to.
Be warned it's a long entry with tons of pics!!!

We celebrated Eid on 30th Sept. I was pleased as I'd managed to keep most of the fasts though I was convinced I wouldn't be able to keep them as the days were quite long. In the evening, as always, we got together with Akber's family & went out to eat. We totally overindulged ourselves!! The best part was the mango lassi..yumm.




The following week I attended the Scrapping For Wishes charity crop & made some lovely things including a fab countdown to Christmas mdf tree.
5th October saw Hussein's 15th birthay. Phew I can't blieve I'm mum to a 15 year old. Makes me feel slightly old!! We went out to eat at TGI's where the waiters kept adding more & more balloons to Hussein's arms!!!





Later that week I went out with the girls from work to a Turkish restaurant that had just recently opened.




Then on 23rd October Akber & I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. He took me to a fabulous resturant, The Orrery, in Marylebone. It was really special especially our drinks. The best one was the Flirtini..think martini & add raspberrys. I was definitely a little merry!!!! The food & service was impeccable and I'd love to go back again.










Then came Halloween. Akber's aunt & cousins had arrived from Holland the day before so they were quite enthralled with the whole thing as Halloween isn't so big over there..yet. Anyway Batula & Imran got on like a house on fire & she came trick or treating with him.



On 1st November, as Akber's sister & family had also flown in from Switzerland, we had a party for his family celebrating our anniversary & the birthdays of two of his nieces. We had birthday cake for the girls but for us I wanted something different and so I ordered cupcakes. They were beautifully decorated and so yummy. I was really pleased with them. We also took tons of pics especially as this was the first time in about 5 years that all the cousins (my mils' grandkids) were together. All in all it was a good night














So finally that brings us to today. End of the first week back at work after half term. Only 6 weeks till we break up for Christmas but who's counting!!!!

MIA

I'm back!!!
Woohoo finally I've made it back to blogging!
I have no excuses except that life is just happening & so updating my blog got put aside.
So this is what's been happening since August:-

• We were excited to find out Imran had won a competition he'd entered in one of his comics....prize a Lazy Town dressing up outfit...which was fabulous as he just loves to dress up.

• We went away for a week with family...about 20 of us. We hired a huge 10 bedroomed mansion out in the middle of nowhere in Angelsey (a small isle in North Wales). We had a lovely time there. It was very relaxing. The weather was a bit naff but the kids enjoyed themselves so much. They were happy just to spend the time with their cousins.

• Celebrated my birthday. Went for a lovely meal with some friends at a fab local restaurant.

• Six days later it was Imran's turn. We didn't really do anything special so we decided quite late in the evening to go into central London,to Leicester Square & indulge ourselves in Haaagen Dazs! Luckily we didn't have to queue for too long & we selected some yummy desserts.

• The next day was the first of Ramadan so the fasts began. Not long now till Eid!

• Returned back to work....could have really done with a longer summer break! But I'm glad to say only another 4 weeks and it'll be half term. Looking forward to that very much!

• Boys started the new school year. Hussein is now in year 10 & doing his GCSE’s. Kaizer is in year 9 and Imran in Year 4.

• Imran took part in the Redbridge Carnival with fellow pupils doing a display/dance of body percussion. I stood there with a huge grin on my face as he remembered every move.