What's for dinner?...

This is my girls' daily question. It's always followed by NAYs or YAYs! And hearing the NAYs are really frustrating. So, I hope writing the menu on the board will help in avoiding any frustration/arguments :)

Just a little update!

It's officially winter here in my area! We already had a 10 inches of snow last Saturday. And since the trees are still leafy, we got lots of broken branches due to the excess snow weight and so major electricity outages. Good news our neighborhood didn't suffer that as a lot around.

In front of our house - 10/29/2011

It was Halloween last Monday. And since we don't celebrate Halloween, hubby picked the girls early from school last Friday because we didn't want them to attend the party. No Halloween means no costumes, and no trick or treat. Hubby and I talked to the girls and they were very understanding! They never complained. I was so proud of them. Hubby was so proud of them too, so he wanted to reward them. We went to the mall yesterday and they got to pick the toys they wanted. They both deserved them! 

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary! Man, we are getting old! But as long as we are getting old together, it's okay. I just can't believe a decade has passed already! 
 

Hubby just came back home with this lovely cake!

Eid is almost here! I'm done with Eid shopping for the whole family. I'm so excited about this Eid because it's on a Sunday. It has been a while since we had the Eid on a weekend. I have some nice plans for the Eid this year. I'll be posting pictures inshallah. We'll be fasting on Saturday inshallah. Fasting Arafa day is one of my favorite things about Eid Al-Adha. I keep remembering the Eid when we were actually on Arafat two years ago. I miss these days a lot. I always pray to get the chance to perform Hajj again.  

Eid Mubarak to you all in advance!

Happy 1st Birthday to my little boy!

One year ago today I was snuggled in my room at the hospital holding my 7 lb 3 oz baby boy! Since then he has been the sweetest thing in our life. It has been one wild ride, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy!

It was my birthday last Wednesday! That's why October is so special to me! I had a great day! My hubby got me this very nice cake. It was a nice surprise. To be honest, I expected a cake because he always gets me one. But this Barbie cake was unexpected. I was extremely happy. Hubby did it again; he made me so confident that I'm one of the happiest out there, alhamdulillah! It's not about the cake or the gift. It's about taking care of the smallest details. It's this unlimited love and kindness. 

 

Couple of weeks ago, my daughters asked me to get them some yarn to learn knitting. I was glad to hear that because I like knitting myself. It has been a while since the last time I did it so I was so excited about the whole thing. I also have been thinking about learning how to crochet, so I found it a good chance. Here is what I have been working on. I find it so relaxing and fun. I try to work on it during the girls' swimming classes, and whenever I get a chance!

Still here!

I know that I have been away for a long time. I just didn't feel blogging. No other reasons to be honest. Being busy is not the reason, since I'm always busy! Really BUSY!

I have been looking recently for an in-home babysitter, and I finally found one. She is a young Egyptian lady. Hubby and I went on a date the other night. A real no-kids-date! It was one of those unforgettable nights. Having a babysitter on call is priceless!

I also found a new Arabic teacher for my daughters. I'm so glad that I have finally found a good one. Talking about the girls, I also signed them up for private swimming classes at the YMCA. Between my dissertation, girls' classes, household duties, and my baby boy, I'm going to be fully booked this year!

Now let's talk shopping! I have bought this shirt from H&M few weeks ago. It's so light and airy! I love it because it works with hijab so well. It's loose and long and there is no need to wear anything underneath, which makes it perfect for summer days.

Hubby and the girls just went to the movies. They went to watch Lion King in 3D. So I found it a good chance to blog, and I'm glad I did!

16 days postpartum

Too busy to blog!!! Still recovering from the C-section, I'm feeling much better though! My last two weeks were all about breastfeeding, changing diapers, sleeping, taking pain medicine, and eating well :) El7amdellah that my husband was there to take care of the girls and everything else!

Here is a summary of the last 16 days: I gave birth on Monday Oct 11th, and I stayed at the hospital until Thursday. Unfortunately baby Abdurahman lost 10% of his weight at the hospital. I had to check with the doctor on the next Monday. While his weight was okay, he had a high Jaundice which required a daily blood test for 4 days. I had to cease breastfeeding for few days and just give him formula. El7amdellah, this strategy worked with him well and we were able to control the Jaundice without any other treatment. I resumed breastfeeding as soon as he felt better. It was scary!

I also resumed my daily activities as my husband had to go back to work last Monday. It feels good to be back :)

Talking about getting back, I guess I need to get back in shape too!! I gained about 50 pound this pregnancy :(. I lost about 20 so far. I need to work on the other 30 in the coming few months without affecting my milk supply. It's going to be hard, I think!! :)

Baby, baby, baby!!

Nowadays I can't stop thinking about my baby who will be coming late September early October. I can't stop looking for a name, buying new clothes, and looking for baby shower ideas. I really can't wait to see him, take him in my arms and hold him tight!

Baby names: I have been looking for a name since we have known the gender of the baby six weeks ago. My husband has already picked a name that he really likes so much. The name he has picked is Abdurahman. I really love the name but I find it a little bit long. Unless we find a nicer name in the remaining couple of months, Abdurahman will be the name of our baby, inshallah :)

Baby clothes: I really can't stop clothes shopping for the baby! Since I have two girls, I don't have any clothes for the coming baby boy. I'm trying to get the things that I really need and trying to convince myself that the baby will grow fast so not to buy too much! I took shots for some of the stuff I got in the last few week. Aren't they so cute? :)

Baby favors: I haven't started working on those yet. I still need to pick a theme, and make the decorations. My sister got me the chocolate from Amman but I still need to decorate them. I found some incredible ideas for baby favors online.

Getting a cold and "flowers" in hot summer!!!!

I'm not feeling well today! I'm having a cold. I find it weird because it's extremely hot these days. But I guess the air conditioner is behind my sickness. It's hard to have a cold in summer, and it's even harder when you're pregnant. I only can take Tylenol, nothing else to help me feel better.

Yesterday I was not feeling well too, so my husband took the girls to the swimming class. On the way back home my older daughter asked her dad to get me flowers. It was so nice. It seems like kids are copying everything you do, even those small things you're not paying attention to. She used to see her dad getting me flowers in different occasions and now she wanted to do the same. I was proud of her.

When you have great husband and kids what else could you ask for?

17 weeks to go...

I'm back! I know it has been a while since my last post, and I guess I just didn't feel like blogging. I even started writing this post few days ago and I never finished it!! I'm even not posting new recipes, I know!! But this summer I'm not in the mood for cooking or baking! Maybe the last dessert I made was the apple tart! But I will try to come back with some good recipes for summer soon, inshallah.

By the way, I'm pregnant! Yes, I'm 23 weeks pregnant. May be this is why I'm not that productive these days. I'm sleepy all the time. I barely can work on my research or at home. I'm excited though, we are all excited especially the girls. They can't wait to have the baby :)

Regardless of all the side effects of pregnancy, I love being pregnant and try always to enjoy every minute. I try to ignore all the weight I'm gaining, all the acne I'm having around, and every unexpected unwanted symptom I'm experiencing now and just enjoy the little precious baby inside who is playing soccer all the time :)

I guess that's it for now. I hope it will not be too long before I come back.

Take care!

A busy week

First, I just posted two new recipes, so check them out. I was supposed to post them last week, but I was too busy that I couldn't. I have some more recipes to post, and I will do as soon as I can.

One of those recipes is my younger daughter (Lily)'s birthday cake. She turned 4 on April 14th. I made her a fondant cake, and this by the way is my second fondant cake.


She wanted a pink cake. She also wanted a cat or a horse on the top, and wanted the cake to be decorated with different cool colors. I tried to add everything she wanted to the cake, and it was not bad. My two girls enjoyed watching me making it. Lily felt so special that day :)

I'm planning to clean my house today. I have tons of things to do. Monday is always a cleaning day for me but today it's going to be Spring cleaning. It's good because the weather is so bad outside that I have no desire to go out. It has been raining all night and it's going to continue all day today. I need to finish all cleaning today because I have to go back to my research work tomorrow. I'm also invited to ladies' lunch at my neighbor's house tomorrow. She is a nice lady from Afghanistan. I like such gatherings where I get the chance to meet other ladies.

last Thursday, I had a very nice day with one of my best friends. We spent the whole day together. What was special about that day that we were kids-free. It was a "bring your child to work" day, so her kids went with their dad to work. My husband also took my older daughter with him. My younger one went to school and I was able to leave her for extra couple of hours.

We met at 9:00 am before heading to NJ. We stopped at a small bakery on the way and ate breakfast. We were heading to a nice mall that is 45 minutes away from my place. As soon as we arrived we got some coffee before starting shopping. I guess we did too much shopping and talking that it was not that long before we felt hungry again! We ate our lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant. We then did more shopping, and more talking, before heading back to Easton. It was an unforgettable day.

Gingerbread cookies

Last week, my daughter asked me to bake her gingerbread cookies. They were talking about them at school and she wanted to try them. I never made these cookies before so I had to do my research on them :)

Gingerbread cookies are fragrant with ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The amount of each can be adjusted to suit your own individual taste. They are also usually made with molasses. Here is the recipe I used to make gingerbread cookies, ofcourse after tweaking it to my own taste. They turned out to be so delicious.

Ingredients:

3

cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

2/3 cup molasses

Directions:

• In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon.
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture b eating until incorporated.
• Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.
  
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
  
• Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies. I didn't have the cutters so I used my measuring cups to cut the round ones, and I had to make the man cookies with a knife.
• Move the cookies to the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 1 inch apart.
  
• Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown. If you like your gingerbread cookies on the soft side bake them a little less than the recipe that.
  
• Wait until they are completely cool before decorating them. You can decorate them using frosting, raisins, or candies. I stuffed the round cookies with marshmallow. My girls were so happy to help.
  

Back in the US

I'm back! I have been away for about four weeks due to our Haj trip. Actually it was more than a Haj trip, but since our main goal of this trip was Haj, I would like to name it this way. The trip was good, elhamdulillah. Sinan and I are so thankful that Allah made it easy for us and we were able to perform Haj at this age. Seriously, I think that anyone has the ability to do it should do it early in her/his life because it is really hard for old people.

We had to leave the girls with their grandparents. It was so hard on me, and I couldn't imagine being away from them for 11 days. We stayed in Amman for 3 days before heading to Madinah. It was a good chance to see our families and spend good times with them. We then headed to Madinah and spent 4 days there. Those were the best days ever. We were able to pray all the prayers at the Haram. What a pleasure! We both loved Madinah so much. Leaving Madinah and heading to Mecca was the first step in Haj. The way from Madinah to Mecca was too long and exhausting. The first thing we did in Mecca was going to Haram to perform Umra. The Haram is amazing, so huge and well taken care of. Seeing the Kaaba for the first time was breathtaking. It was like a dream. I didn't want to take my eyes away. My feelings at that time can't be described in words.

The next step was camping in Mina. Our group had two tents, one for men and the other for women. The good thing that I got to know two young ladies and spent most of the time with them. I think staying in Mina was the hardest part in Haj. Subhanallah, Haj is about being patient, and with this huge number of people who have different manners and habits, you' re about to lose your temper at any point.

The day of Arafa was one of the best days in Haj. Allah made it so easy for us, elhamdulillah. We left Arafat to Muzdalefa and spent the night there before heading back to Mina on the day of Eid. The first thing we did that morning was Stoning AlJamarat. We had to walk for about 2 hours to do that. Then we came back to the tents and cut our hairs. Most of men shaved their hairs, including my Sinan. We spent two more days in Mina before leaving Mecca to Amman. During Haj, we were not able to go to Haram as much as I wished. It was unbelievably crowded that there was no where to put a foot. We barely could do Tawaf and Sai there.

Haj was an amazing experience. It's a big challenge and it's full of lessons. Being able to do it was a blessing of Allah, elhamdulillah.

We went back to Jordan on the fourth day of Eid. We were so happy to see the girls. We missed them so much. And they also were so happy to see us. Their grandparents took care of them very well. I appreciated that so much.

The two weeks I spent in Amman after Haj were crazy busy. We had a lot of visitors who came to congratulate us for doing Haj. Also, we were so busy preparing for my brother's wedding. I was glad to help my brother buying his tuxedo and its accessories. He bought a really nice “Boss” tuxedo. By the way, I discovered that Jordan is so expensive comparing to US. You can get the same brand names for too much less (I mean regular prices, you will get them way less on sale). I didn't like that. It was not the only thing that I didn't like about Jordan this year. I felt like a foreigner in my own country too many times, if not all the time. People think, act, talk in a different way than mine. Sinan and I couldn't find ourselves with them. We were not sure where was the problem. But we were sure that we feel more comfortable here in US. I know that we have to go back there someday, and it has to be soon, but I can't stop getting worried about that day. We all were so happy when we stepped in our house; home, FINALLY!

Back to the wedding. It was great. The groom was so happy, and that made us all happy. Everything went very well, and we all had a good time. I wish my brother and his wife all the happiness.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed reading :)

Take care

Our coming trip

We're leaving to Amman this Saturday, inshallah. We will stay there for 3 days and then we'll start our Haj trip. We'll stop by Medina for few days and then go to Mecca. I still can't believe it. I pray everything goes well and that we have a safe trip. I will leave my daughters with their grandparents for 11 days. This is my first time to be away from my children. It's going to be so hard on me and them. I'm trying not to think about it, because I have no other choices. Inshallah Khair.

I have been working on the preparation for this trip for 2 weeks now. I went shopping like a million times and I'm not done yet. I had to buy lots of clothes for the girls. The problem that I totally forgot how the weather looks like in Jordan at this time of the year. I also had to buy some stuff for my brother's wedding. This part was the best. I love the dresses and the accessories I got for the girls and myself :)
I was planning to finish shopping today but I couldn't, which means I will have another shopping trip tomorrow's morning.

I will be busy all day tomorrow. I will be cleaning the house, doing laundry,..., and PACKING. I'm so excited and happy. I'm so concerned and worried at the same time. The girls and Sinan are so excited. We will be having fun at the airport and on airplane. I'm sure that the girls will enjoy every minute.

I guess this post will be my last one until I come back. So, take care and please pray for us. May Allah accept our Haj and grant us an easy and safe trip. Ameen.

Take care!