Super duper mega ultra Classico

No more excuses, no more mind games, no more media antics, no more dobbing to Uefa/fifa/League/ ur momma, no more thrash talking, no more whinging, no more poking eyes, no more spitting in front of the bench, no more conspiracy theory, no more political influence, no more pigs head,  no more cock and bull, no more #ucking around...

Lets get it on!!!!!! 

Cherry Picking

Last weekend we had an outing to Cherry Heaven in Wandin. It was great. The kids enjoyed it and the misses and myself ate our bellies full. Before that day I always thought cherries tasted like cough medicine (thanks to the artificial cherries on most cakes). Thanks Hanim/Wanzaw for changing my perception. Now I know it taste better and crunchier than grapes. Tak muak lak tu. Layaaannn!!!! Recommended if you want to have a relaxing non stop cherry eating day. Lastly a little tip they shared with us... don't pull the cherry but instead twist it until it falls out so that other cherries can grow on the same stem.

warning: too many cherries may cause multiple visits to the Dunny. 

Zareef and Lucy B

Zareef and Lucy B. Always playing and having good fun together

Ayah: do u like Lucy?
Zareef: yes.. But she embarrass me..
Ayah: why?
Zareef: she calls me 'sweetie pie'
Ayah: do u like being called that
Zareef: no.... Emm yes... But not in front of everyone

Innocent lah konon

Buat innocent and cute lah konon!

Ayah: ZAAAARRAAAAA!! don't hit your brother.
Zara: Nooo... I wasn't hitting abg, I just wanted to touch his face with my bag.

Posing untuk ayah please

Zareef Melbourne boy model

I have recently concluded that I should up my skills in photography especially editing. It is a good hobby especially with the wifey into scrapping and the kids love to pose (on most occasion). Currently learning to use apple Aperture 3 (photoshop the next step) instead of my iPhoto. Went to the iPhoto session at an Apple store and found out that iPhoto don't do well on library more than 10000 pics. Hence the migration (yes we have thousands and thousands of pics). It was also easy to change cause of the "consolidating masters" tool aperture has. Wish me luck with this!... if all goes well I might be more active with our flickr  account.

Zara our sweet sweet baby

I just wanted to share this picture.. I think its cute...

Zara.. Messy lahhh

Ayah: Zaraaa... why is ur room messy... bla bla bla nagging naggginnnggg... da da da daaa.... Why don't u put ur toys away in the proper place...
Zara: Becaaauuuseeeeee... they are hiding... its their hiding place. 

Pandai pulak menjawab Zara sekarang ni. Sampai bila nak hiding.. ni dah hari kedua dah !!

Hiding konon!

Sakit tangan?.. hopefully not anymore

Ergonomic Mouse 

When you fly desk as much as we do either at home or at the office, you tend to get the hand cramps from  handling the mouse too much. We thought it would be wise to invest in an Ergonomic Mouse just to reduce the pain. The wifey had already started using the trackball mouse (Loigitech M570) at work and she thinks its wonderful. So we got the exact one just because we know it works for her. As long it works for the misses it should be fine (I have to get a new one if not)... me and the kids just have to adapt (start the kids young to learn to adapt).

Its been a few days now. We love it. I took a while to get use to it. Still want to keep lifting the mouse when you can just roll the ball to move the cursor. On the other hand Zareef had no problems at all (Zara doesnt care all that much yet). I showed Zareef a few moves he was keen and learned it... no worries.

After a few hours later while we was doing something I saw him adjusting the volume just by using the mouse (no cursor movement). I thought that was impressive because it took me a while to figure that one out. Happy to know we can learn from each other. Anyways... I hope from now on we wouldnt have anymore cramps.. Insyallah.

ps..Oh yeah the misses wants to buy another desk to get the right Ergonomic height.

Zareef words of wisdom

Zareefs self made tabung and his prized toy. 

Zareef: Ayaahhh... Can i buy beyblade (the new kids craze - macam gasing je)
Ayah: You always want me to buy you something!! (start being angry)
Zareef: No... Can i buy it myself. Using my piggy bank money. I have to learn to get my own stuff. So I cant just want stuff.  


Made my day hearing that. Really happy to know how he thinks about getting something. to top it off he wanted to go home first to get the money but i said its ok ill pay first. First thing when he got home he ran to his piggy bank and took out the money he owed me. May Allah preserve and protect his sincere heart. Amin

Yes OZ is expensive but not always

Although I'm determined that things in OZ is ridiculously overpriced. But on the rare sale occasion you can find the odd Gem or two.  A good example is Myer and Apple.  Myer is the main Retail store in OZ and known for being dearer (expensive) but maintains its quality. Apple rarely does discounts and are very strict on pricing towards its distributor. 

So comparing the 11inch 4GB ram 128GB Flash HDD Macbook Air is a very precise indicator.  Myer sells it for AUD1249, Apple OZ AUD1349 and Apple US ~ AUD1199. At first glance you might think the US Apple store is cheaper but do not forget to include its Sale Tax around 6-8% based on state. Which comes about AUD1290 roughly. While in Oz the final price is final. Dont worry the tax is still there, included in the price. No way your gonna run away from paying anything to the Government in OZ. 

So this is one of the very RAREEE occasion have I found something I WANT that is cheap here in OZ compare to US eventhough by just a few bucks. After all this research you think everybody in the house will welcome a new Mac Book Air?? 

Myers AUD1249 including tax @ myers online store

Apple OZ AUD1349 including tax @ OZ Apple store  

Apple US USD1199~AUD1199 @ US Apple Store 

Woii.. whats that?

Flag?

Ayah: Wooii Zareef... Whats that suppose to be?
Zareef: Thats my flag.
Ayah: Why r u using ur undies as ur flag.
Zareef: Cause it has a Ben 10 kromostom on it. And I like Ben 10

Conclusion - kids arent shy to show their allegiance/patriotism/flag-waveringism even though its directed to a cartoon.... and they really know how to improvise

ps.. the toy thats holding it up gives a air whooshing sound that adds to the drama.

Not that excited anymore r u?

As Gobbler said it ... HOTT PIESS!!

Although its good to see the pie fans all silent . I do miss the thrash talking and the enthusiasm. I guess the seasons over. Lets concentrate on the Rugby World Cup then. Go Wallabies!

Zareef Gongak!

Cert for being the best patient

Korek  Doc.. jgn tak korek

Zareef had a soar tooth the other day. We went to the dentist to find out whats wrong. After 3 visits to the clinic and an extra visit to the X-rays we found out that Zareef broke his tooth and the roots are still in his gums. We decided to remove the remaining roots so that the adult teeth can grow properly and to avoid infection and bad breath. It wasn't an easy procedure. It took about an hour and 3 dosage of anesthetic to get the things out. The dentist and her assistant did a good job especially calming Zareef down and taking care of him. But Zareef did the best. Quoting the dentist "Im not saying it just because but you have been a great patient, best we had for a while even better than most grown-ups". He was brave and he followed instructions and he did everything he can to make the procedure go smoothly. Anybody who knows Zareef will ponder how this miracle can happen but it did happen. For his trouble the Dentist gave him a cert and a toy. While for the dentist troubles, I had to pay HEAPS instead... and still you have bad breath Zareef!!

Thank You Cats

Thank You Geelong so much.... you did all of us right.

The silence of the Pie fans is deafening. 

Footy Grand Final

Went to the footy at the 'G'

Its that time of the season again when people go ferrel for their football team.. yes mostly pies fan. It can get exciting (on the other hand it can get really boring.. 100 points margin and stuff) I can tell you that especially last week preliminary finals between Hawthorn and Collingwood. Yes they have many versions of 'final'. Cant grab the idea around that yet. People get really excited about it in Victoria. Really excited... to the extent of excitement just because. Eg.. your team is already winning by 50 points and 1 minute to go, the next score they go crazy like its the winning goal of the world cup. I asked them does it make a difference. A flat out no was the answer.

Anyways, I rather have my soccer (a harder and more technical game in my eyes). I cant call it football here... ppl will get confused or angry. I still remember a mate making fun of me when I called it football instead of soccer. He said, "The sport when the ball is round".... like its a bad thing. Last I check the definition of a ball is a round object. Whatever... look whos talking, a fan of a sport that gets a point for missing. Yup.. you get a point for missing. The only other sport I know who does it is the Irish football thingy... but thats different because they intentionally aim for the lower points goal.

Enough of my rambling.. I might not know enough about footie but i do admire the fans enthusiasm although I reckon saje diorang lebih2 (thats why its so strong financially). But i just cant understand why ppl that are into footie have the cheek to make fun of other sports when they dont realize they are the only ones playing it.

Raya 2010 vs 2011

Changing nasty oil

Processing the oil  

Syawal is nearly over and the Raya season is passing us by even in Mesia the one country I know that celebrates it for a month. I still remember last year we had the crappiest Raya ever. We didnt get the day off (baru start kerja), work wasnt easy, knew hardly anybody, kids got sick often, things were bloody expensive. It wasnt fun I can tell you that.

I still remember that Raya day. At work, something dropped into the oil I was replacing (part of my training) and it splashed all over me.... I said to myself "what a %&@ life, others are wet with wuduk and me with this nasty stinking oil". I vowed we are not celebrating raya like this again. Felt sad and guilty that the kids will miss out on our culture. So we said we are going back each raya from now on. But 2011 would be different because MIL is around. Next year onwards insyallah. We can only plan.

This year raya on the other hand was full of happy feelings. Got great food (lemang, ketupat , rendang, kuih tart... semualah) and great company. Did all the traditional stuff. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. Thinking back about last year makes it all the sweeter. Even my waistline agrees. So below are some of our happier memories of Raya in Melbourne.

Twins?

Wheres the mirror?

Took this picture of Zara and her friend Rachel during Kindy. Thought it was cute both wore the same dress and amazingly both get along very well. Is it safe to assume personalities that are well paired have the same taste in fashion.... either that or the mommies went to the same Target store and bought the Sale item of the week. I reckon its the later. Anyways they look like they can start a Girl Band.  

Changes on the site

Hope the new changes are more pleasing to our readers. We wanted it more personalized and simplified. I hope we got that across. Another thing worth mentioning is that I enabled the mobile site feature. Making it easier to view on the go.

Some lessons are learnt by their consequences

Jangan kacau... nanti dia marah!

karang dia cakar kang!

Best kena cakar?!!!

Kids (Adults too i guess)... You keep warning them... but it just doesn't get through to them. Some lessons are learnt by their consequences. Thats why I reckon sometimes we have to let people make their own mistakes. Choosing which ones is the hard task.

Zara version of fairytale

Ayah: very beautiful.... Just like in the fairy-TALE
Zara: Nooooo..... Fairy doesn't have TAILSSSSS, they have wings and sparkling facess

Cikgu Morinho

Ahhh real barca again. Always figthing. Macam budak2. Tu yg cikgu kena ajar sikit. Tarik telinga nak?

Ps. Loving the classico drama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEH9BmYvz0o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Zareef the budak hutan... org hutan pun boleh jugak!

The budak2 hutan's

Muscle lah konon... keding giler adalah

Lovely mama and Zara waiting for the show

Zareef doing his drum part of the song

On stage doing their thing

Selamba nya... We need to talk son! 

Last week Zareef was involved in a Cabaret held by his school. It was held at a city council hall and it was very nice. Although they had hundreds of kids yelling and running around everything went very smooth and enjoyable.

Zareefs class was doing the George of The Jungle song. They nailed it pretty well. Especially making the "ooooOOOOooOOOO" tarzan sound while pounding their chest. Their costumes were awesome and cute. All the parents loved it. Kids loved it too... paling tak tahan zareef kacau a girl that was kinda flabby. Dangerous Zareef ni... one of the pics is the evidence. 

Till next time.. 

Bukak puasa di Ostrolia

Last weekend we had a bukak puasa at our house. We loved it coz it just brings our culture of breaking fast together. Sharing food with other Muslims is a blessed feeling. we had lovely food from Ikan bakar, kerabu, kfc, tart and other manisan. I loved it when the dining table was full of food and people eating. Addition to our very Malay cultured night we had Upin Ipin as part of our entertainment. It was fantastic and enjoyed by all of us. I hope to keep this tradition going inshallah as to not forget the finer things in life.

Sekampung of Shahrul's

Last week a very close friend of us came to Melbourne. Yup the one and only Shahrul. We are always excited to get visitors... what more somebody we've known and like most of our lives. We had fun at the park, went to cafes, driving around showing popular spots in Melbourne, watch the fireworks but the highlight must be the our Ozzie home style Barby!!

With only short notice Shahrul being Shahrul said the whole 12 family members are coming to our small house.... FYI Shahrul has some seriously BIG family members. Bak kata Shahrul "Dengan Zul, takyah malu!!!" ... plus dengan selambanya ajak org lain datang rumah tanpa notifying me. But Shahrul was right I didn't mind at all. Loved it actually especially with the kids running around. He knows me well. So we decided to do mee hoon and barbeque some lamb chops and steaks. They loved itttt! Especially Abang. He keeps saying "I love your meat". They loved it soo much it wasn't enough. So they went to the butchers and bought some more.. A LOTTT MOREE... the biggest steaks I had ever seen. Had to hold it with 2 hands punya besar. Layann memang LAYAANNN!!! tu tak kira hotdog, lamb chop and others. Memang habis barby.. to top it off, they went out again to buy apple crumble and ice cream... giler guilty makan but who caresss.. sinful pleasure. I hope they had a good time cause rumah pun kecik and we had to do with what we have. But it seemed they didnt mind and had enjoyed themselves.

Another fun thing we did together was watching the fireworks at docklands. It was beautiful and lasted a fair bit. Memang puas. Zareef keeps shouting if excitement. Zara was amazed with all the colours and singing/dancing with the songs they played along with the fireworks show. Shania was a little cautious of the loud bangs but I think she enjoyed it in her own way. The funny thing was we didn't even know there would be fireworks. It took a tourist (Julie) to tell us whats going on in our own city.

Sorry I didn't get to take many pictures but hoping shahrul and family will post in FB soon.