Farhan is a big boy!

Emir is 7!

Emir turns 7 last Friday, Nov 7th.

And some cakes...

Tok (Malay for Grandma) made some cakes for Emir and Farhan last Saturday and invited some of our close relatives to come over. Yup Farhan too - he's gonna be 6 on Nov 19th. We thought it's better to combine their birthdays for the time being until they can really understand about the concept of a Birth.Day. The 2 boys were really grumpy during Ezzat's birthday party and demanded they have theirs too at the same time. So it was all good in the end that night.

One cake for Emir.

And one cake for Farhan.

And a short vid to complement.

Emir wanted to cut the cake and Tok was assisting.

And had his first bite while everybody's watching.

Ooppss..hold on mama!

It's a pretty nice yummy cake.

And Ikram loves it! He's one of the 3 cousins the boys have at the moment.

Irfan and Emir. Irfan is Ikram's brother.

And Farhan with his ever ready 'Peace' sign. He's certainly 'peaceful' that night since he got his got to blow candles 2 weeks earlier!

Ezzat's getting sleepy.

Hanging out after dinner.

Fun time!

Emir and Ezzat with their young uncles and aunties.

School Concert 2008 & Graduation Day

Farhan and Ezzat had their school concert and graduation day today. It's way different from the concert we went last year at their previous kindergarten when we're still in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously the standard here is in Alor Star is still far behind but nonetheless we had a great time, especially for the 2 boys. I was hoping the school could provide the parents with a professional cameraman or photographer so that we could purchase the pictures and CDs later but there's none. The kindergarten which Emir and Farhan went last year did all that, and it's such a breeze and I didn't have to go all the way in front to snap some Kodak moment. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to put up pictures from last year too since there are some of you who might not have seen those.

CEC Concert 2007 :

This was at last year's concert. Emir and his friend posing at the backstage before their show - an Indian dance.

The 2 brothers. Farhan's wearing a traditional Malay costume for his dance.

Waiting for the show to begin.

The stage. Bad pic though coz it was taken using handphone.

Emir receiving his scroll from Ms. Aggy, the principal. Bad picture again. Thank god I have a sharp one taken by a photographer hired by the school.

Elite Kindergarten Concert 2008 :

Emir's goofing around while waiting for the show to begin.

Farhan's receiving his cert.

Ezzat in action. The kids are acting out a play based on a folkfore song. This is the best I can get. The zooming feature of the cam is not so great.

Farhan's turn. Another short play, and poor Farhan, his microphone didn't work. But he kept it cool and asked for another mic.

And we got a gift from a lucky draw! There were lucky draws in between each shows. The principal picked out a student's name (it was Ezzat's), and his/her parent was called out to get the prize.

Another show from Farhan. He's on the very far left, in white shirt, 2nd row. If you look closely, you could see that he's a bit distracted coz Emir was right in front of the stage watching. I love the sound from the Anklung, the instrument played by the kids from the 1st and 2nd rows. Anklung is a traditional musical instrument and it's made from bamboo. The hollow bamboo reonates when struck and the length of the bamboo determines its pitch of frequency.

One tired boy.

Mr Farhan got a present for being the one who showed most progress in his class.

The 3 brothers.

With Mr Khoo, the principal. The boys fondly calls him Mr Kool coz he's really a cool teacher.

Last pose before we go home.

Ezzat is 5!

Pictures of Ezzat when he was 1 - 2 yrs old.

2 - 3 yrs old

3 - 4 yrs old

4 -5 yrs old

So Ezzat celebrated his 5th birthday last Sunday, 19th October 08. He's been looking forward to it as birthday = more toys! I didn't really prepare anything except some goodie bags for his friends at school coz we just came back that Saturday night from attending my brother's engagement ceremony in KL and getting some documents for the visa. He got some presents from his principal, Mr Khoo, or Uncle Kool as Ezzat calls him and he's soooo happy when I came to fetch him at his kindergarten. Unfortunately I misplaced my camera so I missed a truly Kodak moment (I found it later under the car seat after 3 days of searching). Anyway, we had an impromptu birthday celebration for him that night although I was terribly exhausted from the trip back to Alor Star especially when I have these 3 bumblebeez who kept buzzing all the way (the whole journey is about 450km). Called up my brothers, but only one made it. And Auntie Aida - yay!

Here's the birthday boy. He looks much better with long hair.

Ezzat with his uncle, Najmi.

Grinning coz he got to put the candles.

His choice of cake. Luckily there's a bakery next to the restaurant.

Ezzat with Auntie Aida...and a present from her!

And here's a video of the happy boy.