Peek in Monday & having hakka

There are many advantages to having sisters, the main one being that I rarely ever have to entertain my own kids when they are around, especially, for example, when we’re waiting for food to arrive at the table!

(In honour of Cake’s Peek in Monday)

We had hakka food (we didn’t actually go to Federick’s as in the linked article, but it’s the same type of food, and I am not a fan of Federicks anyways), which is pretty much an Indian/Chinese style, and I love, love, love Chili Beef!

Share your thoughts... (1)

Celebrating Eid part 2

Part of celebrating Eid is waking up early and going to the Masjid (Mosque) for special prayers, this is something that I’ve done since I was a child when I remember wondering why everyone was always crying, only to experience the same feelings now as an adult. The Eid prayer just brings about many powerful emotions after a month of fasting and increased spirituality; a mix of happiness, sadness, accomplishment, regret, and overwhelming gratitude to God for His mercy.

Eid celebrations is a combination of obligation and tradition; we are obligated, for those of us who can afford, to donate a fixed amount of money per family member to members of the community that do not have the means to celebrate, so no one is left out of the joy and happiness of Eid. Our old family traditions are things like making sawine, as we call it in Trinidad, giving money or gifts to the kids that we see on the day, cooking tonnes of food, and so on… but my husband and I also started our own tradition, after the prayer, we go out to breakfast with the kids, because they really enjoy it and also because everyone else in my family are too busy cooking and preparing for the party!

I hope you enjoy the video! (I am only in one of the last photos, the other women in the video are mostly my sisters, and a little of my mom.)

song credit: Irfan Makki

Celebrating Eid part 1

Hello Internets! Eid Greetings, Happy Saturday and all that…

Remember my video blogging event... I think I’ll have to give you the delayed, condensed version of the day because here’s the thing – that plan was a teeny bit too ambitious… you know, given the 3 kids and the sink of dirty dishes, and so on…

In the meantime, here are some pics of the boys from this morning.

Treasure hunting for everyone!

Finally, when I was given a turn to pick the adventure on Day 6, of course I chose IKEA! Now, if you’re thinking that IKEA is not a real adventure, you’ve obviously never gone with my 3 kids!

We let them go nuts in the kids section, and I would say that it was a successful adventure!

Adventuring with kids tip #5: A small shopping trip can be considered an adventure if you talk about it in the right tone and add in a generous sprinkling of excitement!

On Day 7, we went on to what I would consider the most adventurous adventure; we went geocaching (which you can read about on our brand spanking new shared blog).

This was certainly the most interesting thing that we did all week, also the least expensive, and the in the closest proximity to our house! I was completely shocked at this world that I had not even heard about previously, but apparently geocachers have been doing their thing since 2000, so it’s possible that I may be just about the only one who does not know about this! If you have the opportunity, I really recommend trying it out, but maybe not with small kids, I think ages 7 and up should be fine.

Adventuring with kids tip #6: Adventures do not need to be all day activities or far away from home – geocaching can be a very inexpensive, nearby, mini adventure on days when you don’t feel like venturing too far or for too long.

The true measure of family

My parents are divorced – I am not sure I even mentioned it – and both have been married to different people for many years now, so my sister and I are completely used to the blended family thing. From the age of 12 onwards, we lived with my mom, stepdad, stepsister and stepbrother (although we don’t use the “step” prefix), and now my sons call my mom and stepdad, grandma and grandpa. My dad lives with my stepmom, half-sister and another stepsister, and although they don’t live in the same country as us, my kids have come to know them as nanna and nanny.

My husband has 2 sisters, both living in another country, one of them is currently visiting Canada, so my sons are getting to know their aunt and cousins, which is nice because they rarely get to see one another. Today is their last day, so I told my 4 year old that we are going to the airport to see them off, he nodded in agreement and said “yes, I know”, then proceeded to inform me “daddy is going because it’s his family, and I am going because it’s mine and my brothers family too, but, ummm, mommy, that is not your family!”

I let him continue with his thoughts and asked who he thought was my family – “grandma and nanna” (my mom and dad), was his response. I started to explained to him that everyone was my family – grandma, grandpa, nanna, nanny, aunty sids, aunty lis, aunty sauda, aunty mooda, and uncle marlon – and he replied “Oh my god! wow! that’s huge! What kind of car did you have?”