Bookmark Frenzy!

Thanks to Farhana, we have our next 'community project': bookmark-making, to sell in the Book, Bake & BBQ Fair, with proceeds going to the Islam in Colombia project.

We had bought the card stock months ago, in utter enthusiasm of plunging into the art of bookmark-making! Finally, now that we're done with OHVA, and freer to pursue other learning and activities, we dabbled in the art of making bookmarks.

H's Masjid bookmark, with a message inside

S and N's rocket bookmark

My Lampshade and Balloon, a perfect leftover from making the Tennis Racquet

My lemonade and ice cream bookmarks

S's umbrella, tree, and my baby bottle

My blue abaya and H's READ bookmark

I had a certain picture in my head regarding the kinds of bookmarks we were going to make, but I thought I would dabble with it first, before having the kids make it. So, one afternoon, after Asr, as they all dashed outside, taking Baby Z with them, I took the card stock we had bought, a pencil, an eraser, an arts and crafts knife, and a pair of scissors, and settled on the floor of the kids' room. I had googled my way on the internet, looking for ideas to make novel bookmarks, but found none that are to my liking or satisfaction, so I decided to just let the creativity take me away.

With a silver, black, or grey hijab, this would make a really elegant attire

I was feeling rather whimsical, so the first thing I made was the silver purse. It has been awhile since I had drawn anything, so I was pretty happy with my first bookmark. As I sat there trying to come up with more whimsical ideas for bookmarks, someone barged in through the front door. Of course that was someone bringing Baby Z. My 'freedom' was coming to a close.

"Huh? What's that? That's a bookmark?"

"Yeah, what do you think it is?" I asked, wondering if it even looked like something identifiable.

Well, it only took my that purse to open the gates of other possible ideas, and as the kids came inside one by one, enticed by my bookmarks, I told them to brainstorm for more ideas. The ideas came out gushing, like an opened dam. My next bookmark was a lampshade, and because my hands haven;t been doodling for years, I had to employ N's hand. She drew a lampshade for me, and the difference between hers and mine was so significant, that S said,

"N's lamp is better than yours."

Indeed it is, mashaallah!

Our bookmark-making frenzy lasted for a few fun days, but by the time we were out of energy and patience, we had quite a lot. The ideas were still gushing, but my eye for detail, or rather my tolerance for detailed work was exhausted by the tennis racket. The kids on the other hand, getting a late start, lingered on making woven designs, which are actually rather pretty.

S and N's woven bookmarks

S's intricate woven design

When I came into their room, they were all huddled at the table, head down, fingers busy working with the dwindling card stock we had bought at Jo Ann.

Suffice it to say, it has been a fun endeavor for all of us. Those card stock were really worth buying. Today, I decided that we should start to prepare them for mailing. While the kids were designing and making their bookmarks, I heard comments such as,

"Will people buy this?"

"I don't think anyone will want to buy this!"

"That doesn't look like a bookmark!" they exclaimed, pointing to my cup of mocha bookmark, which I had so much fun making.

Cuppa mocha bookmark

My Sports Bookmark Frenzy (that tennis racquet really required a lot of patience)

I had wanted to make a baju kurung bookmark, after making the blue abaya bookmark, but, like I said, my tolerance for detailed work is spent, and I'm ready to mail in the big envelope of bookmarks now.
Next Project inshaallah : Muslimah Doll Project

Self-initiated Activities

I had bought these books containing science experiments and activities for homeschoolers, but have never been really able to do much of them due to our filled schedule with OHVA lessons. With OHVA lessons coming to a close, alhamdulillah, those books are getting a breath of fresh air.

H has been conducting his own experiments, as evident from the frequent surprises I get when I open my freezer. Unfortunately I have had to chuck his experiments of frozen mud, snow balls, and what not to make more space for the chicken and meat.

He was the first to be done with his OHVA lessons, so he was the first to be' 'let out' of 'school' so to speak. He came to me one day with an empty soda bottle, and asked what to mix together to make the bottle cap pop open.

"Baking soda and vinegar," I said.

"Oh...I have some books on science experiments you can read," I added, as I remembered those books sitting dormantly in the metal cabinets.

"Yeah!" H exclaimed in glee.

I never thought I would actually make use of those books. Throughout the years, I have eyed them, flipped through them, only to put them back in the cabinets, and proceed to finish up their school lesson plans. Finally, after all these years, I'm able to hand them to the kids, and give those pages some breathing room.

Before long, all three were up to something, and before I knew it, they had tried out several experiments from the books.

"Look Ummi, we made play clay!"

A hotdog, a long sandwich, a burger and a normal loafbread sandwich!

I had noticed my saucepan sitting on the kitchen table, covered with a quilted cloth. When I peeked inside, I only saw green water. I left it alone though. What they showed me was a green blob of clay they had made all by themselves by following the instructions from the book. Voila! Self-initiated activities! No work on my part! Is this great or is this great?

H made a Y boomerang, and N tried out a blind spot experiment, which she claimed was a 'lie' after all. The kids are really artists with clay, especially N and S. They had created a living jungle, complete with trees, food, a garden, all from clay. Even I don't have that dexterity or skill to mold such things from clay. Alhamdulillah their creativity has not been inhibited, like mine.

H and N are in a ceramics class, and recently, N gave me a 'Daisy Bowl' which she had made especially for me. H gave me a vase, in which he put some blossoms from one of those trees I am also oohh and aahing over.


H's vase for Ummi from the ceramics class

Now, S has also finished her OHVA lessons, except for a few more of History, and she has one more test in the series of Ohio Achievement Tests, whereas N has two tests next week, and is at present finishing up her math, literature and composition inshaallah.

Batu Seremban

I savor and relish this traditional childhood game I used to enjoy in elementary school, way back. I have a feeling that almost every culture has its own version of this game. Jacks is probably the American version of Batu Seremban.

There are many versions of this game in Malaysia too. The one that I'm used to is the one using 5 buah (direct translation : fruit, but in context, it refers to one beanie bag). I have made it for the kids couple of years ago, but since they couldn't master the skills needed for the game, it didn't stay long in our household. Recently, I made it again, this time, one set for each child. S made some of her own too. We used uncooked lentils for the filling.

It can also be played with pebbles, but I prefer the soft version. They look real cute too. When I played it, if the one you're not picking even slightly moved, you're out. With this soft type, it's even more difficult than the pebbles, since sometimes, they would lie on top of one another, and even if you pick the top one, the one under it would move too, even if it's just the fabric that moved.

The kids still haven't yet mastered the skills needed to play the game, but they're still working on it. In fact, even Baby Z tried a hand at playing it, much to our surprise. We had just finished our salat, and were sitting down doing zikr. As usual, Baby Z roamed about the room, weaving between us, smoothing out our prayer rugs, messing it up again, and climbing on hubby's stretched legs.

When he saw his sibs tossing the buah in the air and catching them, he took one buah in his chubby hand, grasped it tight, and started to shake that hand left to right, as if shaking a rattle. I suppose he was trying to toss it into the air like his sisters and brother. As he observed the buahs being tossed about, he suddenly opened that hand, releasing his grip on the buah, and tilted his hand so the buah fell to the floor.

All of us broke into laughter. It was really amusing to see Baby Z trying to imitate his sibs playing Batu Seremban. After a while though, the game no longer fascinated him, and he moved on to trying to close and open the bedroom door, eating the buah, much to our collective gasps, and trying to pull out my pendrive from the tower.

NOT made in China

We have been avoiding buying toys for Baby Z since all the toys in the stores are Made in China. Everytime I peeked at the bottom inscription of the toys, I would end up snorting in disgust. Now, I don't even bother peeking. I give up.

This fall, we enrolled the kids in the usual recreation center free classes. Alhamdulillah, they are now taking archery, ceramics, wrestling, and street hockey.

The recreation center closest to us (now that the other one we usually frequent is closed for renovation) has more sports classes than home economics ones, so S is only taking ceramics. She refused to take the other more athletic types of classes. N is taking archery and ceramics, while H is into wrestling and street hockey.

It's no surprise that H is into push ups, since his coach in wrestling told him to do them at home. As for the girls, they came home last week with trays full of ceramics food, shaped, painted and glazed. N actuallly made a very real looking corn on the cob.

One day they brought all their play food to the living room to play with, and after a while, I noticed that they actually had loads of toys in front of them, none of them Made in China!

Changes needed

It was a battle between mother and daughter, that's for sure. She had to change some stuff because the colors were not in great contrast such as it would impede reading. Here is the final product:



I have to admit. I think her green is more appealing than my white.

Flyer Frenzy

The kids have been in a flyer frenzy recently, with the Leadership Conference coming up in January. In my attempt to introduce them to new skills I volunteered them to make posters/flyers for the event.

H already made one for our Seats of Scholars most recent class: Profile of Courage; Story of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hambal.

Next in line was S, and she made 5 flyers by herself, with some final finishing touches by me.

N did one too.

Unplanned, the event coordinator made a poster competition out of it all. The poll was closed this morning, and one of S's flyer won. Suffice it to say she's happy about it.

The Winning Poster by S

At least now, the kids have somewhat acquired poster-making skills, and found a way to fill their time, alhamdulillah.

Quran Milestones passed:
H finished memorizing his Surah Ar-Rahman last weekend.
S finished her Al Mursalat last weekend and is now working on Al Insaan.
N finished her Al Balad and is now working on Al Fajr.

S's other posters:













H's poster:



N's poster:

Home Depot, Lowe's & everything else

So far, every month since summer we have been taking full advantage of the free kids' clinics offered at Home Depot and Lowe's. Some were difficult to make, some were a cinch. Two adults to three kids was always our case. Hubby would help the girls while I would supervise H. With the growing belly, it's getting harder and harder to contort to those positions to help him hammer his nails. However, he's also becoming more independent, such that he would pull away from me, insisting,

"I got it, I got it."

This firetruck is the most difficult to put together.

I noticed that H doesn't like to dabble in painting and crafting as much as his sisters do. So when offered the chance to paint his project of the month, he would always refuse it while his sisters would jump for joy. So you can tell which one is his, since he doesn't care much for perfection and coloring inside the lines.







Can you tell which one is his? S would take the most care in making hers look as perfect as possible, while artistic N would let her imagination take her wherever she's inclined to go.




Now H is enrolled in a Quran memorization program at the closest masjid to us, and S & N will start dugsi at another masjid this Saturday insyaallah. Finishing Surah Al Mutaffifeen, he chose to memorize Ar-Rahman, and is now doing it with hubby. I have also figured out a way to do Quran recitation with them while keeping my patience. One kid per post prayer time so far seems to be working. N and her fidgeting. H and his insistence that he didn't say it wrong. S is taken care of by hubby.

"Sometimes when Abi tells me stories from the Quran, I feel like I want to read this," said S, as she held up the Noble Quran to me.

Alhamdulillah, now, whenever I dally for prayer, I will always hear shouts,

"Ummi! Pray!"

One time, S said,

"Come on, Ummi. Let's pray. If not all my fasting will be for nothing."

She managed to fast her 6 shawal and a full Ramadhan.

N fasted a full Ramadhan too.

H fasted the whole Ramadan, except those Saturdays when we let him break his fast after running up and down the field in his soccer games. Though he did insist on keeping his fast on the last Saturday.

I, on the other hand, fasted only about 7 days and have yet to make the rest of the days up. Heartburn and what nots, I hope I'll get them over with this December insyaallah.