Iftar

This is the meal where Muslims break their fast.

"That's easy, Iftar!"

"We know that one!"

I was sleepy and was about to leave it at that, but called them from my room.

"You know how people make a wish upon a star, or throw money in a wishing well and make wishes?"

They nodded. How can they not know. That shirky knowledge is so rampant in today's world.

"Well, guess what. We have better 'wish' opportunities. When is our dua mostly accepted?

"When you're praying?"

"Suhoor?"

"After the azan?"

And the list went on, but they didn't know that iftar time was also on the list, so we talked about that. Thanks to Yasir Qadhi, I was also able to tell them how it is so: that people who make dua during that time deserve it.

They didn't do anything for this one, except that I hope they do in in action rather than on paper.

Hilal

What do we need to see in the sky to know that Ramadan will begin the next day?


I was too sleepy, but somehow, amidst nursing Baby Z on the bed, managed to google the phases of the moon on the laptop. I fell asleep while they scurried off to make their gallery entries.

We noted though, how the hilal in the beginning of the month is on the right side, curved to the right.



S seemed to pick up on the scientific terms pretty quickly (which she probably should at her grade level anyway).

As H followed hubby to the masjid for maghrib on the bike, he told us that he saw the moon each time.

"Is it getting bigger? I asked. I barely go out of the house anymore, especially after sundown.

He nodded.

However, as days went by I caught sight of the moon through the kitchen window by the sink, fortunately, and the girls managed to get glimpses of it too. It definitely is 'growing' bigger.

Bilal Ibn Rabah

Bilal Ibn _____was originally a slave and was tortured for being Muslim.

I picked some aspects about Bilal from Bilal Ibn Rabah. We covered:

how he was tortured
how he became Muslim
how he was freed
how he was honored to pronounce the adhan
how Abdullah Ibn Zaid and Umar had the dream
where Bilal was originally from
the Makkans' reactions to him after the Day of Conquest
the other muaddhin
how he killed Omayya, his former master

I noticed them reading the book later on in the course of the next few days.

"Why do they do this when they make azan?" H asked, putting his hand behind his ears.

"Hmm..I don't know. That's a good question. Ask Abi."

We did ask him later that day. Being him, he answered,

"Because of you do this, no one can hear the azan," putting his hands over his mouth.

Jokes aside, we came to the conclusion;

"Maybe it's so that it won't hurt their ears because it's loud."

"You were right, H!" I said. H had guessed it earlier.

Jinn

They are chained up in Ramadan.

Answer: supposed to be devils, but I had put in Jinn. I told the kids that we would talk about Jinn.

I went downstairs and took Volume 10 of Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and my Rays of Faith binder.

"I wanna hear jinn stories!" they begged. I shook my head and proceeded to tell them of something even more interesting...

Tales of shooting stars, stern guards in the sky, jinn being shot to death, and the fear of the inhabitants of earth.

Tales of nomads seeking refuge from the jinns in the desert.
Tales of jinns fleeing upon nomad habitation
Tales of jinns increasing in boldness
Iblees alive then and alive now
Iblees among the angels
The shape of Iblees
Jinn possession
Jinn's characteristics
The hadith of the man who killed the snake on his bed
Jinn transformation powers
Jinn's weaknesses

Since H memorized Surah jinn, we had a live Qari right there. They came up with:

"Why do people wish on shooting stars then?" H asked.

"That would make a good research question," I replied.

I have yet to find the answer, but in the course of researching, I stumbled across why Christians say "Bless you," when they hear people sneeze.

Day 9 - Musaylamah The Liar

Day after day we have been opening up the petals, each kid taking turns. Bit by bit our staircase is rapidly filling up beautifully. I predict that by Eid, it will be replete with their representations of what they learned from our daily crossword puzzle.

Day 1 we did the childhood of Jabir Ibn Abdullah.

Unfortunately I failed to dilligently keep track of what we did on a daily basis, but so far we have done:

• Taqwa
• Lailatul Qadr
• Iftar
• Hilal
• Jinns
• Sawm
• Bilal Ibn Rabah

I don't remember which day we did which, as I was usually groggy and exhausted every morning, but so far I have managed to do some short lessons with them on the above topics.

Today, Day 9, the question was:

He claimed to be a prophet after the death of Rasulullah SAW. He was killed by Wahshi. Remember Wahshi?

"You can find the answer in here," I said, handing S the first volume of History of Islam.

She flipped through it aimlessly.

"Where is it?"

"I'll give you a hint. It's after the death of the Prophet SAW, and during the time when Abu Bakr was khalifah."

H came downstairs, and together they sought the answer. S was still flipping through the pages when H took stock of the situation and exclaimed,

"Oh, I know! Where's the Table of Contents?" and went straight to the beginning of the book.

I left them and went upstairs to put Baby Z down.

After a while I heard hubby helping them.

"You should find it on that page," he said and left for the masjid.

"Oh! Musailamah! Musailamah!"

Excited steps running up the stairs.

"Oh, she's praying!"

Steps going back downstairs.

"Ummi, is it Musaylamah?"

After we prayed Fajr, I talked about

• how he claimed to be a prophet
• how there was also a woman who claimed to be a prophetess, who married Musaylamah
• how Musaylamah challengd Khaleed Ibn Waleed to drink poison
• how Khaleed drank it and didn't die
• how Al Baraa' was catapulted over the wall of the Garden of Death
• how he paved his way to the door, opened it from inside
• how Wahshi sought Musaylamah and killed him
• how Wahshi killed Hamzah and how the prophet SAW couldn't bear to look at him after that even after he became Muslim
• how 70 huffadh we martyred in the Battle of Yamamah
• how Zaid Ibn Thabit was assigned the task of leading the job of compiling the Quran

N's charms

"Ummi, when I see you folding my clothes, I feel bad," N suddenly said while I was folding her clothes.

I was taken aback by her confession, but I was too exhausted to respond. I just smiled.

S though, piped in,

"So why don't you fold them then?"

N paused,

"Umm..."

tilted her head, looked at Baby Z whom S was holding, and said,

"Because I'm doing something else."

She was looking at Baby Z, and playing with him.

I had to laugh. S laughed.

I will never forget that 'sweetness' of N.

My mother did say she is diplomatic and sweet. Yes... N and her charms...I wonder what I did while I was pregnant with her, and I wonder where she got the charms from - probably from my MIL.

Day 1 - Jabir Ibn Abdullah

S opened the first petal.

Across: His father was martyred in the Battle of Uhud, and he had to take care of his seven sisters and mother.

They didn't know the answer. However, since the I was already there, they guessed Suhaib, and eventually came to Jabir. We read the first part of Jabir Ibn Abdullah's biography by Abdul Basit Ahmad.


They came up with these as a result. We displayed it on the wall. Our intention is to have a Ramadan gallery by the Eid inshaallah.

Ramadan Goals

This year, thanks to this, we made our Ramadan goals, me included (though I will not reveal them here).

S's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Yusuf
Finish memorising Surah Al Mulk
Finish reviewing memorized surah
Finish reviewing Juz 'Amma

N's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Al Qiyaamah
Finish memorising Juz 'Amma
Finish reviewing memorized surahs

H's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Maarij
Finish memorising Surah Al Haaqah
Finish memorising Surah Al Mulk
FInish reviewing memorized surahs in Juz Tabaarak

Ramadan Flower Garden Crossword Puzzle

Last year we didn't do anything for Ramadan because I was under the attack of morning sickness the whole of Ramadan that I only fasted for 7 days total. This year, we're back in business alhamdulillah!

I modified the idea of the giant crossword puzzle we did couple of years ago. Last time, we had the crossword puzzle with the questions written on paper chains (30 of them for each day of Ramadan).

This year, I wanted to do something different. So I came up with a flower garden, three flowers, 10 petals on each flower totalling up to 30 petals (one question per day). To make the questions a surprise, I rolled them up, and as we do each question. we unroll each petal and glue it open.

On top of that, we made Ramadan goals for each kid. S had her goals written on the flower pot (which is made into a window flap), N had hers written on the pop up sun, and H had his written on the soccer ball flap. As I was making all this up, I realized that each flower had one big empty circle in the middle, which could be filled with something, and it hit me!

Mercy,








forgiveness,and freedom from the hellfire!









I jumped around, excited that it could be incoporated into the activity, much to my children's surprise and amusement.

Picnic - A Break?

We attended a picnic today, for S's STEP (Student-Teacher Enrichment Program). So, obviously, we had to cut down on the school work for today.

Baby Z gave me a hard time last night, waking up twice and kicking me when he was awake. After Fajr, I had to cook for we had no lunch nor dinner for today. Because I wanted to finish cooking before Baby Z woke up, I skipped breakfast, or rather, postponed it. So I wouldn't forget, I poured myself a bowl of cornflakes, and set it on the table amidst the cutting board, cut veggies, soaked dried shrimps and chopped onions and garlic.

I finished cooking, cleaning, sweeping and mopping at 9 a.m. Suffice it to say I was dead tired.

The picnic was at 11 a.m. and because it was quite some distance away, we were to go at around 10:30. By the time I was done in the kitchen, Baby Z was already awake, alert, smiling, and excited at the happy faces around him. Inwardly, I sighed, for I had wanted to eat breakfast and shower before I had to deal with him.

It was time for him to nurse. I told S to hold him a bit longer while I dashed back to the kitchen and got my bowl of soggy cornflakes. I had to fuel up first. As I dutifully chewed and swallowed my postponed breakfast, I noticed a slight difference of taste in my cornflakes. After a few more chews, I realized I was chewing a dried shrimp. Great! One stray shrimp for the kangkung had fallen into my bowl of cold cereal. What a breakfast.

S is a pro at preparing the kangkung for cooking now. I was napping and woke up to the sound of cutting downstairs. She was plucking the leaves off the stems and then cutting the stems into bite-size length.

I looked at that beautiful baby in S's arms. He looked real hungry. I would have to delay that shower. I nursed him. By the time he was done, it was close to 10 a.m. Hubby would be home soon to drive us to the park. I handed him to S, and showered. My hair was still dripping wet, and it was already very close to 10:30 a.m.

I nursed Baby Z again, and we left. Alhamdulillah he didn't demand any feeding at the park. We ate our lunch on the picnic table, Baby Z slept, and the kids milled about the shelterhouse trying to fill up their scavenger hunt forms. As I sat there watching them, I felt something with more than two legs scrambling across my back. I frantically made a swap and after a while the movement ceased.

Then I felt something wet on my back, and I reached behind. To my horror, I felt dampness and something apparently lifeless stuck between my clothes and my skin. There was no way though to retrieve it. We had to go home first.

At home, I screamed even before we saw what it was that I had mercilessly killed to a splat!

"It's a grasshopper! Eww!" the kids exclaimed.

I screamed again. I let out a long continuous scream interspersed with

"Take it off!"

"It has wings!" they exclaimed, excited at the gross discovery.

The scream continued, and escalated.

After a long bout of screaming, my fear abated and I was finally able to look at my victim; some kind of green insect with dragonfly-like wings, exposed stomach contents, and a bashed head.

For the second time today, I showered, Baby Z patiently waiting for yet another feeding.

What a day...dried shrimp and then a dead bug. Alhamdulillah it was the shrimp that ended in my breakfast, and not the bug.

"She's not a cow, okay."

It rather surprised me to see Baby Z's reactions when we read to him. I don't remember ever reading to my other kids when they were about 4 months old or younger, so I was pleasantly surprised when Baby Z gurgled, cooed, and babbled with wide eyes at the pictures.

The first time I read to him, his eyes widened and he smiled at the pictures in the book. As I turned the pages, he called out, as if speaking to the pictures.

So now, I have the kids read to him when I'm busy doing something else, or just need a break.

Yesterday, I put Baby Z on H's lap and gave H one of the books we always read to Baby Z. H, with his usual chatter, read to Baby Z, inserting his running commentary as entertainment.

At one point, the text said,

"Allah made creamy milk that come from cows.."

H followed it with his running commentary,

"But your milk is from here okay?"

He pointed to me.

"But she's not a cow, okay?"

Baby Z at the time was intently looking at the pages, cheeks plopping south, lower lip thrusting out in concentration.

I chuckled. Cow indeed. He didn't know that I actually felt like a cow on the day my milk came in, when I was squeezing out as much milk as I could to alleviate the pain.

Precious H Moments!

"So can you do it by yourself?"

"Yeah!" H replied.

As I sat upstairs in front of the computer, he did his science experiment in the kitchen, dealing with an unmarked thermometer, ice, salt, and his armpit.

I went downstairs to check on him, and he showed me a broken thermometer (not a mercury one alhamdulillah).

"Ahh! Why did you break it?" What happened?"

"It said to break it in half," he replied.

"What?" I was half laughing, half shocked, and shaking my head in disbelief.

"No! Ya Allah, H!"

"Here, see," he showed me the instructions on the screen.

"Divide the halves in half and now you have three marks on your unmarked thermometer."

That's what it said.

I burst out laughing. He took it literally.

No surprise there. He also sniffs my foot because I said,

"Paradise is under the feet of your mother."

Schooling on Labor Day

Alhamdulillah today was more manageable. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.

While people are relaxing on Labor Day, we did school, as we usually have been on the secular holidays.

We can't afford to relax on these holidays as well, because we will have our own 'labor' days, oh yes. We will have our own holidays ; Ramadan, the two Eids, plus we will also have our own sick, bad and emergency days when school might be disrupted.

I managed to have all three read the Quran, do their surahs, and finish school. Baby Z pretty much behaved too (he napped soundly) alhamdulillah.

Though, it seems that Baby Z is a continuous distraction and reason for a break, such that I find myself saying,

"Do your work!" when one of them gets off their chair to come over and play with Baby Z.

Baby Z is also getting some schooling from me as I have started doing the Glenn Doman reading cards on him. I call it 'Reading Game'. I hung the sets of cards on the wall behind his diaper changer.



I've never done it to a baby before, so this should be interesting. Just today I was working on the math cards. I thought I had bought enough red dot stickers last weekend, but apparently, we are due for another trip to Staples or Office Max for more red dot stickers.

Rent for a Dime!

Rent for a Dime was opened when school started August 27, last Monday. I gave them new school supplies the night before, and the next morning, they were all ready for school, excited to begin. They were also excited with the new 'store' I own.


By the second or third day, I had money coming in, for N and H had left some of their stuff lying on the table, which I confiscated. I wrote up rules for Rent for a Dime, and some of them is that, "stuff lying around will be confiscated. To get them back they have to be rented for two days."

N wept and when I asked her why, she said,

"How will I do my math without my ruler?"

H cried but with anger, saying,

"N made me leave it out!"

H rented his mechanical pencil for two days. N still has one more day to rent before she can get her ruler back.

And I got myself a few dimes for my new business.

So far, they're pretty organized. I hope this works, inshaallah.

Let's go!

Hubby had an interview in Athens. He's been asking if we want to tag along. I never gave a definite answer until the morning of the day, when S woke me up asking if they would have school.

I didn't get much sleep the night before and went back to sleep after fajr. After about one hour of sleep, I asked her,

"Do you wanna go?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Ok, tell Abi we're going."

Talk about last minute. We left around 11 am and arrived there around 12:45 pm. Hubby dropped us off at the public library, and we stayed there for most of the afternoon until some new acquaintances brought us to their home.

It was a very nice library. The kids fell in love with Athens, the topography, the country side aspect of it and the fact that they could see horses.

We got back home around 10:30 pm.

It was an invigorating trip. I'm glad I decided to tag along, because I was initially reluctant at the thought of staying somewhere while hubby went for the interview from 1 to 4 pm.

Today, I thought that I would have definitely gone crazy at home, schooling them if we hadn't gone. We did do school at the library, but it was a dose of fresh air in a new environment. Alhamdulillah.

Tomorrow is Labor Day. We'll still do school. I want to go slow in Ramadan inshaallah so we can focus on Ramadan itself inshaallah.

I truly do savor my weekends now. They're precious. Time for recuperation.

First week down. How many more to go? I didn't count.

Gasping For Air

School started Aug 27, Monday. I plunged into it, Baby Z in tow.

Day 1 - we survived. By afternoon I was completely drained and speechless (literally). However, I'm still sane and functioning. Alhamdulillah.

Day 2 - we survived. By afternoon I was drained and speechless and experiencing the mild symptoms of burnout. Alhamdulillah, I regained my normalcy by night time when hubby brought Baby Z to the basketball court and I had some alone time to recuperate in.

On Day 1 & 2, the kids were ready well before I was. They were that excited to start school! Everything went as it did last year, that is, until Baby Z started crying. Instead of kicking and eating from the inside, he kicked, gurgled, cooed and nursed outside. At times, my right hand was not available to mark the kids' worksheets. At times, three kids were surrounding me waiting for my attention to answer some of their questions.

I have to say though, that looking at Baby Z does help me think of the bigger picture. Sometimes he would be sucking vigorously, and at other times he would pause to listen to the lessons being taught to his three siblings by me. Then sometimes he would flash one of his bright exuberant smiles. Really makes my day.

I started Glenn Doman reading cards with him. Everytime I do it, he smiles and coos. That is what I call rewarding alhamdulillah.

Today is Day 3. Sometimes, especially yesterday, I feel on the verge of tears as I realized that my milk was decreasing. Most times I miss breakfast and especially when school is on, in rushing to make sure all kids do the lessons of the day, I do miss breakfasts and a lot of other stuff too. I cooked after fajr and then dashed upstairs to teach them, and only came back down again for lunch.

It gets really challenging when kids play around and don't do their work, as I have to shout at them from either downstairs while nursing Baby Z or from my room, and sometimes when Z is sleepinng and they're playing around, I have to try and put Z down to sleep the best I can and close the door quietly before going after those noise makers. There is only one of me and four of them. I can't be in two places at once.

This is hard, but I'm still hopeful. May Allah make it easy. Ameen.

I have to admit, I'm so ready to throw in the towel today though.

N's Quotable Quotes

"Z's the best thing that ever happened to me." (N muttered to herself as she went up the stairs)

"Ok, so maybe you're a little fat." (N said to me when insisted on her opinion)

"You're disgustingly nice." (N said to Auntie S while hugging Auntie S)

"You're chocolate and I'm caramel-colored." (N said to H)

Cookie Biscotti

The cookie baking craze afflicted us a few weeks ago. My baking mood has struck again, yet I find it quite difficult to bake while also tending to a nursing baby. So, I delegated all tasks to S, who alhamdulillah turned out to be quite adept at.

At first I wanted to bake with the kids, but it ended up as 'S baking by herself'. To top it off, it wasn't a simple cookie, but a biscotti, which is a tad more complex than a simple cookie. Nevertheless, when I told them we would be trying out cookie recipes from Land O Lakes, they chose the Vanilla and Chocolate Biscotti.

As I nursed Baby Z, S set about to measure out the ingredients. I thought I was going to join her but Baby Z wouldn't let me. She had trouble making the dough into a log. I had to help her with that at first, and her division of the chocolate and vanilla batter was not even, but it turned out very pretty anyway alhamdulilllah.

When she was done, N came, and brought her Cookie, and together they choreographed the photoshoot. The cat is appropriately named Cookie. Trust these kids to position Cookie in these poses!

Mommy Strike

Yesterday I was on the verge of tears, for the second time, because the kids are driving me up the wall.

Too sick and tired to push it, I withdrew into myself and resolved to leave them alone and not talk to them for as long as I could. They can do whatever they want, leave the clothes on the floor, not brush their teeth, starve themselves...whatever!

I prayed by myself and retired early. They were still playing, and I think S accidentally openedmy door and saw me praying. I thought I heard the clinking of utensils downstairs. If so, one of them might have thought it a good idea to do that particular chore because Ummi was definitely acting weird.

This morning, as soon as I got out of the room, S went to the chore chart. My mouth was clamped shut - I wasn't saying anything to any of them today.

I don't know if they did their chores or not and I don't really care. They can do whatever they want for all I care!

None of them had taken a shower and they only went downstairs to eat breakfast after I did. Usually I would have been shooing them for breakfast, but today, I'm on a Mommy Strike.

One by one, they took a shower, no yelling from me this time. Except for N. She didn't shower until it was almost time for Zuhr. I fought the urge to tell her to.

I ate lunch by myself, got the food out, put them right back in. I don't know if they ate. I know H did, because he called his father asking when he would come home to pick him up for Jum'ah. At least the boy have a sense of time. Good for him! He ate and I went back upstairs.

Afternoon, I did some cake decorating and the Mommy Strike was over. By Asr, the kids were decorating their own cake and I was speaking to them again. Me and my big mouth!

I thought of a solution though: all the dirty clothes that are left on the floor will be picked up by me, stashed, unwashed, piled until the owner realizes that she doesn't (yes, it's a she, people. By now I know who has the most tendency to do this!) have enough clean clothes. Then, she can either pick a shirt or skirt from the dirty stash or wash them herself. Then maybe next time, she'll think twice about leaving dirty clothes lying everywhere. I might even toss them in the backyard if the mood strikes me.

These kids also have trouble organizing. I'm thinking that for every stationary they lose, they can rent one from me - a dime per item. I will give them a jar of dimes to begin with, tell them to count how much money is in there, get them all excited and then BAM!

'Rent for a Dime' will be open during the school hours.

Maybe I should also extend that to a math lesson - keep track of the dimes they keep using and losing for not being more organized.

Now, I will have to go declutter their drawers without them knowing. I'm so ready for school. Inshaallah. (Can't believe I just wrote that!)

100 babies

"I want one hundred babies who will never grow up!"

That's N's expression of how much she adores Baby Z.

"Ummi, if you have another baby boy what will you name him?" she asked.

"I don't know, I forgot the names we thought of before Z came out," I said.

"What if it's a girl?" asked S.

"What about another boy?" asked N.

"What about twins?" N continued.

"What if you end up with thirty kids, Ummi?" one of them asked.

By this time I wasn't paying attention to who was asking the question. When you have three kids throwing one question after another at you, you don't even know who's asking what anymore, but you do remember those questions.

Another baby? Let me have a nap first, will ya?