You will be missed

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

It was a busy day today. It was a sad day today.

It was the last day for one of the teachers at the school because she will now be on maternity leave. She has two daughters who attend the school. The eldest is in grade 1 and the youngest, Leah who is 3 years old, is in my class. Well, was in my class. The youngest will be staying at home with her mommy because she is very young and a handful. I still have not grasped at the fact that she will not be in the room early in the morning tomorrow. This little girl was something else. Masha'Allah, I have never come across a young girl with such a dynamic personality. She is the type of kid that everyone loves and adores and will miss greatly. I already miss her :(

Her mother has been preparing her for a while and telling her that she will no longer be coming to school. So now and then she would come up to me saying, "Teacher ... I'm going to miss you." Awwww. Well anyway ... the rest of the teachers and I decided to throw a little farewell party for the teacher and her daughter. I made brownies for all the children and puff pastries for the teachers. Another teacher brought in the most amazing baklava, mmm! Her mother made it from scratch and it was simply divine. One of the other teachers also brought in Chicken Biryani. It was the first time I ever went for seconds haha The party was quite successful.

Since it was Leah's last day in our class, I decided to make her a card and have all the students in the class sign it. I was a little iffy on how it would turn out but the card is TOO cute! This is definitely something her mother is going to keep for a very long time tee hee I still do not think that my class understands that Leah will not be coming back. When I tried to explain it, they seemed pretty sad. We are all going to miss her dearly! Don't change, Leah!!

Allow me to show some pictures of the card:

The front cover to the card

Inside the card: signed by all the students & yours truly :) adorable

Back of the card ... ;)

On to other news. I finally found a gym close enough to my house for me to join. I don't know why I never thought of inquiring about it before. Today was my first day working out at GoodLife. When I first went in, I asked them about their women's accomodations. It was excellent! And I was quite impressed. It is completely away from the co-ed area which was wonderful for me because I have no desire to be around men while working out ... eww. I loved it ... you walk straight into the women's change room which is huge and on the opposite side is the entrance to the women's fitness area. A very nice area might I add. I went to see another gym before this and they had a women's area too. I thought it was very poor quality. The equipment was not even up to date :S Alhamdulillah, I am very pleased with this place and the fact that it is so close by ... insha'Allah I will take advantage of going there as often as I can. Yipey!

Keep Fit and Have Fun! ... and a nice wave to February :)

Sleeping In Weekends

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

It's been great. Sleeping in on the weekends for the past 6 weeks. Uloom class has not been in session because the 'alima who teaches us went for Hajj and then a visit to England. Insha'Allah next weekend we will be back at the classes early weekend mornings. I really miss the classes. I cannot explain the feeling I get each weekend after I leave because I always leave with something great to remember and can actually implement it into my life. Alhamdulillah. I believe it's so important to continue to have such doses in our lives daily. I must say... this past year has been one of my best. I feel that I have grown into a more mature and educated individual, especially when it comes to Islamic knowledge. I finally feel like I'm doing something with myself.

One of the last things we learned in the class before our break was about Salaah and its importance in our life. One of the first things we will be asked about on the Day of Judgement. The moment a person reaches puberty, their salaat becomes fardh on them. We had discussions about how at such an early age, most children don't understand the importance of Salaat and do not take it seriously. Every fardh salaah we miss must be made up for (khadha salaat). We further discussed about how to raise our children so that they will understand the importance of Salaat. By having them read it with you even before it becomes fardh on them would really have them to understand how prominent prayer is in our lives. It really got me thinking. I don't want my children to have to worry about making up all the prayers that they lost when they were younger because they didn't realize how important Salaat is in Islam. I truly want to make sure that my children, insha'Allah, will see Salaat as something special instead of something that just has to be done. I mean, the doors of Jannah open up when you stand in Salaat and Allah Swt is right in front of you.... subhana'Allah. If I put enough dedication towards this, then insha'Allah my plans will become successful. I think about my future kiddies a lot in this way haha May Allah Swt bless me with the opportunity to fulfill this desire of mine.

Anyhooz .... so yes, sleeping in ... I'm going to miss that too :( I realized, teaching little children really tires a person out and is in desperate need of good sleep! So I think I shall use this last day to sleep in as much as I possibly can hehe (watch, I'll probably wake up at around 9am and won't be able to go back to sleep, ugh)

Good night!

Ice Cream Cones & Cupcakes

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

Before anything, I don't appreciate being called an Old Blogger. Just because I choose not to update to the "new and improved" Blogger, does not mean I should be called old :( *sniff*

Alhamdulillah ... first week after the holidays is over! Goodness, am I ever happy. I never realized how difficult it would be to get the students back into the routine of things. Children between 3 - 5 are H-Y-P-E-R. They're cute, I love them to bits, but they can be such a handful! Anyhooz, I received two new students this week so it was a bit tough for me to get them to settle into the classroom. I think they're doing well so far. Well, actually, there was another student who came into my class but because he wasn't completely potty-trained ... they decided to bring him back in September. He was sooo cute though, I miss him already. I'm satisfied with my bunch though ... they keep me so entertained and make me laugh everyday with their little antics. I just really need to do something about a student who just cannot stop going potty in his pants ... :S No water breaks for him!

Today was my cousin's daughter's birthday. She is two years old now. The sweetest little girl ever ... too cute, masha'Allah. Her daddy visits my blog tee hee so let me take a moment and give him a shout-out because I know he's going to come here looking for my cool baking pictures ( ahoy-hoy! :) ) I shall carry on. I decided to bake something I have always wanted to try. I had seen it before but just have never gotten around to it.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I must admit, I was a bit nervous but alhamdulillah, they turned out great! It is such a great snack for kids at parties and very fun to make.

And now, the weekend is upon us ..... finally! :D Enjoy. Toodles.

Dora the Explorer

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

Each of my female students are very big fans of Dora the Explorer. What little girl isn't? I have never heard of Dora until my cousin had a baby girl and she is obsessed with her. So this past winter break, I decided to see what all the hub-lub was all about. There was an episode that happened to be on television when I turned it on and gave it a chance. It was quite interesting. Dora would ask the viewers a question and she would even pause for a little while just to give the children the opportunity to reply hehe It was pretty cute. I liked the interactions. As the show was progressing, a character by the name of Boots was carrying a little toy. Guess what the toy's name was ...?

Squeaky!

Awwww. I felt so special that the first Dora show I ever watched had a link to me tee hee "Squeaky" was Boot's bath toy and they even had a song for it! A song for me *sniff* How very sweet. I would have posted the lyrics but I can't seem to find it.

Anyways, I now feel like I can relate to the little girls in my class. I finally know what Dora is all about. I was drawing on the chalkboard with my cousin's little kids and ended up drawing Dora.

Eid Mubarak & Happy New Year

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

Alhamdulillah, Eid was nice. I love getting together with family especially when I get to spend time with my cousin's little children! Masha'Allah, each and every one of them are so cute and precious. I was not pleased with my mehndi though :( We were unable to buy the henna cone we usually do and decided to try out a regular store bought one. Big mistake. It was thin and watery *sigh* You live and learn! Anyhooz, I decided to bake something for Eid and I did.

Apple Cinnamon Pecan Cake

It sounded interesting so I decided to give it a try. It actually turned out to be good. I think it is meant to be served with tea which made sense after I tried it. The whipped cream did wonders for it :) Yummers!