Third Annual Ghaffur Family Day

One of the things that Mommy and the kids get to do in Malaysia is to attend the "Third Annual Ghaffur Family Day." We all missed the second gathering last year. This year the organizer decided to have it in the Historical State of Malacca. We heard that last year was a lot of fun, and we are excited to be able to attend this one.

The customary tradition is to exchange gifts. Everybody is supposed to buy a gift under $20, and then there'll be a raffle at the end of the Family Day. You won't get your own gift of course since the idea is to exchange gifts with your uncles, aunties, and cousins. So Mommy, Melur and Arman, we each got a gift - Mommy just chose books for all since they were easy to wrap. Mommy and Uteh spent the night wrapping the gifts for the Family Day tomorrow, while Melur and Arman spent the night watching TV, "helping" Mommy and Uteh, and re-decorating Mak Long's apartment (see the upside down pictures of Mak Long and Nenek in the background).

So tomorrow we will be leaving for Malacca… can't wait to see everybody… I am sure the organizer has something great planned for all of us.

Something for Papa

Well, it has been almost a month since Mommy and the kids went back to Malaysia. We have been missing Papa a lot. Melur and Arman write letters to Papa almost everyday. They write things like "We miss you Papa, when are you coming home, we love you..." Tonight, the kids made drawings instead of letters. Melur wrote her name and decorated it with flowers. Very feminine and quite nice really. Arman... well, he wrote stuff...:) They asked Mommy to take pictures of their artwork so that they can show Papa later on. And we also have Uteh... who is just there...so we took pictures of her as well.

Happy Birthday Arman

Today is a special day for our little man, Arman Farabi Azroy Ariff (or Azroy-Ariff as it is spelled in Canada). December 8, yup... Arman's fourth birthday. He has grown so much in these past four years. Mommy and Papa can still remember him as the extra chubby baby, always smiling and making others smile.

Mommy, Melur, and Arman are in Malaysia right now. Since Papa is not around, we decided to have only a small celebration for Arman. Nenek, Mak Long, Uteh and Pak Usu are here to celebrate with us... having them around made it a bit more bearable without Papa at our sides. In the morning we went to Toys R Us at 1-Utama to buy the gifts. Mommy, Nenek and Mak Long each bought a gift for Arman. We let him chose and surprise, surprise... he chose a remote control car, a big truck, and a set of small cars... Hmmm... See a theme here?!!!!

While waiting for the gifts to be wrapped, Arman cannot stop asking why this, and why that. The "wrapper boys" were very impressed with Arman's English. They think he is a genius (Mommy thinks so too). But little did they know that Arman hardly speaks Malay at all... got to work on that.

Afterwards we went to Secret Recipe. Birthday boy gets to choose the cake. But Mommy thinks that Kakak Melur exerted her influence quite well. We ended up with chocolate cake... yummy! It’s a good thing that the whole family loves chocolate.

Around dinnertime, we celebrated Arman's birthday with chocolate cake and soto (courtesy of Nenek and Uteh). We sang "Happy Birthday" around Arman. Mommy is wondering what Arman wished for as he blew the candles... More cars maybe?

Arman talking to Andak on the phone before starting the party Singing the Birthday Song, and Blowing the Candles

For more videos of Arman's 2007 Birthday Party, check out YOU TUBE.

All Alone

It’s Sunday, and Daddy’s at home all by himself. It’s been snowing since yesterday, and finally for the first time this season, there’s some accumulation. And the kids aren’t around to enjoy it. Where would you rather be - In warm sunny Malaysia; Or cold snowy Vancouver? I think I’d go for the former…

A lot of people ventured outside on this first day of snow this winter. I stayed indoors. It’s not as much fun without the kids. I took some picture of our lonesome abode. We got a new bedspread for the sofa bed, in anticipation for Nenek who’ll be joining us in Vancouver in January.

The kids’ room is clean and cozy. Do you guys miss your room in Vancouver? This is what it looks like with the snow outside. It’s very bright outside when there’s snow.

Anyway, that’s all for now from Daddy in Vancouver. I hope Mommy can contribute some stories from her adventures in Malaysia with Arman and Melur.

How are you guys doing? Miss me?