Haiqal, Haqeem, Husna, Khaleef, Kahfi & Sufya Meet

this entry could be the longest i've ever written, as this is the first time i'm back in ipoh in the longest while. but there are not enough words to express what happiness is in seeing the giggly grins of my nephews and nieces; and the familiar smile of my sisters, and the content look on abah's face, seeing that his daughters and grandchildren are finally under the same roof.

a thumb, an index finger, a middle finger, and a pinkie. we're missing a finger; the ring finger. she's in melbourne. you're in our hearts and minds, syida!


sons-in laws? only din (syima's hubbie) was there; abang mat (yong's) was off to a political discussion, and mr. khairul is in kelantan on his first round of business visits around the peninsular.


the moment khaleef met brothers haiqal and haqeem, it's x-box time all the time! auntie gim (that's me) had to impose the '5 minutes' rule where the 2 x-box controller be circulated among the three of them within 5 minutes.

"auntie gim, lama lagi ke?" haqeem anxiously asked. looking at the clock right above the tv set, i announced, "ok abang, 2 more minutes." haqeem satisfied, convinced that his time to hold the x-box controller would be soon enough.

meanwhile, when the brothers haiqal and haqeem conquered the x-box, brothers kahfi and khaleef got acquainted with cousin husna; fondly refered to me as nuna - yong's youngest. she has this most adorable habit of squinting her eyes whenever she's put on the spot and everyone's looking at her. then she'll give the most cheeky smile. ;)

khaleef & cousin sufya

my niece sufya is syima's only daughter, with another one coming up very, very soon. she's incredibly shy and it took quite a while to soften up to the rough boys - the double H and the double K. slowly and surely, khaleef used his charm and before we knew it, they were playing gleefully by themselves on atuk's stairs.

kitchen chicken action

while the dubai-born kahfi got introduced to cousins nuna and sufya, and the boys bonded over x-box, my sisters were busy whoopping up a delicious dinner. yong was long expected to make my favorite lauk, ayam masak merah - made to taste just like mak's ayam masak merah. that's the specialty that i can't get anywhere else on earth.

simple, but delightfully ours. nasi beriyani with the highly anticipated ayam masak merah, accompanied by the crispy crunchy salad, cucumber and squishy crisp tomatoes. along with cackles of popadom and soft boiled eggs on the side. not enough chicken to go around? yong fried a couple of drummets for the kids.

heavenly!

abah sat down first to start the meal as head of the family, and the grandchildren quickly formed a 'circle' around him. khaleef on the right and haqeem on the left. haiqal came and joined while sufya looked on from the opposite side.

they practically gobbled up their food as they wanted to continue x-box-ing!

* * *

then it was time for my surprise birthday cake! it's absolutely cute - with "syigim is 30" on top! i love it! moist choc cake for my 30th - cost a few RMs. from my sisters - priceless.

the kids sang and out-of-tune birthday song with everyone else shouting auntie gim while khaleef sang for 'maaa-aak'. the singing session ended with nuna dipping her finger into the side of the cake!

while i cut my birthday cake, azi took out the rainbow ice-cream bought especially for the kids' cake time. in awe and a lot of patience, they waited as their maksu scooped out the ice-cream onto their cake slices. the sight of them sitting so close against each others' side, munchin choc cake and lickin cool ice-cream without a care in the world - you don't want them to grow a year older.


then only it dawned on us - sweet choc cake and sugary ice-cream? so close to bedtime? are we outta our mind? they'd be up all night with all the sugar rush!

oh, well. setahun sekali!

cousins!

the last time we put the cousins on this couch was when khaleef was just 2 and sufya was still a baby, and it was hari raya haji. there were just four of them - haiqal, haqeem, khaleef and sufya. and it was a the same black leather couch but a two-seater.

fast-forward to the present, we need the three-seater black leather couch to fit all of them. sufya in pink, haqeem holding sister husna, eldest bro haiqal holding youngest dubai-born kahfi and khaleef grinning on the side.

these are priceless moments. moments locked in time. ones that i'll bring in loads back to dubai.