...and we failed.

The elephant toothpaste was in our Experiments-To-Do (ETD) list for quite some time. We needed Bapak to smuggle a bottle of hydrogen peroxide liquid from his office.  Due to the fact that Bapak was a MARESMART (read non-smuggler), he didn't do such thing. So I kept on searching and asking from the hair salons but to no avail. Finally Bapak found a bottle with only RM6 in a pharmacy near our house. We put our lab coats on and wished that we could make an elephant happy!

What we need:

1. A bottle

2. Hydrogen peroxide liquid

3. Liquid dish washing soap

4. Dry yeast

5. Warm water

6. Food coloring

What to do:

1. Pour hydrogen peroxide into the cup.

2. Choose your toothpaste color that makes your elephant happy.

3. Drop the food coloring into the cup.

4. Stir the ingredient.

5. Drop some liquid dish washing soap.

6. Mix them well.

7. Mix dry yeast with warm water.  First, pour hydrogen peroxide ingredient into the bottle, then add that dry yeast ingredient. Stand back and get ready!

However, we have failed!

We need to get this next time! Be patient, Elmer!

What we were up to?

We did quite a lot of things actually for these past few months.  And one of them was baking!  I am known to the world as a horrible baker who definitely can't bake. But for my girls who are known as Nerdy Nummy's die hard fans, I bake. I just simply can't get along with eggs, and butter, and flour and most probably anything to make cake.  But the support I got from my girls was endless and so we baked. Together. Well, the results were not that bad at all. At least we have that cakey texture. So here are some of the experiments on eggs and butter. 

Guess what cake they made? Hint: that 7 cups.

Yes, the upside down rainbow cake.

They glued each piece with whipping cream.

Good moms let their kids lick the beaters. You're welcome.

Keep gluing.

They put some decorations.

And more.

Elmers

Iyra put some elephants on her dress.

Licking start now.

Never judge a cake by its icing!

See!

In 10 minutes...

We tried to make banofee pie too!

Simple chocolate cake.

We read book on cakes too!

Iris wanted to make cookies.

And she tried.

She just did it! She must be so proud of herself!

Iris wants this for her birthday. "I want this white (she pointed to off-white) Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday." (I mean seriously, how can she said Kitchen Aid so fluent when my first word on mixer was on my 30s? And it was Pensonic.)

Missing us?

Read aloud: Five Little Fiends

When Iris first read the title, she then asked me, "Kenapa fiends, Mummy? Bukan friends ke?" I then too soon realized it was spelled without r. The word never occurred to me until I picked up this book.

This book is about five little fiends, who live in statues on their own far, far away land. Every day they come out to marvel at the world together. It is a good feeling to see the fiends holding hands together while marveling at the world with their backs facing us. We could feel the goodness of friendship and sharing in an instant. They would marvel so much that each fiend desires to hide in his statue the thing he marvels the most. Each fiend then takes for himself the sun, the sky, the land, the sea and the moon. They admire their stolen objects to their heart's content.

Then they started to realize that the world means nothing without the rest. 

'The sun would not stay up without the sky,

the sky was nowhere to be found without the land,

the land started to die without water from the sea,

the sea would not flow without the pull of the moon,

and the moon could not glow without the light from the sun.'

So the five little fiends decide to put everything back in the world as it is. Once they had done that, they were able to appreciate their surroundings again.

Just like any other reviewers, it is questionable why Sarah chose fiends over something else, like monkeys or elephants, or just simply a little human being? Then I thought to myself that maybe she wants the story to be unique as there are many children books with animals or aliens as the main characters. Nonetheless, it still contradicts with my belief that no such fiend would ever live in any statues, (haha.) My girls however, realized "Kenapa muka fiends tu macam tu je?", as I confirmed that they meant the fiends are more likely to be in 'blank slate'.

Other than that, it is a good book. Some points to emphasize over the book are:

1. The importance of sharing

2. True friendship

3. Our world and the purpose for each object (sun, sky, moon etc.)

4. Effect of greed

And the most basic and important question to ask is:

Who created all these?

When I grow up, I want to be...

Long list of Iris's dream jobs:

1. Penjual kucing

2. Pembeli kucing

3. Penjaga kucing

4. Beri kucing pada sesiapa yang nak kucing Iris (Pemberi kucing)

5. Alien di planet Venus

6. Sains (she meant scientist)

7. Sains yang buat eksperimen oobleck je

It's not always Eureka, Iris. Be ready.

Subscribe Now!

Click here to subscribe.

I was accidentally click on this super fun YouTube videos when Iesha asked me to search the story about penguins, especially on the emperor penguins. We read about extinct animals mostly from Eric Carle's books. And Iesha loved emperor penguins the most because they have beautiful yellow eye lashes (as we called it). I highly recommend this link for you to watch with your children and talk about animals and relate it to the Creator. 

Here are some of the videos loved by my girls:

1. Baby penguins

2. Polar bear cubs (The girls laughed out loud at 1:35 and cried heart out at 1:59)

3. Baby cheetah

4. Baby elephants

Get unplugged now!

That Tiny Journey

Last two days Iris set up a sugar festival for ants, on Bapak's study desk. I left her all by her own and only answered her questions from my work spaces-kitchen and laundry room. At first I wasn't excited with her activity. I meet ants everyday, nothing to amuse me (how boring and arrogant I was, O Allah please forgive me). They are only tiny small black moving dots for me, but not for Iris. She tendered the ants, she feasted them and talked to them. 

The girls also loved to listen to the story of ants. They have lots of questions about ants. It wasn't easy for me to entertain their "Mummy, cerita-lah pasal semut." I would repeat the same stories I know. "Semut ni dia bertelur. Queen dia yang bertelur. Sekali dia bertelur, banyak. One hundred. Pastu ada babysitter jaga baby ants macam kat taska Iyra. Ada yang jadi askar, ada yang cari makanan. Macam dalam cerita Bugs Life."

They asked me the next day, and I repeated the same stories. They got bored, they wanted new information. I added about Nabi Sulaiman and the ants, "Ada ketua semut ni dia bagitau semut-semut lain supaya berhati-hati sebab nanti takut kena pijak dengan Nabi Sulaiman. Semut kan kecik. So kita kena cereful-lah jangan pijak or pukul semut. Kesian semut."

Allah even dedicated a surah for that tiny ants-Surah an-Naml. I cited the Quran version of Nabi Sulaiman and the ants: "Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: "Ants! Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you unwittingly."- (Quran, 27:18). I will show this ayat to the girls and we can have greater discussion about ants later. Insya Allah.

Now I'm ready for the next list of questions about ants. I have few references from Harun Yahya and National Geographic. Let us begin our tiny journey!

Patiently waiting for her tiny guests.

Haa, her first guest.

Oh, and this is her flower experiment. She yet to learn on the purpose of roots.

Spreading the sugar.

Kept coming.

Whispering to her guests because normal talking would "Nanti sakit telinga ants, telinga dia kecik, suara kita kuat."

"Please have some sugar, stop drinking!"

See how patience and passion work! More coming!

Iesha joined in.

Happy road for ants (her words).

Sorry, not my thang.

Rumah semut

Sugar painting for ants. Auww, so sweet of you Iris.

Sasana Kijang: Part II

We then resumed to art exhibition, Tanpa Nama 2.  The exhibition is made up of some of the best work of arts from local artists and you can buy them with less than hundred ringgits.  The best thing is the artwork is kept anonymous and not labelled with the artist's name so it's good to avoid the tendency to choose the drawings from a well-known artist. So the interest could only go for the drawings/ paintings/ artworks; not the artist. 

I have always love drawings. I still remembered my father had sent me to one of Terengganu's famous artist to learn how to draw. And I was just 8 years old that time. (Shame on me I can't remember my teacher's name!) I still remember I learnt to draw sampan and the coast line and the shades of the mountains. He loves anything Terengganu-ish; from sampan to nelayan. I still remembered we had our drawing class in his studios full of paint brushes and paints and good heart. He seemed so old to me, I guess he was 50 at  that time. I was the only student and was 8 years old struggled with the perfect shades for the faraway mountains. Oh, memory.

Then I had my best memory with my father. He loves to draw too. He put an eggplant in front of me, and asked me to sketch at my best. We then perfected it with shades of purple and a little squish of black and brown. Then he brought another vegetable and we started all over again began with observation. And patience. Oh, memory. Treasured.

Here we were, at the art exhibition I once dreamed of. Some artworks are meant to shock, others to please, and some meant nothing to me. Some meant to stop and ponder; some to walk by without giving a second look. Here's the show.

Tinggalkan apa?

Iris saw aliens. Best thing in kid-straightforward thinking.

Iris shared her thought.

Iris read to Iesha.

What's this?

Iyra interpreted as 'Fish'.

I saw it 'Celaru'.

This meant 'Orang besi buruk' to them.

Mother 

Nothing less than hanging clothes.

Fast food baby

It was Mona Lisa to this little audience.

A good way to threat them "Haa, dah tak boleh makan KFC dah lepas ni."

I love darker paintings.

Flashback

LAPAR

Demi masa, kita tertipu. Dan menipu.

"Kak Iris, Iesha rasa kita tak boleh tengok TV banyak sangat dah lepas ni." Seriously, this what was Iesha said to Iris. Another great parenting painting.

Still amused.

Bapak wondered how the artist came up with that realism light setting.

And for me, this drawing is just wired into me. I've lost for words. I want this.

Three heads by Ahmad Zakii Anwar.  
(He is a well-known artist and he reminded me of my first art teacher, the one who loves to draw nelayan.)