Been at theater - Teatterissa

Turun Kaupunginteatteri
Turku City theater

Tonight we went to the theater to see deena's favorite character. Someone had messed up our reservation, they had put it for tomorrow. I clearly told them friday, 11th, but it was put on wrong day. And the show today wasn't at 5 pm like they told me, it was on 6.30pm. The show on Saturday would have been on 5..Well.. Alhamdulilah it wasn't full booked and we got places for today's show. 

We went to a cafeteria across the river to waste some time, and had a lovely walk on the riverside. It was pretty nice, the riverside by night is lovely.

The show itself was very funny and the girls loved it. The hall was pretty small, and the kids got to be really near the actors, almost like they were in it. I'd say it was a very lovely experience for us all!

Hakkarais-shown juliste
The  poster of the show we saw

Tänään oltiin tyttöjen kanssa teatterissa. Joku oli sotkenut meidön varauksen, se oli laitettu vasta huomiselle päivälle. Mä sanoin kyllä selvästi varausta tehdessäni, et haluan nimenomaan perjantaina, 11 päivä, mut.. Kaiken lisäks tän päivän show oli vasta klo 18. 30, joten oltiin liian aikaisin teatterilla. Meille oli sanottu lauantaisen shown aika, eli klo 17. No, onneks päästiin silti tänään, kun ei ollut ihan täyteen buukattu sali. 

Mentiin sitten kuluttamaan aikaa tois pual jokke Arnold'sille donitsille ja käveltiin vähän aikaa jokirannassa. Oli kllä oikein mukavaa ja tunnelmallista iltavalaistuksessa. 

Näytelmä oli tosi hauska, tytöt tykkäs. Deena varsinkin oli ihan onnessaan, kun näki livenä suosikkinsa Herra Hakkaraisen. Deenalla oli hakkarais-pehmolelukin mukana ♥. Sali oli pieni, lapset pääsivät tosi lähelle esiintyjiä, ihan kuin olisivat itse olleet mukana. Vois kyllä sanoa, et oli meille jokaiselle ihan älyttömän mukava kokemus.

Aurajoki
River Aura

my baby turned 7 - mun pikkuinen täytti 7

My baby Deena turned 7 years today mashaAllah. I can't believe, how time flies! I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday! I think I told this before, but I gotta tell again anyway! The same evening when she was born, she looked straight at me and gave me a big smile! It really was a smile, believe me! Even her eyes were smiling! I have never seen a newborn smile before, but she did! It took a few weeks before she did it again though, but since that day she has been my sunshine!

She wanted a yellow cake, so I decided to make an abc book
Deena halus keltaisen kakun, ja päätin tehdä aapisen

She had a little birthday party, she invited her friends, all together 12 kids were here. She got lovely gifts and we all had a really nice time mashaAllah! The kids ate really well and they danced and played for two hours. After her friends left, she came to me and said: This was the best day in the world, thank you mama! ♥

The party table before the guests came
Juhlapöytä ennen vieraiden tuloa

Mun pieni Deena täytti tänään 7 vuotta. Uskomatonta, miten nopeasti aika kuluu! Muistan vieläkin päivän, jolloin Deena syntyi, han, kuin se olisi ollut eilen! Olen varmaan kertonut tämän jutun ennenkin, mutta mun täytyy kertoa tää uudelleen! Samana iltana kun Deena syntyi, olimme kahdestaan huoneessa. Deena katsoi suoraan mua silmiin ja hymyili! Se tosiaan oli hymy, eikä mikään vatsan vääntelyilme. Deenan silmätkin hymyilivät! En ole ikinä ennen nähnyt vastasyntyneen hymyilevän. Meni kuitenkin muutama viikko ennen kuin hän hymyili seuraavan kerran, mutta siitä päivästä lähtien Deena on ollut mun Aurinkoni!

We were planning the decoration together
Suunniteltiin kakunkoristeet yhdessä

Tänään Deenalla oli pienet juhlat. Hän kutsui kaverinsa meille kotiin ja yhteensä täällä oli 12 lasta! Hän sai kivoja lahjoja ja kaikilla oli tosi hauskaa! Lapset söivät hyvin, tanssivat ja leikkivät kaksi tuntia. Kun ystävät olivat lähteneet, Deena tuli mun luo ja sanoi: Tää oli maailman paras päivä, kiitos mama! ♥

The cake was deliciousand came out better than I believed: strawberry jam, mashed raspberries and a loooot of vanilla cream
Kakku oli maukas, onnistui yli odotusten: mansikkahilloa, pakastevadelmamössöä ja paljon vaniljan makuista kermaa

Shopping. - Ostoksilla.. AARRGGHH..

Autumn is coming, and the kids need some pants and jackets that fit the weather.. Almost all the stuff they have from previous years is either broken or too small. Luckily Nader already got a new overall kind of autumn suit a couple of weeks ago, so no need to go and look for something for him. But the girls.. they need the suits not just for playing, but for the sport lessons at school, because they're still doing it outdoors for a couple of months. 

Nader's suit - Naderin puku

So I went to a big shopping center, where is many shops.. I needed to buy stuff for a cake too, so I went first to Prisma, a supermarket that has everything from food to tools to clothes to electronics etc.. There was some suits, but I really didn't find much for Donjana. For Deena there was more options, her size is still with little children, while donjana's is with youth.

After Prisma I went all around the mall, to every clothes - and sports shops, but everywhere either the size or the price were wrong.. There really was not much choices at all.. It's weird, they already sell winter wear everywhere. These thinner suits for autumn were few.. They sell a lot of this stuff in the spring, but not in the autumn. In the autumn even the season to wear it is longer..

After I went through alllll the mall, I went back to where I started and I bought the first things I looked at..

Do I ever learn that I should buy the first possible thing I can find, because 99%  of times that's what I will buy after running all around.

Deena's suit. I wanted the jackes with the opposite colours, but couldn't find her size..
Deenan puku. oisin halunnut takkiin päinvastaiset värit, muttei ollut kokoa.

Syksy tulee ja lapset tarvii taas uusia takkeja ja housuja. Kaikki männävuotiset on aika loppuunkäytettyjä, tai vähintäänkin liian pieniä. Onneks Nader sai pari viikkoo sitten syyshaalarin, joten ainakin on yks puku vähemmän etsittävänä. Mut tytöt.. Ne ei tarvii pukua pelkästään pihaleikkeihin, vaan sen pitää käydä myös koulussa liikuntatunnilla, jotka pidetään kai vielä pari kuukautta ulkona.

Niin mä sit menin ostoskeskus Myllyyn, kun siel on melkein kaikkien ketjujen vaateliikkeet. ajattelin, et sielt varmaan löytyy. Aloitin Prismasta. joitakin vaihtoehtoja oli, mut hiukan yläkanttiin oli hinnat.Deenalle oli paljon enemmän vaihtoentoja kuin Donjanalle, kun Deena on viellä leikki-ikäis-osastoa.

Prisman jälkeen lähdin käymään läpi jokaisen kaupan, joka myy ulkoilupukuja, siis sekä vaate - että urheilukaupat.Ei kauhean paljoa löytynyt vaihtoehtoja, ja täytyy sanoa, että hinnat olivat taivaassa, Jos joku kohtuuhintainen löytyikin, ei ollut kokoja.

Niimpä sit menin takaisin Prismaan, ja ostin molemmille tytöille ne puvut, joita olin ensimmäisenä katsonut.

Milloinkahan opin, että pitäis aina ostaa vaan suoraan se, jota on ensimmäisenä katellut, koska 99% ostosreissuista menee juuri niin.

Donjana's suit. She would prefer black on pink, but I love this colour.
Donjanan puku. Tyttö ite ois halunnut pinkin pohjavärin, mut ite tykkään tästä tosi paljon.

Have a nice autumn yall! - Hyvää syksyä kaikille!

adventure of nader and I - naderin ja mun seikkailu

haha, nader and i just had a nice adventure. in the evening when the kids came hme, he came without his other sandal (or crocs, what ever you call them). i didn't know that time, because dh took the kids in. the later i heard about it and went to check out if i can see it. nader couldn't remember what he did before he lost it. i went to look for it, but didn't really go through every bush, because i had no idea if i was looking from the right area.

then, half an hour ago, he said that he was kicking his ball near the swing and the shoe flew out from his foot. well.. i was thinking to leave it for tomorrow, it was dark already outside. there's some lights near the playground, but they're not strong at all, and the shoe obviously had to be in the bushes, because otherwise i'd seen it when i was looking for it the first time. 

so, nader and i went out with the flash lights and started to look from the bush that is closest to the swing. it took me only a minute to find the shoe, and they're black, so it wasn't easy to see.  hahhaha i wonder what the neighbors think of me and him putting our heads in the bushes in the night and with flashlights and all.. :)) 

mulla ja naderillä oli just hauska seikkailu. tänään illalla kun nader tuli sisään, sillä oli vain yksi crocs jalassa. en huomannut, koska mies otti tänään lapset sisälle. myöhemmin kun kuulin, et toinen kenkä puuttuu, lähdin ulos etsimään kenkää.. en löytänyt, mut en kyllä kauheen perusteellisesti käynytkään mitään puskia läpi. naderilla ei itellään ollut hajuakaan, missä kenkä vois olla.

myöhemmin nader alkoi sanoa, et oli keinun vieressä potkaissut palloa ja kenkä oli lentänyt jalasta. ajattelin jättää etsimisen huomiseks, kun ulkona alkoi jo olla pimeää. hiekalta kenkää olis ollut turhaa etsiä, ihan varmana olisin sen siitä huomannut jo eka etsimisellä. ja mustaa crocsia ei ihan helposti löydä mistään pusikosta..

no, päätettiin sit naderin kans kuitenkin lähteä katsomaan. otettiin mukaan taskulamput. varmaan oltiin aikamoinen näky, kun molemmilla oli päät pensaassa ja taskulamput päällä. naapureille taas pohdittavaa :D  ja kadonnut kenkä löytyi vajaan minuutin etsimisen jälkeen ensimmäisenä keinun vieressä olevasta puskasta.

Our own eid traditions - Meidän eid-perinteet

Eid doesn't really feel like it should here in this country. Muslims are only few among the rest of the people here, and it doesn't show on the streets.. That's why we're trying to create our own eid traditions, so that the kids have something to look forward to, something to remember when they grow up.

The kids don't go to school on the first eid day. They get some small gifts. something, that they have wished. In the morning we go to the eid prayer. Lately it has been made in a really cool place, a sports center that has a huge indoor playground. After the prayer the kids get to play in that playground for a couple of hours. It was the third time they made eid prayer in this place, and the kids were already expecting it for weeks. InshaAllah they'll make eid prayer in the same place every time from now and on.

We have two large floorball fields for the eid-prayer
Eid-rukousta varten meillä on kaksi isoa salibandy-hallia

Usually after that we go and visit my mom. She is not a Muslim, but I think it's nice to include her in our traditions. This time my granddaughter was with us too, because her mom, my daughter, had to go to work. It was a really nice visit.

My adult daughter made an eid party for some of our friends and their kids. We were six women and 8eight kids. We had such a good time, delicious dinner, and cool gifts! InshaAllah one of us can make such party every year, that would be really nice.

One of the eid  days we have made bbq here at our home, and invited some friends and family. This year we did it on the third eid day. We ate really well, that's all I can say.

It's not always so nice and easy to live in 'the west' as a Muslim, but we can try to do something about, for ourselves and our families.

The indoor playground is so much fun
Sisäleikkipaikalla on todella hauskaa

Eid ei tunnu Suomessa oikein miltään kun täällä vain niin pieni osa ihmisistä juhlii sitä, eikä se näy mitenkään katukuvassa tai muutenkaan. Siksi olemme alkaneet luoda omia eid-perinteitä, että lapsilla olisi jotakin, mitä odottaa ja isompana muistella.

Ensimmäisenä eid-päivänä lapset ovat pois koulusta. He saavat pienet lahjat, jotain jota he ovat toivoneet. Aamulla menemme ensin eid-rukoukselle. Parina viime kertana se on pidetty todella kivassa paikassa, urheilukeskuksessa, jossa on valtavan kokoinen sisäleikkipaikka. Rukouksen jälkeen lapset pääsevät pariksi tunniksi leikkimään. Tämä oli kolmas kerta, kun eid-rukous oli tässä paikassa, ja lapset odottivat leikkipaikkaan pääsyä jo viikkoja etukäteen. Toivottavasti tästä lähtien rukous pidetään aina samassa paikassa inshaAllah.

Rukouksen jälkeen olemme usein vierailleet äitini luona. Hän ei ole muslimi, mutta on mukavaa että hän on silti mukana juhlimassa kanssamme. Tänä vuonna myös tyttärentyttäreni oli kanssamme, koska hänen äitinsä, tyttäreni siis, joutui menemään iltapäiväksi töihin. Meillä oli oikein mukava vierailu 'mamman' luona.

Toisena eid-päivänä aikuinen tyttäreni järjesti eid-juhlan naisille ja lapsille. meitö oli yhteensä kuusi naista ja kahdeksan lasta. Meillä oli hauskat juhlat, maukasta ruokaa ja mahtavia lahjoja. Toivottavasti joku meistä voi järjestää samanlaisen juhlan joka vuosi.

My two adult daughters made this delicious cake for the party
Kaksi aikuista tytärtäni tekivät juhliin myös tämän herkullisen kakun

Yleensä olemme kutsuneet ystäviä ja sukulaisia grillaamaan luoksemme yhtenä eid-päivistä. Näin teimme tälläkin kerralla, kolmantena eid-päivänä. Söimme todella hyvin..

Aina ei ole helppoa tai mukavaa elää muslimina 'lännessä', mutta voimme silti edes yrittää tehdä asialle jotakin, ihan oman itsemme ja perheemme vuoksi.

Tall Ship's Race

We had such fun on saturday, We went to see Tall Ships Race 2011. The whole river was loaded with sailships. It was beautiful! If you ask the kids, what's the best part of the day, maybe was sitting on the grass eating ice cream and watching capoera show would be their choice though :D. 

My beautiful crew on board.
Mun kaunis miehistö Mir-laivan kannella

The weather was perfect too! Maybe it was the last day of summer, because we're in September soon, and usually the weather gets dramatically colder in the autumn.

Oli tosi hauska päivä lauantaina. Oltiin katsomassa joella Tall Ship's Racea. Oli hienon näköistä, kun koko joki oli täynnä purjelaivoja. 

Jos lapsilta kysytään, oli paras hetki kuitenkin varmaan se, kun istuttiin nurmikolla syömässä jäätelöä ja katsottiin capoera showta.. Ilmakin oli tosi kaunis ja lämmin. Mahtoikohan olla viimeinen kesäpäivä, kun syyskuussa usein viilenee nopeasti.

There they went. Sinne ne sit meni..

So, this morning I took the girls to school. They were nervous, but as soon as we got there, Donjana disappeared with her friends and went to her class.. That much about nervousness.. Deena and I stayed waiting for the teachers to come and get the first graders. 

The teachers came and started to call kids by names, one by one. Deena was on the third group, so she had to wait a little, all nervous. Finally her turn came and she went to the queue with her new class room mates. alhamdulilah there was some that she knew already from the pre-school.

The kids left inside with the teachers, and I left home. In tears lol :D.

At noon I went back to get the girls home. It was pouring sooooo much! Alhamdulilah i had the car so I didn't get too wet.. Donjana came with some our neighbor girls. I told them all to come with our car and stay under the rain shelter while we were waiting for Deena. I was also looking for more neighbor kids to come with us, but found only one boy. The rain was so hard I would have tried to put all the kids in our car if possible. Then Deena came and we drove home with 5 kids and I in the car. Later I heard that one of the kids I didn't see got soooo wet, his new books and phone and all..

My both girls were happy and enjoyed the first day. Deena had gotten her ABC book, Donjana didn't have any books yet.  Deena was carrying the book around with her the rest of the day and she already read a few pages from the beginning. she was mad because they didn't get homework :D . Donjana had been nervous about getting a new teacher, but he ended up tp be very nice mashaAllah. Deena was so super excited that she couldn't really give me any description of her day, her stories came out allll messed up :D . Alhamdulilah everything went well with both of my girls on their first day!

Tänä aamuna vein tytöt kouluun. Molemmat olivat hermostuneita, mutta heti kun päästiin perille, Donjana lähti kavereinen ja meni luokkaansa. Jäätiin Deenan kanssa pihalle odottamaan opettajia, jotka pitäisivät nimenhuudon ja jakaisivat oppilaat kolmeen eri ryhmään.

Deena kutsuttiin vasta viimeiseen ryhmään, joten tyttö oli aika hermona kun joutui odottamaan. Sanaakaan ei siitä kyllä sanonut, kuunteli vaan nimiä korva tarkkana. Vihdoinkin Deenan vuoro tuli ja hän liittyi jonoon luokkatovereidensa kanssa. Onneksi tuli ryhmään myös tuttuja lapsia esikoulusta.

Oppilaat lähtivät sisälle ja mä tippa linssissä kotiin.

Puolen päivän aikaan lähdin hakemaan tyttöjä kotiin. Satoi kuin saavista kaataen. siis todella kovaa.. jo parin metrin matkalla autoon kastui aika hyvin. Mut onneks ees oli auto, ettei koko kilsaa tarvinnut kävellä.. 

Donjana tuli aika pian kavereidensa, muutamien naapurintyttöjen kanssa. Sanoin, että otan tytöt kyytiin ja pyysin heitä odottamaan katoksen alla etteivät kastu. Odottelimme Deenaa ja samalla katselin, josko löytyis lisää naapurien lapsia, mutta löytyi vain yksi poika. Olisin yrittänyt saada kaikki mahtumaan autoon, koska sade oli niin kova. Vihdoin Deena tuli. Ajoin kotiin 5 lasta kyydissäni. Myöhemmin kuulin, et yks naapurin pojista oli kastunut tosi pahasti, uudet kirjatja puhelinkin kastuneet läpimäräks.

Molemmat tytöt oli tosi iloisia ja olivat nauttineet ekasta koulupäivästä. Deena oli jo saanut aapisen, Donjanalla ei vielä ollut yhtään kirjaa. Deena lukikin jo aapisesta monta sivua, vaikkei ollut tullut läksyä (olisi kuulemma pitänyt tulla :D ). Donjana oli ollut tosi huolissaan siitä, että tulee uusi opettaja, mutta loppujen lopuks opettaja olikin ollut hirmu mukava. Deena oli niin intona, ettei pystynyt kuvailemaan ekaa päivää oikein mitenkään, ja kulki koko loppupäivän aapinen kädessä ympäri kotia. Kiva kun kaikki meni ensimmäisenä päivänä hienosti molemmilta tytöiltä.

tomorrow is a big day! huomenna on suuri päivä!

School starts tomorrow. Donjana is going on the third grade and my little Deena on the first. Time flies so fast:.. Feels like she was born yesterday.

That night when she was born I was quite weak. I had lost some blood and they told me to stay in bed. I had Deena next to me. It was a private room, so there was no other company. Not that I needed that anyway! And something amazing happened. She gave me a biiiig smile, just like that! I tell you sisters, it wasn't just her face movements from pain in stomach, like many people have said. She smiled! I know it! Even her eyes were smiling! For a moment I thought she wants to say something. She looked like she knows so much more than me! MashaAllah my beautiful little girl!

So tomorrow will be a really exciting day. InshaAllah she will love it!

Koulu alkaa huomenna. Donjana menee kolmannelle ja mun pieni Deena menee ekaluokalle! Tuntuu kuin vasta eilen Deena ois syntynyt ja nyt se on jo iso tyttö!

Sinä yönä kun Deena syntyi, olin aika heikko koska olin menettänyt paljon verta, ja mut määrättiin vuodelepoon. Olin yksityishuoneessa, seuranani ainoastaan pikkuruinen Diinukka. Ei silti, en olis muuta seuraa kyllä kaivannutkaan. Sitten tapahtui jotain aivan uskomatonta! Deena katsoi mua silmiin ja väläytti ihan oikean hymyn! Ei ollut mitään mahanpuruja tai tahdotonta suun vääntelyä, vaan hymy! Ihan silmissä asti! Pienen hetken näytti jopa siltä, et Deena aikois sanoa jotakin. Ja hän näytti siltä, kun tietäisi niin paljon enemmän, kuin minä. MashaAllah mun pikku Deena! 

Huomenna on siis tosi jännä päivä. Toivottavasti Deenalla on kivaa!

summer is over? - kesä meni jo?

Time goes so fast these days.. I feel like summer just started and now autumn is coming already. Summers are so short in Finland.. First we wait for Spring to come for half year in the cold and snow, then when Summer comes, half of it is bad weather, the other half is good, and before we know it, it's gone.

The weather has got cooler day by day since August started, and last night we had some heavy rain too. I know many people are actually happy about this, because it's Ramadan, and we have to fast soooo long days, 18½ hours, so it's maybe a bit easier at least when it's not too hot. Unfortunately I haven't been able to fast, because of medication and some health conditions. May Allah make is easy for those, who can! Ameen

Today I took the kids to the adventure park and it was too cold to play with the water. Well, they enjoyed their day anyway, there's plenty of other things to do. I wonder if there will be warmer days anymore. I don't want to give up on the summer yet!

Next week the school starts again. Donjana is going on the third grade inshaAllah and I can't believe that Deena is starting the first grade too. I'm gonna stand on the school yard next Tuesday with tears in my eyes again. This will be my fifth time, when I take my child to school on the first day, but I still get all emotional of the idea.. ♥ 

Aika kuluu niin nopeaan..Ihan kuin kesä ois just alkanut, ja nyt on taas jo syksy tulossa. Suomen kesät on niin lyhyitä. Ensin odotetaan puoli vuotta kylmän ja lumen keskellä kevään tuloa, sit kun kesä tulee puolet on sateista, puolet hyvää, ja ennen kuin huomataan, se on ohi.

Heti kun elokuu alkoi, sää viileni ja tuli syksyn tuntua ilmaan. Moni on siitä iloinen, koska on Ramadan ja paastopäivät on hirvittävän pitkiä. viileämpi sää tekee sen edes vähän helpommaksi. Mulle pitkät päivät on ihan mahdottomia paastota, kun on otettava lääkkeet ja muutenkaan terveys ei tykkää näin pitkistä paastopäivistä. Tehköön Allah paaston helpoksi niille, jotka paastoavat! Ameen.

Tänään vein lapset seikkailupuistoon. Oli ihan liian viileää vesileikkeihin, mut onneksi siellä on paljon muutakin tekemistä, eikä aika tule pitkäksi. Saa nähdä, tuleeko enää lämpimämpiä päiviä. En haluaisi antaa vielä periksi syksylle!

Ensi viikolla alkaa koulut. Donjana menee kolmannelle luokalle, ja tuntuu uskomattomalta, että pikku-Deena aloittaa ekaluokan. Siellä sitä sit taas seistään koulun pihalla vetistelemässä. Siis mä seison. Kummaa, vaikka oon jo viides kerta kun vien lapseni kouluun ekan, edelleenkin vaan tunteet nousee pintaan. ♥

Happy end of summer yall!

Hyvää loppukesää kaikille!

HOLIDAY!

Hello folks! School's out for summer and the holiday started today. It's not exactly a holiday to me though :P but at least no early morning alarm-buzz alhamdulilah!

 Donjana hugging her teacher the one, last time. She will not be teaching them the next semester.

Donjana got a good report card alhamdulilah. I'm so proud of her! Next year will be more challenging for her. She will be on the third class and they start a few new subjects too, English, geography and biology. InshaAllah she will keep up the good work. She already speaks English quite well. We just had an English visitor and I was surprised, how well Donjana got along with her.

Deena finished pre-school on tuesday, and will go to the first grade in the autumn. And yesterday she learned how to read! It's so wonderful moment to see! And mashaAllah, now she loves it so much! She asks me to write her new words all the time. If this progress keeps going on like this, she can read small books in a few days inshaAllah! And I'm so proud again :D !

Deena received a rose and a diploma in her pre-school graduation party.

Nader even forgot about playing football for a while, when he saw Deena reading. I gave him Deena's old Moomins ABC workbook, so he can practice letters. He doesn't know how to spell almost anything yet, but now he wants to learn to read too.. He started practicing S. He made a few beautifully shaped s-letters exactly on the line.. I left him for a while and when I came back I saw that he wrote MESSI in the middle of the line, then went back to making s s s.. :D. It was hilarious :P .

My grandkids have been here a lot these days, because their parents are working. Last night they slept over. Today we spent the whole day out. The weather was perfect, nice and sunny. We made soap bubbles, played shop and home, read and wrote, and we had some kind of larva-farm lol, the kids were looking for them in the bushes.. :D . And I had to help them :D . Anyway, it was a good day.. Not as busy as you could think with five kids.. They were all very nicely (which is really not always the case : ) alhamdulilah. And the kids room that we cleaned up totally yesterday, is still clean and tidy alhamdulilah!

My lovely common lilac!

The garden is starting to bloom too, and I have a lot to do there.. Well, it doesn't look like I've done anything though :D , but honestly, I have.. My white fence and bushes in the front were blooming already, and so was the mini apple tree. now it's time for the lilacs, and soon there will be roses inshaAllah!

Have a nice, sunny summer everyone!

Well done, kids!

Ohh.. life is so busy lately I haven't had time to come and update here as often as I was planning to. I really should be here more often. Anyway, I'm here now, with a little update about the kids.

This Tuesday Deena and Nader had their yearly nurse check and they were found healthy and everything with them is on age level alhamdulilah. Deena is tiny though, but is growing well anyway. Nader is only 3,5 cm behind her and he already weights half kilo more. Lol they look like twins :D mashaAllah.

Their hearing is good and eyesight too alhamdulilah. And I was so proud of them, they both could tell 'left' and 'right' in the eye sight test, the E board thingo, instead of showing directions with their hand.. The nurse said that it is really rare that kids are that much sure of left and right, especially Nader, who is only 5. I told her it might be because we're Muslims, we talk about eating with our right hand and stuff like that much more than a typical, Finnish family.

Deena did all kinds of tests really well, mashaAllah she is a smart girl. She had to draw some stuff, make some figures of wooden blocks, split pictures to groups that fit together, find which letter some words start etc.. She finished everything so fast lol, she loves that kind of stuff.

She has had a problem saying R, and I spoke about it with the nurse. The nurse said that a speaking therapist could talk with her once when she goes on the first grade in the autumn. We were not worried about it, we knew she'd find a way to say it soon because she had said TR before, in words like tractor, but couldn't say words with R or R alone..

Nader was a little shy first with the nurse, but he behaved really well.. Or maybe he behaved himself because he was a little shy :D . He also had some tests like drawing his picture and his family, throwing ball etc. His tests were a bit different because he is one year younger. When he was supposed to write his name he didn't remember how to make R, but then he wrote MESSI on the paper :P . And when he had to draw his picture he drew a football next to him :))) . In the family picture he drew green background. the nurse asked him why and he looked at her as if she don't understand anything. Then he said: ''It's grass, don't yo see? My family is on a football field.''

Nader on the left, Messi in the middle, and a player from Uruguay in the right.

He is really into football lately, and Lionel Messi too.. Meaning soccer, in case someone is wondering... He plays football ALLL the time, indoors and out, and he plays football games on PC and PS and watches full games from tv or football clips on Youtube. He wants to wear his football gear and Argentina number 10 shirt every day at home, and he'd wear it outside too if I'd let him :D. Well, it'll take a while before we can go out with t-shirt, we still have snow and April starts tomorrow!

Alhamdulilah everything went so well and things are fine with the kids. I was told that I have fun, well raised children alhamdulilah. Well.. They had a good day lol, it could have been different on another day :D . And I promised them some donuts at Arnold's later. That might have affected too :D

After we finished with the nurse we had a snack at the waiting room, as we got up really early and had spent two hours there. We had to wait for half an hour for Donjana to finish school. Her school is next to the nurse's, and we wouldn't even have time to go back home anyway. Donjana is on second grade and her school is going well. The teacher often tells that she is a very nice girl and she knows when she should sit still and listen. mashaAllah. Her exams usually come home with excellent grade. Only once she got good, and she was unhappy about it. I had a hard time trying to convince her that she still did well even if she didn't have the excellent mark.

After Donjana came we went to the center and had some really tasty donuts. YUMM.. :P . On the way home Donjana and Nader fell asleep in the bus. The last thing Nader said before he fell asleep was ''I have changed my family name. My name is now Nader Messi. Oh boy.

And then later that day Deena was practicing R again and she said it! It's so funny :D. She had tried a thousand times, but just that day it came! YAY! Alhamdulilah for everything!

Melting snow makes amazing figures.