I went with my sister and 3 of my brothers, Ali, Naif, Yousef.

we went for a ride around the city, it is a military city, and there nothing interesting we got bored quickly, so I decided to sing a song, a very funny song, I started with my song and my sound became loud and annoying to my brothers and sister

so they tried to stop me from singing by beating or by disturbing me by pressing strongly my nose by their fingers.

I stopped after my nose become red in color, then I said let`s go back to home, we can`t make it fun without our parent, by the way they went to Makkah City and they will return tomorrow .

Have a good day.

Lebaran tahun ini (2009 ) adalah moment pertama kali sejak kami sekeluarga pindah tugas ke Jawa Barat.

Itulah sebabnya Mudik kali ini merupakan  pengalaman pertama kalinya bagi kami sekeluarga merasakan Hiruk pikuk mudik (khususnya di jalur Pantura Jawa), yang selama ini hanya kami tonton lewat layar kaca.

Alhamdulillah karena mungkin kami mudik pada H-4 jadi situasi jalanan masih belum macet parah, kami berangkat dari Purwakarta setelah subuh ( Jam 5.00 pagi). Kepadatan lalu lintas sudah mulai terasa mulai dari simpang 3 Jomin – Cikampek – Karawang, mungkin hal ini terjadi karena di simpang 3 inilah bertemu arus mudik dari berbagai arah menuju ke Jateng atau Jatim.

Setelah 6 jam berkendara kami istirahat di SPBU MURI – Tegal ( tempat transit Favorit saya ) saat perjalanan ke Semarang untuk acara meeting di Kantor Pusat.

SPBU MURI - memiliki toilet terbanyak yg masuk rekor MURI

Karena kami berangkat subuh dan saat itu si kecil ( Bintang ) masih tidur pulas & tdk sempat mandi, saat istirahat kami manfaatkan untuk memandikan dia ( ini juga kami karena kamar mandi di Rest area sangat bersih ).

Foto ini ternyata menjadi kenangan terakhir kebersamaan dg Mak Yem ( Pembantu di keluarga Kami )

Setelah shalat Ied di rumah Ibu (Tumpang – Malang), Acara berlebaran dilanjutkan ke Banyuwangi ( Rumah Mertua ). disana sudah berkumpul saudara – saudara dari berbagai daerah ( Surabaya, Jakarta, Sukabumi ).

Silaturahmi ke rumah pak De

Bermain bersama keluarga besar di pantai Boom - Banyuwangi

Asyiknya bermain pasir...

3 Serangkai....

Jalan masuk ke Pantai Mirah Fantasia ( Bali banget )

Banana Boat-nya terdampar di atas pasir

Setelah berlebaran kurang lebih 5 Hari Di Banyuwangi, acara dilanjutkan ke Malang lagi, untuk silaturahmi ke saudara-saudara disana.

Hutan Baluran, Jalan yang harus dilewati via Pantura

Bersama Bapak Mertua & Pak De di Rest Area Banyuglugur - Situbondo

Bersama Keluarga Malang...

Tidak Lupa setelah acara berkunjung ke sanak saudara acara jalan-jalan juga menjadi agenda wajib.

Tempat Rekreasi murah meriah dan dekat dari rumah - Wendit.

Tak gendong kemana-mana...

Mudah – mudahan Tahun depan bisa berkumpul bersama lagi saat lebaran.

It was almost a week–a week of Thanksgiving–beginning the Sunday before Thanksgiving after the beautiful dinner at our church, Christ Alive. It was mid-afternoon when Jerry and I drove the 4 1/2 hours to our Crestline home. Our home is situated in such a way that we pass the rear of the house before making a sharp turn and pull into the driveway in the front. As we drove past the backyard, both Jerry and I noticed lights on in the upstairs area of the house.

“Rebecca must have left on a light,” I thought. She had gone up a couple of days before to oversee carpet cleaners who tackled all our downstairs carpets.

As we pulled up the driveway and into the garage, though, we noticed lights everywhere…and then we saw her car. Our sweet daughter and her son, Nathaniel, were already there, with the house warmed–a crackling fire roaring in the living room fireplace.

And so it began…an exceptional week of Thanksgiving with our family and friends. Except for Michael, who was with Mel at her family’s home, on Thanksgiving day, all our children were with us, along with our grandson Chris and his family. Friends Jay and Holly rounded out the group of 18 who were seated for our traditional luscious Thanksgiving dinner.

Chloe had set the table, choosing to use these combination napkin rings and place cards. Shawnna did the calligraphy. I always want to have the children sit with the adults, but our table just won’t stretch that far, so we set a children’s table…using red plates!

You can’t see Gentry at the table, but he is pictured well in the kitchen with his beautiful yeast rolls which he made totally “from scratch.”(I’m going to post this unfinished piece, which I will work on later in the day. It has been too long since I posted anything–no internet at our Crestline home…tune in for more talk and pictures.)

If you are following my blog, you will know that Bernice had changed her school and there are some ‘comments’ on her last performance. 

Time flies, I am blogging for the latest year end performance again.

This round was held at SPRING Singapore.

Program Highlights:

Prior to their performance, the kids had a session of full dresses rehearsal whereby photos are taken.   In case, we didnt manage to take any nice photo during the performance, we still can placed order at the entrance, before or after the performance.

This is one of Princess’ photo that we had placed our order.

Seats are allocated upon purchase.  Front rows are reserved for K2 kids and the rest are 1st come 1st serve basis.  So parents dun have to ‘chop’ seats and behave like watching ‘getai’. (flashed back ;>)

Parents are reminded with 3 tasks before the concert starts:

1) Please switch off or silent your mobile phones

2) Please remain seated throughtout the show

3) Please praise your seat neighbour’s child(ren)

Which I really appreciates the reminder and the rest of the parents co-operation after my experience last year.

These are some of the K2 kids.  I feel so touched when they walked in to collect their certificate.  I believe I will cry if it’s Bernice’s turn as I am already feel so touched and almost tears.  I feel so proud to be a parent.

These are some of the performances.

Performance theme: The Greatest is LOVE

Bernice! This girl had been jumping and dancing too fast for me to snap any nice pictures.

Parents are only given the chance to swam only after the grand finale.

We are having liked the pop concert feel minus the ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!

Anxious Daddy checking out his video shots..

Bernice’s Supporters

The performance went very well, just that we feel sad that Bernice is ‘out’ to dance only once and it less than 2 minutes (we know cos we did the videoing too).

The performances’ exposure wasn’t well spread enough till there are certain kids are out for so short and there are few whom are out most of the time.

Wondering if other parents sharing the same thoughts? 

Proud Mama

ini adalah foto aku dan adek2 ku…
aku sayang ma mreka..
walaupun mreka sering bikin aku marah dan jengkel
tapi kalo gag da mreka sepi rumahnya
gag ada yang ribut dan cerewet…
luv u lahhh

My firstborn is nine today! I can’t believe it! Everyone says they grow up so fast but when you’re changing diapers and up in the middle of the night you don’t realize it. She’s NINE! Holy cow! I can’t wrap my head around it! A couple months ago I was going through her clothes for school and realizing that I needed to get her some new ones for school. I went to the store and was in shock because after size 8 comes size 10! Not 9, all the sudden she was a ten! I can’t explain why it was shocking, it just was.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with just her and me this week as we worked on treats for her party and I was amazed at my little girl. She is so super smart. She asks an insane amount of questions! She ALWAYS has a book in her hands. She is getting so tall (actually she’s probably the shortest kid in her class, but tall to me!) She is so curious, always reading over my shoulder or listening in to conversations. She is a very talented artist and so creative. She is beautiful inside and out. She loves God with her whole heart and can actually hear his voice which is more than I can say for myself.

The other night I was amazed at how she thinks! I could hardly follow her. First she asked me a whole bunch of questions about bubbles. How are they made? What is the stuff on the outside? And then the next statement was “I love gravity”. WHAT???? Where did that come from? Well I’m glad we walk on the earth cause otherwise we’d float in space and stuff. OK. She goes on about gravity for a couple of minutes and then, change topic again. Where does she get this? This is at 9pm. My brain doesn’t work like that at 9pm!

I had a wonderful chat with her on her bed this morning. I love doing this with her and listening to her life. She said “you’re the best mom in the world and we’ll be together forever right? Right!

Here’s my beautiful little girl!

Happy Birthday Bekah!

Ok.

First let me state for the record that I love my mother very much. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have had the reaction that I had on Friday.

So Friday afternoon, Chief closed the shop early and we went for a ride out to a local farmer’s market. While there, my cell phone rings and it’s my mother. She immediately starts telling me something about my grandmother’s heating bill and some application that they never received from the gas company.

Had a great Thanksgiving.. thanks for asking, Mom.

So I tell her that I wasn’t home but when I did get home I’d call her and look up whatever information she needed online. She asks where we’re at and I tell her.

HER: Make sure you buy me something nice for Christmas.

ME: What are you Spaz? What do you mean make sure I buy you something nice for Christmas?

HER: Just what I said.

ME: Are you implying that I don’t buy you something nice for Christmas?

HER: Well, just make sure it’s from a nice store and not from the farmer’s market.

I was like, are you fucking kidding me? It may not seem like a big deal in print, but you had to hear the tone in her voice and the little sarcastic “hmph”.

And the thing is, I never shorted her on a gift.. regardless of what my financial situation was.. and now this year, since I’ve been laid off and money is tight I’m already feeling guilty that I have to be extra frugal and can’t go all out like I used to do. I figured people would understand.. I figured MY FAMILY would understand because really, when the hell did the true meaning of Christmas become how much money you spent on a gift?

IN FACT .. this year, I was going to get her one of those 200.00 laptops.

Key word: WAS

It just really got under my skin and really fucked up the rest of my day.

So when I got home, I called her like I said I was going to but was my usually chippy self. She picked up on it right away and asked me if I was mad about something.

But the WAY she asked it lit the neon sign that made it clear that she knew exactly what was bothering me.

So I tell her that I was upset.. that her comment about her Christmas gift had hurt my feelings.

Her reaction would have made you think that I was accusing her of smuggling drugs in puppy belly’s or something.

She said she was only joking :: of course she was only joking. .that’s EVERYBODY’S excuse when they say something that hurts somebody else’s feelings :: and that there must be something else bothering me. I told her there wasn’t.. she got all defensive again and pulled out her violin. She said that everybody can tease but her.. which is bullshit and I told her that. Then she said, “.. OH, GO FIND A JOB”.

Like.. what the FUCK?

What the FUCK does THAT have to do with anything?

By then, the wall went up and I was like, “.. yea. Find a job. Real nice.”

I didn’t even want to talk to her anymore. So I told her that the online application that I filled out was submitted and hung up.

Chief knew how upset I was.. and he was getting upset for me. Especially the whole job thing.. because she will never accept that working in the shop that I OWN is work. And that gets under his skin big time.

The thing is.. when your a child, you see your parents as “parents”.. but when your older and see your parents as the adults that they are, you also see their flaws.

My mother is, deep down, a good hearted person. She’s generous and funny and devout. But she’s also very judgmental, negative and opinionated on things she has no business having an opinion on.

She uses the fact that I’m her daughter as an excuse to say and do whatever it is she says and does and thinks it automatically gives her a free pass.

And it doesn’t.

Because there is never a justification to hurt someone’s feelings and not own up to it.

I am toying the idea to organise the Christmas party at my place instead of friend’s place.  We always celebrate Christmas party ‘out of house’ as Kae is worrying about the setting up and after party cleaning.

But I was thinking it might be fun to organise one here since we dun really have any party at our place.

Well, shall see if I have the time to plan as I will be travelling to China, Chongqing for a week next month.  I guess Kae will be okay if I want to have it at home. 

I should start my Christmas shopping soon to avoid last min shopping.

Counting down to Christmas,

Charlyn

I’m married to a very understanding and supportive husband, Chee Meng. Chee Meng is a very family oriented hubby who will help me out when I’m busy or tired. At times, he’ll help me take care of the children while I take some time off to meet my friends. Our children, John, Rebecca and Li-Ann LOVE their daddy A LOT!! They will yell out whenever they hear his key turn the lock. They will give thanks when he’s home. They will want to spend time with daddy. While at times I’m envious of the attention they give their father, I’m also extremely grateful for such a good relationship they have with him. We love to spend time together as a family.

Fan’s of popular sitcom My Family will be delighted to hear that the 10th series will be filmed in the new year. This will take place at Teddington Studios on Thursdays 14th, 21st and 28th of January 2010.

More details and instructions on how to apply can be found here.

You may reminisce my speaking of Phillip’s parents (they will always be my in-laws because I love them so). I just had to share this splendid photo taken of PawPaw by Ashley Thompson, one of his granddaughters, enjoying the laptop computer Phillip gave him for Father’s Day (along with a nice new suit).

PawPaw Stephenson wanted to enter the world of computers so much, he has been taking classes at a local college. Looks like he is now what some might term a “real computer geek.” You go, PawPaw! Any man who can single-handedly build such a incredible home from the ground up can certainly master this laptop computer. Next thing we know, PawPaw will be designing homes on there too!

Notice he has that coffee cup always beside him like Phillip! I’ll include a few more photos from Thanksgiving of PawPaw and MawMaw too.

How was your Black Friday? Where on earth did they come up with that term, anyway? Isn’t this supposed to be a happy day for the economy, with all these people pouring their recession-squeezed dollars into the coffers of business?

I was working on a freelance assignment and the computer monitor went dead. (It’s been dying for weeks.) So it was off to Best Buy. I was grumbling. My wife reminded me that a computer monitor was a necessity for my writing work and for the young miss’s homsework. What a sensible spouse.

She also mentioned that our printer has been dead for the last few months, so I made a deal. If we could find a scanner/printer combo for less than $100, we’d get that too. (I confess I’ve been getting tired of having Brit send her homework to my office and having to plunk down 5 cents a copy into the personal use envelope.)

Well, we found “best” buys for both items under a hundred. A good bit under, in fact. No more 1999 clunky television set on the computer desk.

It was our second venture into the High Holy Day of Materialism. The young miss had saved up some money for a cd player. She thought one of those under-the-counter models would be a perfect mount on the headboard of her bed. She was curious about why they also had timers. I told her the usual use wasn’t on a bed, but under a kitchen cupboard. So we had been out earlier this morning looking for such things. The local Target was pretty crazy. I was glad to escape from there.

Any good deals?

OBAT-OBATAN TRADISIONAL

This turkey was deliciously stuffed with wild rice with mushrooms

This year I'm thankful for my family (yeah I know, my kids never look at the cam no matter what we do)

Everybody minus grandma (she's taking the pic)

We had a great time, the food was delicious.. Mmmm…

Oh yeah! Michael started crawling forward today! Until now, he was only crawling backwards.

I wanted to post the video, but I’m loading it onto youtube right now and it’s taking forever! So I’ll post it next time. Anyway, hope everyone had a very nice holiday!

Great holiday with the family!

Not only have I been blessed with an amazing immediate family but to top it off I married into a great family as well.  From day one my in-laws have welcomed me with loving arms and I have treasured the time spent with them. We recently got together for some family photos and I am glad the weather held out so that we could make use of the last few traces of fall color 

‘Papa’ & ‘Nana’…

The Taylors with their newest addition to the family…

The Blivens…

Me and my hubby

I am particularly fond of this man and am soooooo thankful to be married to him.  I never knew I could respect and admire someone this much … he truly is a blessing in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving! It is early on Thanksgiving morning and I have so many reasons to be thankful. So many reasons that I woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep. My heart is full. My life is blessed. My joy is overflowing. And I’m thankful.

*I’m thankful for the salvation I was given through God’s grace.
*I’m thankful that my sins are washed away by Jesus on the cross.
*I’m thankful for an all powerful Lord, who does perform miracles, who does heal the sick.
*I’m thankful for my family & friends that have come to know the Lord.
*I’m thankful for my incredible husband who seeks the Lord in what he does and continues to do so for our family.
*I’m thankful for my joyful and gifted son, who we are just starting to get to know the depths of him.
*I”m thankful for this lemon-sized baby currently growing in my belly. I’m thankful that we get to meet this little one and teach him or her about Jesus.
*I’m thankful for my parents. They have gone through so much and their love remains stronger than ever. Thank you for teaching me to never give up.
*I’m thankful for my sisters. They are my rocks, always.
*I’m thankful for my brother. He always lives his life with a passion for what he’s doing and an energy that’s contagious.
*I’m thankful for my 4 grandparents that I still have alive. That is truly a gift.
*I’m thankful for my in-laws. They are truly my second family and I couldn’t have been happier when I married into them. I love seeing traditions that we are starting as our own.
*I’m thankful for all of my nieces and nephews. I love seeing the world through a child’s eyes and I’ve had the opportunity to do that now for the past 3 years. I love this stage of life.
*I’m thankful for our incredible church body at Bethany.
*I’m thankful for our Pastor, who truly seeks the Lord in every topic he brings to our congregation. He listens, has discernment, gains wisdom, and uses his gift of teaching, no matter the difficulty of the message.
*I’m thankful for the friends we’ve met through Bethany. They are friendships we’ve never had before and can’t imagine our life without them.
*I’m thankful for some of my oldest friends I’ve had. I’m thankful for the experiences we’ve had together to make us who we are today. I’m thankful for the stages we’ve gone through together in life and that we’re still close and have a friendship that doesn’t need much explaining. It just is.
*I’m thankful for my gifts in creativity.
*I’m thankful for all of the gifted people out there who share their creativity through mentoring, blogs, word of mouth. I love when people recognize a gift they are given, use it and share it!
*I’m thankful for my own photography business and the success it has had.
*I’m thankful for the clients I’ve met through photography. It has been such a great ride going through the stages of life with you!
*I’m thankful for Target. My job, not the store. Well, the store too! It has been such an awesome place to work for the past 51/2 years and I’ve met some of my best friends there.
*I’m thankful to be a part of a company that does have values, that recognizes a personal life outside of work and allows you flexibility.
*I’m thankful for St. Olaf and my husband’s job, for his dream of coaching football to become true.
*I’m so thankful for my home and our community.
*I’m so thankful for my upbringing.
*I’m thankful for my extreme (sometimes crazy) love of water and lakes.
*I’m thankful for my appreciation of being in the woods and just listening. Of walking in the woods and thinking it is the most beautiful and peaceful place God has ever created.
*I’m thankful for my grandparents and their parents for making us a rustic cabin in the woods on Stewart Lake, which will always be one of my favorite places in the world.
*I’m thankful for…

The list could go on and on and on. My heart is full. My cup is overflowing. I am thankful.

I do have a prayer for you today. A sincere prayer of humbled joy for you. That you take a few minutes today to find a quiet place to sit and reflect on life. On the blessings you’ve been given. On the joy in your life. That you find thankfulness in them. Wherever you are at. And if you are in a stage of mourning or loss, I want you to know that He who loves you and sacrificied His life for you can take that burden away. Lay it down at His feet and He will bring you rest. If you want specific prayer, please email me at Jacquelyn.Senske@yahoo.com. I will pray for you.

A very happy Thanksgiving to you today!! I am off to make a pecan pie!

So I totally don’t feel like updating this “first post” thing right now, but I needed a place-holder till I could get it done!

So I’m going to do my Thanksgiving post instead, but check back to this one

♥Sierra

Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese. Cheese sandwiches, cheeseburgers, cheesecake,  just no cheese in my photo sessions! This is something that is hard to explain to people and always one of my first instructions. Be natural, have fun and no cheese! We have all grown up with “say cheese”, cheese is one of the first words our kids say because they’ve heard it so much, but please, no cheese! Cheese gets you a fake “cheesy” smile. My goal is always natural shots. Some kids don’t smile a lot and that’s ok. That’s who they are, and years from now you’ll want to remember all the faces and fun and not the fake smiles and “perfect” poses.  That’s why I call it lifestyle photography. Because I want to catch some natural smiles and have fun.

I have a confession to make, sometimes parents get in the way of a child smiling. For younger ones it usually helps a lot to have mom and dad’s silly faces to look at, but older kids sometimes need to be left alone. They don’t need mom or dad in their face and stressing them out. Parents, please give me time with your child, they tend to relax once they’re left alone which makes for much better pictures and a lot less stress for you, your child and me too!

Ok, I’m done with my rant, here is a bunch of pictures of my youngest who refuses to smile her nice smile for the camera. She gives me so much cheese and I have never said that to her! She has a beautiful smile when she smiles naturally but oh, the forced smiles? So funny!

And, when I actually get a natural smile from her, she hides it!

Don’t forget to leave a comment for me! Not only do I love to get comments, for every comment I get on any post on my blog, I donate one canned good to Winnipeg Harvest. So come on! It’s easy!