For Your Eyes Only!

Last month, Ummi and HBAP attended a fund raiser Fashion Show, organized for The Children's Cancer Foundation. The venue was glitzy, dinner exquisite and clothing glamorous (even the models' outfits were beautiful!). But this was a fashion show with a difference:

The Ticket

- There were no men allowed into the venue
- a cubicle was erected where ushers collected guests' abayas
- all clothing on display were designed to cover the models awrah
- the background songs were specially recorded with all the music deleted
- photography was strictly prohibited
- The venue and catwalk were lent to the Cancer Foundation for free
- The models were beautiful and sophisticated and looked gorgeous in the designer outfits they wore (designed by some of the top local designers), though they were not professional models but women who volunteered for the occasion

The Imperial

Some of the Foundation's young patients (ranging from ages 4 to 6) also modeled some outfits, they shyly waved at the audience from the catwalk, to the song HELP! by the Beatles, bringing tears to the eyes of most of the audience. HBAP curiously asked why one of the little boys with short hair was wearing a skirt, Ummi explained the child was a girl but her hair was very short because she was sick. This affected HBAP and she explained this to her brothers and father when she got home. 

 Prize Won By HBAP!

Designers Umbreen and Sharmeen had arranged a lucky draw for the occasion and Masha'Allah HBAP won one of the gifts. Even the master of ceremonies was surprised to see 5 year HBAP come up to claim the prize. Her Mumani WK won the next prize, Masha'Allah) As we left the venue we were able to bring home some of the lovely flowers that adorned the tables. 

It was a lovely occasion where we could comfortably let our hair down and enjoy a show put together for our eyes only.

Book Worms' Map Hunt

Sometimes, the Piranis enjoy the opportuity to host the Book Worm Book Club, the following is about one of those opportunities:

This week the BookWorm Club gathered at The Piranis’ home, Alhumudlillah. The club members
all sat in a circle in the balcony so they could enjoy the wind and sunlight outdoors. IBAP read the book “Pizza In His Pocket’ to his friends; which was a story about a little boy who loved to
eat food from different places around the world, but never thanked Allah (SWT) for the food. Then one day he met a girl who hadn’t eaten anything in a long time and was holding her tummy in pain. The boy felt ashamed about his own greediness and bought some food for the girl and her family and they all thanked Allah (SWT) for it. The book advises us to eat all the food our parents give us, including vegetables, without a fuss and share our food too and reminds us that, “Being thankful is what’s really great, eat the veggies on your plate and don’t be like the boy, who ate and ate and ATE!”

After the story,
the club members had a short discussion on eating etiquettes in Islam: to start
with Bismillah, use your right hand when eating and which Dua to say once done.

Then we moved on
to the activity. The members divided themselves into three groups, each group
was given an Atlas and a mother sat with them to help them use it. A large
Globe Trotter Twister mat was laid out.
Ummibaps called out the name of the countries and cities the boy in the
book visited, and the groups raced each other to locate it in their atlas. The
group who found the country/city would then send one of their members to stick
the place’s name card in the correct place on the Globe Trotters mat.

Once all the places were located, the second part of the activity began. The Ummibaps and
Qasim then called out the names of the different dishes the boy in the book had
enjoyed. The members had to remember which country/city the boy had received
the meal from and then take turns to stick the picture of the meal onto the
correct place’s namecard.

Alhumdulillah, it was fun, and we discovered places we had never heard of on the map and we also realized that not all atlas have the same cities marked on their “political world map” pages Subhan’Allah!

Circuts

Jamadul Awwal 1432

After completing a chapter on Electricity, QBAP was required to make something to model a working circut. After some drafting, shopping and locking himself in his room, he put the following together, Masha'Allah:

A light for QBAP's cupboard:

 

Circut with Circut Diagram

Closed Circut

Open Circut

The Pirani Papers

The last month had the even little Piranis dashing for the newspapers, with so much to pour through, we asked the little ones to cut out some pictures they liked to make newspapers of their own. The following is their work (unedited) they cut and pasted on their own and chose the names themselves (even SBAP). So here are the Pirani Papers (Rab-us-Sani'1432/ March'11) - uncensored :


SPORTS: editor - IBAP (age 9) featuring: Lots of Cricket!

CRICKET: editor - MBAP (age 7) features: Even more cricket!

THE DATE: editor- HBAP (age 5) featuring: Somebody got hurt, Mr. Bean, Cricket and a Dunkin Donuts advertisment

THE WATERFALL: editor : SBAP (age 3) featuring: Mr Bean, Camel and Snow, including exclusive art work by SBAP

5 Jamad ul Awwal 1432

Annual Horticulture Exhibition

Ummi, Nani and the younger 5 Piranis headed out towards the park (right next to the beach) to enjoy the visual treat of lovely flowers, lucious plants, garden displays and tasty veggie plants. Here's a glimpse of the images we savoured (unfortunately, due to a technically glitch, most of the pics are lost, these are a few we managed to salvage):

Sections depicting people's "Dream Garden":

Garden implements:

Bonsai:

Flowers and household items "recycled" to make beautiful flower displays:

Three 'Chairs' for the Piranis! Hip,Hip, Hooray!

Alhumdulillah, a fellow Home ed. friend invited QBAP, IBAP and MBAP to accompany her son for a session of carpentry at her place. The boys were estatic, and enjoyed a day off from beating around their books to beating around a hammer, Alhumdulillah. The hired carpenter was a very friendly and patient man, he brought all the equipment needed for the above project and instructed the kids through it. The boys were happy to be able to measure, saw and hammer without adult interference and they seemed to throughly enjoy the pleasure and satisfaction of making something on their own, Alhumdulillah.

Rabul Sani 1432

Helter Skelter Shelter

The Pirani boys love it when Ummi gives them a challenge (groans to be heard from the older ones, "can I? can I?" from the younger ones :) ) And so as she prepared dinner, Abbi prepared to be Judge, the children were told to build a shelter:

Terms and Conditions:

-it must be made to easily house 3 yr old SBAP
-it must not fall apart when he enters it
-use anything that is portable in the house (except the trampoline)

-all items will be returned into their original places once the challenge is completed and judged

The children were divided into two teams ABAP's team (kids aged 13, 9 and 5) and QBAP's team (ages 11, 7 and 3)

The outcome was as follows:

ABAPS team (front and inside view)

QBAP's Team (front, inside and back view)

Alhumdulillah, both shelters withstood SBAP's enthusiasm (and reflected the personalities of the group leaders' Masha'Allah), so keeping their efforts and team work in mind, the Judge declared it a TIE. So after a quick clean up operation, the family sat down to a meal of home-made tandoori chicken - Ummi's challenge of the day!