what a day

last Sunday there was an event in my children's school. it was an Open House in order to celebrate Kartini Day. Kartini is one of our female national hero.

Ibit performed 3 times that day.

First: drumband

Second: sang with her rebana group

Third: sang 5 songs with her band group

I'm not a good one in dress and fashion. but I think I dressed her good. she refused to wear the costume I chose - at the beginning. she wanted just to wear a t-shirt and jean pants. but then she found that her friends loved it, so finally she likes it.

And as a bonus (or the most important thing to her?) was, she took 2nd place for story telling contest.

I will not forget to put the picture of these biggest fans of Ibit, who sat right on the stage side to watch and support her.

and I want to share one of the performance. it is a duo with Al, the keyboardist of the band, singing "Bunda" (mother)

Hosted by Cecilyand Pam

books beside beds

I know this isn't my best shots, or best story. it's just a story with some shots :D



If it is besides Ibit's bed, it's not a special thing. Ibit has been in love with books since she was able to read at grade 1. She can not go to sleep without reading before. She often re-reads her old books when she has no new books to read. She even has finished reading some books I bought, that I haven't even read a page.




But this morning I found books on Ar and Ir's bed. I asked them what were those books doing there. They said they read them before sleeping.

It's a good news.







Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

studying is [not] my hobby

Hosted by Cecily and Life With Kaishon

studying, never was my hobby. all my time being a student. this is 180 degrees opposites my husband, who has always been studying and been a diligent student. well, until he met me in college, that's when I contaminated his habit with mine :P
so I totally understand when some kids don't like studying. now I understand that's just because they don't find studying is interesting.

aku ngga hobi belajar, seumur aku menjadi murid. ini berlawanan 180 derajat dengan suamiku yang selalu rajin belajar selama sekolah. well, tentu saja itu sebelum dia ketemu aku di kuliahan, aku mengkontaminasi kebiasaannya dengan kebiasaanku :P
jadi aku ngerti banget kalau ada anak yang ngga suka belajar. sekarang sih aku ngerti, bahwa itu karena buat mereka belajar itu ngga menarik


it was a little bit hard to pull my twin to sit before desk and concentrate for a while to their books. seemed like they really are my children :D. but this isn't some thing I just can let go on. so I tried to make it interesting for them do math exercises.

beda dengan Ibit, agak susah ngajak Ar Ir duduk dan konsentrasi sebentar ngadep buku pelajaran. bener-bener anakku mereka itu :D. tapi tentu saja ini bukan hal yang boleh aku biarkan terus-terusan. karenanya aku mencoba membuat belajar matematika menarik buat mereka.

I made them their own exercise book.
aku buatkan mereka buku latihan sendiri.

on every page I drew some stuffs for them to color. they are interested to do the coloring instead of doing the real exercises but that's fine.
di setiap halaman aku beri gambar untuk diwarnai. mereka memang lebih tertarik mewarnai gambarnya ketimbang mengerjakan latihan yang sesungguhnya.

they'd do it any way, because if they do all the exercises correctly, they can cut this little part lower on the page.
tapi mereka pasti mentgerjakannya, karena jika betul semua, mereka boleh memotong bagian kecil di ujung kiri bawah setiap halaman latihan.

every page is worth Rp.100 and if they collect at least ten coupon from ten pages, they can buy themselves some treat :D
setiap halaman bernilai Rp. 100 dan bila mereka mengumpulkan kupon dari 10 halaman, mereka bisa beli jajan yang lumayan.

Ibit said I was too stingy. Rp. 100 for ten to twenty numbers each page. but I don't think so. I never had to pay any single rupiah for all numbers of exercises Ibit has done. it's not about how much they've got, but how fun it was to get it.
kata Ibit aku pelit, Rp.100 untuk 10 - 20 nomor per halaman. tapi ga juga. aku malah ga pernah bayar serupiah pun untuk semua latihan yang dikerjakan Ibit. ini bukan soal berapa jumlahnya, tapi pasti senang memperolehnya.

beside, if I put Rp. 1000 in every coupon, I'll soon be broken!
lagian kalau tiap halaman bernilai Rp.1000, aku bisa cepet bangkrut!


note: $1,00 = Rp. 9700,00 (approximately)

it's that simple

I could say they are trouble maker
(which they some times are)

but I'd rather say they are my life brightener

happy birthday Ar and Ir

I didn't make the cake beautiful so you will believe if I said I made it by my self. I swear I did.

*a classic excuse*

the massage

Last Tuesday was a holiday. We went to Taman KB. I can translate it to 'Family Planning Park'. No it has nothing to do with families' plans or contraception. It's just a name the government gave, as Family Planning is one of the government development programs.
Selasa lalu libur, kami jalan-jalan ke Taman KB. Iya, KB yang keluarga berencana itu. Ngga ada hubungannya dengan kegiatan perKBan. Hanya namanya saja begitu, bikinan pemerintah.

But I do agree that this park is a fun place for families to spend time. There are plants, fountains, fish pool, and children play ground. But this time I want to talk about this patterned stone path. What, do you think, these people are enjoying?
Tapi emang asik sih, ngajak keluarga main ke situ. Teduh karena banyak pohon, ada kolam ikan, pancuran dan taman bermain untuk anak. Tapi kali ini aku tertarik membahas trek kerikil ini. Menurutmu, apa yang sedang dilakukan orang-orang ini?



May be they were watching their children playing around the park?
Yeah may be, that would be a nice side activity to the main one.
Watch closer, and this is how the stones were arranged building the beautiful pattern.
Mungkin mereka sedang mengawasi anak-anak bermain?
Bisa, itu bisa jadi aktivitas sampingan.
Perhatikan, begini lho batu-batu kecil itu disusun membentuk pola canti di jalur jalan itu...




And try to walk on it barefoot. Ouch... hurts.
Coba deh berjalan di atasnya, telanjang kaki. Aduh... sakit.




That's why they have these bars on its side. For people to hold on.
Itu sebabnya di salah satu sisinya dipasang pegangan.



Why would people hurt themselves standing and walking on the path then? Because it is believed that the stones will do a massage to you feet. A massage called 'reflection massage'. If you are hurt on some parts of your feet, means you have something wrong inside your body. Massaging your feet will cure it if you do it constantly.
Lalu kenapa orang mau menyakiti kaki mereka jalan-jalan di jalur berkerikil itu? Karena, batu-batu itu akan memijat kaki kita. Pijat refleksi. Kalo ada bagian kaki kita yang sakit, tandanya ada yang salah dengan organ tubuh kita. Sakit itu akan sembuh kalau kita rajin pijat refleksi.






No matter how it hurts, my children still can find a fun thing to do about it. A race.
Walaupun sakit, tetep aja ada hal menyenangkan yang dilakukan anak-anak. Balapan.

Can you handle it?
Berani?

Hosted by Cecily

the style

aren't they beautiful?
yes they are

and these ones are pretty!
uhm... yes off course

but I'll stick with these ones, thank you

they really fit me.

oh yes, they do.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

the fingers

amazed me
bikin aku bengong

or should I focus on the coordination between the eyes and the fingers?
atau lebih penting fokus di koordinasi antara mata dan jari?

and oh, meet the owner of the fingers..
dan oh, ini dia yang punya jari...

Hosted by Cecily and Kelli