The Story Of Us

        1. What is your favorite color? Red 2. What is your favorite toy/game? Roblox 3. What is your favorite fruit?  Raspberries 4. What is your favorite food? Pasta 5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  Cookies and Cream 7a. What is your favorite tv show? Pokemon 7b.Favorite Movie? Bruce Almighty 8. What is your favorite animal?  Gorilla  9. What is your favorite song? Bad Guy by Billie Eilish  10. What is your favorite book? The Percy Jackson series 11. Who is your best friend? H.C and AQ 12. What is your favorite city/country?  Budapest 13. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play Cricket and Basketball 14. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Dentist 15. What is your favorite thing to do with mummy? Playing board games 16. What is your favorite thing to do with baba? playing cricket and tennis 17. What is your favorite thing to do with Hasan? Watching videos 18. What makes you feel sad? Mummy Baba screaming at me 19. What makes you feel happy? Movie nights and

Friday was the kids last day of school.. hello summer! Now usually I love summer vacation. The kids and I are ready to break out of our routines, we don't do any classes or camps and just try to relax (in a A type personality semi organized manner) lol. But we are in the age of COVID and I have already had three months of way too much kid time.. so let's see how this goes. Tomorrow is D's 10th birthday.. double digits.. so we threw him a surprise party over the weekend. It was a small close friends and kids outdoor backyard party.. we did our due diligence with social distancing, hand washing etc.. It was wonderful seeing everyone after so long.. Not a lot of pictures.. didn't even get one of the cake.. :(  But we had our first pinata Sunday was Father's Day.. the kids made a coupon book for M   Our restaurants are open for outdoor eating but with elderly parents in the house we are still not ready to venture out for a meal so we did what we've been doing for th

       Beartown by Fredrik Backman Synopsis-  People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. Thoughts-  This was probably, emotionally the worst time to be reading

Thank you so much for all your kind words on my last post..  We are in June.. can you believe it? 19 more days of school left.. phew. Our summer vacation is going to have to be cancelled.. I am putting off cancelling our flights till we get closer to July.. we were supposed to be visiting family and friends in Pakistan.. M hasn't seen his sister in over four years.  The kids take a crash course swim class every summer and we were just informed that they will take place as scheduled.. so that's something to look forward to. D is also turning 10 at the end of the month.. we are hoping things will open up a bit more till then and maybe we can have a little picnic with some friends and family to celebrate.  It has finally warmed up and we had our first barbecue of the season..  We live in a semi wooded area so we are no strangers to deer roaming our streets and yards.. but it was our first time spotting a fawn as small as this one laying down as such. We usually se

Hello everyone... Ramadan is over and it was an interesting experience.. we missed the hustle and bustle of the masjid, we missed seeing our friends.. but there was also a lot more calm.. there was lot less rushing to get ready, rushing to the masjid.. there was a lot less sleep deprivation.. the no waking up for the school bus really helped things. But there was also the monotony.. that was a little depressing.. So here's to a very uneventful Eid I guess.. source and Speaking of depressing.. we are into week 12 of quarantine. While some things have opened.. New Jersey has still kept a tight reign over things.. not that I am ready for things to open.. I don't think I am ready to go to a restaurant or the mall. Our school have officially closed for the rest of the school year... which is a good thing.. While our first month or so passed pretty smoothly the last few weeks have been harder on me. I am having more sad days.. we have had a few behavioral issue

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag Synopsis  - Marissa Fordham is dead, but her daughter is found at the crime scene, injured but alive. Now sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and child advocate Anne Leone begin to peel back the layers of Marissa's life. And the shocking truth they discover puts them directly in the sights of a killer with a stunning secret to keep; because Marissa Fordham never existed. Thoughts - This was the second book I read by Tami Hoag. They were both part of the Oak Knoll series. They were both nail biting crime thrillers not for the faint heart. I enjoyed coming back to old characters and see what was going on in their lives.. The story showcased some wonderfully strong female characters as well. It was a twisty tale and left me guessing till the end .  Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks       Synopsis  -When a body is pulled out of an office fire, three women are first in line for questioning. All of them have reasons for wanting

We are officially beginning month 2 of social distancing. The kids currently have their spring break.. so we have to try harder to keep them occupied with things other than TV and iPads. The social distancing has had no effect to M's work.. he is working from home but his hours remain the same.. so he decided to take a few days off. So what have we been up to?  We are playing a lot of board games.. the kids current favorites are Monopoly Jr., Blokus, Rummikub and of course UNO. In fact given the choice between game night and movie night game night almost always comes out on top. The weather has been either nice or rainy.. so we are trying to spend some time outside whenever a nice day comes around. I have never seen our neighborhood so full of people. Usually its a ghost town, just cars zipping here and there.. but now that everyone is home we see families biking and walking.. it is quite a smile inducing sight.  H's teacher has been encouraging her st