Jummah tul widah

MABROOK!! 

Because Allah swt gave you the oppurtunity to witness another Jummah in the blessed month of Ramadan!

"If your copy of the Qur'an is worn out by now and falling apart, the chances are your life is being kept together with its barakah. Read!

This is one of those unique reminders in where we have the most blessed day of the week - Jumu'ah - in the most blessed month of the year - Ramadhan - and then realise that they are combined for the last time this hijri year 1432 and we won't get such a double blessing for another whole year. Perhaps we might not get even another chance to witness one!

Today shouldn't just be about reciting Surat'l-Kahf which is an absolute given on every Friday anyway. No, today your mus-haf (the physical copy of the Qur'an) should come under some serious heat and physical stress. Read it like there's no tomorrow! Start thumbing! Turn those pages!

Wallah you will never regret the hours you spend today and the next few days simply reciting these incredible words of Allah jalla wa 'ala. Don't worry too much if you don't understand the meanings or have enough time for reflection - now's the time to soak up the extra multiplied blessing of the huge rewards you receive for the recital of every single harf (letter). And I don't say to you that Alif-Laam-Meem is a harf, but I say to you as our beloved Prophet (s) said: Alif is a harf, Laam is a harf and Meem is a harf.

Hit the jackpot with mega-reciting today and onwards. Get that battered mus-haf and increase yourself in glory! Yalla!"

-Abu Eesa Niamatullah

My beloved friends value these few big days and nights, before they leave us with regret! This was a reminder that I truly needed!! and hope you all benefit from it as well. Make the most out of these few days, make dua for every single thing on your dua list every night because you might still get Layla tul Qadr! Wallahu A'alm. 

This Jummah don't forget to read MORE then Surah tul-Kahf! 

REMINDER!!

Nutritious Summery treats

Frozen fruit and veggie bars for a hot summer treat for the little ones and the adults. I made 3 different flavors, they are a great option for parent who choose not to give sugary store bought Popsicle to their little ones. Also a great way to get those fruits and veggies in our bodies.

They also make great yummy summer desserts!

Here are the recipes

1.  Strawberry and Mango frozen bars

• Half a mango
• 5 Strawberries
• quarter cup Almond Milk
• 2 tbsp of honey or agave nectar.

2. Creamy Avocado frozen bar

• Half Avocado 
• 3 drops of lemon juice
• 3 tbsp honey
• less then a quarter cup of water

3. Pineapple & blueberry frozen bars

• Half cup of freshly cut pineapple.
• Coconut Milk
• 2 tbsp of honey or agave nectar
• Blend the 3 ingredients together, put the blueberries in the molds and pour the pineapple puree on top. (This one looked really nice because of the contrast of yellow and navy. Even the Grandparents enjoyed them lot, my father in-law is diabetic, so it was a nice, sweet and healthy treat for him)

Blend the ingredients of 1 & 2 seprately and pour them into the Popsicle molds.  Let it freeze for 6 to 8 hours and serve. You can even freeze them in layers.  

Stories of the Prophets

I came across these amazing videos about the Prophets for children done by Shaykh Yusuf Estes. They are great, even I enjoyed watching them. 

Stories of the Prophets

Stainless steel baby bottles

We were walking down the baby food aisle at Whole Foods, and these sleek looking stainless steel baby bottles caught my eyes. We have always tried our best to avoid plastic bottles, we always got glass bottles but they would always break and I found them to be hazardous so... Alhumdulillah, for the BPA free bottles that took the place of plastic bottles that were recalled about 3 years ago. I still preferred stainlesss steel over any other type of bottle, when I saw these bottles I was so happy, and said to my husband we have to get these for our next baby inshaAllah!

It's an investment to make if you are expecting mommy! They are safe for kids, easy to clean, great for green living (eco-friendly)

You can check out there website for more green and safe products for your little ones :)  Organic Kidz

We love you RAMADAN!

(Belated) Ramadan Mubarak to my lovely readers!!

Alhumdulillah, so far we have had a great vacation, except the fact that we are missing my parents a LOT! (Alhumdulillah A'ala kuli haal).

With the blessed month upon us, and almost half way in it and our busy Ramadan routines, I feel the Ramadan spirits are going down. I think its very important to remind ourseleves again and again that this whole month is blessed and its not going to come back till next year. And, who knows if we will live to see the next Ramadan or not. So to ALL my beloved readers keep up the spirits and don't let your nafs take the best of you this month. Remember! "The devils are chained and Jahnam (Hell) is locked for ALL of Ramadan!" so WE are in-charge / responsible for our actions this month.

Spending the month of Ramadan away from home can me very difficult! I miss my kitchen, home, rounitne, and most of all my resourceful 'Rawdah'. Alhumdulillah, we are still having a great time here with my inlaws and friendly sisterhood. We have not done much sit down and learn stuff with the kids but did lots of other things to make them feel the importance of this holy month. I had so many things I wanted to do with them, so many ideas to celebrate this month... Qadr Allahu masha fa'al

Here are somethings we did... and are doing.

1) We made a Ramadan banner for the house before Ramadan started to Welcome Ramadan. I stuck to my '20 minutes a day' rule and we were done in 2 days!

2) We attended a 'Welcome O Ramadan' playgroup/Ramadan Party that my friend had hosted. They kids had a great time, they did crafts, circle time, Ramadan nursery ryhmes, and had lots of healthy snacks.

3) We have been going to lots of Iftar parties! Everyone waited till Ramadan to invite us over and now mashaAllah we have invitations almost everyday! Alhumdulillah.

4) We had prepared a Ramadan special gift for both the kids, so they feel that its something very special for us.

5) AR has been reading "The Gift of Ramadan" and "The night of decree" with me and Baba. Since he is older I try to have a little discussion with him here and there about

• Ramadan being a special month
• The moon
• The extra hasnaat (good deeds) we get in this month for doing the same acts we do in other months.
• Poor people who don't have food to eat
• Quran and the revelation  to the Prophet (saw)
• Atikaf
• Extra remembrance of Allah

6) We are still listening to our Ramadan Nasheed collection

7) Ramadan crafts... coloring a masjid, and setting a pretend iftar table. AR painted a wooden car we had gotten him and we wrote Ramadan 2011 on it as a keep sake. 

8) My friend gave me this amazing Ramadan chart  from Little Explorer. Its a bit advance for AR but he still tries to go through the list by doing what he can do.

9) I wanted to give a Ramadan mubarak gift to family and friends, so I thought why not write the iftar dua on a nice paper and give it away. It was very inexpensive from our last year Ramadam mubarak gift. We gave out dates coated with coconut on a plate with a Ramadan Mubarak note.

10) We made a sadaqah jar for our brothers and sisters in Somalia. This has been great to teach him about the concept of charity/donation. We also played the game 'charity shop' by smart ark. I found it to be a great learning tool.

11) We made binocular to see the Ramadan moon and lanterns to lighten the house at night.

12) InshaAllah we'll be learning about the moon cycle.

So these are somethings we have been up to this Ramadan and this vacation. I pray to Allah swt  that all of us can make the most out of the last half of this blessed month of mercy. We should strive utmost to get His mercy and our sins forgiven and recite the book of Allah as much as we can. Make the most out of this month and the last 10 days!

Please take a few minutes and watch this video

Fi amanaAllah from us to you all <3!