I had a stressful morning getting the kids ready for school which culminated in me yelling and the kids running for the door bags and coats in hand (they have the sense to know when they have pushed me too far at least). The last few days I have been trying them to get their […]

I try my best to steer or discipline my children when necessary using reasoning or by displaying my anger in a non-violent manner, rather than by hitting. I believe that hitting is not the most constructive way to parent and can lead to children expressing their own anger in inappropriate ways such as hitting others […]

My maternity leave started officially yesterday, although I have been on leave for the last two weeks.   I have been trying to keep myself occupied so that I don’t go crazy.  Thankfully nesting has hit like crazy and I have been dragging out furniture and cleaning corners that I previously pretended didn’t exist and rearranging every cupboard […]

This weekend was a scorcher by English standards (30°C) after the wet spring we have had, so we decided to make the most of it.I usually avoid going out in the evenings with friends as it takes even more time away from the children and I fret about missing prayers. But with the long days […]

Alhamdulillah, we had a lovely time in Scotland (I think we drove about 1000 miles in total over the weekend, which is slightly mental). Reviews of our visit to Edinburgh Castle and Loch Lomond will appear in Mum and Muslim magazine at the end of the week. My sincerest thanks to all those who kindly […]

Eid Mubarak everyone!!! Taqaballahu minna wa minkum. May Allah accept it from you and us. Kullu am wa antum bi-khair. May you be well throughout the year. May this Eid be full of blessings, barakah and joy for all of you insh’Allah. Don’t forget, this is a night of ibadat (worship) full of rewards and […]

This is very much a traditional Pakistani recipe, one which makes an appearance at parties, on Eid and during Ramadan (especially in my Lahori in-law’s house). It also abounds in bazaars and people snack on it as they shop. It’s simple and fairly quick and the chickpeas (garbanzo bean or channa in Urdu/Hindi) and potato […]

As I had managed to avoid fried food for the week, I thought I would treat my family to a traditional Pakistani Ramadan fry-up today (samosa’s, pakora’s, spring-rolls etc). My favourite uncle went one better and invited us to share iftar with him.All the traditional favourites were there: both vegetable and meat samosa’s, lovely soft […]

Some days my entire day revolves around my youngest two and I keep trying to find moments to get something else done apart from feed, change nappies and placate crying babies.  Today was one of these days and I just surrendered to it and decided to enjoy them. I nursed throughout the day, played with […]

Great Ramadan crafts compiled by Umm Nassim for TJ Ramadan or here for the PDF version Umm Nassim is also currently posting a series entitled Ramadan Around the World Yemen Links has a page called Ramadan Lessons, page two has some good craft ideas for making with children. I love the idea here for ramadan […]

I posted recently about some good news to come. I was talking about Fashionista Sisters engagement, which took place two weekends ago and turned out to be a lovely evening. All of us sisters pulled together to organise the decor, venue and food. The engagement took place at home followed by the two families sharing […]

Assalam-alaikam,this post is to ask for advice and suggestions.We are hoping to visit friends in Scotland this weekend. They have just moved to Glasgow, so we hope to spend a day there and then take them with us to Edinburgh so that we can spend another day there.Any suggestions on where we should visit? I’m […]

Today was a new experience for me as I tried working from home. I had been given permission from my line manager and was keen to give it a try (on moving to a new office, our organisation found that there were not enough desks and working from home suddenly became the next great idea […]

I have had to make a change in the way I approach life recently. I have tried and tried and tried to manage my life, my home and my kids. I have tried to be organised and make time for everything and everyone. I have tried not to drop my standards whether with my cooking, […]