We Will Always Love You…

💌  #DearMamajee,

It’s been more than two years since we took that photo together. Since then, Fatimah has grown into an extraordinarily strong girl, while Ali is still his adorably cheeky self – you must be proud of them both! Even though behind our smiles, there’s a hole that’s been empty ever since you left us, there’s no need to worry, cos I am here. I’ll make sure that they’ll always have my lap to sit and cuddle on, my shoulder to cry on, my hands to hold, and my arms to keep them safe.

You might be missing from one of these pictures, but you’re never missing from our hearts and thoughts! Sending you our love and prayers today and every day…

We will always love you,

Omar Mukhtar

5 Years Of Sparking Joy!

This is my brother, Ali Omar Mukhlis. He’s brought light and happiness into our lives for so long…and today marks 5 years since he was brought into this world and began showering us with joy!

Ali is more than just a brother: he is an amazing son that surprised Mrs Mom and Mr Dad – their very own #SurpriseNumber3! He’s a best friend that’s always fun to be around – even the rainiest days seem like summer with him. His smile, his laugh, and his joking personality all make him a lovely lil’ guy, but what’s most important is that underneath that cheekiness is a kind, caring heart that loves and keeps all of his family and friends close. In his own way, Ali manages to love us and make us the happiest we can be. And as he grows, his love only gets bigger…as well as his hugs!

Today, this fun-loving, family-minded, part-time artist and full-time foodie officially turns five years old! In truth, it feels much longer than that – the joy-filled five years I’ve spent with Ali, from the moment I walked into that hospital room to greet my newborn baby brother, all the way up until now, has seemed like an eternity (and a very well-spent one at that). Me and Fatimah are so lucky to have him as our brother, and there’s no denying how great a son he has been to Mrs Mom and Mr Dad!

For his 5th birthday, I pray that Allah blesses Ali with all the good things He has to offer, and rewards him for the happiness he has given us by showering him with a hundred times the amount of joy he has given! I pray that these five years he has spent with us will only be the first few of many, and that Allah guides him on the right path and he continues to spread joy.

Happy 5th Birthday, Ali! Never stop making people happy…

Your Lalajee,

Omar Mukhtar

2nd July 2020

Mother's Day 2020

With all the panic about the coronavirus that’s around, it’s easy to forget that Mother’s Day has arrived. Normally, around this time of year, we’d all be busy with preparations for the occasion. But with all the measures being put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19, plus the fact that we’re being encouraged to stay at home, those plans were all thrown to the wind.

However, being told to stay at home has really opened my eyes. Over the past few days, I’ve realised how much effort Mrs Mom is putting in to make the most of our time at home. As all schools are shut in the UK, me, Fatimah, and Ali are staying home. That means it’s going to interfere with our education for the next month – or even more. But Mrs Mom has been working hard to carry on ‘school’ for both Fatimah and Ali. Because Fatimah and Ali could miss out on a lot from their education, she’s created a whole new timetable and using resources from home to homeschool them until further notice. She truly is amazing, organising educational activities to make up for our lost time at school, and doing everything she can to keep our spirits up during this difficult time, despite not being well herself. And of course, she wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of Mr Dad by her side!

When everybody was moaning about how they were going to do staying at home for so long, I wasn’t worried. In fact, neither were my little brother and sister. Because when I thought of the time I was going to be able to spend with my family, suddenly, it wasn’t anything to worry about. Mrs Mom and Mr Dad have always been there for all of us, brightening up our lives. More time at home means more quality time with them, and that’s definitely not something to worry about!

So whilst we’re all stuck at home until who knows when, don’t moan about not being able to go out. Instead, look on the bright side of things! Take time to appreciate those mothers and any motherly figures or any people who have acted as a mother to you when you’re spending time with them over the course of the next few weeks. And don’t just remember these amazing people on Mother’s Day, or even until this period of staying at home is over. We should be grateful for these idols every single day, and we should love them as they have loved us.

And let’s not forget those amazing mothers who have given up their time this Mother’s Day to battle the coronavirus head-on. Those front-liners, key workers, all those who are risking their own health and sacrificing time with their family, those are the true super mothers – may God bless them!

Happy Mother’s Day,

Omar Mukhtar

Feeling Blessed…

Alhamdulillah, what a great way to end the Spring Term! Other than my excellent end-of-term report, me and 3 other students from Year 7 were selected to go to the University of Birmingham to compete in Salter’s Chemistry Festival. And guess what? We won 1st Prize! We were competing against 16 other schools from the West Midlands in a chemistry forensics challenge. We managed to win and we were the only team to gain full marks for our final answers too. And that’s not all, we were among the youngest there! But above all, nothing could beat the proud smiles on my parents’ faces! I thank God for giving me the opportunity to not only represent my school, but to make my parents happy! May God guide me on the right path so that I can continue to make my parents proud and set a good example to my little brother and sister, Fatimah and Ali!

Blessed,

Omar Mukhtar a.k.a. The Pawsome Lion

#The12YearOldAuthor

p/s: Don’t forget to pre-order my first book #MNPOE – buy now or cry later! 😎

My Happy Pills!!

I was the only child for 7 years…Then miraculously, God blessed me with a little sister, Fatimah, the #MiracleNumber2. And one and a half years later, God decided to surprise me with a little brother, Ali, the #SurpriseNumber3. They truly are my happy pills – I wouldn’t trade them for the world!

A blessed Lalajee,

Omar Mukhtar a.k.a. The Pawsome Lion

#LuckyNumber1

#The12YearOldAuthor

#MNPOE 😎

p/s: Tag your happy pills!!

Goodbye Harry Potter…Hello ALI POTTER!

SURPRISE…MR ALI POTTER IN THE HOUSE, YO!

Today, me and my little sister Fatimah brought a special guest onto our show! Ali enjoys role playing, and this time around, he decided to dress up as none other than…Mr ALI POTTER! Harry Potter is one of Ali’s favourite characters, and he loves to dress up as him. However, Mr Ali Potter is a wizard in training and his magic is still a bit rusty, so #TheStruggleWasReal when we tried to interview him! If you love magic, make sure you watch the whole video coz there’s a BIG SURPRISE waiting for you at the end of the show! And if you want to see more of our videos, don’t forget to like, comment and subscribe to our YouTube channel THE FAMILY UK – more vlogs coming your way very soon!

p/s: DISCLAIMER: No people were hurt by magic during the making of this video!

World Book Day

Today is World Book Day! As I see Mr Dad busy preparing costumes for Fatimah and Ali, I can’t help but miss those days in primary school when I dressed up myself. The most memorable costume would have to be the one for World Book Day 2017! I always preferred to be different from other people. I hated those ready-made shop-bought costumes because most of them were Disney cartoon characters. So in 2017, instead of dressing up as a character from a book, I came as…an author! Yes, that’s right, an author! I always believed that I had an author in me somewhere, screaming to get out!

As a big fan of Charles Dickens, I chose to dress up as him during his childhood, the darkest hours of his life, when his family was in debt and his father was sent to prison. He was only 12 years old but he was forced to take up a job in a shoe-shine factory to earn money for his family at this time of his life.

I can clearly remember the night before the big day…

Mrs Mom was really ill at the time, and Mr Dad had his hands full not only looking after her, but Fatimah and Ali too. So there I was, still no costume ready – but I guess I was lucky! If Cinderella has her own fairy godmother to prepare her outfit to the ball, then I too have a fairy god-uncle who came to the rescue! My Mamajee was the one who saved World Book Day! He searched through my wardrobe, looking for something he could work his magic on. He stayed up all night preparing the costume. He even went as far as cutting up gloves and sewing on patches for my trousers one by one!

So here it is, my costume for World Book Day 2017, handmade specially by my PAWSOME uncle! And it’s not just handmade, but handmade with love. It may seem like a normal costume, but really, the love, care, time and effort that has gone into it is what makes it so valuable and heartfelt! And that’s what made this World Book Day one of the most memorable ones!

Sentimental mode on,

Omar Mukhtar a.k.a. The Pawsome Lion

#The12YearOldAuthor

#BornToWrite

#WorldBookDay

p/s: Since it’s World Book Day, I can’t help but think that if Mamajee was a book character, he would definitely be Gandalf from ‘Lord Of The Rings’ because he is kind, wise and he always has magic up his sleeves! What about you? If you were a book character, who would you choose to be?

Happy Namesake Day!

When I was born, some people from Malaysia laughed at my parents for naming me ‘Omar Mukhtar’. According to them, it was a backdated name. They said, “You live in England, why would you give him a name like that?”. The funny thing is that living in England, none of the local people who lived here ever made fun of my name, even at school, students and teachers alike. My parents call me by my full name ‘Omar Mukhtar’, or ‘Mukhtar’ for short. I did choose to be called ‘Mukhtar’ at school too, because ‘Omar’ is also my father’s name and it could get confusing. Even though my friends and teachers found it hard in the beginning to pronounce the name ‘Mukhtar’, they didn’t choose to call me ‘Omar’ just because it was easier for them. They all respected my decision and tried their best to pronounce it. They never call me anything I didn’t want to be called.

I love how my parents named all three of us – Omar Mukhtar, Fatimah and Ali. They didn’t simply just say, “Ooh, ‘Omar Mukhtar’ sounds like a nice name, I’m going to call my son that” no, they named us after the owners of the names, hoping that one day, we might become as great a person as they are – Omar Mukhtar, after the famous Lion Of The Desert; Fatimah, after the beloved Prophet’s daughter; and Ali, after the 4th Caliph. Our parents always reminded us how important our names are and that we must live up to them. They also told us to be proud of our names and never be ashamed of them, even though some people say they are old-school.

Truthfully, I am proud to be named Omar Mukhtar and I respect my parents for naming me and my siblings with such great names – I owe it to them!

Happy Namesake Day,

Omar Mukhtar a.k.a. The Pawsome Lion

#The12YearOldAuthor

#BornToWrite

#NamesakeDay

p/s: If you can learn to pronounce Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin and many other brand names correctly…then I’m pretty sure you can easily pronounce Omar Mukhtar, FATIMAH and Ali correctly too!!

He Who Must Not Be Named…

#SquareTale by O. Mukhtar

The Lemon & Banana Boy!

Lemons are sour but this boy is sweet,

Ali’s his name, his cuteness can’t be beat!

Ali’s so sweet he makes sour lemons,

Sweeter than sugar, as sweet as a melon!

Ali love bananas, he loves them a lot!

He finds them so tasty, you should give them a shot!

This cute little boy just can’t live without

A banana a day, without it he’ll pout!

Bananas and lemons, both yellow in colour,

One is sweet, though, and the other’s sour…

But look what Ali’s done, it’s such a wonder!

He’s totally rocking this stylish T-shirt,

(the fruits are making me hungry for dessert!)

Bananas and lemons, who’d have thought,

Somebody could flaunt such a style?

The sweet with the sour, it just doesn’t click,

But Ali can make anything fit!

Ali, of course! His cuteness is great!

That and his new look, impossible to hate!

Bananas and lemons, sour and sweet,

Ali is WEARING them – isn’t that neat?

A poem by Omar Mukhtar a.k.a. The Pawsome Lion

Written for my little brother Ali!