generations.

assignment #7:  generations.

finally had an opportunity to get a picture of the kids with their grandparents.  they made the four-hour trek to meet us for lunch this past weekend (and to do some shopping at the korean market) before they had to head back home the same day.  so it was a very brief meeting and we were in a very uninspiring parking lot in the middle of k-town.  hence, these pictures are very jaw-droppingly unawesome.  but still, the love between them shines through and was worth capturing all the same.  :)

happy to be together again, forced smiles notwithstanding.

lauren simply wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.

actually, none of them were.

happily though, they'll be back next month when baby tsai makes his appearance.  which is looking like it may well be sooner than later...

love.

i'm very thankful that my kids generally seem to really like each other.  now, that's not to say they always get along perfectly and that there aren't daily little squabbles and bad attitudes that have to be contended with.  but for the most part, the kiddos do genuinely love each other.  they love playing together by the hour, miss each other when one or two are in school, make things for each other while at school or while some are napping, and can be counted on to help each other out.  in essence, it seems that they enjoy being their own little pack.

assignment #6: who THEY love.

to put it simply, they love each other.

and they can't wait to add one more to the bunch.

and i love that about them.

hate.

hate is such a strong word.  i generally do not like to use it in everyday speech.  but when it comes to certain things, a general dislike does not quite capture how i feel about it.  one such area is clutter.  i hate clutter.  and currently, there are three (soon to be four) of them and only one of me.  which means i lose the clutter battle on a daily basis.  and as much as i try to be okay with it and accept as part of this season of life, at the end of the day, i still hate the clutter.

assignment #5:  love to hate.

this is the scene after only ten minutes in.  believe me, it gets much, much worse.

wear.

our middle child is the quintessential girlie girl.  i think i've mentioned this before?  she's also perhaps our most creative, imaginative child too.  a typical look for her would be a princess dress and some taped on bits of paper that she calls her jewels.  we hesitate to throw any bit of what we'd call trash away, be it fabric scraps, unused wooden chopsticks, paper cups, old envelopes, because as soon as we do, she'll come running in and protest that she needed that [insert trash bit here] for her next creation.

one recent afternoon, i noticed that she'd been awfully quiet for some time and decided to go find out what she'd been up to.

enter assignment #4:  what they wear.

i found her in the bathroom, happily attaching a mini tiara to her head.  with masking tape.

she was pretty happy with herself as she admired her handiwork.

until she decided to remove her tiara and discovered that putting masking tape on one's head is the fun part.  removing said masking tape on the other hand, is quite another story.

then and now.

of course i have to be 7+ months pregnant for this third photo assignment.  but then again, it's not as bad as when i had to renew my driver's license picture when i was 9 months pregnant with allie.  that was sure something.

so today's assignment:  then and now.

i believe i will just go ahead and post the pictures without too much commentary lest i depress myself even further.  my, how we've aged.  : p

this is us then.  i took a picture of a picture from a scrapbook i had made for phil of our first married year.  back before children.  back on our honeymoon, just three days after our wedding day.  a little over nine and a half years ago.  goodness.

and this is us now.  it's okay to gasp.  i kinda did.  mikey took this picture of us a couple weeks ago.  pictures of just the two of us are very few and far between.  and perhaps that's not entirely a bad thing.  heh.  ;)

i didn't want to crop in any tighter because then the audible gasp would turn into wailing and gnashing of teeth.  kidding, sort of.  but despite the inevitable effects of time and no longer looking like such a spring chicken, i'm still glad to be next to my best friend, still thankful to have had almost a decade together, still looking forward to the rest of this adventure we're on.  together.  he's still the best in my book.

look.

just like i would never be able to fully capture all of who she is in one word, i simply cannot capture all of her in one image.  i wouldn't even be able to capture her in a hundred thousand shots.  don't ask me how i know this.  ;)  the best i can do is capture shades, or pieces of who she is at any given moment.  i think that's why i like looking at pictures of her.  that's why i like looking at pictures of all my little crew.

today's assignment:  how they look.

she's sassy.  and sweet.  and stubborn.  and independent.  and big girl and baby all rolled in to one.

she's silly.  and a charmer.  and very vocal if she's been wronged in some way.

she's mischievous.  yet very affectionate.  with a little feisty streak.  a boundary pusher.

and she definitely doesn't think the rules apply to her.

there's no denying that her dad and i have our hands full with this one.  and yet, we wouldn't change a single thing about her either.

do.

before the new year started, i seriously considered doing the photo-a-day project for 2011.  started getting excited about the prospect.  but ultimately decided against doing it this year because i knew i'd kinda be setting myself up to fail what with a newborn coming in a couple months and then another major move this summer.  so maybe not this year, but definitely will reconsider for 2012.

and then comes along this opportunity to take karen willette's free online class for the month of february with photo assignments for each day.  28 days.  the theme for the month is "joy of love".  i figure i could maybe handle that and have fun in the process without as much pressure as committing to an entire year.

so, here goes day one: what they do.

i chose mikey doing homework for this assignment.  because it's something he and i do for at least an hour and half every single day.  sometimes even on weekends just to catch up.  on the one hand, i'm immensely proud of him for his diligence and willingness to do so much work each day without that much protest.  he just buckles down and gets it done.  on the other hand, i hate that there's so much busywork and pressure on kindergarteners to do this amount of work.  it robs them of childhood and definitely takes the joy out of learning.  so there's much phil and i are considering in terms of schooling our children next year.  but that's another story...

in any case for this year at least, this is something mikey and i sit together to get done every day.  and so i thought i'd get pictures of him hard at work today.

here he is writing in his home journal.  he says it's his favorite part of homework because he likes to hear what his teacher writes back to him.  look at them little bitty baby hands.

and here's a bonus one.  cuz uh, i AM sitting there with him for an hour and a half every day.  i had the time to take a few extra shots.  this journal entry was written back in november the day mikey found out we were having a baby boy!

click here to if you'd like to join me in this month long endeavor.  did i mention that it's free?  the class is called the joy of love.  be back tomorrow!  :)