First Day Favorites

Now seems like the perfect time to post first day of school pictures.  You know, now that we are well into October and school actually started back in August, two days after we got back from camping?

Yup, as good a time as any.

And this year, after praying and discussing and much angst (on my part), we decided to have the older three all try school together.  And every day since school has started, there has continued to be praying and discussing and much angst (on my part).  I'm thinking those three things are going to be continuing for the rest of the school year, too.  Possibly for the rest of their lives, actually.  When all is said and done though, I am continually so thankful to be able to give my worries, concerns, fears, and yes, even my angst, to the Lord who loves us beyond measure and who sees all and knows all and knows my heart and knows the path He has planned for us.  There is great comfort in the knowledge that these three little ones have never left His grip though they leave mine for six hours a day now.

So anyway, back to their first day favorites...

His favorite things going into third grade...
Color:  Blue
Book:  Calvin & Hobbes
Activity:  Building Legos
Sport:  Handball (to play); UCLA Football (to watch)
Toy:  Star Wars action figures
TV show:  Adventures of Clutch Powers
Movie:  Despicable Me

Her favorite things going into second grade...
Color:  Pink
Book:  Princess Happily Ever After Storybook
Activity:  Drawing
Sport:  Dance (to do); Football (to watch)
Toy:  Blankie
TV Show:  Wild Kratts
Movie:  The Little Mermaid

Her favorite things going into Kindergarten...
Color:  Purple
Book:  Ramona
Activity:  Playing with Sugar Rush dolls
Sport:  Riding bikes with my family
Toy:  Pillow
TV Show:  Fresh Beat Band
Movie:  Tangled

First day shoes.

And then this.


And because wonderful husband took the day off in order to help get everyone ready and see them all off to school, I was able to grab a few more shots at school.

My little peanut- the second youngest and the littlest in her class.

Ready to head into the world of third grade.

Ready to roll into second grade.

But not before running over to give her little sister one more hug first.

And because I missed my babies and because the youngest baby and I happened upon the clearance toy aisle at Wal-Mart while they were gone, they all had a surprise waiting for them when they got home from their big first day of school.

Camping, Day Three

Then came our final day of camping together...

Started off right with this beauty- pancakes with whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, and granola.

The familia.

Then we tried to pack up before the heat got to us and snuck in a few more group shots.  And yes, that is my dad giving Jonah bunny ears.

Crazy face.  And yes, that is my dad just being normal.

Cousin group shot.

Cousin crazy face.

Then, we voted to head back to civilization (In-n-Out) and air conditioning over cooking and eating lunch in the great outdoors.

And then, because my brother and I sometimes always have trouble with goodbyes, we found ourselves at a nearby park to let the kids play and keep the fun going just a little longer.  And yes, this park had a beautiful lake built-in right next to it.

The kids were all in favor of the park idea.

Especially this guy who has never met a slide he doesn't like.

J trying to navigate through the "chopping block".

Sweet, fearless girl climbed up all by herself!

Soaring high.

And finally, because my brother and I sometimes always have trouble with goodbyes, we all had dinner together (sushi) and then made one last stop.  For this giant bowl of shaved ice.  Such a great day that we didn't want to see come to an end.  Although, my poor dad was pretty worn out and sick of all of us by the time we finally said goodbye.  :p

This one goes down as one of the best camping trips ever.  No matter that this was our (Tsais) first ever camping trip.  It's gonna be hard to top this one, but I sure hope we'll get to try next summer!

Camping, Day Two (cont'd)

And the rest of the fishing pictures...

Seriously, the fish just kept biting and biting and biting!

Jonah had turned around just in time to see me pretend to take a bite out of this little fishy and turned around to open wide, too.

A cute, normal couple taking a nice picture together.

Continuing our inability to take a normal picture together.

No matter, so long as the fish kept biting!

Jonah lecturing the fish to stay in the bucket.  Or admonishing the rest of us to stay away from his bucket.  Can't tell for sure which.

A rare Tsai family pic!  Thanks Joanna for taking this one.

I love this one.

This one, too.

And when the fishing finally started to slow down, there were still ducks to feed.

 Also, this.

Yup, I think they were about fished out at this point.

So I found other subjects to shoot.

An unexpected sizable catch.  Enough for dinner that night.

The ragtag camping crew turned fisher folk.

Camping, Day Two

After a fairly peaceful first night in the tent, all were up bright and early the next day...

A little early morning Kindle-watching in the back of Grandpa's truck.

Breakfast burritos to start the day of eating, I mean camping.

It was decided that it was much too hot and fun for no one to stay at our campsite, so we all loaded into two minivans and drove over to a nearby lake.  The weather was great there and we found a perfect spot...

to try a little fishing.  But not before the kids tested to make sure that worm wasn't going anywhere.

Before we knew it, Phil caught the first fish of the day!

Which is when Jonah wanted to re-reel the fish in.

"See him right there?  I caught that fish all by myself."

The eating continued while waiting for the fish to bite.

And soon, the fish started biting like crazy!

"Punch the fish, Jonah!"

I just don't even know, guys.

"Where are the fish, Jonah?"

Watching intently as mama puts another worm on the hook.  (Inside I was all, "EEEEWWWWW!"  But I couldn't let the girls see that, now could I?)

Then our little fisher-girl got a bite.

Trying hard to not let that fish touch her, but the harder she tried, the closer it got.

My brother declared it the best fishing day ever.  And it really was.

They just kept biting and we just kept bringing 'em in.

Everyone got a turn to bring one in.

So much fun.

More fishing pics to come...