Season of Change

Well I cannot believe we are into September already. I mean seriously, where has the year gone? How can it be that there's less than 4 months before Christmas? Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll worry about that later.

It is definitely a time of change right now. Besides a recent and fairly sudden shift in the weather--it is starting to feel like fall in the air--there has been a lot of other change. Hannah and Justin headed back to school on Wednesday. Neither of them were very thrilled for summer to be over, but Hannah had an especially difficult time as she has the past three years. I was really hoping this year would be different and there wouldn't be any issues, but she did get very anxious and upset starting the night before. I think we have determined that she just has a hard time with the transition back to school and the unknown of a new grade, new teacher, new classmates, etc. I think she was especially nervous because she was chosen to be in a split 4th/5th grade class this year as a 4th grader. Justin was also chosen to be in a 2nd/3rd grade class. Here they are on their first day in their new duds. That's the part of going back to school that Hannah does like, the back to school shopping, especially since she seems to be getting more and more into fashion.

Hannah really loved this shirt with the tie. She's all about anything with black and/or sparkle. She also has really determined she likes dresses, which is an about face from her previous fashion choices. When I asked why so many dresses now, her comment was "A girl can change, can't she?" Yet another example of change. My "little" girl has gone from girly girl in princess dresses and tutus, to a not girly girl that just about only wore jeans, to a new version of rock star girly girl.

Then we have Justin who is all about anything skateboard related including his style. All he wants to do pretty much 24/7 right now is practice, watch or talk about skateboarding. And of course he has to sport the look including the new Chuck Taylor hightops.

Now, there was one kid that was excited about school starting, Owen. Unfortunately, he does not start school until next week. He did have school visitation that morning and had to have his backpack and a packed lunchbag and get in on the back to school photos.

Now in addition to back to school, another major change was saying goodbye to our best friends of 10-1/2 years, the Goves. We became fast friends with them when they moved up here from California over 10 years ago. We were both pregnant with Hannah and Gabby at the same time and had them exactly 7 weeks apart. Those two have been best friends practically since birth. We then had boys just months apart who were great friends and Owen and Evie who were two peas in a pod when they were together. We spent so many holidays and events together over the years. They were like family to us, and it is so sad to see them go. They moved back to California, and only 10 minutes from Disneyland at that, so there will definitely be trips down there to visit. Before they left, we did get to spend a lot of time with them, which was good. I even gathered all the kids together for a little photo shoot and made a going away present.

I am not a sappy quote person, but did want to put something personal on the gift, so I found the quote "Make new friends, but cherish the old." I thought that was pretty appropriate. I know that they will always be friends of ours no matter how far apart we are. We will miss you guys so much but look forward to special visits in the future.

Alright, well I guess it's time to go to bed. Something else I'm trying to change during this season of change is my sleeping habits. I really need to be better about going to bed at a more consistent time and not staying up 'til all hours some nights.

TTFN, Ta Ta For Now