Last Day of Summer Vacation

Tomorrow is the first day of school! I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by!

Hannah, Joshua, and Emma start a new school called Chinook Trail Elementary. We chose this school in part because they teach Mandarin as a foreign language. I'm so excited about the school and their teachers. But perhaps the best part is that Hannah has several little girls in her class who were also adopted from China. I saw so many adoptive families at orientation, I think many of them were drawn there for the same reasons we were. This is so wonderful for Hannah, as she won't have to feel that she is set apart, or different from all of her peers. She was so cute when her new teacher asked her whether she was excited to start kindergarten. Hannah replied,

"Oh Man, I'm so excited I can't even think about anything else"!!

I love it, it's so classic Hannah.

I'm feeling pretty sad today, as this will be the first time in 9 years that I've not had a little hawk at home with me. I'm excited that Hannah is starting this new chapter in her life, but for me it's bittersweet. Her world is filling up, and that's a good thing. I know it will be good for me too. I'll have time to exercise, and clean, and do the grocery shopping - and I do plan on sneaking some time for myself too (Trina - we may actually speak in person one of these days, lol!) Oh, Eli doesn't go back until August 18th, so I'm sure he's going to be dejected with me tomorrow without his siblings to play with.

I'll post pictures of the big day tomorrow, and I'll leave you with these shots Daddy took on their "Adieu, Summer!" hike today! Josh and Eli are taking the funkiest pictures lately, it's driving me crazy! I don't know what is up with their frozen dead-behind-the-eyes picture faces! I promise, if they looked that way all the time, I'd seek professional help for them.

Love,

Jen