2009 in Review

Since I have not been very diligent at keeping up with my blog since we got home from China, I have made it a goal (AKA "New Year's Resolution" )to write at least once a month. I hope you all don't get too tired of me!

So many wonderful things happened this year that I feel I should share some of them with everyone (since I didn't do it the first time).

So, Hannah has had a great freshman year. She ran cross country for the first time and quickly realized that she is a very talented runner! She was put on the varsity team and was the 4th fastest girl on the team. She made it through districts (with a 102 degree fever) and onto regionals where, unfortunately, she did not qualify for States. Not too shabby for a freshman. We'll get them next year!

While I'm bragging about Hannah, I have to show you all Hannah's pictures of Homecoming. It is so odd to think that she is old enough to go to dances now! Happily, she had a great time with her friends and loved her first school dance. The best part was she looked so lovely in her modest dress - which of course is a funny story all of it's own. She came to me about a week and a half before the dance and asked me if I thought she should go with her friends. I was a bit shocked she was asking since she has never wanted to go to any social event connected to school before. I told her I thought she would have a good time if she went. She decided to go and the race to find a dress was on! The two of us spent hours looking on-line until we found the cute purple lace dress. The only problem was that it was sleeveless. Hannah didn't want to wear a sweater or shrug (thank goodness), so I suggested we find a black tee with lace sleeves. She liked the idea and the next day we went out and found one hoping that it would look well with the dress. And luckily, it did! Actually it looked so good that none of her friends realized it wasn't the actual sleeves to the dress! She looked beautiful!

Lilly has had a great time at kindergarten. She has the most wonderful teacher - Mrs. Campbell. It is hard to believe it, but Lilly is beginning to read and she has woken Hannah up several mornings by crawling into bed with her and counting out loud to 100 (and even farther now that she realizes the pattern repeats!). Her newest fascination is puzzles. She loves to do them and is up to 100 piece ones now - she is definitely a true blue Sharp! She is just amazing to watch.

Next, let me tell you all about the big snowfall we had this year. Here in Virginia we are lucky to get 2-6 inches the whole winter - usually spread out into light dustings throughout the winter months. But thus year, we had REAL snow - at least 18 inches all at once! It was awesome! And it was Emmett's first snow (he comes from a more tropical like area of China). We had so much fun playing in it - building a fort, sledding, snowball fights, etc. Except poor Emmett hated it at first because his first time sledding he face planted in the snow and came up with a face full! But, eventually, he got used to it and grew to love playing in it - especially the part when we built our fort!

Finally, Christmas was awesome. It was another first for Emmett and he loved it! He was so excited by the Christmas tree and all the lights. And he thought Santa was really fun - actually, he is the only one of our kids who likes him up close - the girls would never get too close to him. And of course he really liked the gifts. It didn't take long for him to get the idea and before we knew it, he was asking for Emmett's next present! It was all super fun.

Well, that wraps up the year for us. Now onto 2010...