Hello Harry!

For all of you want-a-be wizards, but are just plain old muggles out there, it will not be too surprising to learn that our family had the time of our lives visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.  We hopped on The Hogwarts Express and and literally got carried away into a new world!

It really did live up to our expectations and it was fun to pretend for a day that we were at Hogsmeade.  The shops were super fun and delightful to the young (Emmett and Lilly LOVED Honeydukes),

the teens (can you say Zonkos?) and the "old" (Dervishes and Banges provided some very nice pillows for the basement, thank you very much).  But the true magic was to be found on the rides.  Flight of the Hippogriff 
 and Dragon Challenge rides were great,

but NOTHING could compare with the  FORBIDDEN JOURNEY!  It was a masterpiece of special effects that could make the most skeptical a believer!  Lilly even rode it twice knowing she would come face to face with a Dementor and a Dragon!

All in all, we LOVED living out our Harry Potter fantasies and spending a few magical moments riding dragons, hippogriffs and enchanted benches!

Fairy Magic

A Fabulous Fairy Gathering

For Lilly's 6th birthday, I secretly wanted to do something feminine and lovely.  I was so excited when she chose "FAIRIES!"  Here was my chance to girl it up and use purple and pink (a  color combination I usually try to avoid).  So, with a wave of my magic wand, a lot of internet shopping, and a little fairy dust, we had one fabulous fairy fiesta!  Feel free to fly around and amuse yourself!

Every Birthday Fairy would be lost without her wings, wand, and special birthday crown!

My first ever Birthday Crown!  Lilly LOVED wearing it!

The perfect pixie table all arranged in purple and pink

A Birthday Fairy needs her own personalized banner or else we would never know who's party it was!

I especially had fun making these fantastically sparkly Fairy Wands!

A fancy Fairy place setting

Fairies ALWAYS drink from "Crystal" Goblets!

Like always, I like the decorating, but the fairies loved the activities.  We began by putting sparkly make-up on each Fairy as she arrived.  Then they were sent off to decorate their Fairy Treasure box (later used as their take home "baggie").

After that, we played Flower Flight (musical chairs) where the girls earned their wings.

Then they designed miniature fairy gardens to prove they were ready to receive their magic wands.

  And finally we relaxed in the Fairy Bower and read a fantastic Fairy tale.

To wrap it all up, our little fairies dined on flower shaped sandwiches, star shaped cheese wands, and purple pixie grapes.

But Lilly's favorite part was her cake and presents!

Happy Birthday, Fairy Lilly!

A Little Monkey Business

It's not everyday your little boy turns four and has his first major birthday party!  It started with a little call to the wild as primates from all over the jungle were invited to help Emmett celebrate with a little monkey business.

This is just BANANAS!

Emmett was the cutest monkey in his special monkey shirt - even if it was too big!

Emmett has definitely figured out presents!

Of course planning and decorating were my favorite parts of the party!  Check out how CUTE it all was:)

Then there was the yummy food.  All "Monkey" themed of course: monkey shaped pancakes with bananas and chocolate chips, chocolate "monkey" cupcakes, chocolate monkey bars, and goody bags filled with all the banana flavored candy I could find!

Viva La France!

Some people thought we were crazy, but we just knew we HAD to go.  Here is a list of some reasons we used to convince ourselves it was a Sharp family NECCESSITY to go to France for Spring Break:

1. We needed to use Lilly and Emmett's new passports - what's the point in having them if they are only gathering dust in some drawer?

2.  Easter services at the Notre Dame is a once in a life time event

3.  Lilly has been asking FOREVER to see the Eiffel Tower - we didn't want to be responsible for destroying a little girl's dream!

4.  I've never been to Paris in the Springtime.

5.  Eric hadn't had a chance to properly show off his mission sites to his children yet.

What better reasons could we have to fly half way around the world with two preschoolers and a teenager?

Paris in the Springtime was fun, but wet.

And planning on Easter at Notre Dame ended up being one of those things that only occur in Fantasy World!  The line wrapped around the building and down the street several blocks!  Oh well, it was a fun thought.

The Eiffel Tower was a huge hit though!

Lilly's lifelong dream has finally come true!

We also visited the Louvre and gazed lovingly on The Mona Lisa!

After leaving Paris we had quite an adventure traveling around France.  We stayed in Chateaus, medieval cities, and even rented an apartment.  We saw Mont St. Michelle, Versaille, Lascoux, and many other wonderful places.  Enjoy a few of our favorite pictures!

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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...