For the last 3 years, every December 31st, I’ve been putting together little recaps of our household activities for the preceding 12 months. 2008, 2007 and 2006 were just the beginning of what is seeming to be “par” for our household in the way of excitement. I’m really hoping that one of these December 31st’s I’ll be able to say that it was the most boring year ever…..fingers crossed.
Diesel:
This was Diesel in January of 2009 during our Tet Celebration:
And this was Diesel just the other day after he lost his second tooth:
Diesel has had an exciting year this year. After *trying* homeschooling for his kindergarten year, this year he started 1st grade at our local elementary school. He loves it. He’s becoming a wonderful artist and I predict that he will be a cartoonist or graphic novel writer. Yesterday he started to draw an elephant but 1/2 way through, decided that it looked more like a bird – a sad bird. I asked him what the bird had to be so sad about and he tells me that the bird just found out he got kicked out of Bird College. I told him he should have had the bird study harder.
Kinhly:
This is Kinhly from our 2009 Tet festival outing in January:
This is Kinhly from Christmas:
This year was Kinhly’s first in school. Saying that she’s teacher’s pet is a large understatement. She often comes home with awards and our parent-teacher conference consisted of her teacher telling us how much of a helper she is to the whole class. Her best friend at school is a recent addition to the school – a little Thai girl who doesn’t speak any English but she and Kinhly have become the best of friends and Kinhly helps her with everything. This year Kinhly started with Ballet lessons but had to quit them when school started because they were too far away. She starts again at a local dance school after the new year. She’s VERY excited. She’s also taken a fancy to jewelery making and has used every B*endaroo she has to create necklaces that could rival anything you could find on Etsy. I suspect that she will be a wonderful jewelery designer when she grows up.
Lola:
This is also Lola at our Tet Festival celebration in Jan of 2009:
This is Lola this month during our Christmas stuffs:
I think Lola wins the award for most changed in 2009 – again! She’s quite the little lady now! My mom has a regular laugh about how much she and I are alike…..of course the laughs usually include “what goes around comes around”. I think Matt and I are really in for it! She’s just over 2 now and has a vocabulary it took Diesel until he was 3.5 to be able to claim. Currently she is addicted to Dora and loves just about everything Dora does or has. It’s adorable and annoying all at the same time. If I had to guess at what Lola will be doing when she grows up, I would have to say that she will be a writer. I dont know why, I just see it in her.
Rach: Of course you cannot mention 2009 without mentioning Rach! In September of this year we became the VERY proud parents of a little boy from Thailand. We hope that 2010 will be the year we actually get to meet him! We sent him Christmas presents last month and hope to be getting photos of him opening those presents in my inbox next week. We have been amazingly blessed and have over 30 photos of him along with letters back and forth. It has been more than we could have ever hoped for.
For me: This year was full of school and birthing babies (well, baby – singular). I completed most of my student teaching and will be getting my Masters in Teaching in just a few short months. I can’t believe that it’s almost over! Baby Sera is now at home with her parents and will be over 2 months old now. The rumor is that her dad is trying to find a job in our city (at the teaching hospital – he’s a PhD) and they may be moving here soon! I can’t wait to see that little bundle again! I have also become a founding member of a new surrogacy matching service that we just launched today. It will be exciting to help build families through surrogacy, as well as adoption. So awesome. Lastly I’ve joined a couple of my fellow bloggers in an attempt to take pictures every day in 2010. I’ve started a website for the project: http://web.me.com/fortrobinson/365-52. Bookmark it and check it out ….I’ll be trying to update it every Sunday.
Matt: He spent 2009 working (as usual) but recently got a promotion! We are all so proud of him. Next year he is looking forward to starting to finish his college degree. He’s looking at schools and trying to figure out what he wants to dedicate himself too. I’m voting Teaching Science so that we can have the standard school breaks off together. He’s seriously considering it. Yay!
So my friends, follow us into the new year as we welcome Rach into our family and move forward into new careers and new adventures.
Farewell 2009, welcome 2010, we’ve been expecting you!
