My Hannah

 

 So earlier this year (I got a little behind!!), Hannah turned 10.  Double digits for my middle child.  She has been such a special little girl right from the beginning, and now I would like to share her with all of you!

 

 She loves her daddy!  Ever since she was small, the way we got her to try anything new was for Kelly to say that it was his favorite thing, and it them became her favorite thing.  She would choke down food that she didn't like just to please him,  all the while sticking to her guns that she loved it.  They have had a special relationship from the start.  Here is a photo of them at last year's Daddy Daughter Valentines Dinner and Dance.

Another thing about Hannah is that she is very sensitive.  Her heart breaks very easily when she has to move away from a friend, or when she has a fight with a classmate, or when she thinks someone is being mistreated.  She is very aware of those who are lonely or in need of a friend and tries her best to reach out to them.  When we moved away from NM and from Ohio, she had some very good little friends that she had to leave, she cried and cried.  The most heartbreaking thing to see was Hannah and her very best friend, my sister Emilie,  saying goodbye at the airport as we were moving for the first time.  They couldn't let go of each other and were both crying - and ever since that day they have run up hours and hours of long distance calls to each other!

She loves to dress up and use her imagination.  Here is her favorite getup from when she was 2 years old.  She wore this to the grocery store many times, her tap shoes clacking away as she followed me through the isles.  Here are a few more recent costume choices.  She comes up with some very interesting ideas!

 

Another thing I love about Hannah is that she is so trusting.   If you tell her that the sky is orange, she will look at it and say, "Really?  OK."  I thought that she would be devastated to find out that there was no Tooth Fairy.  When she found my drawer full of her teeth and letters, I told her that it was me.  I was the Tooth Fairy.  She looked at me with wide eyes, and with all the innocence and wonder in her heart said, "So, are you the Tooth Fairy for the whole world, or just for our neighborhood?"

 She has always been eager to please.  She will do whatever she can to make her parents, teachers, siblings or friends happy.  When she was younger, if one of her friends said they liked one of her toys, she would say "You can have it." 

She loves to clean - well, everything but her room!!  When we are deciding who gets certain chores in our house, Hannah wants them all.  She loves to to the kitchen the most, even moving all the chairs out to sweep and mop the floors.  She often surprises us by cleaning our room or bathroom while we are out.  I'm sure that this trait came from my sister and NOT from me!

She is also sensitive to spiritual things.  She feels the spirit and expresses those feelings to us.  On more than one occasion, she has written her thoughts about things she has read in the scriptures and let us read them.  She reminds us to read together  as a family a lot, and loves to do things with her family.

She loves to play in the snow.  It can be so cold that nobody else wants to go out, but she will be outside in all her snow gear just laying in the snow.  She is always the first to volunteer to go out with Sam when he wants to play.   She's happy to be outside any time of the year.  Here she is competing in her Triathalon that she has done for the last 2 years.

She really likes this competition.  She trains all summer and takes it pretty seriously.   We love to watch the determination in her face during the race.  She is amazing!

She looks up to Lucy more than anyone can know.  She writes her letters and makes her things all the time to tell her how much she loves her.  If Lucy gets mad at her she is crushed!  Although there is no shortage of sibling bickering between the two of them, I know that there is no one that she loves as much as her sister.

So that is our Hannah.  Sweet, sensitive, spiritual, loving, imaginative, eager and dedicated.  She is an example to our entire family and we all love her very much!