Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2008!

We celebrated the New Year at home with our children. We all partied the night away by watching the countdown on tv. Some of us drank champagne, while the others drank sparkling grape juice. Lilly didn't make it until the new year. She is a girl that likes her schedule. Of course, James stayed up past midnight. He was the last one to go to sleep. I've always said that he's going to be the one to close the bars!

Goodbye 2007: Reflective thoughts

This was a great and busy year for us.

Individually, I saw each of my children take giant steps towards their own growth and maturity. Trevor began his first year of middle school and James began his first year of preschool. These events, in themselves, were huge. Trevor is on his way to his teenage years and it scares me to death. James, on the other hand, is so reluctant to change. He has never stayed with anyone, so getting him to attend preschool was a major undertaking. He has finally adjusted and is doing terrific! Lilly is, well...let's just say, "Lilly!" She is such a joy. She is always happy (except when she and James have an incident), so sweet and loving, and just a pleasure to be with all of the time. She makes me smile with the sound of her sweet little voice and the look in her pretty, brown eyes.

We did a lot of traveling in 2007. We started the year by going to Vail, Colorado for a snowboarding vacation. We went to the beach several times and visited Oak Island, North Carolina and Hilton Head, South Carolina. Todd and I took Trevor out west and visited Yellowstone, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming during the summer. After we returned home from that trip, my Grandma and I visited Niagara Falls and Toronto in Canada. Todd had endless business trips this year, but his highlight trip was to Sweden. We made countless trips to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Georgia in between. Lastly, we finished out the year with our trip to Colorado and the cities of Telluride and Durango.

My biggest and proudest moment of the year was in July. Todd and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! It was wonderful feeling to celebrate that accomplishment. We gifted each other new rings. The one that he gave me has a diamond solitaire in the middle and 10 small diamonds around the band (to symbolize our 10 years). His is, let's just say, not so fancy. My ring is beautiful and a gift that I will treasure forever, like our love.

I am looking forward to 2008 and all that it will bring. I am looking forward to the new opportunities that will be presented to us, the challenges that we will meet, the new places we will travel, and spending time with my family.

The fun continues........

Lilly is still enjoying all the Christmas presents. Above, she puts lip gloss on Nana, relaxes on her Barbie chair and ottoman, and plays knight dress up with James.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Today is our baby girl's 2nd birthday! I can't beleive that she is 2 already. Where does time go?

We celebrated by taking the entire family to Monkey Joe's to play for a few hours. Trevor invited his friend, Josh, along also. After playing, we stopped for dinner and then came back to our house to eat cake and open gifts. Her favorite was a trunk full of dress up clothes which included high heels, earrings, and bracelets and her talking vanity. In one of the pics above, you can see her dressed up looking at herself in the vanity mirror.

I decided to have her real birthday party later in January or early February. We have some friends here that we will invite, but most of them were out of town for the holidays. It is such a difficult time for a birthday. It's right after the holidays and everyone is busy doing family events or out of town. Most people don't even remember that it's her birthday. Besides my mom (Nana), her aunt was the only person that called to wish her a happy birthday. She doesn't notice right now, but as she gets older she will.

Christmas Day, Part 4: My thoughts

Trevor is 11 this year and this was a year of firsts for us. As I was wrapping gifts for the children and thinking about what they asked Santa to bring them, I realized that this is the first year that Trevor didn't ask for any toys. When I say toys, I mean play toys such as Spiderman, Star Wars, Legos, etc. The things that he asked for were more for "big boys" like skateboards, ramps, clothes, etc. I can't believe that my "baby" is getting too big for toys. It makes me want to cry when I think about it.

We weren't able to go back to Georgia this year for Christmas. Todd and I had just got back from Colorado and it was just pushing us for time. We missed seeing all of our family and friends, but we will try to go for a visit soon.

Todd took the week off since he has been working so much and traveling a lot lately. Trevor and James were out of school, and Nana came up for the week. We were all here together and celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our house. I have come to appreciate my family more and more as each day goes by. I love being with my husband and my children and they mean the world to me. I enjoy spending the holidays at our home, with my family. Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas. The holidays are one of my favorite times of the year.

Christmas Day, Part 3: Lilly

Lilly was so much fun this year. She is so dramatic and makes such a big deal over everything. She was amazed at all of the toys. Her favorite has to be her new baby doll along with the stroller, pack and play, and high chair that goes with it. That could have been her only gift and she would have been happy. She wasn't tearing through the presents like James. Instead, she was taking her time and looking at each gift that she opened. It took her the longest to open gifts. James finally had to step in and finish opening them for her. She loved each and every one of them.

Christmas Day, Part 2: James

James is a wild man. His favorite part about Christmas is opening the gifts. He doesn't as much care what is in the package, as he does about just tearing the paper off as quick as possible! He would rip the paper off the gift, throw it down (without even looking at it) and try to move on to the next one. It was hilarious. Once all his gifts were open, he tried to help Lilly, me, Todd, and anyone else that he could open their gifts. Todd finally ask him if he just wanted us to re-wrap all of his gifts so that he could open them again and he said "YES!" and was very serious about it! When asked his favorite gift, he said his new castle and knight armor. Since we attended the Renaissance Festival, he has been fascinated with knights and castles. Such a boy!

Christmas Day, Part 1: Trevor

Trevor isn't very excitable. This is one of the few days that I actually see him get excited about things. He has been eagerly awaiting the opening of all his gifts for the past week. As Christmas day grew closer, his anticipation grew bigger and bigger. His curiosity got the best of him. There were countless times that I caught him picking up and shaking the gifts, discussing the shape of the boxes, and questioning his friends if they had any idea what was in there. Finally, the day came that all was revealed. Trevor had a great Christmas. When asked what his favorite gift was his answer was his "Freshpark Fun Box."

ps: For those wondering what a Freshpark Fun Box is.....it is a set of skateboard ramps that when put together has a ramp that goes up, a flat part in the middle, and then a ramp going down.

Merry Christmas!

We just want to wish a Merry Christmas to all! We are so thankful for all of our family and friends. May you be blessed and have a prosperous New Year!

The Ganns

Bring on the Holidays

There are 3 days left until Christmas and counting .........................................................................................................

Nana arrived today and will be staying the week with us. The kids are so excited to have her here for more than the weekend. They enjoy spending time with her and Pup and don't ever want her to leave. The presents are all wrapped with love and the kids are curious as to what is in the packages. I can't wait to see them open their gifts. My Christmas gift is seeing my children happy and the joy on their faces.

What a trip!

The Town of Telluride, Colorado

Cowboys at the red light in Durango, Colorado


The Durango and Silverton Railroad


Todd and Tonya in the San Juan National Forest

I can't even describe what a wonderful time we had in Colorado. It is so beautiful there. A few quick highlights were snowboarding in Telluride, a massage at a lavish resort called The Spa at the Peaks, dinner at Allreds (at 10,500 feet on the side of a mountain, which you must ride a gondola to because there is no other access) and the train ride through the San Juan Mountains on the Durango and Silverton Railroad. We also saw some cowboys herding cows down the middle of the road in Delores, Colorado. But the best was when we were walking on Main Street in Durango, Colorado and six cowboys were riding their horses down the street. They came to the red light, stopped, and started riding again when it turned green. It was awesome! Where else can you see that????????

I missed the kids while we were gone, but I wasn't ready to come back home. I could stay in Colorado forever!!

I must give a big thank you to Nana, Grandma, and Papa. Nana came and spent a few days here and then Grandma and Papa came and spent the last few. Our wonderful trip wouldn't have been possible without their willingness to take care of the kids for us.

Westward Bound

Moon rise over the San Juan Mountains

Telluride, Colorado

I am leaving for Colorado in the morning! I am so excited and I can't wait! Todd had to go out for work and suggested that I come with him. He left Thursday and has been getting his work done. By the time I get there, I hope he is finished.

I am flying into Durango and then driving to Cortez and Telluride. Todd wants to do some snowboarding and I want to enjoy a trip to the spa for a massage and anything else that I can think of! We are also going to take the Durango Railroad's Winter Cascade Canyon Excursion. It is a scenic rail car ride through the San Juan National Forest along the Animas River. It is very remote and historic.

We are leaving the kids at home this trip. This is a chance for Todd and I to spend some quality alone time together, which rarely happens. Nana is here tonight and she will stay until Sunday night. Grandma and Papa are coming up to spend the rest of the time. It will also be good for both set of grandparents and the kids to spend time with each other. I am very thankful and grateful that we have family that will do this for us. It is very much appreciated.

I am sure to have a wonderful time. Todd said that it is beautiful (it's Colorado, isn't it???) and there is lots of snow on the ground. I am looking forward to a nice, relaxing trip with my husband!

James and the Beanstalk

James' class was learning about the farm last week and they planted a bean seed in a small plastic cup. He brought it home with him so that he could watch it grow. His teacher, Mrs. Rita, gave him very specific instructions on taking care of it. For the past week, he has been very diligent in taking care of his fragile little bean. Everyday he looks at it (several times a day....I must add!) to see how much it has grown. It has grown so much and gotten so big that we transplanted it to a bigger pot today. He is so proud, as he should be!

Ready for some Action

Lilly is ready for some action. She was practicing her 1-2 knockout punch tonight on James' Spiderman punching bag. He better lookout!

Christmas All Weekend

We spent the entire weekend participating in Christmas activities.

First, we went to our neighborhood Christmas celebration. Santa was there to see the kids and they even had a train giving kids a train ride around the neighborhood. James was excited to see Santa. He went right up to him and sat down on his lap and told him that he "wanted a lot of stuff" for Christmas. Santa asked him if he had been a good boy this year and James assured him that he had. Of course, he would say that! Lilly, on the other hand, was terrified of Santa. She wouldn't go anywhere near him and when I asked her why she didn't want to see him she said that "he scared" her. She wouldn't even take any candy! Trevor rode the train with them and we all enjoyed the hot chocolate while we were waiting in line!

After all that excitement, we drove to the mountains and visisted a tree farm where we picked out our tree. I'll write about that in a later post. Too much info for this one!

Busy Week

James and Lilly make Peppermint Bark

Trevor helps with the brownies

We have been so busy this week that I haven't had a chance to write much.

Trevor's school is having Staff Appreciation week and we have been busy baking for staff members. We have baked for 2 days straight. While we were at it, we went ahead and baked James' teachers some goodies, too. We baked about 10 dozen cookies, 2 dozen muffins, 2 batches of brownies, and we also made 2 big pans peppermint bark. We all had a taste of everything and it turned out delicious. The kids had a great time helping out. Everyone loves to cook........and be the taster!

'Tis the Season

James and Lilly take a break and have a snack

while putting up our decorations

We spent this weekend getting out our Christmas decorations and putting them all around the house. We put out our nutcrackers, snowmen, and Santa Claus'. We also managed to get the lights on the shrubs in the front of the house and around the deck in the back. James insisted that we decorate his room, too. We put a few decorations up, but that wasn't good enough. We had to string up lights throughout his room. He really gets into the decorating. He was just like this for Halloween and Thanksgiving, too. He enjoys the best things in life!