Christmas Morning

Christmas is always so fun. I love the girls waking up and running to see what Santa left for them. There's such an excitement that isn't around any other time of the year.

This year the hot items were:

Briana's guitar, lots of clothes, jewelry, and a docking station for her ipod

Brandi's ipod and a docking station, coat (the brown one she's modeling in the picture) and clothes and boots

and Brooke got a talking Barbie styling head, a very cool horse that walks,

a Color Explosion pad, and camera for kids and of course a few new clothes, too.

They were very excited with all of their gifts and it was a wonderful Christmas day.

Ronnie surprised me with a new GPS for my car. So cool! I really wanted one! :)

Poor Ronnie only got pajama pants and a new hoodie.

Good thing he's not very materialistic. He doesn't much care about getting gifts.

The girls all picked out little gifts at their school holiday shop for each other and for us. It was really cute to see what they thought we would really like. They did an excellent job.

We hope your Christmas was great, too!

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

to all of our family and friends.

So, if you are wondering why you haven't pulled a Christmas card from your mailbox from The Gantt's this year, I hope you're not still checking the mailbox...it's not coming! :)

The mere thought of taking cute pictures with cute outfits and finding a cute card and mailing them all out has really put me over the edge this year. Something had to go, and this was it. Sorry folks! I had a good two weeks where I couldn't get anything done due to sickness and a broken garage door that took two days out of my precious December. (long story)... so forgive me!

We're grateful at this time of year because we know our family has been so blessed. We are grateful also at this time to be able to reflect on our Savior's miraculous birth. We have a testimony that HE lives and HE loves us! We are so grateful for this knowledge.

We also love and appreciate all of you so much. You have all touched our family's lives in many different ways. We thank you for your love and support.

But just know that we love all of you and thank you for all the cute Christmas cards and letters we've been getting. We love hearing from you and seeing how all of your families are growing. We have had a wonderful year as a family and if you've kept up with our blog, you've already read all about it!

Anyway, HO HO HO!!

Hope you've been good, because Santa Claus comes tomorrow night!!

Love,

The Gantt's

Wicked Weather

This past Friday was a SNOW DAY around here!! All of the schools were cancelled because we had up to a foot of snow!! I don't know what the actually amount was... who cares at this point, right? I'm not so sure I've seen this much snow fall at once the whole 5 1/2 years we've been up here! It's been close...very very close.

I kept wondering how in the world we were going to shovel our way out of our driveway because we haven't broken down to buy a snow plow yet- we only have 2 snow shovels. And I'm sorry, with this weather that just won't do! Ronnie was out and about at work and with his back that recently went out, there was no way he would be shoveling. So I'm watching the truck that plows our neighborhood come through and plow the roads. While I'm standing in my garage watching the girls play, the truck goes into one of our neighbors driveways and starts plowing their driveway. LIGHTBULB MOMENT-- I remembered in our Association newsletter last month they posted a phone number to the company and had a quote for plowing driveways. So I quickly get on the phone and asked if they would radio their guy to come to our house and plow us out! I told Ronnie that was the best $35.00 I've spent all year! Ten minutes later they were gone and my driveway and my sidewalks were clear !

Anyway, I took a picture of the girls playing in the front yard. Remember that picture a few posts ago of our house with some snow in the yard? Well, I took another one to compare it to. WOW! Look at the difference! To top it off, we got another inch or so last night and we're getting another round tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday. All of you with your 70 degree weather, count your blessings. We have a week left of weather in the 20's. Today is all of 10 degrees. :)

Even though we had WICKED weather on Friday... that didn't stop us from going to the Detroit Opera House to see WICKED that night! It was FABULOUS!!! It was a little hike getting there because of the storm that came through, but thanks to Ronnie's 'expert' driving skills we made it there safe and sound.

Briana, Brandi and Brooke loved it! We especially loved Galinda- with a 'Ga'. Brooke laughed at her so many times - she was really entertaining.

Anyway- we're happy, safe and warm and we love ya'll!

Happy Holidays Video

Lunch with Brooke

Today I had lunch with Brooke at school. Each class of first graders sang us Christmas songs (aren't they all so cute?) and we did a few activities with them. Here is Brooke's class- she's on the right bottom side with the blue shirt on. (I know- I didn't think to put her in Christmas colors this morning!!) Oh well! I'm just the mom-- I can't think of everything!! :) Her teacher , Mrs. FeatherHer good friend, Jordin.

Jordin is actually the only other little girl in her class

that is as tiny as Brooke. They were also in the same

kindergarten class last year and were the only two peanuts

in class! :) I guess they've bonded.

Brooke's crazy pictures

Last week when I was pretty much feeling like CRUD, Brooke asked me if she could use my camera to take some pictures. I said "Sure!" and I'm sure I must have fallen back asleep. Well, I had forgotten all about it until today when I took the camera to school to take some pictures. So the following pictures are random- VERY random pictures that Brooke took. Some are actually good, while others are, well- you'll see! :)
I love that every once in awhile she decides to turn the camera around and take pictures of herself. Too funny!

Brooke's crazy pictures

Brandi's First Gymnastics Meet

What a fantastic day we had on Saturday! It was Brandi's first gymnastics meet. She could hardly eat breakfast in the morning because she was so nervous. But it all turned out well. Brandi was great!! She had a routine on the beam, bars and had to squat on the vault. Many of my pictures turned out so blury because I was too far away and it's hard when they're swinging around bars, leaping on the beam and running to the vault- it's all in motion and I couldn't focus. So you aren't going to see alot of action pictures, here. I'll try to take better pictures at her next competition.

Anyway, here are the results from the awards ceremony... Brandi got 5th place on the bars, 6th place on the vault and 7th place on the beam in her age group. Once she can do a round-off with two back hand springs, she can have a floor routine. But for now, she can only do a round off with one back handspring. (still...not too shabby, right?! :) We are so proud of her for placing on each of her events! She has three ribbons that we're going to start our collection with!

She'll have one more meet in January and Feb, then 2 in March and one more in April. So it'll be interesting to see how well she'll improve over the next few months. She's only been in gymnastics since last January. She's accomplished alot this last year. I was watching the older girls (12 & 13 yr. olds) compete and I couldn't help but get excited to think that in the next 4 or 5 years she'll be doing these amazing things that the big girls were doing. She definitely has natural talent for this.

this is a blury picture of her doing a split on the beam.

Whew! What a long day! But it was all worth it!

This is for you, Grandma Cooley

This week was the Young Women's in Excellence at Church. The theme this year has been "Be Steadfast and Immovable, Always Abounding in Good Works" taken from the scripture in Mosiah 5:15. Each of the girls had to tell a story about someone in their family who has been an example of being steadfast and immovable.

So here's Briana's story (word for word) about Grandma Cooley:

My grandmother was the youngest of four children. A completely average girl and did well in school. She was fine until she was 11 years old. That year a mosquito bit her and gave her encephalitis. She went into a coma for about 3 weeks. During those three weeks, she got lots of brain damage. When she woke up, she had to learn everything all over again. She had to re-learn how to walk, talk, everything. It was very difficult for her back in school. In fact, in 9th grade she dropped out. It is still very difficult for her to do things like read and write. To this day, she has epilepsy, or uncontrollable seiqures. She has nearly died 3 times in her life. She is very faithful to the church even though she didn't grow up a member. She joined in 1966. She grew up, got married, and had kids, just like a normal person. One of those kids was my dad. Even though she may seem handicapped, she served a mission in the temple, learned the ordinances in Spanish, and has read Jesus the Christ all the way through even though it's like really big. She also studies the scriptures every day. My grandmother is such an example to me. She never quits. To show that, she is working on 15,000 geneology names. My grandma has shown steadfastness and immovability, and I love her.

What I loved about that night was that almost every single girl talked about one of their grandparents. That just goes to show you how much influence they have on our children. I am so proud of Briana for writing such a beautiful story about her grandma. We are so grateful to have family members that are good examples to my children. We have many!

Really?!?!?!? Already? !?!?!?

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!

This morning at the bus stop...

Our house at the beginning of winter...

I wonder what it'll look like by the end of the season!

Uggh... Take me away!! :)

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Alright, I know I didn't post this when we went, but there are some cute pictures I wanted to share - I'm just getting around to it. We went to the circus to celebrate Brooke and Ronnie's birthday two weekends ago. We had a really fun time laughing, giggling and watching the amazing performers do acrobatics and dancing. We also really loved the animals. Our favorites were these little white dogs. I wish I knew what kind they were- but they had them running up stairs, sliding down slides and even doing backflips! It was sooo cute! Brooke laughed her little tiny head off. I really loved the tigers. Wow! Those animals are amazing. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

This picture is so dark... but it's the tigers. OOOOOH... they were sca-ry!!

I Did It!

Last night, I did it! I went to the 12:01 am showing of Twilight. It was so fun. Dinner at Olive Garden with about 20 of us insane women from church first- and then- what we've all been waiting for... what we've all been counting down the days for...THE movie. So here's my synopsis. If you've read the book, you know how completely in love, infactuated, obsessed Bella is with Edward. That's the only part I really didn't get in this movie... I didn't feel her passion for him! So I was a little disappointed. I know there's so much to crunch into a two hour movie, but some things were just missing for me. Some scenes should have built up the intensity a little more... their talks, Edward's family, the tracking scene. It was all way too quick and choppy for me. And I wanted Bella to have more personality... can anyone say 'bor-ing'. I'm sorry, but Bella was bland and boring. I just wanted her to smile!!! Just once, smile. I know that was her character, but come on!! Give me something to work with here!!!
But, having said that I really enjoyed myself. It's never going to be a bad evening when you're out with a ton of friends giggling and laughing like teenagers. hee hee
Now I'm going to have to find a way to stay awake tonight for the play "A Christmas Carol". So far, I'm not tired today even though I got home around 2:30'ish this morning. I'm sure it will hit me late this afternoon and I'll have to pick myself up off the floor!! Wish me luck! I've got to stay awake until at least 9:30 tonight.

Wasted Day!

Yesterday was one of those days that you think to yourself at the end of the day, "What have I done all day?" And you really can't name one good thing! I was busy all day, but doing what? I never sat down to even watch a tv show! I had a load of laundry in the dryer that was in my plans all day to get out and fold and I never did! I've realized that when I have to get out of the house to run an errand or two, it takes up my whole day! My day is shot! I went to the chiropractor at 10 am and decided I would run to Kohl's and Home Goods to see if I could find a Thanksgiving table runner. (We have 4 families coming for dinner) After I went to both places, I was hungry, so I decided to stop for something to eat. But what would I eat? I get sick of fast food and I was in the car driving and would think of a place, then turn around and start heading the other direction. Then I would change my mind as I would think of another place. So I would turn around again and start heading another direction. I think I wasted 15-20 min. just driving in circles trying to figure out what I would eat for lunch!!! Ridiculous, isn't it? Anyway, so I ended up at Baja Fresh eating taquitos, rice and beans. Mmm, just kidding- not even that great! Then I head home and what do I do but find myself on the computer all afternoon wasting time. Suddenly, Briana's home from school. That means in another hour, Brooke will be home- (Brandi is already at gymnastics - she is picked up from school by my neighbor)...then my Monday nights will fly right out the door because now I have to make dinner, pick up Brandi from gymnastics and take Briana to dance at 8:00. Uggh!! What a wasted day! I have a new goal today... I'm staying off the computer and getting some work done!! So GOODBYE!!

I found this crazy website on Twilight. The web address sounds like a rehab for Twilight fans... twilighters anonymous. ha ha ha!! But I couldn't resist...I took the Quiz to see what character I am most like on Twilight and this is what it said:

"You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things."

What do you think? Does this sound like me?

Better late than never...

Halloween was really great this year. Except for Brooke not feeling well and not being able to trick or treat! I was at the school on Friday helping in Brooke's class for a couple of hours in the morning. Around lunch time, I was going to head back home for lunch and then run back to the school for their Halloween party. But Brooke told me that her head was hurting. So I signed her out and took her back home with me for lunch and gave her some medicine and let her rest for a little bit before the party. When we got home, she rested and got a dose of Tylenol. Right when we were getting up to get ready to go back to school, she told me she was dizzy!! Poor baby- she had a fever and we had to stay home the rest of the day. So she missed her party at school and on that night, she still had a fever, so here's what she did for Halloween. She sat on the porch while Ronnie gave out candy.

Brandi and Samantha trick or treating as "Sleepover Twins". They made up their own costume and all I had to buy were two crowns. :)

Brooke was watching everyone else get ready and she couldn't. So sad.

The weekend before, we had a party at church. This is Brooke's Witch costume. Oooh-- scary!

Brooke the Wicked Witch and Spiderman

Friends at church...

Brooke's reaction to Ronnie... hilarious!

Brooke turns 6!!

Today is Brooke's big Number 6 !! She was so excited to turn 6 years old. She requested her favorite meal for dinner... spaghetti. I made cookies and took them to school today for her to share with her class. Then I came home and made cupcakes for us tonight. Her and Briana decorated them while I was picking up Brandi from gymnastics. Next weekend we're celebrating her birthday by going to Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus!! That is her big birthday present.

So here she is thinking about what to wish for...


This is her favorite present... a robe! (Would you really think a 6 yr old would want a robe for their birthday? Well, that's my Brookie-pooh!) :)

"Are ya 1...Are ya 2... Are ya 3... Are ya 4... Are ya 5... Are ya 6... STOP!!"