Merry, merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

It's time to hang the stockings (check!), it's time to light the lights (check!).  It's time to drink some eggnog with the Gannaways tonight!  It's time to make the cookies, it's time to bake them right!  It's time to cover the past year on the Christmas note tonight!  It's time to wrap the presents (haven't started), it's time to right the tree (fell over yesterday), it's time to get things started on the most sensational, inspirational(?), celebrational(!), Gannanational(?!?) This is what we call the Christmas note!  (Come on, you know you all sang that to the tune of the Muppet Show....)

Faster than I'd like, Christmas approacheth and 2013 is quickly coming to a close.  Where did it go?  Cliche, I know, but so true for us right now.  We make an honest effort to stop and enjoy and try to fully live this season of our lives, but with four young children, the time goes by far quicker than we ever imagined. I'm quite positive I can still find enough to talk about to get you into a Christmas coma, so grab some wine and settle in.  It's another Gannaway Christmas letter!

We're so thrilled to be home as a complete family this Christmas Season.  The last two Christmas Seasons have been spent split apart with total chaos and the season seeming entirely too short.  This year we're together with total chaos and a season that actually IS chronologically entirely too short. I'd be a liar if I said we didn't feel a pull to be packing for a trip to China this year, but it was merely a tourist interest this time and not that pull in my heart that says one of our children awaits (much to Steve's immense relief!). 

Kailin is in third grade now and growing up so fast.  She's often walking the line between being a little girl and being a young lady and it's definitely a bittersweet line for this mom.  I'm pretty sure she was just holding my finger, learning to walk last week.  Kailin has truly grown to love reading this fall.  It's been really fun to see her interest take off and her delight in the world she finds in books.  She is still our fiery, spicy Hunan girl and her emotions are ever present on her sleeve (just like her mom).  She's learning how to reign in frustration and anger, but I pray she will always let her joy spill over.  She's happily involved in Brownies (and equally happy to be uninvolved in sports of any kind) and has lots of fun adventure there.  Kailin is a girly girl and finally persuaded me to let her get her ears pierced earlier this year.  She is eagerly awaiting the go ahead to wear "dangly" earrings.  She is a talented artist and spends a good deal of her free time drawing, crocheting, and knitting.  She is a "mini-me" through and through!

Colby is our resident first grader.  He is finding so much adventure in first grade and is navigating the social arena that all day school brings.  Math is where he excels, but he's coming along with his reading, too.  He has no use for vowels at all (leading me to believe that perhaps he should have been born in Russia), so that can be a challenge!  He played baseball over the summer and soccer this past fall and really enjoyed both.  He's ALL BOY in every sense of the word and for a mama who grew up with only a sister, it's been an eye opening experience!  He loves video games and still loves playing with his castle set - making elaborate set ups and having a ball with his "guys".  He adores all things art and is often making fairly elaborate drawings of action scenes or Minions.  He's quite a little artist and I love to see him express himself.  We were graced, this month, with a "Nin-gingerbread" man that had us all in stitches for quite some time as Colby explained that he'd given him candy canes in place of nunchuks.  Oh my. 

Carter is about to be five.  FIVE!!!  One more day to go.  He is excited to leave four behind.  I'm not so sure about that.  He's grown like a weed this past year and is very tall for his age which breaks this mama's heart just a little bit more - he's surely not the almost three year old we brought home in December 2011!  Carter started 4k four mornings a week this fall and loves it!  He is so excited to board the bus in the morning and has an adoring relationship with his teacher (it's very mutual, she tells me).  He tried out tee-ball over the summer and soccer this fall.  Soccer seems to be his game - he was a real go getter and always keen to be at the front of the drill line!  I think it's a good fit.  Carter is still our tender heart and is often more sad that he's hurt someone than he is when he gets hurt.  He loves to be loved on and I'm always happy to oblige!  I know the rest of 4k is going to whiz by and soon he'll be learning to read, too.

Molly Kate is a three year old whirlwind!  She is always on the go and keen to tell you all about it.  Her English is really coming along and her comprehension is fantastic.  We learned in March that she had a 35-40% hearing loss in both ears (a common issue in children with dwarfism).  In April she had tubes placed and we realized just how much she hadn't been hearing.  We're so thankful that she can hear well now and it's made a huge difference in her language development!  She's home with me during the day and loves to play all things "food" and "baby" and also has a penchant for games of all kinds.  That's a hit with this game loving mama for sure!  She'll head off to school this coming Fall and let me tell you - she is counting the days!

Our children are our biggest blessings (and often, our greatest challenges).  Kailin is witty and helpful and always my problem solver.  Colby is our comic relief and my go-to guy for a snuggle if I'm feeling down.  Carter's often-present smile can warm a room and always warms this mama's heart.  His "can-do" attitude is an inspiration to us and to others.  Molly Kate's light shines bright and spills over.  She is enchanting and incredibly easy to love.  She is charismatic and a joy most days.  We honestly couldn't have begun to imagine the blessing these children would bring when we embarked on this journey eight years ago.  

Steve and I are about the same, to be honest.  We just celebrated our tenth anniversary last week.  I'm not sure where those ten years went, but we sure have had some adventure along the way!!

Our year has been very full.  We had to say goodbye to Steve's Grandma, Ida, this spring and two of our beloved dogs this summer, but welcomed baby Tyler on my side of the family and a new (to us) dog, Maggie, in May and June.  We have been blessed to spend time wonderful friends, old and new,  this year and have had many joyful family adventures together.  We're hoping to take a big family road trip next summer - west!  I'm sure that will be fodder for next year's Christmas letter as there will be many looong hours in the car!

We truly pray that your year has been one of blessing, that your hearts and homes overflow with joy and warmth this season and that the New Year will be one where the joyful adventures overshadow the challenges in your home and in ours.  Time goes so fast and we don't have nearly the opportunity to connect and visit with our friends and family the way we'd like to.  Please know that although you may not see us often, you are never far from our thoughts and prayers.

With much love,
Sarah, Steve, Kailin, Colby, Carter, and Molly Kate