Catch-Up

I feel like it's been forever since I've written on here! There was one very big announcement that has happened that I failed to mention. I have a new nephew! Peter Timothy Gubler was born on January 24th and he sure is a cutie! I really wish I could be out there in Utah with my mom to enjoy that new little baby!

Let's see... what else?

Ellie is LOVING being a Sunbeam. Every FHE night we sing the "sunbeam song" and at the end we have to ask, "who's a sunbeam?" and she proudly raises her hand. We do this at least 3 times in a row. Very funny. She is great at telling us what she learns each week. This week it was Jesus and the Spirit. She really is a smart little girl. She likes that she knows a lot of the songs they sing during sharing time already. She is definitely a girly-girl. She has a whole closet full of nice winter clothing. But what does she choose to wear every day? A leotard and tights (she has a few to choose from... yes, I facilitate this girlishness. :-) She's also really gotten into the Wizard of Oz lately. I personally don't like that movie, but Mom introduced it to her and she loves it. Ellie is already planning Halloween outfits for her and her sisters around this theme. I've ordered her some red ruby slippers and will make her a dress for her to play in. She sure loves to dress up! She also loves to be in charge. She picks out clothes for everyone each day if I don't get to it first. She's become quite the tattle-tale as well. I hear, "I didn't do it, I promise" quite a bit. Sure you didn't!

Katie is hilarious. She talks extremely well now. My favorite phrase lately is (And she yells it), "okay, coming!". She has such a vibrant personality. Everything is larger than life for her. She has that gorgeous smile with those long eyelashes. But then she can get mean and hit or scratch her sister (wonder where she learned that?) and talk with such a mean tone. It's sad, but funny at the same time. She still adores Sarah and the feeling is reciprocated. They both light up when they see each other. I love it. She climbs anything and everything. If she falls, she gets back up and tries again. Even off big stools- that girls has no fear! Well- until it comes to strangers. She still won't stay in nursery without me. There are male nursery workers... I'm not sure I would want to stay, either! Katie can mostly dress herself now. She even has an opinion at times as to what she will wear. Hence the picture to the right- nice outfit and yes, she has climbed onto the counter to get herself a snack. :-D

Sarah has become a little kid. She's never been a big fan of baby food (I still have to feed her through a dropper- she won't use the spoon unless there's "real" food on it). She eats macaroni and crackers and ravioli and fruit and basically anything you put in front of her. She really liked the grilled cheese sandwich. I don't remember either girl eating this kind of food at 9 months old. Crazy kid. She's crawling all over the house and cruising along furniture. She can stand for a few seconds on her own without falling. She's not interested in walking, and I'm not pushing the issue! She has the best little giggle and when she smiles her whole face lights up.

Ellie and Katie just adore Dick and Sybil Smith. I think I've mentioned this before. But they really have a strong attachment to them. Ellie sits on Sybil's lap and Katie sits on Dick's during Sacrament meeting now. We were talking about it today and I don't know what we'll do when we move to Kansas. The girls are going to have a serious adjustment there! Not sure we can handle the 10-hour drive every Sunday to attend church here, though :-) They came over to enjoy dinner with us tonight and we always have such a good time with them. It will be sad for everyone when we have to part ways. We've already talked about having them come visit as often as possible.

We had a strange phenomenon occur here tonight. There's about 8 inches of snow on the ground right now (which the girls have had a blast playing in). This evening it started to thunder and lightning- and it was a very impressive storm. But instead of rain, it snowed! I have never seen that before. Very cool.

I guess that's about it for now. I'm sure there were other things I wanted to write about, but forgot. We're anxious for Mom to get home. She's been gone almost 2 weeks now and we're looking forward to having her home this week if she can outrun the snow. Dad's super busy with all the jazz festivals in the area, so we haven't seen a whole lot of him lately. It's a busy time!

About housing... I got a call from Picerne the other day and they actually offered me a house. But (and I hope this was the right decision) I turned it down. There are old homes that were built in the early 1900's on "Main Post" that have hardwood floors, have "character" and are drafty, but are nice if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not. Then there are houses on "the hill" that are newer (last 10 years) and have carpet and an attached garage. That's where we were before and where we'd like to be again. So I turned down the house on main post and am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a house for us on the hill by the time Steve gets home.
We had some fun taking pictures the other day... you can see them here.