Michelle's update

December 12, 2006

Hi Everyone,

I am finally writing an update. I have been meaning to since Sunday, but things are busy:)

There are a lot of pictures. I feel like I have to send all the cute ones. Feel free to skim over them...

There are pictures of the girls in their ballet outfits. They were mice and lambs for the recital on Saturday afternoon. I was very impressed with them. They performed beautifully. They were not afraid at all. Katelyn was by far the smallest ballerina there so she got lots of laughs. She did her part wonderfully. We had two dress rehearsels for it and then the recital so we did lots of ballet this past week. We are not doing any until January now so they get a short break. They love it.

There are also pictures of them frosting sugar cookies for the ward Christmas party. They love baking with me. They have also done lots of crafts. I ordered a bunch from Oriental trading company and they have kept them very occupied. We have a few hanging on our tree. I've made sure to date them and have them sign them so we can see their artistic talents over the years. It should be fun.

There are pictures of Justin standing at his new favorite toy that I borrowed from a friend. Katelyn loves the new toy too. She carries it around to wherever Justin is. He is a great stander. He can stand without holding on to things now for a few seconds before falling. He climbs right back up to standing and tries again. He likes to try to balance. It's fun to watch. Luckily he hasn't had any success on the stairs yet although he tries everyday. He loves to climb under chairs and under the girls' craft table. He knows he can always find something small to eat under these places. I have pulled many beads, strings, marker lids, etc. out of his mouth. He wants to eat these things, but has NO interest in eating baby food still. He just spits at me and looks at me like I've got to be kidding when I offer him baby food. I think he just wants a big peice of pizza or a hamburger or something. It's funny. He is nursing like crazy still as this is his only source of nourishment. I'm struggling to keep up with him. He is 9 months old next week. Time is flying with him. I love him. I am still struggling to get him to sleep, although I'm not really struggling as I don't do anything about it. He figured out how to get around his bumper pads so he can stand in his crib and throw his binky out. He seems too young to be doing this and I thought it was just by accident until I saw that EVERY time I go in there after trying to put him down he is standing there looking pathetic (he holds on just with one hand) and has thrown his binky out. He has a good arm. He is still the favorite at the YMCA. They love him there. It makes it so easy to drop him off while I work out.

Katelyn is into "totally." Everything is totally. "Mom, I'm totally hungry, huh, mom." Makes me smile. She is still my artist. All day long.

Ashley is wonderful, as always. She is Justin's favorite and is so great to him. She plays with him and helps him and is just overall wonderful with him:) She loves pre-school and was SO excited to give her teachers presents today. She told them multiple times that they needed to wait until Christmas to open them. She is opening up at school, although she is still pretty quiet while she is there. She loves to be the helper and do the show and tell bag.

Hans and I are well. We bought a tree and have our house decorated and I'm pretty much done with Christmas preparations. It's been fun this year. Hans has been busy planning his X-box party for Thursday, which is his birthday. He turns 30. It sounds kind of old to me. He is keeping his youth by playing video games for his party. I bought a lot of junk food for them. He thinks there will be a lot of people coming. Should be interesting.

We're thinking of all of you!

Love, Michelle