Christmas Week!

Sabine had an incredible Christmas this year, spread across an entire week. We did a family celebration on the weekends on either end, to spread out the wealth a little, and had Christmas morning at our house on Wednesday. It went beautifully, and I think she really appreciated more of her gifts by having it all spread out a little.

The first weekend was with Aunt Dani, Nana Lin, and the cousins.



They cooked a beautiful dinner, and then we exchanged some presents.





A ballerina doll from Nana and a Katniss Barbie from Aunt Dani were some of the highlights:





Sabine has played with both of them a LOT!

We gave cousin E a Sit-n-Spin, and he had a blast with it--both Daddy and Sabine helped spin him around, and he kept asking for more.





Sabine also got some great dance and art supplies from Great Aunt Diane.



There was also a cool fairy village, that she set up the next day.



Later in the week, on Christmas Eve, Grandmom and Grandpa came down to spend the night. You can't tell from this blurry picture, but Sabine was a ball of energy. The Christmas Spirit can be QUITE EXCITING.



This is the only moment Sabine was still enough to get a picture with the Christmas tree...and that was only with some bribing.



Still, I think it's a good memory!

Christmas morning, she was up bright and early. 5:20 AM. Ooof. Normally these days she's sleeping until 7:00 or so, but I think the urge to visit the potty woke her up, and there was no going back to sleep after that!

We waited for a little longer before waking Grandmom and Grandpa up, then went downstairs.



Santa arrived, and, in fact, put out presents under Sabine's little tree as well! (Including the requested cash register and snow globe.)







Nana Lin, Aunt Dani, and the cousins came for brunch, and it was fun having all the family together.



We had our first, but hopefully not last, Yule Log cake this year. (Very pregnant mommy was probably the most excited about it.)



But hopefully everyone had a good brunch.







Sabine even had her juice out of a champagne glass.



On Thursday or Friday, Sabine realized she had completely forgotten about her stocking, and that Santa also put presents in there, so she had a fun time opening those, and partaking of the goodies inside.



Then on Saturday, we went up to Grandmom and Grandpa's house for a celebration with them.







The BIG present was a doll bed station, where Sabine could feed, bathe, cloth, and put two babies (and one bunny) to sleep at the same time.









Among many other lovely gifts, she also got a hand-made sweater from Grandmom!



(If you noticed the dress, it is an actual dress from Switzerland that mommy wore when SHE was four!)

And a marble run, that she liked, but I think mommy and daddy have had just as much fun playing with, so far.
;-)



There was also the annual running of the trains, both the smaller one upstairs under the tree and the big layout downstairs, but mommy wasn't able to lumber down the stairs this year to get a picture.



Sabine also noticed the guitar for the first time, and had a great time playing for Grandpa the rest of the day.



We had a sleep-over, as Sabine put it, and a delicious dinner and breakfast, before coming home to really delve into playing with all the new things and starting the clean up process from such an elaborate and lovely holiday.

Leading Up to Christmas

A quick recap of the anticipation of Christmas, before we get to the actual holiday post. Sabine had a great December, with lots of talk of Santa, Rudolph, treats, and WHY.

Sabine made some candy cane cookies with Grandmom:



She went ice skating with one of her favorite babysitters, since mommy is not able to go this year:



It was a huge hit.



Daddy and Sabine met Grandmom and Grandpa and their friends in the mountains for our annual tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree. Sabine helped saw again this year.





And of course partook in the hot chocolate and outdoor picnic afterwards.





And THIS year, Sabine even got to cut down her own, little tree.





She was very proud of it, and nothing would do but to decorate that very evening. So we stayed up a little late.



And did not neglect the family tree, either.







We also had our annual fondue dinner with good friends, and the girls watched Frosty the Snowman after they ate their mac & cheese, while the adults worked through a hearty amount of melted swiss cheese.



Next up, the Yuletide celebration that lasted a full week!

Big Girl Room

So this update is a little late, but amidst the holiday chaos, we thought we should share another big change in Sabine's (and our!) life. Sabine has moved upstairs into her big girl room. We got some wonderful design help from one of daddy's old high school friends, who are starting a new company which designs baby nurseries and kid rooms. Here is their website Living Lullaby Designs. We think they did a great job.

















Sabine has made the move easily, we think she just loves her purple (and pink) room, so doesn't mind the distance. Plus, in a few months, little sister will be right next door.

In other news, Sabine did have her four-year-old check-up back in October, and I completely forgot to add the stats. She is now 42" tall, which puts her in the 89th percentile! That is quite a leap, but it's not hard to see, she is definitely one of the tallest kids in her class.

She weighed in at 35.5 lbs, which puts her right in the 53rd percentile for weight.

I wouldn't be surprised if she's added a little more since that doctor's visit, too. I think she's in the middle of a growth spurt right now. I think size 5 clothes are just around the corner.

Completely unrelated, but because she's so cute, Sabine and daddy are upping their pancake game these days, too. Check out the latest: