Pre-Christmas

The lead-up to Christmas this year was a lot of fun, and went way too fast.

We have been ice skating a few more times, Sabine has gotten the hang of it, and is skating by herself without hanging on to anyone or anything this year.



We made it downtown and had a wonderful visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus


(The sign says "Santa's Chalet")

I have no idea how it happened, because we have waited close to an hour in years past, but this year there was no one else in line! We had Santa all to ourselves. Sabine had a GREAT visit, and Santa and Mrs. Claus really chatted her up.





At one point Santa asked if Sabine could count to ten, and she explained (in no uncertain terms) that she could count to one hundred. Santa was so impressed, he invited her to come to the North Pole and help count toys. Mom and Dad explained we weren't quite ready to have Sabine leave home to go to work, yet, but the offer made QUITE an impression. Sabine talked about it the rest of the day, and it has come up a couple times since.



We even got Aspen in for a picture.



She was a little unsure about the whole thing, but cooperated long enough for a few pictures!



All in all, it was a great visit.



And the most interesting piece for Aspen was not even Santa, but the nutcracker on the way out.





Then we had a lovely holiday celebration over at Nana and Aunt Dani's house.





The girls were spoiled with presents, (and so were the adults, for that matter!)



Although Aspen seemed to love the wrapping the most!





Then we all sat down to a lovely meal together, although mommy goofed and forgot to get a picture because we were too busy eating. But suffice to say it was a wonderful afternoon and evening with family!

10 Months Old

Hello! Running a bit behind, I know, I know, Christmas, but first we need to document the 10-month milestone.

Aspen is officially ten months old. She pulls up to stand easily, and can walk with barely any support, often only with one hand hanging on to something(preferably someone) but doesn't quite have the confidence to let go. As soon as she realizes she's unsupported, she sits down. She seems to be teething, but we haven't seen any evidence of a third tooth poking through, yet. Nights have been a bit rough, something seems to wake her up more nights than not, but she's still on a pretty predictable schedule during the day, taking an hour and a half nap at 9:00 AM, and a second nap around 3:00, give or take, which is usually about half an hour.



Sabine is still Aspen's favorite person to interact with, although she has gotten a little more clingy to mom and dad when she's in an unfamiliar situation. Sabine can get her to laugh like no one else can, and they still love to make "stink face" at each other and then crack up.



And any toy that Sabine shows an interest in is gold. Aspen doesn't have much use for baby toys, but don't get between her and one of Sabine's stickers or Barbies, she will tell you in no uncertain terms how much she cares about it.

Aspen is still very sweet, and overall easy-going, although she is still not a fan of her car seat, or even her high chair these days. She prefers to feed herself finger food, lots of puffs (or any bread product) and likes to share mommy's smoothie for breakfast. She also tried spanikopita for the first--but clearly not the last--time: she LOVED it. (Mommy's girl!)

Aspen's main word/sound is still "ada," although it's more nuanced now, and there is a slight distinction for "water," "outside," "all done," "cat," "Hunter" (which is any baby, including the graphic on daddy's Lee t-shirt), and "Sabine."



Aspen is also getting into more mischief as she gets more mobile, and fortunately there is a big sister there to catch her getting into things she shouldn't (mommy's purse, the stairs, Christmas cards, and Sabine's Legos, are a few favorites) when the parents are slacking.

Sabine is now off from school for a winter vacation, so we'll see how this goes, all being home together all day long!

The Happiest Season of All

(The picture we ended up NOT using for our Christmas cards!)

We have been having fun, and staying quite busy this December, despite going through several rounds of sickness.

I'll let the pictures do most of the explaining.


At Costco, I got a kick out of seeing them both in a cart together!

We had a couple of very warm days after Thanksgiving, so we took advantage of the agreeable weather to get to the park several times (with daddy!) and put up our outdoor lights.

Aspen LOVES going outside and seeing the lights. She says "ada" or "ata" all the time, and it can mean any number of things, including both "outside" and "lights."

We went to our town's annual parade of lights, and met up with some good friends to watch the parade.

Grandmom and Grandpa even joined us this year, and helped juggle a very excited/overwhelmed/tired baby.

The ice rink also opened up, so we took Sabine. (Daddy and Aspen got to take pictures.)

Sabine loved it, and even managed to move around on her own this year. She's expressed an interest in lessons, so those may be in our future.

Post ice skating, we went on a horse-drawn carriage ride around town. That was fun, too.

This weekend we went to get our Christmas tree with Grandmom and Grandpa on their friends' property. It's turned into a fun tradition, complete with winter picnic. I am very glad Aspen got to check it out this year, even if she was underwhelmed by such a long car ride.






Sabine found and cut down another "kids tree" this year.













We promptly got the trees home, then set them up today:



Complete with traditional kiss-the-angel picture:





Just in time for our annual fondue dinner with friends!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving, with the whole family celebrating together over at Aunt Dani's and Nana Lin's.


Sabine and daddy admired Grandpa's carving work.






Grandmom helped Aspen get in some good walking practice, and Aspen figured out how to take a toy with her.



It was a calm, fun day, with lots of good food and the family we love!