First Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Birthday - All in One!

I am SO behind on sharing photos, so this is an all-inclusive update. The months of November and December have been very eventful! We enjoyed a wonderful fall with beautiful folliage, as you'll see in the November photos. Our family photo shoot in the leaves was so much fun, and Sapphie posed like a little queen. Now that she's on the move, I'm having a hard time getting some really good head shots. The dogs continue to be amazing with Sapphie, and play with her all the time. She crawls on them, gives them kisses, tugs their ears, pokes them in the eye (see videos!) and pulls their collars off. They are both so patient and we're very fortunate to have had no problems at all.
So far, Sapphie has 4 teeth. Two front top, and 2 bottom. The bottom ones have one tooth between them that hasn't come up yet, so she looks like a little troll when she opens her mouth! Check out the December photos that Hannah took of her in her sled. You can totally see her bottom troll teeth.
Sapphie isn't walking, but she scales the furniture and loves to climb on (and off of) everything! She's an expert at going up and down stairs, and she slides right off our bed without hesitating. We have a gate at the top of the stairs, and she loves to stand there and wait for Daddy to come home. She also loves to pull all of my books off of the bookshelf, them flip through them and say "oooh"..."huhhhh"... she makes these funny little squeek noises that Nona says sound like a little robot.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both families at the condo. Liz and Kevin had the house all prepared, as usual, and we really were able to relax and enjoy each other. Kristen's bear Felicia got surgery (a fill and a tummy tuck, plus her bow was ironed), and she's looking like a new lady! Needless to say, there was plenty of eating, playing, and resting.

Here are our November photos:

December was another big month, with Sapphie's first birthday and first Christmas! Auntie P and Uncle Ollie got their huge tree right after Thanksgiving, so Sapphie was able to enjoy that one right away. We had some great family nights at their place, and got into the Christmas spirit. Sapphie got to watch her first movie, The Snowman, and I think she liked it! There's no talking in the movie, only music and she watched it for quite a while. I also got her the board book, so she can continue to enjoy the story throughout the year. She had tons of fun opening Christmas presents! It was all very exciting and I think her favorite part was ripping (then eating) the paper. Cabot joined in the fun too.
The Sunday before Christmas, we had a wine and cheese party to celebrate Sapphie's first birthday. Just a few friends, dress-up party, wine and good cheese. It was really low-key and special. I made Sapphie caramel cupcakes and she loved them! Sapphie and Auntie P didn't plan it, but they totally matched. She got her first Burton hat, and it looks adorable on her.
Our first Christmas was on Monday night, the 21st. We went to Penelope and Colin's to do gifts with them, because they were going to Katonah for Christmas. Sapphie enjoyed her 2nd Puerto Rican meal made by Papa LaLa (asopao; the first was Puerto Rican lasagna), and she LOVED it. 3 helpings in one sitting if you please! Colin got 2 more Wii sticks plus Super Mario, so we played after Sapphie went to bed. It was AWESOME. You may not know this about me, but I used to be a video game junkie, and champion. I beat all the Marios, Zelda, Mike Tyson's punch out, just to name a few. I was talking a big game and threatening lives before we started up the Wii. Much to my surprise, my fingers are much slower than they were 20 years ago! I've got to practice a bunch to get my game back.
Next celebration: we spent the week in Newport. It was SO relaxing and enjoyable. Hannah joined us for Christmas Eve, and we enjoyed another amazing figgy pudding. On Christmas Day, we headed to the condo for more fun and presents. Sapphie and I went for an afternoon snowshoe with the dogs, and I told her the story of how this time last year, I had a very spicy virgin bloody mary (thanks Uncle Ollie), and labor started 2 hours later! I told her all about the labor, the delivery, etc. I don't think she was listening, because she was busy watching the dogs wrestle, but it was so fun to tell her the story.
The next day, we celebrated Sapphie's first birthday for real. We had a cake, balloons, family, dogs, oh and a 32-year old wax candle that was used for Kevin's first birthday. Yes, even though she likes to organize and throw things away, it turns out Nona does save some things!! Nona also saved and gave Sapphie Kevin's original copy of Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree. We love it!!
Sapphie had her first sled ride in a baby sled that was given to us by the Westons. I think she had fun! She laughed and squealed a lot.
Winston had a photo shoot. Would you look at that face? He should have been named Face. Or Beggar. He's getting better with Sapphie, only humps on the rare occasion. He's also getting better about begging thanks to some boot camp and some training that Nona has been doing on Grandpi.

And here are our December photos:

Happy New Year to All!!!