Ski Weekend

For Elsa's 7 month birthday, we headed up to Tahoe with two other families for a wonderful Ski Weekend.



On Saturday, the Moms went skiing at Squaw Valley, while the Dads stayed home with the babies.



Arne got to take Elsa out in her snow suit and let her play in her first snow.



Elsa also got to play with with the other babies: Syndey (4 months) and Gavin (5 months).



Arne created a wonderful video of the weekend that can be found here: http://www.vimeo.com/stokstad/tahoe password: goodtimes

Elsa at Six Months

Elsa's now 16 pounds and 11 ounces and 27 1/4 inches long. Mobility is the new thing. She was early to turn over, and she's early to crawl. A few weeks ago she improved her inch-worm/army crawl to real hands-and-knees crawling. Pictures don't do this justice so I've made a video (below). She's also able to pull herself up to standing on a coffee table, sofa or pants leg. There's now a baby gate at the top of the stairs. Next up is latches on the cabinets.

Kris holding Elsa in an outfit Karna wore as a baby:

Here's Karna in it:

And here's the video of Elsa at Six Months.:

Elsa at Six Months from Arne Stokstad on Vimeo.

Elsa's Christening

On the Sunday after Christmas, the Nisewaner family and Stokstad family headed to Ocean Beach in San Francisco to baptize baby Elsa.



It was a perfect day. Elsa was a well behaved and happy baby the whole time. Erik (Arne's brother) and Amanda (Karna's sister) became godparents for Elsa.



Grandma Julie performed the baptism with water from Lake Michigan. Elsa's cousins Erika and Sonja were also baptized by Julie, on the beach at Lake Michigan.



After the baptism, we took a walk along the beach and grandpa took lots of pictures. We did manage to get one of him with Elsa.



The grandmas were happy.



And we got a shot of 3 generations of Nisewaners.



We ended the morning by having a lovely brunch at the historic Beach Chalet at the west end of Golden Gate Park.



It was a great day to celebrate baby Elsa.

Elsa's First Christmas

On Christmas Eve day we headed to Arne's parents home in Berkeley to join up with the rest of the Stokstads. Paul and Paula brought their daughters Erika and Sonja from Michigan and Erik was in town from Washington DC. Sonja enjoyed playing with her newest cousin.



We went to the 5 PM Christmas eve family service at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, during which all the children participated in a nativity play--Erika was an Angel, Sonja a sheep, and Elsa a cow.



Back at home and out of her cow costume, Elsa had some quality grandma time



and participated in a long standing Stokstad tradition: the Christmas family picture in front of the hearth.



Here's an example of an early 1980's version. Julie (Arne's mom) is not in the picture - maybe she was behind the camera. The bottom three on the right were guests. Arne's uncle Paul is in the top left and his grandparents are in the middle.



Christmas morning, Elsa got to open her first Christmas stocking.



Then we opened presents under the tree. Elsa had a lot of fun.



Then we headed to Millbrae for Christmas morning with my Mom



and sister Amanda.



In Millbrae, Santa filled all our stockings. Julie (Arne's mom) knit stockings for Arne and Elsa to match mine.



Christmas Afternoon we spent in San Francisco with my aunts



and cousins



at my cousin Matt & Warren's home. It was a wonderful Christmas night.



The holiday season was even more joyful with Elsa. After the events were all over, she got to play with all of her gifts.

Elsa's First Thanksgiving

Elsa's first Thanksgiving Day was spent at my Mom's house in Millbrae. This year we are very Thankful for having Elsa in our lives.



My Aunt Frances, cousins Matt & Alex, and others joined us for a lovely meal.



The week began with an outing to SF MOMA with Mom and Aunt Frances.



They we all had dinner at the Hayes Street Grill. Elsa was a big hit!



The week ended at the Los Altos Festival of Lights - where Elsa enjoyed all the bright lights and costumes.

Elsa & Karna November Adventures

November is my last full month home with Elsa, so I took it as an opportunity to take Elsa on some great adventures. She is now 4 months old and 15 pounds and a great traveler.

Our first overnight plane trip without Daddy was to Newport Beach to visit my friend Tracy and her daughter Sage. We wandered around Balboa Island and found giant Pumpkins.



Sage was wonderful at the big sister role and even had a matching sleeper!



The next Monday was Track Suit Monday in the park. This was our last outdoor park meeting, as it is getting colder and wetter and not as easy to meet up. Sunny continues to be a good friend to play with.



Our big November trip was to Boston. Elsa dressed up in her outfit from Uncle Carter as we packed for the trip.



While it was a long flight with a lap baby, it was nice to arrive and get to enjoy sunny cold New England Days. I liked dressing Elsa in my childhood warm weather wear and let her play in the fall leaves.



We visited my friend Phoebe in Bedford and enjoyed some Bedford Farms ice cream!



Then we met up with my mom's cousin Betsy, who lives in Brookline, near where I used to live.



Also in Brookline was Joy and her kids Axel and Annika. Elsa had fun playing with Annika who is 2 months older then her.



On Saturday, Amanda and Carter took us around Boston, starting in the Boston Gardens. We stopped by the Make Way For Ducklings statues.



Elsa is my special little duckling.



It was nice to have Amanda carry Elsa for some of the day - they looked very good together.



We even got to meet with Santa.


There was a random photo booth for the Boston Ballet that took a crazy photo of the 4 of us and the nutcracker bear.



When we got home, Carter and Elsa took some time to chill out on the couch.



We had a wonderful trip.

Elsa's First Halloween!

Elsa was a Sunflower for her first Halloween!



She had an exciting day of making Daddy orange waffles for breakfast.



Then adventuring around town in the sweater her grandmother made her.



And the evening was spent trick or treating until she wilted.