Father's Day Fun

We had a wonderful Father's Day lunch at the Stokstad's home. Elsa likes spending time with her Grandpa.



Elsa toddled about checking out everything. That's her Grandpa's watch in her right hand.



We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by Arne's mom. Elsa had a lot of fun eating her pork chop.



We played with one of Arne's childhood toys - a truck that Elsa could sit in and be pushed around. It gave her great joy.



It was a great family Father's Day.

May is for Mothers

May was a wonderful month for me. I had my first mother's day, my first anniversary, a new job, my 15th Princeton Reunions and lots of great time with Arne and Elsa.



The month started off with a lovely Mother's Day hike with the dogs at Fort Funston. We enjoyed the sea and the sand and great friends.



For our anniversary, Arne took me out to a lovely dinner in the city and walk along Crissy Field. I got him an Oscillating sander. We took Elsa out for her first bike ride, pulled behind my bike, laughing and hating her helmet.



She also continued her swim lesson. She loves water.



Just after starting my new job with Cadence, we flew out to New Jersey with Elsa for my 15th Reunion.



After fun in the airport and not enough sleep, we arrived in Princeton to heat and humidity. The heat was exhausting.



I showed Arne lots of the old buildings, the great library, where I lived and had classes.



I think Elsa enjoyed the fountain, where she got to swim and play.



On Saturday, I did a reunion row with other '96ers.



Elsa had fun at the boathouse and by the water.



Then it was time to dress up for the P-Rade.



I had fun introducing Elsa and Arne to classmates.



Elsa had fun playing with the cold beer. Elsa spent the nights in Tiger camp, while Arne and I enjoyed the parties and music, including the Beach Boys.



We had a great trip home and end to a wonderful weekend and wonderful May!

Easter Fun!

Elsa had an egg packed Easter weekend.



On Saturday morning, on our morning walk, we saw a line of kids outside the Palo Alto toy store. We headed over and found out they were doing an egg hunt. Elsa got her free bucket and learned how to pick up eggs.



That afternoon, we headed out to Cuesta Park and Ally's Easter hunt. I enjoyed making a lemon Easter Bunny cake.



Elsa once again enjoyed picking up eggs (and playing with Daddy).



On Sunday morning, after a photo shoot with Arne's 'Foxy' Foxgloves that he planted from seed a year ago, we headed over to Karen & Pat Anderson's house for breakfast and Easter fun.



Morgan made Elsa her first Easter basket and then yes, another hunt.



On Sunday afternoon, we headed up to my Mom's house and Elsa got to pick up and play with the eggs my mom dyed for her. Elsa was the star of the family and so cute in her Easter dress from Auntie Amanda.

On Easter Monday, I headed out to Boston for work. Arne captured Elsa laughing on the swing for me. It was just another reminder of how lucky we are to have such a great baby girl.

Elsa April Adventures

April has been an amazing month for Elsa. She turned 9 months old and is now 18 and a half pounds and 28.5 inches long. She has her 2 bottom front teeth, but no top teeth yet.



Her weight gain has slowed down as she now feeds herself and does not like us to help her.





She does enjoy dinner with friends and we enjoy have other families over, like Gavin's family and Oliver's family.



This month she started waterbabies swim class. She has a lot of fun in the water and I have a lot of fun dressing her up in cute swim outfits!

Elsa is also learning. She learned from the dogs how to go out the dog door and has almost mastered coming back in. We finally captured this on video and will post a link soon.





Like her uncle Paul before her, Elsa has discovered toilet paper. It is the most fun to play with!



At daycare she had her first art show and both of the grandmas attended. She was quite the star with them.



Elsa continues to explore everything and it is a joy to watch her grow.

Elsa at 8 Months

Elsa is now 8 months old! It is just such a joy to watch her getting bigger and bigger and seeing her explore more things. In the last month we have seen such exciting developments, like her first tooth!



Elsa loves eating food with the big kids at daycare and looks so cute sitting at the table.



At home, of course, she makes more of a mess.



When we went to the garden, she helped us weed by eating the flowers!



Elsa was a big help to her dad in his garden plot, helping him get it ready for spring planting.



One of her favorite things is bath time, which she needed after a trip to the garden. She loves playing in the bath and will play as long as we let her. She is always crawling over to the bath and pulling herself up to look into the tub and smile.



Elsa worked with her daddy and granddad on building a closet shelf area. She really enjoyed the power tools!



Now, she has her own closet area and a super fun decorated play area to explore. It is wonderful having her room now all set up for her.



At night and nap time I am amazed by how Elsa sleeps. She will just crash wherever she is having exhaused herself.



She also puts herself into crazy yoga poses when she sleeps, which is almost through the night.



Elsa is just a joy!

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