Eli has a thing for hats… Always has. As you can see from this small sampling:
Wearing Dad's Sailing Cap
With one of many knit caps!
This counts right?
Look, I am wearing another knit cap.
All Hat, No Cattle
Can't have enough!
This last was was given to Eli by Rand and Geraldine. Thanks you two!
I should say that 2012 has begun! It’s nearly mid-January, and I have so many words in my mind… it’s been a wild ride just to break through to this new year, and I’m looking forward to things to come. In the meantime, I’ll cheat and give you some joyous highlights from the holiday season.
The day after Thanksgiving, the Kaisers ventured to Bellevue Square Mall in order to take pictures with Santa. Thanks to Susie, we’ve done this for as long as I’ve been associated with the Kaisers. This year was especially sweet, because both Hazel and Eli are at an age where they can interact with Santa. As we waited in line, the Kaisers enjoyed each others’ company. (Please forgive the repeat of some pictures, but they’re just too great not to share.)
A glimpse of Santa's workshop
Heralding Hazel and all her candy cane assessories
Eli wonders what all the fuss is all about... he'll find out soon enough
OK, I said “sweet” but maybe I should have said “hilarious.” For the second year in a row, we set the two cousins by Santa, and for the second year in a row they HATED the entire experience. Hazel definitely leads the charge on loathing Santa. See how Hazel’s disdain for Santa has grown from one year to the next? Side-by-side here are 2010 versus 2011.
Her loathing only increases with time.
Fast forward to actual Christmas when we opened presents with Eli on the morning of Christmas Eve. Eli was a little hesitant about ripping off the wrapping paper, but I think he liked the end result.
Mom! Check out my new toy!
Eli and his dad figure out the "microwave" features
And his favorite present by far was his new microwave. He found multiple uses for it… drum set, weights for strength training, and the actual microwave features. (Anything food-related makes this kid happy.)
We reseted up after opening a few more presents, and made our with to Keith and Susie’s house for more Christmas Eve fun. The plan was to celebrate Brian’s birthday, enjoy a light buffet, open more presents and head to church. We made it through all but the last activity.
Now that I look back on it, there’s no wonder Eli put his head down at 6:30 that night completely ready for bed. After starting his day with waffles and presents, and ending with Kaiser family Christmas chaos, I should have seen an early bedtime coming. But I didn’t.
Let the box races BEGIN!
Wheee!!!
We spent Christmas Day with my folks, Eli’s Gung Gung and PoPo as well as his Uncle Josh. It was small, intimate, and lovely. The best part was that we still had some time in the latter evening just for us.
Our New Year’s holiday, errr, pre-New Year’s since it was the day before NYE, was spent in Lake Joy with Mike, Shannon, and Alison Swift, and Shannon’s folks, Neil and Mary Lou. SO relaxing, and we absolutely adore the Swifts. Going to Lake Joy has always been a bit of a time warp, and this visit was no different. We had a great dinner on Friday night, enjoyed a NYE brunch on Saturday morning, and a lovely crisp walk around the lake. We ended our visit by heading to Woodinville for some wine tasting. Eli and Ali especially had fun, getting all the adults in the room to adore them.
And finally, as a parting note, a picture of “Outlaw,” Eli’s little brother. Outlaw grows, as my belly grows, and I hope he’ll be as sweet and wonderful as his brother!
"Outlaw"
November’s come and gone. I can’t believe it, but we’re officially in the thick of the holiday season. November went by VERY quickly. But we had LOTS of fun! I even got to ski, keeping the Kaiser-family Thanksgiving tradition alive where we head up to Snoqualmie Pass and ski the Summit over the long weekend. It’s not pretty, it’s not great snow, but it’s always worth it.
Thanksgiving weekend usually marks the start of my ski season, and this year proved no different. If I’d had a bit more forethought, I could have gotten a sitter for Eli for opening weekend, which I heard was gorgeously epic and early as far as opening days go. Nate was out of town for a work retreat, and Eli and I spent a sunny weekend playing around town.
Peek-a-boo!
Saturday morning cartoons!
Toybox/ cartoon-viewing seat
We went to parks, we got up early (ahem, HE got up early and therefore I had to as well) and watched cartoons, and we played and played.
New winter hat and mittens
An order of REI winter gear came in the mail as well, and Eli got really excited for the winter season. He put on all his winter gear and showed off what a good ski-kid he’ll be!
And soon enough, it was Thanksgiving weekend. We spent a wonderful amount of time with both the Ngs and the Kaisers. Bethany and Dan came into town, and we all met up at the Seattle Aquarium—Eli’s new favorite spot.
We had a great time visiting with the extended Mark family at 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner (immediately after 1st Thanksgiving Dinner with the Kaisers), and we ate so much that we literally rolled into a busy weekend of holiday activities.
We went to visit Santa, and Eli got a chance to use all his cold-winter gear cuz (as I mentioned above) we went skiing! Oh, didn’t you realize that Eli and Hazel went skiing as well? And, in case you didn’t realize this, my niece Hazel ALWAYS skis with a pink tutu.
But before I give you a bunch of pictures of all this fun, check out a video of Eli’s first run in with bubbles, thanks to Bethany and Dan, PoPo (my mom) and GungGung (my dad). I. LOVE. THIS.
And you’ve been so patient, so here’s the pictures of our Thanksgiving Weekend fun!
Turkey Trot champions and cheerers
In anticipation of Santa
Hazel's Christmas dress... and candy cane accessories
Hazel does NOT like Santa, and Eli's not really sure either
Kaiser family Christmas card... Eli's still not sure
Eli in the snow
Eli and Hazel, gettin' ready to shred
Santa? Are you there?
It’s been a rockin’ autumn… and it’s not even Halloween yet! We’ve been to Whistler, there’s been plenty of sunny days (or sunny hours of days), and Eli got his first taste of the Oregon Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium.
Oh, and he’s walking like a CHAMP! I’ll have to take some video of his newly acquired strut, but in the meantime, here’s some pictures and stories of our autumn adventures.
Father and son "hike" (Whistler, B.C.)
In early October, Eli and Nate spent a weekend in Portland, and in addition to playing with his cousin Hazel, Eli got to check out the Oregon Zoo. Apparently, everything was a “dog,” since that’s one of the few words Eli can say. Nate would point out the elephants, and Eli would say, “dog!” Nate would point out the lion, and Eli would say, “dog!” You get the picture… and speaking of pictures, I’m sorry to say that I have none 
Babies and animals are hard to capture together on a iPhone camera.
"I'm having so much fun in Whistler!!!"
"I'll drive, Mom."
I do however, have plenty of pictures and video from our Whistler weekend. We decided that a family weekend away was just the thing, so we packed the truck and headed north. It happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which meant nothing to us except Whistler was having an enormous ski swap and sales galore. Yay!
I don’t recall the last time I was in Whistler in the fall, but I think we’ll make a tradition of it. It was GORGEOUS, and we all had so much fun! We even ran into our Vancouver friends, Marc, Ann and their kids Luciano and Nico. As it turned out, we weren’t the only ones with the idea to spend the weekend in Whistler!
Eli really started walking with confidence, and he toddled all around the Whistler playground.
Our hotel comp’d us some tickets to a kids show, and Eli toddled all around the concert hall as well… err, when he wasn’t being bumped by big kids that knocked him down.
He’s gotten so good at walking around, in fact, Eli walked all through the Seattle Aquarium last weekend. It was a rainy day, and rather than staying at home and feeling cooped up (like our chickens), we decided to visit the aquarium. As it turned out, we couldn’t have picked a better way to spend a rainy Saturday morning!
Eli’s just at the right age to take in and absorb the sights. He walked around pointing at various fish tanks and exhibits shouting, “Oooo!” and “Whoa!”
Eli takes it it
"Oooo!"
We’re pretty sure we blew Eli’s mind at the aquarium that day. And we can’t WAIT to go back, which won’t be too difficult, given we bought an annual membership. Seattle Aquarium, anyone?
I can only imagine that shortly, we’ll have memberships to all the kid-friendly places in Seattle: the Aquarium, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Pacific Science Center… What am I missing people? Post your recommendations here!
Well, all I can say is that I’m loving this age. He learns new things every day, and everything is amazing and new.
"Whoa!" (We're pretty sure we blew Eli's mind)
Cousin Hazel lives in a three-story town home. That means there are a LOT of stairs. On a recent visit, Eli became a stair master. You’ll see what I mean…
Eli loves spending time in Portland with his cousin, his aunt, and his uncle. Hazel gets a little jealous sometimes, because we all know that she’s a pink princess and therefore deserving of all the attention. I think she might have gotten upset after her mom pushed Eli on the swing instead of her. Eli didn’t seem to notice or care… he was having too much fun!
Why is the pain and suffering of toddlers so funny sometimes?
If the first video hasn’t already convinced you, Eli’s becoming quite the mover and the shaker. He crawls and walks ALL around. I mean ALL AROUND. The playground bark makes it pretty easy to track him…
This morning, my picture feed popped up an awesome fall photo of Hazel back in 2009. She was walking, albeit unsteadily, and the fall colors were absolutely gorgeous. It made me smile, because Eli’s at a very similar stage right now.
I thought you might enjoy this as much as I did. As a point of comparison, here’s Eli and Nathan, walking to school:
Soon, we’ll post some video from the past two glorious fall weekends: During first couple of days of October, Eli and Nathan spent some time with the Barkers in Portland. The next weekend, we Kaisers took a field trip up to Whistler. Pictures and video of both weekends are precious. Here’s a preview:
Eli at the Whistler playground.
Eli's perch for the W. Seattle Hi-Yu Parade, july
The days are getting shorter in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll admit it. I’m not ready for fall. Mostly because it’s been an AMAZING summer.
Granted, summer weather only arrived in late-August, but we were lucky enough to travel east of the Cascades a few times to feel the heat (above 80 degrees counts as heat in my mind) and relax at the cabin. And we took a couple plane trips to warm destinations and family reunions… both my side and Nate’s. So, I’ll reiterate, it’s been an AMAZING summer.
We celebrated my grandfather’s 85th birthday in August, even though his actual 85th birthday was yesterday, the 24th of September. It didn’t matter when we celebrated; all the Ngs gathered in Lake Tahoe, and I’ve discovered my new favorite destination. Lake Tahoe is gorgeous, and one of these days soon, I want to see it in the winter.
We're on a boat!
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
Happy 85th Birthday, Yeh Yeh!
Our summertime visit wasn’t nearly long enough, but we made the best of it by visiting the beach, eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet (cuz where there’s casinos, there’s buffets), swimming every morning with Eli in the pool, taking nearly the entire fam on a 250 hp pontoon boat around the lake (we could have water skied behind that thing if we hadn’t maxed out on people!), and singing lots of birthday wishes to my grandfather… a month and a half early!
Also in August, Eli had his first camping experience, and I discovered how much my little Pig Pen likes dirt! I had already found out how much he likes sand when we were in Tahoe (playing in it, digging in it, eating it…), but Eli took things to a whole new level at Lake Cushman with the Kaiser sibs and his cousin Hazel. This kid discovered dirt, and dirt + the dog dish + a little bit of water left in the dog’s dish = hours of good times.
Pig Pen aka Eli
dirt + dog dish = good times!
Not to mention Eli absolutely adores his cousin Hazel.
Eli got to spend another 5 whole days with Hazel while at the Kaiser ranch in September. We traveled on the same plane to Texas with Aunt Ailey, but we met up with Aunt Eryn and Hazel at the Houston Airport, and from that point on, we were all travel buddies. Nate’s grandfather turned 80 on September 15th. Unlike my grandfather’s celebration, there are not casinos nor gorgeous lakes in Yoakum, Tx so we spent considerably more time in one place–that would be the ranch, and we at considerably more meat–as in BBQ.
OMG, so much BBQ! And so much cake! And so much happy birthday! We were lucky enough to arrive in Texas just as a cool spell hit and just as the rain drops started to fall. It was the first time in months that Texas saw rain, so everyone was celebrating (not just us, the party-goers)!
Party goers gather, post party
Doesn't this say, "80th birthday"?
Eli and his Great-Grandaddy
Happy 80th, Sydney!
Through all these summertime activities, Eli’s developed into a full-fledged toddler, who can walk (sort of), talks back (mostly in high-pitched squeals and sign language… an odd combination, to say the least), and feeds himself (and his ears, and his hair…) We are really loving having a toddler around the house and watching him grow and change quickly!
So, I guess this is Happy Fall, everyone! To the leaves changing, and to the many changes to come! We’ll try to keep you posted 
Eli can "feed" himself!
I will let the photos speak for themselves…
I believe the one taken of my father was sometime around 1960. The one of Eli was taken this evening… Marissa thought the similarity was a bit uncanny.
Nathan and I have been pretty melancholy as of late. We’ve said good-bye to too many friends and relatives throughout April and May, and, no matter how much we celebrate their lives, their passings are really, really sad. Throughout all of this, Eli’s been amazing, and his presence shines over these moments of mourning, bringing overwhelming joy. So there’s been a lot of ups but also a lot of downs.
10-month old Eli is starting to feed himself!
Ups
I can sum this up in one word: Eli. The fact that he’s the light of our lives is pretty obvious, but please indulge me as I elaborate with a few stats. Eli is 10-months old now, and he crawls like a maniac. The kid is FAST. And he really loves being mobile. It affords him an element of independence–he can pretty much go where he wants, when he wants–and he’s having fun trying to get there. We’re on higher alert these days, but even if Eli crawls out of our sight, we can hear the ‘smack-smack’ of his hands on the hardwoods and his heavy breathing–he gets a little breathless when he crawls because he’s so excited about it! It’s hilarious! Just trust me.
Eli figured out how to crawl in earnest way back in March, but he’s just now figuring out how to pull himself up to a standing position. We’re really glad he’s not yet ‘furniture walking,’ but I’m sure that will come soon!
He’s also eating more variety of foods–pretty much whatever we’re eating but in a blended up, mushy format. His favorite foods right now are apples, pears, pancakes, and his long-time staple: sweet potato. He’s still evaluating fried rice and tofu stir-fry, but he enjoyed the chow mein. The other day, he insisted on holding his own spoon. It was a little messy, but so worth it. He’s getting his 7th tooth, and we figure we’d better save up now for orthodontics!
Other ups
After two-and-a-half months abroad, Ailey returned home for a couple of weeks before heading back to Liberia. Yeah, it’s dizzying. My sister-in-law has seen more countries and more rural parts of countries that most of us can imagine. She’s doing field work research and advancing land rights in the developing world. I’m so proud of her! So I’m looking forward to kickin’ it with her tomorrow. We’ve got a happy hour and a girls night planned. Fruity alcoholic drinks and a chick flick are in my near future. This is definitely an up!
And we’re headed to Portland this weekend to kick it with our niece. We’ll get to see Nate’s other sister and her hubby briefly, but mostly we’re chillin’ with the kids in P-town. Another up!
One more awesome thing that I can’t believe I forgot to mention before: I got Lasik!!! After more than a decade of not being able to see without my glasses or contacts, I wake up in the morning and open my eyes to… clarity! My old alarm clock used to be hitting Nate and asking for the time. Today, I just lift my head and look for myself! They corrected my vision from a -9, which is a massive correction of near-sightedness. Now I’m a +2! I [heart] Clearly Lasik in Renton. Even if they have had some drama in that office.
Downs
I’ll go in rough chronological order, since it’s easier to list. Throughout this 2011, we’ve lost a number of friends and family members.
November 2010: Uncle Carl (89) and Eli (4 mos)
Most recently and most poignantly for me, my grandmother went on to heaven on May 9. She passed, surrounded by her eight kids and many of her grandkids. I gave a eulogy on Saturday, but I think it’s still sinking in… She was such an awesome woman. I’ll post the eulogy in a separate message. And this is why I’m especially sad these days. It’s a bit cumulative, but I really miss my PoPo.
Eli and his "Tai Po," Christmas 2010
Last weekend, we packed up the truck and the kid, dropped the dog off at a friend’s, and headed to Packwood. Ailey had organized a Kaiser-kids ski weekend (sans Clayton, who had some prior commitments), and we all piled into adjoining cabins at the Mountain View Lodge, conveniently located 20 minutes away from White Pass Ski Resort.
Hazel's pretty pink ski boots
Since our small Kaiser clan is still getting the hang of packing up for a ski weekend, we were a few hours off our desired arrival time and completely missed the pizza dinner. Miraculously, Hazel was still awake to greet us at 10 p.m., and stayed awake staring and sometimes crying as Unc Nate, Aunt Ailey, Uncle Ritchie, and her dad drank beers into the late evening. Eryn managed to sleep thanks to earplugs and an eye mask, and I never really woke up from the car ride thanks to some powerful muscle relaxers. (Just my luck, the very morning we planned to leave for White Pass Ski Weekend, my back went into spasms. This is the first re-occurrence of back pain since before I was pregnant… Sigh. I REALLY didn’t miss it.)
We all managed to wake up in the morning somewhat rested (despite the fact that Eli woke up and cried several times throughout the night), and we hit the ground running with a hearty breakfast and a lot of ski and baby gear… and some baby ski gear.
Hazel and the stickers
Eli and the stickers
I learned what being a “lodge mom” is all about, and I even managed to get a little work done. The conditions were meh, so I didn’t miss much except for maybe a beer in the ski yurt. What I got to enjoy instead was some really precious time with Eli and Hazel, and I don’t regret not skiing. Eli is enamored with his big cousin Hazel, and Hazel shared her toys, her books, and her stickers with Eli.
Hazel also had a big milestone that day: she skied for the first time without anyone holding her. Brian said he almost shed a tear, right there on the magic carpet. We were all very proud.
But the most precious moment of the weekend had to have been that evening. We were all back at the lodge chilling, relaxing and getting dinner ready, while the kids played around. We decided to set Eli next to his aunt and his cousin and this cuteness ensued. I LOVE this video!
Oh, and in case you haven’t had enough, here’s some more:
"Baby E-ii, I love you!"
Eli thinks his cousin is SO cool
Happiest kids ever