She Skis Therefore She Is

We had an excellent Thanksgiving this year. Our great friends from the UK flew out, we had a mad dash dinner then saddled up the cars for Innsbruck. Never mind the unbelievable hotel mishap. The kids were great on the snow. Angus and Nali took to it like fish to water. Well Angus may have been more like a duck riding on daddy's shoulders but they had a blast. Nali skied independently (nah nah REI guy who said she was TOO little.) An Austrian guy was teaching his 3 year old how to ski by just letting her go down short slips of gentle slope. We had always seen the kid between the knees method in the states. When in Rome... It was brilliant. She loved it. Papa and I played catch with her. I let her go at the top of the hill and he caught her at the bottom. This kid is a natural. She stood up, was able to snow plow and straighten her own skis when they were going cross. We are in the NW now with no snow but promises of "blizzard snows" this weekend. We'll be at a ski resort in Central Oregon (Mt. Bachelor area) for a week and we plan to test out the skis there too. Won't be long before Kera is out on the slopes too. For now she has a cushy lambswool lined chariot to ride in. More when we return. Video footage will come soon as well to prove she wasn't just standing in her skis. Thanks Fi for the proof for future sponsorship.

Kera Grace thinks Eight is Great

26 and a quarter inches, 16.97lbs and loving every minute of it. Sitting is an old trick. She is working on inching like a little worm instead of crawling. She is still so happy unless she is tired or hungry and then watch out. We have added two razor sharp teeth and I am sure a couple more are already on the way.

Technical Difficulties

I finally busted out the USB cord to the Nikon to get the darn pictures off of the SD card that couldn't be read by any of our 3 computers. So here are the pictures.

Seven Months and Gaining

Kera is now seven, going on eight months. She is quite rapidly gaining up to Denali. She is already wearing most of the clothes that Nali wore when she was one year old. Her eyes have settled into an amazing shade of hazel that I have never seen before. She lights up whenever anyone talks to her or plays with her. I call her my little ball of happiness. She does have a temper when she is hungry ( I have no idea where she got that from ) but other than that she is a very sweet, mild tempered baby that just goes with the flow of the duff household.

Forget Candy, We Got Papa

Happy Halloween. We got the best treat ever. Our Papa came home then we got to go get candy, eat chocolate and stay up late. WOOHOO.

My Own Picasso

Picasso might have been a visionary but I am right on his heals. Here are a few of my latest masterpieces. The first one is a large mix of things, the second one is of "a lobster" and the third is of "Bobo and Meme." In the event that I am not a sponsored athlete I can take on a career of artist extraodinairre.

Behind the Scenes Fall Photo Shoot

We have decided to make a concerted effort at going green over the next 5 years. Although I love sending out picture cards it isn't a really green practice from the printing to the shipping. So for now I will just promise to keep pictures coming on the blogs and if you want a file for printing at home I can e-mail one to you.

Trick or Treat

Those of you who know me know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. Easter is now in a tie seeing that both of my girls were born on Easter. Yesterday I got Nali her trick or treat bucket. I told her that she was to carry it to peoples' houses and say "trick or treat." She asked "What is trick or treat mommy?" I said "Well it isn't a thing, it is just what you say and then people give you candy." She seemed interested in that. "Why do they give me candy?" "They give you candy because you look so cute in your butterfly costume. Then you give the candy to Papa."
"That's really nice of me!"

Father's Eyes

No mistaking, that although both girls look so different, they both have their father's eye lashes. These things are like little valances for their eyes. Nali got the blue and Kera Grace is hanging with a greenish, brownish, grey that is unreal. About time a girl got the lashes to die for. This just means trouble when they get older. Not like I don't already have my hands full with a 2 year old that goes head to head with my will power. The six month old is catching on quickly too. Thank goodness we are rounding the home stretch for the said father to get home and share in the "excitement" that only their little twinkly, long lashed eyes can truly describe.

Six Months = Go to Italy

I was just looking through pictures and realized that Nali was 6 months when we went to Lake Garda last. I can hardly remember her with a little round face just beginning to sit and roll and now Kerala is doing those things. Time flies but Italy is forever in our hearts.

Numbers, Merely Numbers

The day we left for Italy Kera Grace and Nali had their "well baby" check ups. Kera weighed in at 15.3 and measuring 26.75 in. Nali tipped the scales at 22.17 lbs (bringing her back onto the growth chart in the 3rd percentile) and measuring 33 inches although I am going to remeasure to check that one. So all in all, the girls are in fact small but getting bigger.

Ciao Bella

Do you know what they have in Italy?! Pizza, noodles and Eis (gelato). Yes. I heart Italy. I am glad to be home and we are all tired and not quite on schedule but all will be good soon. Mommy promised me that we could go for Eis two times this week after school. Check back for slide shows of me and my cute sister.

The Day After Being a Rock Star

Nuff said

BIG GIRL FUN

When mommy told me I had to rest so that I could go to a concert and see a band I took a great nap. When I woke up I found my feather boa in the dress up bin and put it on. Mommy wanted me to wear my other red shoes like papa's (chucks) but no way, I needed to look my best so I had to find my "parkwe" red ones. We had to search the entire house but mommy found them. Good thing cause I was going out in style. Always fashion forward. I loved the concert and so did Kera Grace. I can't wait to go to another one soon.

Back to School

These people know how to have a preschool. I am telling you, between the interior deco/toys, the riding cars and such and the slide built into the side of the hill (pics to follow of that one) I want to go there and play each day. It really puts things into perspective as I teach Early Childhood classes to potential preschool teachers. Of course any time I give an inch to my little brainiac of a 2 year old, she takes a mile. She had to wear her new favorite "I love candy" shirt. It is actually supposed to be pajamas but she insists that you can't eat candy in bed so it is not for bedtime. Then she came home from school and decided she wanted to wear my heals. I told her no, she put them on anyway. I told her she couldn't wear them because she would fall and get hurt. To prove me wrong she made it up a flight of open back wooden stair with them on carrying her sippy cup in one hand. Tu Che. Then the other night she found the ruby slippers. The pictures will tell that story and how well I won that battle. I am conceding to a 2 year old. Time to hit those books I used in the parenting classes I taught before I became one. God Bless Kera Grace for being such a trooper just chilling and rolling with all the punches smiling all the while. Now if I could just get her to stop growing so fast so she didn't have to eat through the night anymore.