Dejavu'

I know it's not Halloween anymore but Ava INSISTS on wearing her snowwhite
costume everyday!!!
Yesterday we had a gentleman ask if she was going to a party and I replied
"Oh, no this is her daily wear." Another gentleman asked if she was going to
a play and I replied "Oh, no this is her daily wear." We had lunch at Panera
and a group of girls thought Ava was the cutest thing and one girl said "I
always wanted to dress up as a little girl and my mom never let me go out in public
with it on." so, I guess it's
not a bad thing to let her wear her princess outfit everyday. Besides who dosen't
want to be a princess everyday?

Lunch with Dee

It's great having 3 sisters to choose from. I love the fact that Dee and I can
meet together once a week for lunch. It's great one on one time with her and
Avie (ava). We decided to head to our most favorite pizza joint-Aurelio's. There
is only one in the city and it's in a Holiday Inn believe it or not! Chloe was able to
join us this time around because she had half a day of school.
Auntie Dee, what would we do without you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it was a quiet thanksgiving for us in Chicago.
Robert and I decided to take the girls out for dinner to
Smith & Wollensky's on the river. We had a great time.
The girls enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner. Chloe of course
ordered turkey and surprisingly Ava was all over my filet
mignon. Can you believe at the age of two she's in love with
filet medium rare! She's an expensive gal.

After dinner we toured the city and looked at all the pretty
Christmas trees on display. It was great spending a quiet
evening with our family, but we look forward to Christmas
in Portland this year!

Chicago-My Kind Of Town

We made it to the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights. Chloe was very excited to see Corbin Bleu from High School Musical and Ava was excited to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse. It was a bit chilly but to see their little faces light up was worth every frozen toe and finger. We love the city this time of year. Christmas is definitely in the air! We've made this parade of lights a tradition and hope that one day when if we ever leave Chicago these memories will last a lifetime for our girls!

miss you jean!

here's a shout out to my fabulous sister Jean. She recently made a move to sunny los angeles where she is now pursuing an acting career-ok just kidding she's a corporate 9-5 working gal.
i wanted you to know that we miss you here in Chicago. the girls miss seeing you 5 times a
week during your lunch break and i miss having a built-in babysitter! no really i miss that we can't see you everyday and that you have been such an amazing aunt. we love you!
may love and happiness find you in L.A.

Chloe's photos

Chloe loves to take pictures with my camera...a little scary but
as you can see from the pictures posted here she does a pretty
good job.
She took a picture of Ava getting into some of her Halloween
candy and i love that Ava is about to eat the three musketeers
bar (wrapper and all)!

Love to color!

Here are some pictures of the girls at home. They just love to color and draw.
Ava dosen't always make it on to the paper and Chloe has become quite the artist.
We've been running out of room for all their art work. If you happen to make it over
you will see their creations on doors, walls, refrigerators anywhere we have space for it.

Trick 'or Treat

We had a lot of fun on Halloween. Chloe decided months ago that she would be ariel from the little mermaid and Ava was snow white/pumpkin. She couldn't decided between the two so she was a little bit of both.

Chloe had a party at school and as you can see from the pictures ava made herself right at home with the cake. she was perfectly content sitting all by herself at a table and going to town on the spider cupcakes. Chloe's teacher is the Cinderella in the picture. It looks like they were wrapping Chloe up like a mummy.

Ava at the Park

ava and i thought we would get one last warm day in at the park. she is obsessed with
this little car that they have there. i think that this will have to make it on her Christmas list.

Here are some pictures of ava and her best buddy piper. they are joined at the hip.
We see each other everyday when we drop off the older sisters at school. We also take
dance and art class with each other every week. they just can't be seperated.

Friends in Palo Alto

Here is Chloe and her best buddy Aaron. They were inseperable in Chicago
and we still managed to swing out to California for a quick visit this summer.
Can you believe the size of those lemons! We picked a whole bag full to make
some summertime lemonade.
Ava and Hannah look like they maybe up to some trouble.

an amazing summer

We had an amazing summer this past year. we were able to visit family and friends on the west coast. it was a family roadtrip through california. we started out by visiting the pace family in thousand oaks. thanks mark and grace for letting us room with you. it was great that our two girls and their four children we able to reunite for a few days.
our next stop was disneyland. we promised the girls we would take them that summer and you
know once you make that promise to a 5 year old she is going to hold you to it. it was not only a treat for them, but i have never been to disney so it was just as exciting for me.

napping is a beautiful thing

i think this picture is cute because the girls are practically in
the same position. passed out! that's the way we like them.

Trying to keep up

Okay, i'm pretty lame because i just realized the last posting date
on my blog is march of this year (note to self we are approaching
Halloween).

i figure i better post some pictures before the girls have another
birthday. ava and i have been enjoying our time together while chloe
is busy in school everyday. here were are on michigan avenue and
ava had to stop and pose with the moose or at least i think it was a moose.

later that afternoon ava and i joined my sister dee for lunch. we are excited
that she has landed a job downtown and we will be able to see her more often.

Love Grandparents!

Here is a happy picture of Chloe with my mother and a not-so-happy picture of Ava with my mother. We are very fortunate to live close to my parents. They are always willing to watch the girls every Friday night so that Robert and I can have our date night. Thank you mom and dad! It's been great to see the girls form such a strong relationship with their grandparents.
Despite grandma and grandpa Pace living in Vancouver, Washington we never miss a week without a telephone call to our special grandparents in the beautiful Northwest!
Thank goodness for grandparents.

Busy....Busy....Busy...

Am I the only one out there that feels 24 hours in a day is just not enough time to get things done?
The two girls keep me very busy. There is little time between Chloe's social calendar of events and Ava's gymnastics classes. I know you're probably thinking gymnastics for a 1 year old?
Even though some days are hectic, I appreciate each moment with my two girls.

Here are some photos of the girls getting into a little bit of trouble. They just love playing with
pots and pans and of course dress up!