Christmas in Chicago

This year we decided to stay in Chicago for the holidays. It ended up being a good idea since we will be moving Jan. 31st. Keep your fingers crossed on that one. We really enjoy being in town because the city has soo much to offer during Christmas. The Hancock lights are red and green (we have a great view of that right out our front room), Macy's store front windows are decked out for Christmas, Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza and who can forget our favorite the Museum of Science and Industry "Christmas trees around the world" display. We have made it our tradition to go every year and it always puts us in the Christmas spirit.

Our girls have been out of school and have another week at home with me. We are keeping busy with play dates, visiting museums, baking lots of cookies, movies and of course along with spending 24/7 with each other comes the regular fighting, screaming and pulling of hair. It's like WWF smackdown here. I know the girls are fighting when I hear from the other room someone shouting out "you little nasty" not sure where that one came from. They share a love/hate relationship but really it's love most of the time.

We spent Christmas eve here and decided to spend Christmas day with my family out in the suburbs. Robert worked on Christmas eve and we picked him up 1/2 a day and headed down to Hyde Park to the Museum of Science and Industry. We love going to the Christmas tree display every year. Such an amazing sight to see all the trees from around the world. It reminds me that Christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world. Everyone has their own culture and tradition but we all come together on that very special day. After that we had it all planned out to have dinner at Smith and Wollensky's for Christmas Eve but somehow we ended up at Rock 'n Roll McDonald's. At least that's a memory that will be treasured :>)

Christmas was spent with my family in the suburbs. We missed my sister Jean who is on a Russian Riveria cruise with her husband and my sister Dee who spent the holiday's in Wisconsin this year. We were able to spend some time with my parents and my brother John, my sister Patty and her boyfriend Ben. I am soo thankful to be near family and feel very lucky to have them so close. As this year will soon come to an end, I pause for a moment and reflect on all the many blessings in my life. I am grateful each day for all that I have and I feel truly blessed to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends. Cheers to a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!!!

City or Suburbs?

Did I just say that? I can't believe that we are even thinking of moving to the suburbs. We promised ourselves that we would never do that. Someone please talk me out of it!!!!

We're moving!!!!

We close on the sale of our home Jan. 31st....stay tuned......
Not sure where we'll end up!

Happy Halloween

We have made it our tradition to head down to Hobart, IN to County Line Orchards (countylineorchard.com). It's about as far away from big city lights as you can get without heading east to Michigan. Yes, I could go to the local Dominicks and buy pumpkins for 1/2 the price but that's no fun. I've noticed the bigger our girls get each year the bigger the pumpkins get.

Chloe wants to be a witch for Halloween and Ava wants to be a cupcake. Now, the only issue here is I'm going to attempt to make Ava's costume. Jo Ann Fabrics here I come!! Did I mention I don't sew? I'm hoping a little bit of tacky glue and a whole lot of prayer will get me through. It's Tuesday night and she needs the costume by Friday morning for school. Wish me luck!!! I figure if worse comes to worse she could go as a ghost (can you say white sheet and a pair of scissors:>). What a bad mommy I would be if it came to that!

Morton Arboretum

The month of September was absolutely lovely. We decided to take the kids to the arboretum one Saturday and had such a great time there. We look forward to going back in a couple of weeks to see the fall colors. Great family memories to be made....

Where is my free time?

So, you would think that with having 2 kids in school all day I would have plenty of time to sit around and do nothing. Not the case here. In fact, I think that if I did nothing productive all day I would get bored out of my mind.

Good thing "shorty" aka Ava is home on Tues. and Thurs. to keep me busy. We are still able to enjoy some quality time together. The other day we took the train to meet daddy for lunch. Ahh....I just love the city and everything it has to offer. Here are some pics of Ava waiting at lunch for daddy to show up. Note that she picked out her own outfit rain boots and all (it wasn't raining but totally part of the outfit)

Oh yeah, the pics of Ava in an aisle crouched down at CVS pharmacy is of her making a plea to get a stuffed bear. We are working on this concept here in the Pace household that the girls Do Not have to get something everywhere they go. She is negogiating very hard on her end. I'd like you all to know that I prevailed! We walked out of the store with nothing in hand. Now that is worth a star sticker!

Official First Day of School

Their off...I can't believe that school is in session. Robert and I were just saying how big our girls are getting. Every year we take a picture of them on their first day back to school. I have a feeling that Chloe will be taller than me next year! Ava is growing like a weed. I feel like I've been buying her new shoes every month because her feet keep growing.

We had a great summer but I'm glad we're back to school now. We were gone for a good portion during our vacation but once we came back we had 2 weeks until school started. Let me just say that the last week I thought I was going to lose my freakin' mind. Being home with both girls all day every day with no break is like watching "Days of Our Lives" play out in real time. Someone is always crying, there's a little bit of hair pulling, a little bit of back stabbing and a whole lot of drama going on around here folks!

Pace Family

So, here is a portion of the Pace family. We spent the early part of August in Sonoma Valley for

Robert's sisters wedding. It was soo much fun and such a beautiful setting. I will have to post some more pictures soon. The girls will both be in school next week leaving me with some free time. Catch up soon.

Summer Vacation

We are trying to keep busy this summer although I must say that's somewhat hard to do when the weather is so unpredictable here in Chicago. One day it's 88 and sunny the next day it's 56 and rainy. What to do? What to do?

This past weekend for the fourth was filled with family fun. Robert was able to take the day off on Friday and we ended up taking the girls to Cirque Shanghai. Great show! We also ended up going to my parents for the fourth for a bbq. I love that we can make an escape from the busy city and get our feet into some grass and a backyard.

The girls have been getting along (most of the time). Neither one wanted to do camp because they wanted to spend their summer vacation with me which to be honest with you I don't mind and actually cherish the time I have with them. Ava will be starting full day preschool 2 x's a week in the fall and I can't imagine what I will be doing with my free time. Chloe will be going into 2nd grade and as you can see from the pictures looks like she's 10! Please someone stop time for me. I kiss on Ava everyday hoping she will stay 4 forever!

Anyway, before I start shedding a tear thinking how fast they are growing I will end my blog here. Enjoy the pics of the girls.

Is it summer?

I know it's officially summer time but it DOES NOT feel like summer here in Chicago.
It feels more like April because we have been getting more rain than sun. I was planning on spending our days at the parks, beaches and strolling along the lake instead we have been indoors trying not to drive each other insane. I have a very strong-willed 7 year old and a very naughty 4 year so playing indoors all day gets a little crazy. Let's just say there have been a lot of prayers to Jesus on my end.

Although, I must say I'm loving the fact that we don't have to get out the door by 815am to get everyone to school on time. We can sleep in and have a decent breakfast. No more cheetos in a bag for breakfast. Come on... I know that I'm not the only mother out there that did that.
Anyway, we are hoping the weather gets warmer and that we'll be able to enjoy some days at the beach before school starts back up. Here are some pictures of the kids at the park and at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Lots 'o fun!!

Preview To Summer

This past weekend was a preview to summer. We had great weather and time was spent with family and friends. We threw a big birthday bash for our girls and had a great time. Thank you "Pump It Up" and thank you to all family and friends who made it to the party. I think that next year we will be having a low key birthday bash.

We had lots of fun touring the city with my sister Jean and her husband Jay who were visiting us from Los Angeles. Jay is quite the "professional" photographer and was able to get some great random shots of the girls as they explored the city. Ava is not one to take photos. She is very camera shy so it was great to actually have some cute photos of her.

We are counting down the days until summer vacation. The girls have a couple weeks of school left and then you can find us at the beach everyday! We have lots of fun outings planned and we really look forward to our big 1 month vacation in July to the west coast.

www.340wsuperior601.com

So, do we have any takers? Our home has been on the market for 3 months and I am giving myself 90 days to sell. Spread the word.......

What is up????

Okay, I know I've been terrible with the whole blogging thing. I think I'm just going to accept the fact that I will never be the kind of mom who blogs on a regular basis, nor will I be the type of mom who makes a bird house with her kids out of pinecones and peanut butter. I love sleep way too much to stay up late to blog and as far as crafts go, someone always ends up with too much glitter in their hair! But for you mothers who find the time to blog and who make caterpillars out of pipe cleaners and cotton balls, please keep it up. I'm always looking for a hero!

Here is the Pace update...our house is still on the market. I guess you could say I've been really busy with open houses, showings, etc.. It is a pain in the arse to keep my house spic and span 24-7! Didn't really think about that tiny detail when I decided to put the house on the market. Oh well, at least the kids can eat off the floor it's soo clean. No need for the 5 second rule at my house.

The girls are back at school this week after having had spring break. We didn't get a chance to actually go anywhere because the girls did not have the same week off. So, we were happy to hang out here and find lots of fun things to do around the city.

I can't believe that they will be celebrating birthday's next month. We are very excited to have it at Pump It Up! The girls said that they would share a birthday party (each get their own cake of course). I love the fact that their birthday's are exactly 3 days and 3 years apart. Makes it especially easy for mom to remember. No excuses in forgetting that date.

Chloe is our very outgoing, passionate, determined and dramatic daughter. This girl will wake up at 6:30am to do homework if she hasn't finished it the night before. Am I bad mom for telling her to go back to sleep? Needless to say I haven't had to use an alarm clock in.....7 years. As for the dramatic part of her, I always tell her that she better come home with an Oscar when she grows up because her mama mama can't take no more drama drama.

Ava is our shy, compassionate and highly sensitive girl. She is a joy to be around. I forgot how much fun a 3 year old can be. I tell you....the things that come out of her mouth are hilarious!!! The other day she said she wants to be naughty because she likes the time out chair. Guess where I put her-the time out chair. Oh here's a good one...we were in the dressing room at Nordstrom's the other day. I was trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans (and I mean squuueeeezzzze). She looked at me and said "mommy those look too tight, don't rip the pants". nothing like walking out of the dressing room and feeling like a 500lb. cow! So, I'm back to my eat nothing but everything diet. We'll see how that goes.

Okay, before I spend too much time on this blog I will throw in some recent pictures of the girls.

Enjoy!
p.s. dosen't Chloe look like she's 12 years old in the first picture. She just got bangs and she looks soo much older.

For Sale...

I mentioned earlier that I am a licensed real estate agent and I just had to share the good news with everyone that I have my very first listing. Does it count that it's my own home? Yes, Robert and I are hoping to move very soon. We've been in our condo for over 6 years and it's getting too small for a family of four. Check out the listing below and start spreading the word. Oh, there will be pictures uploaded within the next few days.

www.340wsuperior601.com

My Kind Of Town...

This past week our family has played tourist in our favorite city. We can't believe how much there is to do and we feel we've barely scratched the surface! Because we stayed here for Christmas this year we decided that we were going to try and take the girls out everyday for a fun activity. Our week started out at the History museum and that was a lot of fun. As you can see from the pictures the girls had a lot of fun pretending to be a hot dog (hold the ketchup please!)

The next adventure was Navy Pier and the ever so exciting Winter Wonderland Fest. If you missed out this year, I highly recommend putting it on your list for the holidays next year. It was fantastic. The girls had a blast. Navy Pier converted one of their ballrooms (170,00sq. ft.) into an amazing festival of fun. There were 2 ferris wheels, 3 rides, a carousel, a skating rink, over 10 sliding/jumping inflatables, over 100 Christmas trees and plenty of tired parents!!! Memories to last a lifetime.