Do we look alike?

Okay, I totally feel like my girls look nothing like me. I have black hair, Chloe has brown,

I have brown eyes, Chloe has hazel, I have medium skin, Chloe has fair, I am a shorty and Chloe will be taller than me by the time she hits 10. Not to mention I always get asked "are they yours". Of course they are mine fool! Haven't you ever seen Amer-Asian kids before? I know I look young but I'm not 19!

Anyway, I look at pictures of the girls and they are getting soo big! I wish that I could just stop time. I told Ava the other day that I was sorry to inform her but she will not be having a birthday this year and she will have to stay 4. She said "okay mommy" Is that wrong of me? I just don't want her to grow up ever! I think I need to learn to let go...what do you think?

Oh yeah, shout out to my hubby for getting me a new camera for Christmas. I hope I'm better at posting pictures this year!

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!