elaine & grace

hi! we're elaine and grace. we live in chicago. this is our web site.

as you can see - most importantly, we LOVE TO SWIM! grandma takes us to the pool near her house every other saturday and mommy takes us to the pool near her house on the other saturdays. in the summer mommy's best friend jeff has a pool near his house and we try to go there as often as he will let us ;-) there is also a water park only two blocks from our house that we can go to in the summer. we both swim like fish and can go off the diving board into the deep end.

elaine is nine years old and grace is seven years old. this year grace had a dress-up as a princess party for her birthday at mom's house and elaine had a roller-skating party at orbit. elaine is in third grade and grace is in first grade at a elementary school just blocks from mom's house. we have had a very busy year and haven't updated our web site in a long time. we hope you like the new pictures and stories about us!

our pet dillon is a guinea pig. he likes to eat carrots and alphalfa hay and broccoli and romaine lettuce. he squeaks and runs around his cage when he hears someone move a baggy around in the kitchen. we just found out that he really likes strawberries. every three months mommy gives him a bath and a haircut so that he smells really nice.

lately dillon has gotten into the habit of crawling out of his cage (which we leave open on top) and into the bag of hay that mommy leaves next to the cage. we come into the basement to find the piggy missing and wait to hear the paper bag rustling and there he is! mommy needs to stop leaving the bag of hay next to the cage. she gets the hay from her horse dax, whatever is leftover in her horse trailer after taking him out on the road. dax's "leftover" hay is usually enough to last dillon for two months or so.

this year both elaine and grace have done a lot of horseback riding with mom. elaine has been in riding lessons at a stable near home every thursday night and she has been doing very well. she is cantering and jumping. mommy took her out on sugar for a trail ride while mommy rode dax and elaine fell off. whoops! that's two! mommy took grace out on sugar for a trail ride and this time mommy did not ride so fast. grace did not fall off. this is probably for the best since grace is not in riding lessons yet.

we love our new baby brother kane. he was born in december 2000 and this past year has been very busy as kane is learning new things every day. we love to babysit and read books to him. he likes to climb the stairs up into our room on the second floor to put all of the little things we keep scattered on our floor into his mouth.

this year our dad's new restaurant "elaine" opened to rave reviews. dad is currently negotiating to buy back his interest in "grace" restaurant as well. elaine restaurant is in naperville and grace restaurant is in downtown chicago. in 2000 dad (ted cizma) won one of ten "best new chefs of 2000" awards from food & wine magazine and we got to go on a trip to colorado.

"grace" restaurant review

"elaine" restaurant review

elaine & grace's stuff

• various pix from summer of 2002

  pictures summer 2002

• jazz fest in new orleans spring 2002

  a week-long trip to lousiana with dad, erika and jackson

• pictures summer 2001

  various pix from summer of 2001

• pictures summer 2000

  various pix from summer of 2000

• pictures summer 1999

  various pix from summer of 1999

• tennessee camping with mom

  a four-day trip in 105+ degree temps in august 1999

• pictures summer 1998

  various pix from summer of 1998

• the story of mr. toad

  a cute story about a found and lost pet

• school pictures; 1997-2000

  school pictures of the girls from pre-school thu present

• christmas pictures; 1993-2001

  all of the christmas pictures that have ever been taken of the girls

• baby pictures; 1993-1997

  various professional photos that have been done of the girls over the years

• elaine's birth story

  elaine's birth story - december 30, 1992

• elaine birthdays; 1992-2001

  elaine's birthday celebrations from 1992 through 2001

• grace's birth story

  grace's birth story - september 16, 1994

• grace birthdays; 1994-2001

  grace's birthday celebrations from 1994 through 2001

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