©MaryMcgintyPhotography

©MaryMcGintyPhotography

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All photos on this blog are the property of Mary McGinty Photography (unless noted otherwise) photos may not be used or copied without my permission




Sep 30, 2009

the puppy




I am puppy sitting my boss' 4 mo old Aussie doodle, Moshi.
She is about the cutest thing ever!
but....
I don't remember Patrick being this much work as a puppy,
then I realized my kids were babies when we got him.
That's all I knew "baby proof, puppy proof" same thing.
My home is a baby, puppy mishap in the works.

Lego's, shoes, towels, socks, shoes, books,
candle holders, paper towels and kids feet have all been pulled
out of her mouth. Patrick growled at her, at first. I
then had a vision of handing my boss a leash and
empty collar...

Thank God, that was short lived! Moshi took one
bunny flying leap at Patrick and Patrick has been in hiding since


SHOE? WHAT SHOE? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE
TALKING ABOUT...SHOE?!
crazy ass lady










This is the reason puppies and babies are so cute,
it makes it all okay at the end of the day
aaaawwww

My first experiment


I love kindergarten the 3rd time around. I can look at it for
what it is "Kindergarten". No stress, they will learn everything they need to know. I admit it was a little overwhelming the first time around

In math the kids are learning
about volume. To visualize what they learned in class
they had to experiment with water at home.
The kids were instructed to choose any 4 containers, fill
them randomly with water and poor into each other.
Karrick loved it because it was water and a mess, I
loved it because it cleaned his finger nails.



Sep 27, 2009

Sunny Sunday

In between ball games I ran Tim and Callahan
over to the Du page River to kayak.
They drop off kayaks in Wheaton and the van in Naperville and I
follow then and bring them back to Wheaton to begin
They kayak from Wheaton down river to Naperville

Today TJ had 2 baseball games in Wheaton, against
Wheaton. I'm pretty much burnt out on baseball and
so is TJ...too much. TJ has played over 70 games in
a little over 5 months. That does not take into consideration
the amount of hours spent practicing for the last
7+ months. 64+ of those games played as a 12 year old

He is a dedicated ball player and will give it his all
until the end. That being said, if we had to be outside today
we couldn't of asked for better weather: sunny, warm and a
little windy. Not to mention Wheaton is beautiful as are
their parks
Team huddle...I still can't get over how tall my boy is
#36 a full head taller than the rest
(we do start basketball in January....Hmmmmmmm)

#36 TJ desperately trying to steal home and put us on the board



Sep 26, 2009

I got my cheesecake !!!

My birthday cake

Today was the 4th and final day of my birthday. There is
something to be said for being the only girl in the house.
All 4 of my boys made my 45th birthday very special.
Karrick gave me his prized Transformer and didn't even take it
back after my birthday.
He informed me that now we can just share it.
Huge, huge huge huge for a 5 year old.

Tim bought me beautiful
flowers and told me I looked skinny, if that's not
every women's dream I don't know what is


We had planned a movie and dinner for today.
We settled on "Serbian Scar" possibly the worst 30 min of
my life...horrible is all I can say. We walked out and there was another movie starting
across the hall "Whiteout" well after about 20min
into the movie "they jumped the shark" and out we walked.
Another horrible horrible movie


There is always dinner, I had a taste for Mexican
after reading my friend Melissa's blog. The food was just "good",
then we tried some shopping and couldn't find anything to buy.

Tim and I decided it was time to go home. It
really was a wonderful day
we had a great time just being together and
laughing

Around 10 pm Tim, TJ, Callahan and Karrick came up to my
room with balloons, poppers, cards and Cheesecake! I finally got
my cheesecake!
TJ's gift to me was a "21" candle
(smart boy)







My boys ROCK!!
thanks guys, you are the best


"gotcha" at Pleasant Lane Elementary


Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

The premise behind PBIS is to allow for the children to have a complete understanding of our expectations while on school grounds in a variety of areas. Instead of focusing on a laundry list of "things not to do", our system allows us to explain exactly what we want the children to do.

The guideline no matter where one is at Pleasant Lane is to:

1) be respectful
2) be responsible
3) be safe

whenever a teacher sees a student being respectful, responsible or safe
they receive a "gotcha" ticket that has their name, positive behavior
shown and teachers name on it. All "gotcha" tickets are put in a
tall clear cylinder by the office and when the school goal is met,
the kids are rewarded with a pizza party or movie etc.

Karrick came home with his first "gotcha" ticket for
being responsible. Holy Smokes!
He was about the happiest child ever!
The Kindergartener's get to bring their
first ticket home to show off, but they can't lose it
because it needs to go in the cylinder at school. After Karrick showed us
it went back into his backpack

Friday the kids had the PBIS Assembly at school
which was taught by a select group of 5th graders, Callahan
being one of them. Every student received their t-shirt
that they wear on special days for the entire year.
The gotcha's are such a big deal to the little kids and it is just precious
to see the pride on their faces, as kids move up towards
the 5th grade the novelty is lost.

Karrick has transitioned to kindergarten with ease and I consider myself very lucky.
It is hard for some kids because it is all day kindergarten
and most kids seem to do the 1/2 day preschool.
There are still a few kids clinging to mom or dad screaming
everyday before school

Sep 23, 2009

Cheesecake

I just LOVE cheesecake!

I have had a cheesecake craving for some time. For one
reason or another I can't seem to get my cheesecake.
My 2 dear girlfriends took me to dinner last night for my birthday
at The Cheesecake Factory. I was giddy with
cheesecake dessert anticipation. We
met at 6pm which was enough time for a relaxed
dinner and dessert before my 8pm appt nearby. We were
catching up and gabbing away, and before I knew it, it
was 7:40 and I didn't get my cheesecake.
CRAP Crap crap crap!!!
I pretty much had to run out of there.
It was a wonderful dinner anyway with 2 special
friends.

So, today being my 45th Birthday
(when in God's name did I get to this point, wasn't I was just
21, 33, 37, 40...)

Anyway, all I want for my birthday is cheesecake
preferably strawberry.
Karrick, God Bless his little heart gave me his most
prized possession, his
Optimus Prime Transformer!

Can I eat it? Will it taste like strawberry Cheesecake?

We are not celebrating my Birthday until Saturday due
to CCD, that starts tonight 6:30 -8pm at
Sacred Heart Church,
which of course wipes out any plans

3 days people, 3 days to come up with some

Cheesecake!!

Sep 20, 2009

Just creepy

How lazy can one person be?



I, like the majority of parents everywhere usually
spend my weekends going
from "here to there" and back again
Sometimes my body says "DONE!" as it did Friday
afternoon. At 5 pm I put on my pajama's got in bed,
watched tv and dozed off and on until Sunday morning. I did
venture to the refrigerator every so often.
Sunday morning I went to West Chicago to watch TJ's
double header baseball game. I sat in a chair and watched him
play ball from 11 am til 4 pm

That was my weekend. I put the "L" in lazy

Everyone did their own thing:
TJ played XBOX live
Callahan and Karrick played Lego's or
on the computer. Every so often I would hear them playing outside.
Tim was home (I was lazy not neglectful)



TJ practicing his "skills"

and now I am back in my pajama's

Sep 19, 2009

They're baaaaaaaaack...





Well, actually they never left.

Today Tim decided to tackle our over grown back yard,
hoping that maybe the Hornets somehow magically
disappeared. Just for the record I still itch and have
little scabs from my attack and I swear my ankle
will never go back to its original size

Armed with foam spray and wearing body covering loose
clothing, Tim set out to reclaim our once beautiful yard


He didn't get to far before he encountered not 1, not 2
but 3 underground nests. Two were up against the fences
and the 3rd appeared to be somewhere under the deck
(the 600 sq ft deck that is)
how we are going to get under there is still a mystery


Gotta love the Canon 250mm telephoto lens
they are bold little bastards, I shutter to think how many
are underground

They mock our spray foam attempt to blast them into
extinction.

Time to call in the professionals!




Until then our back yard is closed

Sep 17, 2009

A little gem




After our meeting in Arlington Heights, Tim and I
were in the mood for some quick Italian food. After driving around for
30 min we settled for the Olive Garden.
45 min wait? Oh, I think not
No, no no no no
Olive Garden on a Wed night at 8pm?
come on...I don't see the attraction

Driving around some more and slightly
irritated(me), we find this little Italian restaurant
that we have passed 100 times w/o noticing.
It is on the corner of a strip mall in Itasca.
Quite possibly next to what looks like a strip club
(don't quote me, it was dark and I was crabby hungry)

Holy smokes it is a nice, nice restaurant...pure
Italian. I mean straight off the boat Italian, can't understand
the waiter Italian. (I was slightly afraid of the waiter)
Fresh bread and homemade pasta that turned my
frown upside down.

De Marco's, Itasca gets a thumbs up

Just realized this is my 200th blog, yay me!

Sep 14, 2009

Dupage River kayaking trip

Tim and Callahan packed up the kayaks and headed to
Warrenville to kayak down the DuPage river. About 2 hours later they
ended their adventure in Naperville where a cab picked them up
and returned them to their original starting point.


What a great way to spend some quality time together
and take in some beautiful scenery.
The DuPage Forest offers so much, right in our back yard
25,ooo acres of forest, 60 forest preserves, 600 acres of lakes
47 miles of rivers and streams and over 145 miles of trails
Conservation
Since 1915, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has acquired
and maintained land to protect and preserve the area’s flora, fauna
and scenic beauty for county citizens. Today, the District actively manages
or restores a significant percentage of its 25,000 acres.


pictures below courtesy of:

Callahan Patrick McGinty






Sep 13, 2009

My brother, Patrick Moran CFD


Last night Tim and I joined my family at the Odeum
Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park. My older brother
Patrick was fighting in a MMA charity match CFD vs CPD. Pat is
a 3rd generation Chicago Fireman for 16 + years.

When the MC announced Patrick's name the crowd went wild,
everyone loves the fireman. When the police officer was announced
the crowd booed. He took it all in stride as it's wasn't personal.

As always my dad is there to cheer on his kids
He looks damn good for a 72 year old man

We had a VIP table smack dab in front of the cage




My brother arms were huge, in the course of his training he
lost 30+ lbs and is almost all muscle. Not bad for a 47 year old

It was really hard for me to watch, it's a horrendous
feeling to watch a loved one get hit. I did have to choke back tears
a few times


It was a close fight, but unfortunately CPD came out on top.
Just look at their poor faces...it says it all
It's a young mans sport and
God bless both of them
I was so proud of my brother to get in the cage.
He's a winner in my book!