Tuesday

Today I had a day off due to the Jewish holiday. My boss of 23 years is Jewish so I get all the Jewish holidays off ...Nice. A free day all to myself....hmmmmm. My plan is to get all boys, to all schools and then go shopping by myself for myself. Perfect plan in theory. TJ gets off with out a hitch. I get cal and karrick loaded in the van. I can't drop Cal off until 8:15 (no adult supervision until then) then I have 10 minutes to get across town to Karricks school. It takes 15 minutes and he's always late, but i'm over it. Anyway, I get Cal and Kar in the van just to find the battery dead. Crap! "Cal, walk to school" ( It's down the block) . I get my portable charger out and got to work. This is a regular occurance with us. 15 min goes by and no charge. On any other day I would grab karrick, go back in the house and put on Oprah. NOT on my special day alone.

I get the van going, Karrick is a 1/2 late for preschool and off to the mall I go! I told Karrick I would get him at 11:30 instead of 3 and we would go to McDonalds playland. I am lovin my shopping when the cell rings. Damn it's cals school, "come pick him up he's sick". Not w/o my purchaces! I tell the school nurse " give me a 1/2 hour" and I grab my loot and get in line. I waited for the manager to come and re-ring up the lady in front of me so she can redeem her 10% off coupon. Fianally my turn. I get to the school at 11:10 grab Cal, and rush to get Karrick by 11:30. I throw some tylenol in Cal (allergy induced headache) and off we go to McD's. Karrick goes down the slide once and informs me that, "That little girl over there peed in the tunnel"

"of course she did" I reply. The men with the mops walk in and we walk out.

It's just my life...

The Zoo

For the first time in a long time, the McGinty's had a free

weekend day. Karrick in his 4 1/2 years on this earth has

never been to the Zoo. It's called 3rd child syndrome. The weather

was beautiful and Karrick was in awe.

I couldn't resist...

All of us had a great time.

Family

I need to step back and just enjoy my family.

We all had enough dirty water so we packed up and went to Grandma's

for the day.

Clean water and some brotherly love.

Never to old to enjoy bubbles

Now back to reality...

On Sept 23, I turned 44. I didn't think much of it until TJ said "Wow, you're almost 1/2 a Century old"
Nothing like a kick in the gut to start your day. The day was beautiful. Tim and I went to dinner at Wild Fire in Oak Brook. While we were gone Callahan composed some music for my birthday. In addition to my song the boys wrapped everything in the house to throw me off. including the heavy wooden bench in the kitchen. I finally found my gift hidden in the Magnetix box. Well, this was about the funniest thing Karrick has ever witnessed.

Here we have Optimus Prime. OP needs to learn the difference between

 reality and make believe. Tim took a sock in the eye, while I may have feared

 slightly better with only a head butt.

I Guess This is it

I keep waiting for the day I can blog about some great restaurant or some fancy party I attended. I guess it isn't meant to be. This is it, My Life...

Frost on my grass? No.......................try toilet paper from the flood. There is nothing more disgusting then your communities waste washing up on your lawn. God Bless the Village workers that came by with rakes and Lime. The lime may kill the grass, but hey whats the alternative?

And my lower level...

I'm learning a new skill...Demolition!

My TJ has been sidelined for a couple weeks with a knee injury. The school nurse called for the second time in 4 days. An already sore knee from baseball went out during PE

Yes, his legs are that long, no trick photography

Gimp 1 and Gimp 2

TJ now matches my neighbor as they hobble off to the bus stop. And they say it only gets worse...

The little things in Life

Sometimes a little chaos is needed to remind us to enjoy the little things. I'm telling you, nothing beats a long HOT shower in the morning. 24 hrs after the flood waters disappeared, a wonderful thing happened. My hot water heater went on. After playing pioneer last night (having 4 continuous pots boiling on the open flame) to bathe 3 boys in the tub, I was exhausted. What a treat after waking up this morning, dreading the ice cold shower to find out we have Hot water. I felt like I had won the lottery. Our furnace came on, as did the deep freezer. The food was still frozen.
Any chance the washer and dryer will follow suit?



If only we all could be this care free

Watch What You Wish For

I just wished for it to rain all weekend to have a much needed weekend off from baseball.

 I got my wish and then some...

This is our cute home on Saturday morning

I always wanted lake front property

You see, our home has never had a water problem. Our neighbors were always pumping out water.We were completely caught off guard with the retention ponds filled to capacity. It all started with a scream from Callahan. I ran to the lower level just in time to see water flowing in from under the crawl space door at a rapid pace. We only had time to shut off all computers and get upstairs. with the sewer system backing up, the water came up through the drain. With Menards out of pumps we were screwed. The kind man from Menards spent 45 min building me 2 pumps out of 2 portable under the sink pumps with shop vac hoses. "Ken" rigged it with different plumbing fixtures. When those 2 pumps couldn't keep up, Tim drove to his dads company and took a giant pump off one of the trucks. With 3 pumps we were able to hold the water level at 2 feet. The entire lower level will need to be gutted, all furniture tossed. As of now we have no phones, hot water, heating, air conditioning and no washer or dryer. All shorted out.

Tim had to sleep on the couch so every hr or two he could slosh outside to put more gas in the pump.

As horrible as it all is/was we got through it. We were all in the same boat, neighbors all pulled together to help. The village did come out many times, even though they can't fight Mother Nature. My kids had fun running outside with giant plumber boots on. Now is the long road of clean up.

                              taking in the views...must keep your sense of humor at all times.

How feakin cute is our deck?

I didn't even get the matching dryer yet

The family room with the lone drums stick out of the water with

only a reflection for company

And finally, if you look hard enough you can always find beauty

Gotta Let Them Grow

One of the hardest parts of parenting I believe is not being able to take the hurt away from your child. There is a time to step in and a time to step back. After TJ's pitching session we were on our way to Callahan's practice. TJ was eager to help out. Once we got to the park, TJ saw his friends from elementary school skateboarding next to the field. My 12 year old looked at me with those big brown eyes and all I saw was him at age 5.
"Mom, what if they ask me to skate, i can't do those tricks" he asked. Behind those sad eyes I saw "what if they don't ask me to skate" I could see he was feeling left out and missing his friends. When you play baseball 6 days a week for 7 months straight, with up to 3 games a day on weekends, something needs to give. I explained to him that everything has its trade off. Maybe it's time for a baseball break or do a little less ball and a little more hanging with friends. "Can you just bring me home" he asks. With tears welling I brought him home. I felt his pain cause I remember being 12. Your world revolves around what your peers think.
I am looking forward to a weekend of thunder storms, I think we all need a weekend off.

As I dropped Karrick at pre-school this morning, there were no tears or quivering lip. My little man for the first time ran up to his teacher yelling "look what I have for you" . He had colored 2 posters, 1 for each teacher and had them rolled up. No "good byes" No "don't take long at work" Nothing. I was left standing there with nothing

Nobody said it would be easy

On a lighter note, Karrick wanted to "throw some pitches" with TJ's trainer. As he left the bullpen proud as a peacock he says " I am so cool" Everyone had a good chuckle

My Day Off

Today was my day off. It was my day to hang at home with the kids. Life is good when the sun is shinning, where you can sit on the deck in your pajamas while drinking coffee (me) of just eating Sponge Bob Cheeze its (Karrick). Who would of thought that is angelic little boy and future rock star by day could turn into Satan by night. While sitting on the time out step, he belts out "You have ruined my life!" Your 4 kid, give me a break.




Tj and had some time before baseball and made "Auntie Anne's" pretzels. They turned out really good.
TJ is definitely Karrick's favorite. TJ has had a nurturing side to him since age 2 when he wouldn't let anyone near Callahan's bassinet. Nothing has changed as he carries his little brother in front of all the guys after baseball practice. As you can see they played in the smelly mud, oh oh oh oh it was a windows down right to the shower, ride home. TJ's mitt fits perfectly on his head.





My Callahan has taken up the Cello. He is now part of the Orchestra. "Well mom, Cello and student Counsel will look good on my Yale application." His dream for the last 2 years. This year Cal wants to run for treasurer, last year he was a 3rd grade representative. You got to hand it to him, he knows what he wants out of life. As I tell my kids "You are destined to do great things.. Be a part of life, don't sit on the sidelines"

Out of This world

My friend and neighbor K invited Callahan to a semi-private meeting with Astronaut Dan Tani. What a memorable experience.It was once in a lifetime chance to see and speak face to face with someone that flew around space. Cal came home just busting with excitment. He was able to speak with Mr Tani about his future goals and see exciting footage from the last Shuttle mission. Callahan is in the Gifted program in our school dist, but he needs much more stimulation. After spending the summer in the Science Explorer Jr. camp at the IMSA (IL Math and Science Academy) This was an extra treat. Thanks again K. You made a little boy very happy!

TJ had his private pitching lesson at the Dupage Training Academy last night.. M.O. his trainer is great. He and TJ hit it off immediately. One of the greatest joys of motherhood is seeing the light of passion in your childs eye.

Better late than never

I finally have a picture of Karrick's first day at school.(okay, it's the second week...come on he's the 3rd child) He now goes to a Catholic school in the neighborhood. Mommy had a rough start. I was the only one on the first day to not bring a camera. On TJ's 1st day of pre-school mommy and daddy were there with camera's ; still and video. I also received a phone call at lunch time from the school office asking where Karrick's lunch was. My response was "oh, I guess you don't feed him? they fed him at Kindercare"

Last night I took all 3 boys to the mall. I don't do malls, especially with 3 boys. I feared for the worst. TJ wanted to pick out his own clothes. He is now in the 7th grade ...girls. I am pleased to report that it was a delight. My boys were not the monsters of yesterday. I was not embarrassed nor did i need to wear the t-shirt that says "No, really they are not my children" My boys were civilized human beings. Here is TJ's new clothes. (he even picked out shoes on sale at Zumiez) Notice Patrick ready to attack anyone or anything that gets in the way between home and the bus stop.

Something very strange happened during the rain last night. My in-house fountain stopped mid rain. An act of God? TJ's banking on a leaf clog on the roof.

Meet the Mcginty's

Where to start? My dear friend and former across the alley neighbor Melissa enticed me to blog. I have 3 boys Tj 12, Callahan 9, and Karrick 4. Our weekends consist of baseball, from April thru October. Saturday both older boys had games at the same time, same field next to each other. We killed 2 birds with one stone. Tj eats and sleeps baseball from the moment he put his mitt on the wrong hand at age 5 in Oak Park t-ball. He plays in-house, travel and Fall ball in town. Fall ball being the lowest on the baseball food chain. He is the only kid that can pitch so he is getting a lot of practice. Tj had a great game pitching. No one can hit his fast ball. Sadly their team lost as 11 year olds can only pitch 2 innings.He has a late August birthday and misses the 12yo cut off, so has to play 11yo ball. Fall ball is suppose to be fun and instructional and our team needs a lot of instruction. TJ has and always has played to win. This is very frustrating for him and not w/o tears. It is however, teaching him humility and commitment to stick it out even when the team sucks. I know not nice to say. Callahan won his game as he has a great team(all luck of the draw teams) new team every year.

Sundays games were in Glen Ellyn at noon and 4:30. Cal and the Bulldogs won and TJ and the Stallions lost, but looked a little better. TJ pitched a great 2 innings, unfortunately 2 innings doesn't win the game. But he was grinning as he struck out his friends from travel on the opposing team. TJ had a great attitude and was down right funny. That is worth its weight in gold. A hard lesson, but a good one. He came off a very successful travel season 4 trophies out of 5 tournaments and 1 MVP medal. Fall Ball is very hard for him to swallow and will be his last year. Next year he will try out for the Dupage training Academy's Fall team. He currently has a former pro ballplayer as his private pitching coach 2 times a week for the next 2 months at the Academy.

I rode my big pink schwinn 1950 bike to the game towing Karrick in the trailer 6.5 miles round trip. When we were leaving for the game, Patrick my dog was barking and carrying on. I thought of letting him in the house...I didn't. After returning home I noticed Patrick was missing. We have a gap in the new fence and Patrick who is over protective of the kids left the yard in search of Karrick . After searching the neighborhood, I finally called the police. Someone found him 3 blocks over and the Police brought him to the Dupage animal hospital. The Animal hospital had already closed for the day, but the wonderful town police dept said they would meet me at the hospital and open the door. I was floored. How kind. It also reinforced the lack of crime in our town. Patrick has the micro chip, but I never updated our address. It came up Oak Park. As we were leaving the pound my 4 year old says "Patrick is a son-of-a-bitch"! If you think about it, he is...Get it. I had a

good chuckle.

.We have this lovely water feature in our living room.every time it rains. The day I bought my new cute chocolate brown couch the roof started to leak. Drip Drip Drip as it hit the leather. Tim, my husband got on the roof and fixed the leak. We couldn't fix the ceiling until we were sure the problem was corrected. It didn't rain in the living room when I sprayed the roof with the garden hose. I couldn't believe our luck. I get up at 6am because the middle school bus picks up TJ at 7:10 am. As I walked down the stairs in the dark, sleep still

in my eyes I hear drip drip drip... I am determined to find the leak, so up the ladder we go (as soon as it stops raining of course" In the mean time a large bowl sits of the couch.

Trying to take a picture of 3 boys is hard enough w/o giant waves hitting them.

Just a cute pic of karrick at the up at the lake 9/1/08