Christmas Day 2011

Christmas day we headed to my dad's house. Tim spent the day with his mom, so it was just me and the boys. 

I just love shooting my niece Lindsey, besides being absolutely gorgeous she takes an honest picture. She is very comfortable in front of the camera...no fake smiles or awkward poses. She just looks at the camera and pow!

Hard to believe that they are only 1 year apart.

 My Karrick is a peanut and Lindsey is tall

 Another holiday has come and gone. 

This year was mellow all around, which is what I needed. Sometimes it's okay to be all about me.

For New Years Eve we are hanging at home and playing board games... just the 5 of us. Alexis is on vacation for the next week, so it's time for TJ to get as much homework completed as possible as the semester is coming to an end. At the semester TJ will have missed 14 weeks of school and I'm not confident he will be able to return yet

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 

FROM THE MCGINTY'S

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent at the McGinty Farm...wasn't the same without grandpa, but he was there in spirit. Christmas eve was  the 51 year anniversary of Dad McGinty asking Ma McGinty to marry him at midnight mass. Karrick has a way of lightening everyone's mood. Above he gave grandma a photo of himself  "I'm giving this picture of me to you because your grandpa (meaning husband) died and this way you'll never forget me"

 Callahan is growing up so fast I can't even believe it

This is what my TJ looks like when his brain shuts down...I color corrected the face, but you still get the idea by his eyes. After this shot he fell asleep on the floor. This entire holiday week his headache has increased which doesn't fill me with hope that he will be cleared to go back to school in January 

Skyped with the Colorado cousins 

After almost a year of dating it was time to step up the gift giving. Very tricky with 15/16 year olds. A fine line between what is appropriate and too much. I took TJ to Macy's at Oak Brook mall and he chose this beautiful Austrian Crystal heart pendant 

our week leading into Christmas

last week Tim and I had a 1 bedroom suite on Michigan Ave and Huron. It was incredible, we had a corner room that look out onto Michigan and Superior. Of course we had to take our fun cheesy self-timer shots

We hit the mother load with the weather..warm(for Dec) and clear blue skies made for wonderful shopping and site seeing

Never heard of the store "All Saints" but boy oh boy is it cool. The clothes are great but way out of my price range. Jeans for $500, dresses $1200, shirts for newborns $48....amazing stuff though

A wall of old Singer sewing machines greet you as you enter the store

 With my telephoto lens I was able to capture the engraved statues on top of the sky scrapers

Dumb, Dumb, dumb!

What is this all about..Seriously?! A tacky Marilyn among the 100 year plus buildings?

Aarrgh! 

A night downtown

Tim and I spent a much needed night downtown thanks to the almighty Groupon. 

I am just lovin the shots I took while enjoying our city

Cutie Karrick and the Holiday sing

Karrick before going to evening show

just a little part of Karrick's holiday sing....so cute

Last night we had the honor of taking in Karrick's Holiday Sing. As always it was a delight. This years show was a little extra special because instead of avoiding the  different beliefs, they were embraced. See the Merry Christmas on the backdrop? 
Public school....
Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were also displayed on the board. Below J in the red dress told the story of Mary and Joseph giving birth to Jesus in the manger.  The 8 days of Hanukkah were portrayed with children as candles representing the Menorah. Kwanzaa was explained and portrayed by another group of children. It was one of the more delightful holiday shows

The children were all lined up by height, but it was fitting that my Karrick was front and center...FATE!
 He was so expressive and just adorable.  He wished the show was longer and wants to do it again

A little more Christmas cheer...tree

We headed to our local nursery to pick out our tree and Christmas plants.

 Later that evening we headed to downtown Wheaton...one of my favorite places, for dinner and strolling.

 Karrick just about died when we brought him to the hallway candy store. It is a hallway between 2 buildings  that was turned into a candy store. It's a long hallway with candy and ice cream all the way down....nothing else.

must stop in the chocolate shop