Lombard pool! and is TJ, a Disney Darling?

First of all, pardon the horrific photography. I purposely didn't bring my good camera to the pool and relied on my camera phone...Aarrgh!

For the 1st time this summer Karrick and I went to out neighborhood pool and a mighty nice pool it is! 

I hemmed and hawed on whether to purchase passes. For a family of 3 it's $169, which allows you to go 1 hour earlier and never wait in line to pay the $6 fee (on a hot day that line gets long). You just walk through the scanner like an I-pass. To break even each of us (me, cal and Karrick need to go 8 times) Karrick and I are at 1 each, Cal-0. I obsess on it daily...No Joke!

TJ had a commercial audition downtown today and we didn't get back in-time for him to catch the Ram Van to Plainfield for his high school double header. My van's battery light was on so I wasn't going to drive out there and get stuck. On the way home from Lockport this weekend my battery light was on (for 2 days) and 4 blocks from home my lights went out (at night) I made it home but the van never started again. Tim had Cal and Karrick in Long Grove for a boy weekend. Tim changed the battery and all was good until driving home from the audition.

So, I called TJ in as a no go for the game. I hopped on my big pink bike with Karrick in the trailer and headed to Paradise Bay Water Park. It was fabulous, very few people and lots of fun.

We got outside to ride home and my tire was flat...WTF! Tim came home from work early so he was able to pick us up. Everything I touch lately seems to break

This is TJ and his "dad" going over their lines before going in the room together to audition this morning. TJ was just called for a second audition for the new Superman movie tomorrow, which is so secretive that the script was emailed straight to TJ, not the agency. No one is saying it's Superman, but it's Superman. We all know it's superman

A few weeks ago TJ was picked by name from the producer from the Disney channel in LA to audition for a new Disney Pilot. We had to go to our agency the next day and he auditioned with his agent on film, then it was Fed Ex-ed to LA that night. He was the only one from Lily's picked to Audition.

TJ's on-camera agent never met TJ until this audition...Well, she was so impressed with his acting ability she came out to talk to me. She said his direction and memorization skills were amazing and his acting was top-notch, would I mind if she started submitting him for a lot of projects.

She thinks he is perfect for Disney, so he had to go home and watch the Disney Channel to study the character relationships. My TJ the next Disney darling?
TJ was beyond ecstatic, he just started getting auditions 6 months ago and not booking anything...he realizes he is too tall for a lot of age appropriate roles and won't be booked for 16 year old + roles because he is still 14. He looks 17 and is 5' 11, but is not legal to work full time.  One of the High School actors on Glee is 29 years old (TJ is the opposite of the child actor, he is tall)
I keep telling him not to give up, it is all experience and getting familiar with the casting directors. They do keep calling him back, so they do see something. The chat with the agent put TJ over the moon with excitement.....kind of like "he is as good as he thinks he is" and he isn't wasting his time. Once he turns 16, I believe things will be easier to book
His agent thinks he will book things now

My first professional photo shoot

Hilary

2011 College graduate

catch up with the McGinty boys

Summer is here and  the boys are busy which makes me busy.

TJ plays High School summer ball as a Sophomore coached by the sophomore coach, which goes like this:

Mon, Tue and Wed: 2 back to back 5 inning games (each day)

Thur: 1 seven inning game

Summer ball is fun, we have pulled together as a team and have more wins then loses, which is unlike our freshman team

It's really weird that TJ is a Sophomore...slow down time! and weird because he is still only 14.

There are maybe 4 weeks left, then it is football season. TJ also has a lot of summer home work, he needs to read a book for English and has 3 jumbo packets for AP European History. I gave him a homework vacation until July 1st

 On the rare occasion that TJ is home, his darling girlfriend Alexis comes over. Karrick is in love with her and asked TJ if they could share her. I calmly explained that you don't share girlfriends, nor do you ever try to steal girlfriends, especially from your brother. While not happy about it, he accepts it.

TJ and Alexis will play board games with karrick and include him a lot

We are also smack dab into travel season with a minimum of 4 games a week Wed-Sun, but mostly just Sat and Sun. If you do the math TJ plays on average 9-11 games a week (we have had rain-outs)

Many nights TJ is exhausted and too tired to eat, he is down 3 pounds

the wavy lines on the above picture is from the chain linked fence I shot through

On the plus side TJ is one of the starting pitchers on both teams, which was his goal. He has always been a 3rd baseman or shortstop, but has become an outfielder on both teams because he has an  incredible arm. Now that he is at the high school level, the pitchers mound and bases are at the major league distance and the outfields are 360 feet +. You need a strong arm

 Callahan is relaxing this summer hanging with friends until IMSA starts July 11th. My little Cal is smack dab in the middle of his growth spurt, measuring at 5' 5 with no end in site. I feel like I don't spend enough time with Cal, thank God Tim is able to spend a lot of time with him and take him away almost every other weekend
Once HS ball is over I can devote much more time to taking Callahan to different places this summer

Karrick has been playing with friends and playing baseball

Grandma's  house in Long Grove

Karrick played in his 1st all-star game and it was the 1st time he played under the lights. The whole family went to cheer on little Sand Gnat. Karrick is always so proud when his big brothers come to his games

My least favorite child

‎"Mom, why don't you exercise really hard so you're not so fat, then get that stretch mark stuff on tv...then you can wear those bra things that are shirts and be really cute"

I shit you not, that is verbatim what came out of the 7 year olds mouth...the bra thing lady gaga was wearing on SYTYCD and karrick thought it was a "cute dress"

Lady Gaga can kiss my flat white ass!

I also have a little blond boy for sale, awe Hell I will give him to you!
and it would appear that he finds women that wear trampy bondage attire cute

A smart karrick!

I opened the mail to find Karrick's latest test scores. 

OMG!

The 1st line represents Spring of 2011 99 % in Math and 91% in reading. The Spring test was taken after he had his Tonsils and Adenoids out. I ask myself over and over

How freakin sick and miserable was my kid at school?

Answer?

Pretty freakin sick and miserable, enough so that he couldn't learn or concentrate

this little boy went from "struggling academically"  to "academically talented" in a matter of months. The only change was his surgery

Big Sleeping Grizzly Bear

I want this beanbag chair

on Etsy......