ADC Fierce Season 3

Karrick had his dress rehearsal for his 3rd season of competitive dance at Wheaton Academy.. This year he has a duet and 3 group dances. The boy just comes alive while on stage. 

This dance mom is ready to hit it

Jade, such a phenomenal dancer....love to watch her.

 Would kill for those abs

Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was wonderful and low key. Christmas eve as always was celebrated in Long Grove. Christmas day was at my sisters house.

I have to say it, but I believe my nephew s the cutest little boy ever created. I just love him to death. He's  sweet, smart, funny and outgoing

 This year Karrick wanted brain challenging puzzles and games...the kid can solve anything. Id give anything to have his brain

The Christmas season was spent together as a family. Tim and I did our annual Oak Brook Mall shopping and dinner. We got the Christmas tree, a Concord fir that has an amazing citrus smell.

Still the worlds cutest couple after 3 1/2 years!!

Karrick and my niece are one year apart and almost a foot different in height. Karrick has grown an inch in the last 2 months so Im hoping the growth spurt is around the corneer

2015 was an incredible year for us Mcgintys...lots of great stuff

I look forward to 2016 as I continue to workout, eat right and spend time with my family.

Callahan

I have been meaning to update my blog for a long time, just don't think of it.

Callahan is almost 1/2 way into his Junior year and doing great. It is time to start thinking about college. The boy is being recruited hard due to taking the SATs in 8th grade.

Many of the top schools have invited him to visit and to be honest he hasn't shown much interest yet.

The US coast Guard Academy contacted us a couple times and we scheduled a visit. They were coming to Navy Pier for their annual Christmas tree event for charity and were hosting an open house on the Coast Guard Ship Mackinaw

I figured it was time for him to see what is out there in the engineering field

ChristmasTreeShipHistory

Callahan agreed to check it out.

Well the boy was in his glory. Cal is an avid boater, gifted engineer- can build or fix anything and has a passion for engines.

The Mackinaw is an ice cutter on Lake Michigan....like a giant big boy toy

It was really cool and Cal loved everything about being on the ship and

 now has interest in the Academy...it has a top tier engineering program. It is also nearly impossible to get in to. It has a 16% acceptance rate...only accepts the top of the top academically and physically. You have to have a strong background in Math and Science which Cal has. He joined the health club is working out hard

We will continue to check out all Engineering Schools but in the meantime its nice to see him excited about his future

And it's on to middle school

 I cant believe my little boy is heading to Middle School in the Fall. 

He was pretty emotional during the clapout. K-4 line the hallways while Pomp and Circumstance plays over the PA system. The 5 th graders parade through the halls while everyone claps. Once outside the kindergraten doors each 5th grader receives a balloon and they all release them together. All these kids that have been together since Kindergarten. Karrick is my only one to attend one school for k-5. He had such a great year, his confidence level has soared(I credit that to competitive dance) made great strides socially, was undefeated in chess club, blew through 8th grade math and moved onto Algebra.

My little mathematition scored a 270 on the Map Math test, 200 is average for a 5th grader. 270 is in the 98 % for a high school Sophomore. Karrick has the highest score in the history of his grammar school (that his teacher knows of)

all my little dancers

 I was hired by Karrick's dance studio to take individual pictures of those that wanted them from the competition team.

We got super lucky as the weekend that I shot was in the 60- 70's

The day before the shoot I went to Lilacia Park to find a new spot and scope out the sun...I was bored with the usual. I found a fantastic spot where Lilacia Park butts up to Helen Plum Library. An absolute gem