TJ- through the years

such a baby- TJ age 5

TJ is the king of "the pout"

Today we met up with an old friend Steven Palm.

 We met Steven 8 years ago when TJ

was first signed with FORD models at the tender age of 5.

 He shot TJ's very first photo session, EVER!. We were new and

knew nothing about the business. Steven immediately

 put TJ at ease while shooting away, up on his roof, in the

loop, in the dead of Winter. Since that cold winter day,

we have used Steven many times for head shots for

 both my boys (Cal and TJ)

and they got tons of work off these cards

TJ age 7

TJ age 11, I just love the pouty face.

We took a 2 year break from FORD, kids needed to

be kids again. Running downtown up to 4 times a week

can burn anyone out. TJ got braces which puts a halt on his

 book-a-bility. Now that TJ is older he wants to jump back

 in to the business. Steven is always our first choice.

 He spends his time in  LA hobnobbing with the stars,

 so he's not in Chicago as much and he doesn't shoot

 a lot of kids anymore. I appreciate that he will

still make time for the McGinty Boys. After playing phone tag

 for about a week, we finally touched base last night.

 He had just  flown in and booked  us for this morning.

(we won't get that service with anyone else)

 We have worked with so many other photographers

 in the past, but Steven is and has always been our favorite.

 He genuinely is a nice guy, very down to earth.

I believe he really loves shooting my kids   He took

TJ on location for over 2 hours. It was like 2 old

 buddies just shootin the shit. Since we met last TJ grew

 a good 8 1/2 inches and put on 40 lbs...he went from

little guy to... POW! a teenager.

I got to sit back and watch 2 pros do their stuff. I can't

wait to see the final product

Here are some of Cals old shots from Steven

age 7 and 5

Thankful for...

This year we headed out to Long Grove for Thanksgiving.

Everyone was kind of spread out this year. Tim,

myself and the boys, plus Tim's brother Brian ate dinner

with his parents. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

Driving there I began think about my life.

I am in a place where I am very happy and content. I am

thankful for Tim and that our relationship grows

 stronger every day.

We have created the most amazing family.

Our boys are happy, healthy and smart fun loving kids.

They are honestly, just nice boys.

We have a nice home, very little debt and fantastic jobs.

We surround ourselves with good people, I am so

thankful for all my friends new and old.

I can honestly say there is nothing more I want

Okay, well maybe I would like to be 10 lbs lighter

 and  sitting on a beach, but whatever...

Karrick is thankful for his grandma whom he loves dearly

We had a great time eating and just enjoying
each others company by the fire

I got to wear my lovely necklace that matches
my Smokey Topaz ring.

BUSTED GRANDPA!
Lastly, I am thankful that I am off from work until
next Tuesday
(Love my job Rick, but sometimes a gal
just needs a few days :)..)
I am seriously looking forward to Christmas

Kindergarten conference

My big brown eyed baby is not so little anymore

I just love his doe eyes

All my boys have the entire week off, which is nice. Callahan

and Karrick's school have parent teacher conferences.

Karrick's conference went great. His teacher said he has

a knack for numbers, all my boys excel in math.

Karrick is very sensitive and follows directions to a tee.

He is working towards reading.

Karrick is a thinker, he doesn't just belt out any

answers...everything requires thought

It was also the book fair, Karrick out of all my boys

loves books the most (mommy at age 45 doesn't have
 the energy that she  had 10 years ago)
 It can only work in his favor.

Here is another picture of his turkey taken with my
camera

I don't have the energy to go into Callahan's conference,
lets just thank God he has a high IQ

CHICAGO..my kind of town

We took one of our in-town mini vacations. I booked a room at the

Chicago Hilton on South Michigan Ave for one night.

Tim and I have lived in Chicago our entire lives. I was born

at The University of Chicago Lying-in Hospital over 45

years ago. I was born and bred on Chicago's

Southside. Tim, on the Northside. We do not

take this beautiful city for granted, even after all

these years. Downtown still takes my breath away

(even after living down there for 12 years)

We started at the Sears tower, some call it the
Willis Tower and did the ledge...way cool.

The Chicago Hilton is very elegant and rich in History,

built in 1927

view from our room...the windows still open

We did dinner, then went to Navy Pier to shop and ride the

ferris wheel and swings.

My cute boys at the top of the wheel...great weather

you can see the ferris wheel, buildings and swings lit up

 in the windows. After navy Pier we headed back

 to the hotel for swimming then room service.

About midnight we all got in bed and watched

 The Hangover.

It was so funny (Karrick fell immediately asleep)

After breakfast we walked through Grant Park to Milenium Park

These sculptures are new to me...never saw them before.

Love the iron flowers

and car part sculptures

The boys have never seen the bean. When we told them that we

are going to see the bean...guess what I got? You got it!

Cal : "did you know..."

Cal has a "did you know" about any and everything

We had many "did ya know" at the sears tower

Cal : "did you know that the bean is called Cloud Gate?"

Me: "No...why?"

Cal: The artist wanted to make a structure that made

things appear to be floating, it wasn't

suppose to be a bean and it weighs 110 tons"

Me: really?

Don't know how he knows this stuff, but he does...he is a

mystery boy at age 10

After grabbing lunch we headed over to state street. We wanted to hit

FAO Schwartz on Michigan Ave, but it's gone...bummer. Cal

really wanted to see it because in the movie Fred Claus, they

filmed a scene in the store and the entire backdrop was

giant Thomas The Tank Engine boxes with Cal's picture on it.

In the movie there were no less than 200 Cal's

staring at us...pretty cool.

By now my legs and butt muscles were starting to scream

we walked everywhere. Tim and the boys hopped on the

EL back to the Hilton to get our van. Karrick and I

went in Marshal Fields also called Macy's. It

put us right in the Christmas spirit. After a little shopping

Tim text me that he was out in front.We were all

ready to head home after one more stop

Tim and I partake of the Groupon often. We

have gotten excellent deals on Sailing trips, hotel room and

restaurants. I bought a Groupon a couple weeks ago. Spend

$50 and get a  $115 coupon to the Denim Lounge, before

I checked out the store....BIG MISTAKE

After I hit the buy button, I went on the website...gulp

It's located on 43 E Oak...bad sign, Jeans start at $165

A PAIR!

These stores don't exist in my world, to add insult

to injury, they stop at a size 30 waist for women...Seriously?!

I am not by any stretch of the imagination fat, but 30?

Okay, I'll look at the mens jeans...I do have a boys figure

DOUBLE  GULP

they start around $200 bucks. I thought maybe I could buy

something for the kids? or on sale?...crap

ONLY GOOD ON ADULT JEANS

FUUUUUUUCK.

Tim dropped me off, I went in with a long face

to plead my case. The lady said they just got

some larger jeans in...I guess the Oak Street boutiques

version of "fatty jeans". I am just shy of 6 feet tall and wear

a 12 tall...come on...I'm the fat lady now?

I did find a very cute pair of jeans that fit and were only

$141, which for me; I still paid close to $80 for a  pair of

jeans...which is $50 more than Old Navy.

The moral of this story is Always read the fine print

We had a fabulous family mini vacation and did so much

together in 24 hours as a family. The kids got to enjoy

the city and start their 9 day off, Thanksgiving Break.

We spent a small fortune, but it was worth every dime

all 10,000 of them.
I never laughed so hard as I did this weekend. My Tim
has always been funny, but oh dear Lord....

The Annual Christmas Card Picture

This was our first digital Christmas card 10 years ago, It

was taken at our first house in Oak Park, a tiny tiny

bungalow we rented. This is where I met my

across the alley neighbor Melissa. 10 years

later this is a fitting picture of Callahan. He is pulling

TJ's hat. To this day he is my mischievous one

For as long as I can remember I have loved photography. I have

been taking pictures for over 30 years. It wasn't until TJ was

born did I become obsessed, as you all know, he was

the first child born...ever. One would think that Tim and I

invented the baby boy.

My love of pictures is probably what started my kids

in the modeling world some 7 or 8 years ago, not

to mention TJ was possibly the cutest toddler ever.

since TJ was born some 13 + years ago, I have sent out a

 picture Christmas card. I would start thinking months in advance

on my theme. I got a good three years out of the Santa suits.

I already have this years picture in my head. As the boys get older

they are not as willing as I would like to jump in a tub of bubbles.

I have enclosed some of my past Christmas pictures

(the handy ones) We didn't start with the digital until 1999

I love this picture, it was 2000 and he had just moved into

our giant enormous home, still in Oak Park. I filled the

tub with bubbles and the boys hopped in

2001, Very very cute picture...too cute not to use. It was taken by

Socko for FORD models. The color is much deeper

on the 24 x16 that still adorns my living room wall

Madeira Beach 2002...again the color is much

deeper. I had to scan a home printed old photo. Almost

all our old digitals are saved to a disk due to

over 10,000 pictures of just the 2 boys

Tim and TJ 1997 Wrigleyville

1999

2007 Keystone Co

TJ  just got his braces...Wow...ouch

2008 Lombard

I just love this picture. Absolutely
nothing is forced, pure ease with the camera

I found this Polaroid of Patrick, it has nothing to

do with Christmas but boy is he cute.

I was reading my friend Melissa's blog list

and one of her friends talked about a favorite

cooking blog. Okay, I don't cook, I am the opposite

of a foodie. Food to me is like breathing, you do it or you die.

Oh, I like to eat, I just don't like to make it.

I totally admire people that can cook

Anyway,

I checked out this blog The Pioneer women and this lady

also has a photography blog, OMG the pics

are incredible and she has a tutorial for dummies for

 taking pictures and then photo shop.

I have never used photo shop

You never know what you may find reading strangers blogs.

I have a very expensive camera, but can't work all the bells

and whistles. I am enrolled to take a 14 hr photography

class starting Jan 5. With my kids growing up

it is time to pursue my passion.

Some day I will post some of my better

pictures of which none are photo shopped.

A special bond

Callahan received a stack of pictures from his grandma and

grandpa in the mail yesterday. A few weeks ago Tim and

Cal went kayaking in Long Grove at McGinty Farm,

Tim's childhood home. The grounds are just beautiful

complete with their own pond that leads to a stream.

 Tim's dad "grandpa" followed

them driving Rosie (golf cart) and snapped these

beautiful pictures.

Tim and Callahan share a special bond. They share a love

for science and nature and often go kayaking,

hiking, camping. They take trips downtown to all

the museums, John G Shedd and the Planetarium.

you can see Rosie's front wheel below