week 8

this group of pilings was sticking out of the Chicago River...so cool!

 Today for the 8th week in a row, I dropped TJ at Act One Studio for his 3 hr acting class. Today I had my favorite teenage girl, Alexis to keep me company. Instead of my usual path East (Michigan Ave, Oak St Beach or a museum) we headed West. TJ's school is on LaSalle and Ontario. I decided to save shipping costs and walk to pick up TJ's new comps and headshots at JS Photo the premier place for professional comps/headshots or photos. The difference between JS and other printers is amazing.

 anyway we walked west about 2 miles. It was such a strange walk...so much different than when I lived down there (on lake Shore that is) gone are the projects and in it's place are a bazillion condos, but virtually no people. I did find many little stores and tons of restaurants just tucked in rehabbed warehouses or ancient buildings...stuff you would never see driving 

TJ's new headshot- for acting

below is the front and back of TJ'd comp for modeling


scanning the comp cards cast a reflection due to the glossy material

These shots were taken on the Halsted bridge that is being rebuilt, the one side that had an open walkway over-looked a large concrete company below

 looking east

Eight years old!!! My little Miracle

I can't even believe my little dream boat turned 8 yesterday. Karrick was our surprise baby and let me tell you that everyone should have a bonus baby. His older brothers are 13 and 15. With Karrick I got to just enjoy him...as a newborn, baby, toddler, little boy and now a big boy. There wasn't that "new mom...my kid did this early...bigger, better, faster bullshit" which is good because Karrick kept us guessing and contradicted everything  we thought his whole life

Ridiculously low hormone levels in early pregnancy- doctor didn't think he would survive in the womb

Early labor at 30 weeks which required 6 weeks of bed rest which turned into a 9 lb, baby at 38 weeks

Thought he might be have a mild form of Autism, just to find out he is the most outgoing kid ever 

Didn't walk until age 2 with lots of therapy, talked extremely late . Had problems with transitioning and play (stacked and sorted everything)

Every teacher from Kindercare at age 2, Pre-school, kindergarten and 1st grade thought there was "something" going on, but "just couldn't put their finger on it" Dyslexia and processing problems were mentioned. Very delayed in learning Thought he would be held back or special Ed

Just to find out in 2nd grade when everything clicked that the kid is gifted in math...he is 1 of 5 kids that is pulled out for advanced math...scored in 99% nationally in math.

My little angel is a delight to everyone he meets, he is a rule nazi and has been known to throw his classmates into a crying fit over "tag" rules. Wears his emotions on his sleeve, loves to sing and laugh and is quite the man with the ladies

You never know what will come out of his mouth...honest to a fault.

The kid knows more about Mythology than anyone

He is just about the cutest dang thing on earth

A true gift from God, words can't express how much we love him. He honestly touches everyone he meets

Happy 8th Birthday little man

Baby Jade

light

 two weekends ago we spent the weekend downtown at the JW Marriott for our anniversary. Saturday after we dropped TJ at his acting class we took Alexis with us to sight see. Our 1st stop was the Driehaus Museum . 19th Century home of banker Samuel Mayo Nickerson.

Just stunning! Flash photography was not allowed, but there was no stopping the beautiful light shinning through the stain glass windows

Paddy's Day weekend

March is always a busy month in the Mcginty house...in a 2 week span we have our wedding anniversary, Tim's, Callahan's and Patrick's birthday. At the end of the month is Karrick's birthday.

Today was the district science fair. My Callahan took home 1st place! He came up with an idea to make affordable earthquake proof homes. He found if you construct a home using a tire base, the tire absorbed the shocks.  There are millions of old tires just begging to be used.

The judges were amazed at Callahan's knowledge and background information. Callahan has been blessed with an eidetic memory so he can go on for hours. The judges thought his idea was fascinating, but wished he displayed more of his knowledge on his board. that is probably what knocked him out of  "best in show". he was disappointed, but we were proud.

Below Cal built one balsa wood structure on a base supported by rubber tires and one w/o tires. When he shook the table the non-tire structure collapsed each time.

Parents weren't allowed in during judging so the shot is from practice at home. Cal said it went perfectly

My little Karrick in his 1st science fair ever took home 2nd place. He built a solar car all by himself and ran the tests all by himself. He even directed me on how to shoot the testing shots

Happy Birthday Patrick- 11 years old

 After the science fair Karrick went to a buddies birthday party at extreme trampoline...great day for the new car!

 My Callahan turned 13 yesterday!

He has turned into a teenager right before our eyes! He is growing like a weed almost 5'9, he has become the object of many girls affection. These girls text him non-stop and he meets a few at the mall every weekend

 Last night we went to Harry Carry's in Lombard for Cal's birthday dinner

I am officially the mother of 2 teenage boys...holy smokes how did this happen

they were just like this yesterday it seems

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary

photo taken by me at the Chicago History Museum of the Great Chicago Fire 

This weekend Tim and I celebrated our wedding anniversary and his birthday...2 days apart. We spent the weekend downtown and as always has a fabulous time. I was born and raised in Chicago and I love the fact that 47 years later we can find new things to do...always a tourist!

trampoline fun

One step closer

Callahan's passport came in the mail today...it makes his trip to Italy seem more real

Callahan was one of 10 "academically talented" kids selected from his middle school to go on a 10 day educational tour of Italy this June with his teacher. Tim is also going as a chaperone, they will visit Rome, Florence and Venice

Callahan is the 1st one in our immediate family to get a passport. Tim's should arrive any day now. I guess I haven't been out of the country since 9/11. I've been to Mexico, Jamaica and the Bahama's a few times, but only needed a birth certificate. Just aged myself. I will  get the rest of us passports eventually...just in case I win that all expense paid trip to....somewhere

A friend of mine lost her son


The sadness I feel is deep and there are no words


God Bless this family

• FILED UNDER

• News

CHICAGO — Conner Lowry wanted to fight for his country but understood his mother and siblings in Chicago would worry if they thought he was going to be sent into combat.

On Friday, less than a day after learning that the 24-year-old Marine corporal had been killed in Afghanistan, his mother and younger sister remembered how even he was getting ready to leave as he tried to protect them as best he could, even if it meant saying something he couldn’t possibly believe himself.

“I was pretty upset and he saw that (so) he said, ‘Grace, don’t worry, I’m just going to guard some gate in Europe, I probably won’t see any combat,’” 17-year-old Grace Lavin said.

The family still didn’t know the specifics of what happened except that Lowry, a gunner in a Humvee, was killed March 1.

The Department of Defense said Friday Lowry died while conducting combat operations in Helmand province and that the incident was under investigation.

They think “it was just my boy” who was killed, his mother, Modie Lavin, said, but she wasn’t certain of that either. The family waited for answers from military representatives coming to their house, along with details about when Lowry’s remains would arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

In the meantime, they talked about the popular boy he had been, and the young man “more handsome than the day is long,” as his mother put it, that he grew to be. And they talked about what he wanted to do with his life.

A lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side, Lowry as a boy was, like a lot of the city’s kids, a huge fan of Notre Dame sports and he couldn’t get enough of Chicago Bulls basketball star Michael Jordon.

“His life revolved around Michael Jordan,” Modie Lavin said. “He had Michael Jordan shoes, shorts, socks, everything.”

Lowry’s mother said he was a “decent athlete” who grew to be 6-foot-5 inches tall and played football at Brother Rice High School, a prominent Catholic high school on the South Side.

He went to college in Iowa and after a couple of years decided to enlist in the Marines with a couple of buddies.

“He thought it would be good for him, he thought it would be good for his country,” she said.

Lavin said she was stunned at the news, saying that hers is not a military family and that she could think of no one who had served.

“I just told him, ‘Please don’t,’” she said.

And yet she watched him turn into “an outstanding Marine.”

“He got lots of accolades, a big award at Camp Pendleton,” his mother said.

In the Marines since September 2008 and in Afghanistan since last October, Lowry was just four months from being discharged, his sister said.

“He couldn’t wait to get back home to South Side, Irish Catholic Chicago,” and hopefully get a job as a Chicago firefighter, said his mother. “That’s all he talked about.”

On Friday, the principal of Brother Rice, Jim Antos, told the students that someone who once walked the same halls had been killed in Afghanistan — the second student from Lowry’s class to die there in the past two years.

Antos, who got to know Lowry at a school retreat and sometimes talked to him about his own experience in the Army during the Vietnam War, recalled a “good kid.”

“He came to visit (the school) last spring about this time of year to see a few teachers, and I was privileged to be one of them,” Antos said. “He told me he was probably going to be deployed. He was smiling; his life was together.”

| ASSOCIATED PRESs