ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Due to travel baseball camp every Saturday for the next 2 months, I had to switch my weekly massage to Thurday's after work. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I thought about my massage all day. It was like a prize waiting for me after a grueling day at work. Hahahahaha, my days are never grueling at work but it was fun to say. http://therapeuticconnections.com. Today I really needed my neck worked on. Tiny muscle spasms bit me all day long and every time I moved at my desk I yelped like a puppy...it really sucked. I feel better now. Julie my massage therapist attacks the knots in my neck and back like no other.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Is my butt really that big?




Today I had my parent teacher conference with Mrs. Larsen Karricks Prek 4 teacher. I was wondering about his readiness for kindergarten next year. He is 100% ready. He recognizes all numbers, letters, shapes and colors. Karrick can write and has shown much improvement holding a pencil the correct way. Mrs Larson mentioned core strenghtening excercises help. I said a friend of mine told me that and put her son in ballet lessons which seem to have helped him. I don't know if ballet lessons are in our future, possibly Irish Dance?

Shhhhhh don't tell Tim

Chillin in the lobby with his peeps at St. Pius

Playing in his favorite classroom section
while we talked

How cute are my ladies?

My 3 sons...our day in pictures

As I have said before Wednesday's for the McGinty's are busy. After TJ and Cal were safe at school Karrick and I headed downtown for a meeting at FORD. My kids agent Lisa wanted to meet with Karrick. We have been gone for 2 years so Karrick was just a baby when she saw him last. I know I'm being redundant, but the kid is just so cute full of personality. I just sat back and let them do what they do best. Lisa talked to Karrick for 40 min...well I think she listened for 40 minutes. Karrick just went on and on as though they were 2 old friends. He sang for her, but not until he made us all change room 3 times. He didn't like the chairs in the lobby, after he told Lisa exactly where his head shot needed to be displayed on the wall in the children's room he couldn't sing there...not with mirrors on the wall. The on-camera room was to small. With a chuckle we trotted off to the break room. He directed Lisa and I where to sit and moved a chair over for himself. He then sang for Lisa. She was very amused with him and insisted he be introduced to the ARIA agents Bob and Donna (TV/Film). Karrick sticks his head in the door and with a scream he slaps his forehead and runs out. He comes back in and declares "ohhhh, you guys scared me". Bob and Donna bust out laughing and I quote "OMG is he cute" It's a modeling agency, they're accustomed to cute so I take that as a huge compliment. I can't believe I didn't take pictures of all this.

Waiting for Lisa in the lobby with red chairs that he couldn't sit in and sing


After FORD Karrick and I headed to my office in Skokie for 1/2 a days work before making a quick trip to the store before...

Picking up Callahan and Ben from Cello at the middle school

then off to the train to pick up Tim

A new toy from the store

A fun picture of TJ and an executive decision by me not go to religion class... by now I'm pooped and will eat a bullet if I need to get in that car again

Karrick talking to his "girls" while looking at them through the window while standing on my new sideboard

The girls( neighbor Mona and daughter Samantha) looking at Karrick while they talk. Samantha is home from college for winter break and came to see Karrick when she got home. As Sam was leaving Karrick looks at her with all seriousness and says "I'll give you a call later" sure enough he called her an hour later and now they chat on the phone daily.

Sweet dreams everyone....it's 7:45pm and I'm going to bed

Karrick's Casting

Karrick had a casting in Willowbrook after school for RC2 Corp. RC2 makes all Thomas, Lamaze, First Years, Learning Curve, Play Town™ etc. Plus RC2 Corporation holds licensing agreements with many popular partners including:

Case / New Holland®
Daimler Chrysler®
Disney®
Discovery Channel
Ford Motor Company®
General Motors®
Hit Entertainment (Thomas & Friends™ and Bob the Builder™)
Honda®
John Deere®
NHRA®
Nickelodeon
Polaris®
Texaco®
Universal Studios®
Warner Bros. Studios®

This casting has a lot of opportunity for a child model to work. Despite being exhausted after his first day back to school Karrick nailed it. He just comes alive and is naturally very talkative and honest with his feelings. People just love him

Waiting his turn with head shot in hand

Talking to casting director...look at the eye contact as he answers all her questions, then gives a giant smile for his Polaroid. He tells everyone thank you, give one casting director a high five and laughs at how hard he hit him. We walk out, get in the car...

and he was asleep before we left the parking lot.

I was very proud of him because after school he said "Mom, I just want to go home; school was too long and I'm tired"

Rest up kid, because you have a 10:30 am tomorrow

A little Gift From TJ to Brighten my Day

I am just swamped at work, a side effect of the Holiday's. I decided to take a "check TJ's grade" break. I don't smoke or leave for lunch so some break is needed. I was delighted to see two A's on two tests from the last day of school before break. Even more delighted due to the fact that the little bugger didn't study for either. I was unaware of the reading test which tells me no books even made it home. I knew he didn't study for the math test because he flat out told me "math is too easy' so no math book came home either. It was too late to cart him back to school to retrieve them. TJ, I'm glad you got A's and that you are back on the honor roll. Study skills are a necessity for life...BRING YOUR BOOKS HOME, ya little shit.

Student: TIMOTHY MCGINTY Assignment for READING / 12P

Close

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Assignment Detail Information
Assignment:	A Christmas Carol, Act II
Category:	TEST - TEST
Assign Date:	12/18/08
Due Date:	12/18/08
Max Score:	60
Weight Multiplier:	1.00
Assignment Score Detail for TIMOTHY MCGINTY
Grade:	A
Percent:	100.00%
Points Earned/Possible:	60 / 60
Special Code:
No Count:
Missing:
Comment:
Absent:
Class Assignment Summary
Class Average Score:	53.89
Class Median Score:	57
Class High Score:	66
Class Low Score:	0

Student: TIMOTHY MCGINTY Assignment for PRE ALGEBRA / 10P

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Assignment Detail Information
Assignment:	Chapter 5 Test
Category:	TEST - TEST
Assign Date:	12/18/08
Due Date:	12/18/08
Max Score:	44
Weight Multiplier:	1.00
Assignment Score Detail for TIMOTHY MCGINTY
Grade:	A
Percent:	90.91%
Points Earned/Possible:	40 / 44
Special Code:
No Count:
Missing:
Comment:
Absent:
Class Assignment Summary
Class Average Score:	34.22
Class Median Score:	34
Class High Score:	44
Class Low Score:	22

Corporate X and a Fantasic evening

Thanks for the shirts!

Tonight Tim and I headed downtown to the Elbo Room to watch Corporate X http://cxband.com/. It is my extremely talented sister Christine and brother-in-law Casper's band. We started out our evening with a nice dinner at Marge's Still. This Old Town address has been home to a corner tavern since 1885 (it was allegedly a speakeasy during Prohibition). We don't get downtown much anymore so after dinner we walked around did some shopping and just admired Lincoln Park. It seems a life time ago that Tim and I lived in the city. Now off to the main attraction!

Christine you are a treasure and I had goosebumps the entire show. I am very proud of you. You guys are great !

Darling

Family and friends...

This is about the cutest picture. My dad always supports his kids in all they do. A 71 year old man travels 31 miles to a Lincoln Park bar on a Saturday night is just cool

After we enjoyed Corporate X we stayed around for a while longer to watch Romi Lovel a new up and coming singer that was also very enjoyable

http://romilovel.com/

My Sanctuary

For Christmas Tim gave me my own sanctuary, a sacred place only for me. He bought me my very own computer complete with photo printer/fax/copier. The highlight is this gorgeous writing desk, just a stunning piece of furniture. In order to set up shop in our room, first we had to move Karrick out. Our bedroom is quite large 30 x 15. He was housed in a 10 by 5 foot nook in our room, just enough space for his bed, nightstand and TV. My dresser now occupies the nook. With an ache in my heart I had to let go of my baby. We have a finished attic just 5 steps up from our bedroom. It is roughly a 14 x14 foot room with a 6 foot peak. When we moved in Karrick was an infant and no way was I going up and down in the middle of the night to care for him. I'm just shy of 6 feet and can stand erect only in the middle, one wrong move and you're smackin yer head. Today we made the move. Karrick was sooooo excited to finally have his very own room just like "the brothers"as he refers to TJ and Cal.

Karrick new room with all of his stuff. He is very excited to pick out paint and wall decorations.

Happy New Year to All

We decided to celebrate New Years Eve just the 5 of us. A new pizza pub opened in downtown Lombard called Capones...very cute! We ordered bruschetta and thick crust pizza, it gets the thumbs up from the McGinty's. It nice to have a restaurant near us. South Lombard has many restaurants around the Yorktown and Oak Brook malls, many very good, but mostly crowded chain restaurants. We northsiders struggle with dinning in general, I suppose it's the price we pay for no busy streets and all residential area. After dinner we went home and took it easy. The boys retreated downstairs to watch a movie on the big screen. I went to bed with a blinding neck injury headache.

Only a few day days left of vacation. Tim has been off for the better part of 3 weeks, he had to use vacation time prior to 1-1-09. It was great for the kids and me to have him home. Next week the rat race starts. Tim and myself back to regular work schedule. School for all 3 kids, basketball for TJ and Cal and Travel Baseball camp at the DuPage Training Center every Sat for TJ. I'm worn out just thinking of it.

There's my Karrick next to "the biggest Christmas tree ever, even bigger than ours"

My Night Out

My beach (Foster) the year I was born 1964

Tonight I headed downtown for the annual Lifeguard Christmas Party held at Holidays bar and grill on Randolph. I got to see some people that I haven't seen in years. I also received many compliments on my children's behavior from our Florida lifeguard trip. They were polite, well behaved and very engaging. It's always nice to hear. It seems like yesterday that I was that 15 year old...oops 16 yo girl guarding the lake front. Holy smokes did we have fun. Always tone and tan, smelling like Coppertone. After hour beach parties packed with lifeguards and Chicago finest. Good memories. Good people. Good fun

Two thumbs up, one thumb down

This weekend we saw 2 distinctly different movies. "Marley and Me" and "Gran Torino". I really enjoyed them both. I laughed and I cried during "Marley and Me". Thumbs up from Me, TJ and Cal (Tim and Karrick stayed home) While "Gran Torino" was a little darker and had a whole lot of racial slurs. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. Thumbs up from me, Tim ,TJ and Cal (for obvious reason Karrick didn't tune in)

Tim and I have been going to Lom Ling in Lombard every Saturday for a while now. The boys do not eat Chinese food so it is a perfect getaway for us. We couldn't make it until Sunday this week and when we arrived it was closed. After watching Gran Torino I was dying for Asian food so we set out for a replacement. Now I love everything about Lombard, but it does lack in the restaurant department. I am not a fancy food person...wish I was, but I'm not. My pulse began to race, my skin to perspire and dizziness was setting in. Low blood sugar...must eat and eat now. We decide to pull in to Mr. Wonton. Everything about it looked wrong from the strip mall location to the plastic decor from Hell

Tim asked for some hard noodles and this is what he was served. Oh no, Tim didn't eat any prior to this picture. I know the economy has gone in the shitter, but...

10 bucks to anyone that can name Tim's dish. If you said Cabbage salad you are wrong. It was Chicken Chop Suey. Not a bean sprout for miles. It was a pile of soggy cabbage with some shredded chicken. My dish was inedible, I did eat the Crab Rangoon appetizer because the fear of fainting on the floor was too much.
Big, big thumbs down

Oh No, not again

As I was getting ready for my weekly Saturday morning massage I look out the window. Horror greeted me, I see the sewer bubbling up. The only other time I saw this was Sept. 13th when we ended up with 2 feet of raw sewage in our basement for 2 days. With melting snow and rain predicted I immediately woke Tim. We cleared the basement and laundry room in record time. My Tim looked at me and said "I can't do this again". We just finished gutting and rebuilding our family room. The laundry room was a work in progress. With potential disaster out of our control, I set out for my massage 1 1/2 hrs late. As I drove down main street my sick feeling worsened as I saw the retention pond at my kids school 3/4 the way full.

Around 5pm we were confident enough to put back the furniture...we escaped Mother Natures wrath. I made a simple dinner and let the boys eat downstairs while soaking up as much electronic stimulation as possible

I missed the Nutcracker last week due to a blizzard and while I was unsuccessful in exchanging my tickets for Sat nights performance; in the back of my mind I couldn't help but wonder if a giant sand storm was in my future had the Nutcracker been extended a week

Christmas at the Moran's

Every year for Christmas we head to Palos Heights to my dads house to celebrate with my many siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. It is always a great time...a house full of Irishmen put the "Merry" in Merry Christmas. This year was made extra special for me because my Uncle Tom came in from Mill Valley California. He is my mom's youngest brother and my Godfather. The last time I saw him was 4 1/2 years ago at my mom's wake and funeral. He came in for his 47th year reunion of The Rainbow Beach Lifeguards of 1961. Yes, my uncle was a Chicago Park District Lifeguard on the beach. The guys he started out with as rookies were my boss' when I worked at the beach. Joe Pec is the former President of the USLA and current President of the Great Lakes Chapter. These are the people I travel with around the country to USLA meetings. Small world I say. My uncle is now a Doctor on the west coast.

Me and my Unc
No shortage of Moran's in this world

Yep, that's my dad

Check out Caspers new Doo! Love it!!!! I also loved the dreads

These two are inseparable and could pass for siblings. Karrick made that sweatshirt at school. Hand prints for antlers and his foot print for the head

Everyone comparing my Christmas cards fighting over who got the cuter one. They are hand made and each one is an original Mary McGinty design. They will be mailed out to everyone else soon.

I must say this year will go down as one of my favorite Christmas' . From each school show to every Christmas party right down to watching my kids sled all around town. Not to mention having a 4 yo puts a lot of magic back into the Holiday!