Family Portrait - 6/10

Im pretty proud of our June family portrait.

The day before we went to the fair, I had (what I believed was) a great idea. Every year at the Del Mar Fair we take the chair lift from one side of the fair over to the kiddieland where the rides are. I began to ponder how cool would it be to get a shot of us on that chair lift, suspended in the air. I ran this idea in my head for about 24 hours, trying to figure out how it could be done. I would need the help of someone else - someone who wasnt afraid to ride ahead of us and take our picture. It would also be better if the picture was taken during the daylight vs. at night.

As we prepared to go to the fair, I asked my mom if she would take our picture on the lift. I explained to her what I had in mind and she obliged me without any hesitation. Yeah Mom! Once we were at the fair, I orchestrated my next move. Normally, we do food and exhibits before rides. However, unbeknownst to anyone, I suggested we all get on the lift earlier than we might have done. The day was overcast - perfect for picture taking -and soon it would be dark. I was thrilled when everyone was ushered onto the ride with Matt, Barb, Seamus, Finn and me in one chairlift behind my mother . My plan was working perfectly!

My mother in law Barb (aka Dama Shan) has been staying with us for the past couple weeks. I was excited she was going to be in our family portrait but didnt fully register how terrified she was to go on the chair lift. She mentioned this problem to us in the car, but I didnt really hear her. I was so hell bent on getting this picture that I didnt actually listen to what she was saying. It wasnt until we were on the chair lift that it occurred to how afraid she truly was. When we were 50+ feet in the air, I saw her fists tightly clinched around the metal bar and I felt pretty bad. Crikey! To make matters worse, Barb was also concerned about losing her flip flops. Matt and I had casually mentioned about almost losing our flip flops on the ride in years past, but we didnt notice that my poor mother in law was wearing flip flops that very day. The entire ride, Barb had her feet pointed up in order to keep her flip flops on. Aye yi yi! What a horrible daughter in law I am! Can you believe I was so thoughtless?

After the pictures were taken, I purposefully didnt look at the series of pictures my mother took until I got home. I dont know why exactly. I guess I wanted it to be a surprise or something. When I got home, I quickly checked the pictures and I went straight to the shots of us on the chair lift. I was sooooooo happy with the pictures my mom took. She took several and they were all fantastic! Matt, Barb and I got a chuckle out of my mother in law's pointed feet in each photo. Eventhough Barb was scared, we all laughed remembering the memory.

I rarely forget what a pro my mom is with a camera. She doesnt take pictures anymore, but I have dozens of pictures from my childhood demonstrating her skill behind the lens. When I saw the shot posted here, I could have cried. It was perfect! It was exactly what I wanted.

Thank you MUCHISMO, Mom!

And thanks also to Barb for putting with my mypoic, one track thinking. Im sorry you were so afraid and I promise I wont force you to go on that sort of ride again.

Happy Wednesday.

Del Mar Fair.... Oops San Diego County Fair

Last week we went to the San Diego County Fair aka the Del Mar Fair. It has become a summer tradition for us to spend a day there and this year practically the entire family came along for the fun. Mom and Dad, Dama Shan, Chris and Miranda and Barry and Eli joined us for several hours of fun, food and general merriment.

Highlights:
- I got my coveted anual photo both picture (see above.) Im not sure the four of us are going to fit in there next year. We were packed pretty tight.
-We solved the problem of having to straddle the big and little kid rides. After dinner, Matt took Seamus to check out the exhibits/big rides (along with Dama Shan, Dama, Papa, Miranda and Chris) and I took Finn to the kids rides (along with Barry and Eli.) Even though we had to split up, the kids were super happy.
-I ate my first Philly Cheesesteak. Yum.
-Dama Shan did not lose her flip flops on the chair lift, nor did Miranda fall off the chair lift.
-Funnel cakes... nuff said.
-We successfully took our June family picture while suspended by the air. Look for it tomorrow. Thanks Mom!
-No one got sunburned or lost or sick.

All in all it was a wonderful day. I feel so grateful that we can enjoy this event every year together. The Del Mar fair is totally a highlight of summer for my family.
Here are the pictures:

These next pictures crack me up. My boys are on the end seats. Those three kids in the middle are no relation to us. When the ride went up both boys were smiling and waving, but the first time it jolted down in a free fall motion Finn's eyeballs popped out of his head. I was happy to get a shot of it. Once the ride was over, we asked Finn how it went fully expecting him to not like it. Guess what, he loved it. :)

The picture below was taken after we got off the chair lift. Both Dama Shan and Miranda were terrified riding that lift, but for some reason I didnt know. I was taking pictures of Miranda and Chris and I kept wondering why Miranda wasnt smiling. Once we got off, Dama Shan told us how she kept her feet pointed up the entire ride because she was terrified they would fall off. I guess we should have told her to wear her tennis shoes.

There was a ride at the kiddieland where you lay on your stomach and feel like you're flying. Eli went on this ride three times! On the third time, he got his dad, Barry, to go on it. The picture I got of them (below, right) was fuzzy, but I cant help but smile when I look at it.


Happy Tuesday. :)

Highland Games 2010

Almost every summer, Matt the boys and I attend Highland Games. This year, Dama Shan was in town so we dragged her along for a day of bagpipers, sheep dogs, wicked tinkers, bangers and meat pies, Scottish clans and hundreds of men wearing kilts. The day is typically hot, but the revelry is fun. Here are the pictures.

Dama Shan's maiden name is Ross so Matt took her over to the Clan Ross tent to sign in and hear some of the clan's history.

A cool kids activity at the Highland Games is the Scottish passport. Finn and Seamus were given a "passport" where they collected individual stamps and stickers from the many Scottish clans at the games. Finn loved this activity. He was determined to get every single stamp and sticker. He really impressed me. My normally awkward kid walked confidently into every tent and asked politely for a stamp without any fear or shyness. Social awkwardness - BE GONE!

A few years ago, Matt bought himself a sports kilt. Its an easier to wear version of the traditional kilt. Every year he brings it out to wear among the many Scottish enthusiasts. I love how he looks in it. It shows off his muscular legs. Very sexy.

Happy Monday!

World Cup Fever.

Casa de McGarvey has been taken over by World Cup Fever. Seamus and I are watching (on average) a game a day since the tournament began on June 18th. I truly enjoy watching soccer and Seamus loves playing soccer. It feels good to "bond" over this event. All four of us are rooting for team USA, but other favorite teams include Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. So far, all our teams have advanced to the second round.

Advantages of World Cup madness:
- Bonding time with Seamus.
- A feeling of camaraderie with other World Cup obsessed friends and family.
- Seamus and Finn (along with anyone they can wrangle) play soccer outside everyday.

- Nationalistic pride at watching our USA boys do well.
- Guilt free tv watching.

Disadvantages of World Cup madness:
- Seamus plays with the soccer ball in the house constantly. We havent had any accident yet, but its only a matter of time if he keeps it up. Not only does he like to bounce and dribble the ball inside our small home, he also likes to juggle it up in the air with his feet. It seems that everyday I am telling him to take the ball, and his playing, outside.
- Seamus has worn his soccer cleats everyday since the games began. Normally I wouldnt mind this fact, but he's not always walking on grass. Wearing his $30 soccer cleats to the store, and to math tutoring and on errands is going to run the spikes down too quickly. Yesterday we drove down to Del Mar to enjoy the San Diego County Fair and in the frenzy and confusion of us getting out of the door, we didnt realize that Seamus was, not suprisingly, wearing his cleats. He wore them all over the fair for over 4 hours!

- Becoming very emotionally involved in soccer games. The USA v. Algeria game was such a rollercoaster ride for Matt, Seamus and me to watch. We were physically and emotionally spent by the end. It was a huge adrenaline rush when Landon Donovon scored in stoppage time, but overall the game was much too intense for my comfort level.

Tomorrow we will be watching the USA v Ghana game with family. We kind of forced my mom to have a party. It should be fun. I hope we win. It feels soooooo goood to win. GO USA!

Happy Friday.

I know... I know

I will post soon.
Between World Cup, end of school, beginning of summer, watching my nephew and having my mother in law here I havent found the time.
But I have a post coming soon. :)

Small Blessings.

Yesterday from about 6:30 to almost 8pm the boys played so beautifully outside.
No fights.
No bickering or whining.
No tattling.
No name calling.

Just lots of giggles and laughing.
Thank God!

Happy Tuesday.

Weekend

Summer is days away. I cannot wait! Im so ready to sleep in and have days full of nothing but leisure and fun. This past weekend, our last before summer, was pretty full. Typical weekend for the McGarveys. Here are the cliff notes:

1. Beach Bonfire. The Huelsmans and Joe met up with us at the beach for our first bonfire of the season. We entertain many bonfires once summer hits, but this particular one was a long way coming. We usually begin our bonfires in May, but this year has been unseasonably cold so we pushed the date back several times. Finn has been DYING to get to the beach with his friends so after tons of harassing, we finally set the date for Friday, June 11 come rain or shine. When Friday finally came, it looked like we were going to have crappy weather. It was cold and cloudy here in Vista, however the closer we got to the beach the sunnier it got. That never happens and we were all pleasantly surprised.



2. World Cup. On Saturday we attended a World Cup party at my cousins, Nicole and Fab's, house. USA v England played at 11:30 and they graciously hosted my extended family for the game. Fab is from Brazil and he is a HUGE soccer fan. It was neat watching the game with him. It was also cool to see all the younger cousins running around together. I unfortunately did not get any pictures of this get together, but we had a great time.

3. Visit from PapAl and Kathy. Matt's dad and his girlfriend/lifelong partner Kathy flew into town from Florida for a family emergency. While they were here, they were able to sneak in a quick visit with us at our home. We had dinner and got to make a fire in the backyard. It was a nice end to a long couple of days.


I gotta jet.
Happy Monday.

Jennifer's Pizza Night

One day last month, the boys and I went over to my sister's house for pizza. Our husbands were out of town and we found that spending time together made the time go by more quickly. Instead of ordering out, Jennifer got all the fixings so that our children could make their own pizza meal. She purchased dough, sauce, cheese and meat and our four children crafted their dinner from scratch. It was such a neat activity. I was almost jealous i hadnt thought of it myself.

Wednesday night the kids and I were alone for dinner. I was going to throw something together quickly - like mac and cheese or hot dogs- but at the last minute opted to recreate my sister's pizza dinner. I thought it would be fun. I drove out to the store and got what I needed. I prepped the counter with flour and put all the pizza fixings in bowls. When the boys finally sat down to cook, I grabbed my camera and enjoyed their activity.


Making pizza's "Jennifer style" not only made for a fun, dinner activity, my boys actaully ate the meal too. Thats what I call a win-win situation. Yeah!

Happy Friday.

Nobody Said It Was Easy

I was talking to my sister this morning about parenting. She has a friend who is having a hard time with her parenting load right now. Actually, her friend is probably having hard time in general but having two young kids doesn't make life easier. It complicates it. Listening to my sister speak today brought to mind a song by Coldplay called "The Scientist." The lyrics are:

Nobody said it was easy.
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh take me back to the start.

Often times when I am struggling with parenting those lyrics ring true for me. I was 27 years old when I got pregnant for the first time and, boy, was I naive about parenting. I truly thought I was going to be an awesome mother. After all, I had been a teacher for almost two years. I liked kids a lot, and they really seemed to like me too. I was raised primarily by a working mother who made parenting look very manageable. From my perspective she made it look down right easy. I foolishly thought "if she can do it working, I can totally excell at it while at home." To be fair, up to that point in my life I hadnt experienced the pain or humility that failure can elicit - a fact that would change upon becoming a mother. I was also older when I got pregnant, seemingly more mature. I had had some fun in my early and mid twenties and although I wasnt ready to give up my life, I thought I was up to the task of caring for another person.

The thing is: nobody can prepare you for being a parent. No one. Its a 'learn on the job' occupation and its far from easy.

In my experience, parenting can be down right hard, even when you think you have your sh** together. It is emotionally, mentally and especially in the beginning, physically hard. Its legitimate work. And that's not to say its not rewarding, because at times it really is. And just because parenting is work doesnt mean that you dont feel unearthly love for your children, because you absolutely do.

When I got off the phone with my sister, I was thinking of the ways I keep my chin up in regards to my parenting load. As I looked around my house, I could easily see one of my methods: I surround myself with positive reminders of how great my kids are. For example: on my bulletin board are several love notes from Seamus. The love notes are few - one in particular was given to me when he was 5 years old - but I keep them displayed because they remind me that even on our worst days, my sons are a huge blessing in my life. I have lots of these little reminders around my home: a gold slip from 2007 on my fridge; some tissue flowers from my boys this past Mothers Day; a torn piece of paper that says "I love you" next to a photo. All these little reminders reaffirm to me that I am exactly where Im supposed to be at this time in my life. God made me to be the mother of Seamus and Finn McGarvey and even when days are rough and the work that needs to be done is overwhelming, I know that there is a lot of good in our lives together.

Happy Tuesday.

Big Social Studies Project Due Today...

Seamus had a big social studies project due today. He and his partner Josh had to make a 3-D example of the lost city of Atlantis. They'd been working on it for weeks - both in class and at home. Normally, we would be running all of the place trying to get the last minute details done on a project as big as this one, but this weekend was stress free. Seamus and Josh turned in the project early - 7 days ago! Josh is a good student and I think his attitude towards academics rubbed off positively on Seamus. God bless, Josh! I also think the fact that Josh got to come over on the weekend to work on the project might have jump started Seamus' drive to excel. If I could motivate Seamus to care about his grades by having a friend over every weekend, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Im not sure Matt would agree with me, but it sounds good to me.

Happy Monday.

Life is Good

Thursday is usually a busy day for me. Today was no exception.
However, earlier this afternoon I was thinking of the day's events and I thought to myself "You know, this day was quite good!"
Here is why:

1. I got an unexpected gift today. Thursday is one of my volunteer days at the boys' school and today Mary, the school secretary, brought me flowers from her garden. Mary is a gardener and she lives on a large piece of property in the inland empire. Today she not only brought me flowers but she also brought me a succulent to plant at my house. I told her recently how Im not very good at gardening. I have what they call a black thumb: I cant seem to keep plants alive. I mentioned to her that I would like to try planting succulents because Ive heard they are hearty and difficult to kill. I feel touched that she not only listened to me, but that she acted on it. The succulent she gave me today is actually one that I have admired on my neighborhood walks. It was such a thoughtful gift and so very appreciated.

2. At dinner, Finn ate his usual 2+ servings of rice. That was predictable. What wasnt predictable is that he also ate two servings of chicken. Usually I have to coax him into finishing his one serving. Today, he asked for seconds. Yipeeeeeee! Both my kids are painfully skinny so when they eat, it makes me feel good.

3. Today while in the nurse's office, I got 1.5 hours of uninterrupted reading time. That is very unusual and I enjoyed it thoroughly. While the nurse's office isnt typically hopping, I do get intermittent kids coming and going throughout the afternoon. Today there was nothing. The book Im reading right now is called The Known World by Edward P. Jones. I picked it up at Costco and its good. Im enjoying the style of writing a lot. While Im reading it, I feel like I can hear the author telling it to me - like oral history.

4. Today I probably heard "Yes Mama" about 5-8 times. What a beautiful sound that is! Seamus got grounded this week and he seems to be taking his lumps very well. He seems to be cognizant that he has some make up work to do... with me! I like the sound of "Yes Mama" much more than the usually "I know" or " I will." It feels good to enjoy his minor victories. "Yes Mama" is a victory for sure.

5. A situation that was troubling me at school has been resolved. It didnt involve me or the kids. It was just yucky stuff involving people I care about. I heard from "the horse's mouth" that all is well. Thank God!

6. This evening the opera song "Nessun Dorma" came on shufffle and Seamus began singing it in make believe Italian. It was very sweet: he knew the melody, but made up the words completely. Afte the song was over, he came over to me in the kitchen, put his arms around my waist and said "I really miss Italy. Please take me when you go back. "

7. Today Seamus had his second club soccer practice of the year. Matt picked him up from his first; today's duty was mine. When I arrived at the field, I was greeted by some old friends and the sight of them made me smile. Last year, Matt and I spent a lot of time with the parents of Seamus' teammates. I hadnt seen or talked to many of them since last December when our season ended. It was great to get reacquainted; to catch up and fall back into the same routines as last year. It was also super cool to see some new faces in the crowd - one of them being the father of Seamus' good friend from Beaumont Elementary, Jackson. He and his family are new to our team and Im so excited to be "reunited" with them again.

8. Camp Pendleton was really booming this evening. For those who dont know, we live pretty close to a Marine Corps base. Vista is a hilly city and its not uncommon to hear and feel the practice shelling of the Marines vibrating the windows of our house. This evening, the booming was unusually frequent. It sounded like distant thunder rolling through the night. I decided to open the front door and check out if what I was hearing was real and when I did, I was greeted by four junebugs on the screen door. Ahhhhhhhhh! Ive been so busy the past few weeks that I havent noticed the junebugs! Every year, when the junebugs arrive it means summer is right around the corner. Seeing them on the screen made me so happy. Im very ready for summer. Its my favorite time of the year.

Today didnt feel like a Thursday. It wasnt crazy, busy and tiring. In fact, I would call today a good day! Maybe I need to dissect each of my days in order to view them more accurately. Here's hoping Friday will be equally good.

Happy Thursday.

Cabrillo National Monument

I have lived in San Diego County my entire life but I had never been to the Point Loma Lighthouse on Cabrillo National Monument until this past weekend. Ive known lots of people who love it there and Ive seen photographs of the area, but I never seized the opportunity to check the place out for myself. That all changed on Saturday. Before the long weekend began, Matt asked me if I was up for a trip to Palomar Mountain and I surprised him when I said "Not really, but what do you think about driving out the Point Loma lighthouse instead?" Matt thought it was a great idea.

We had a wonderful time. There were quite a few people out there for Memorial Day, but that didnt obscure the beauty and peacefulness of the area. Matt, the boys and I spent the first hour and a half up near the visitor center and lighthouse. There are incredible views up there. It was still a bit hazy when we visited around 1pm so I didnt get any great pictures of San Diego and the bay. I imagine on a clear day the vistas are quite dramatic. Seamus and Finn had a bunch of information they had to gather around the lighthouse area in order to earn their Junior Ranger badge. At this age, they are both so into that kind of thing - running from one exibit to the next tracking down answers about the location. After exploring the bluff, we ventured down to the coast below. Apparently, in the winter time the tidepools at Cabrillo are quite extensive. However, during the summertime the tide doesnt get low enough during daylight hours for anyone to really get into the plentiful sea life. Lucky for us, we saw some anemones and stuck our fingers into their sticky centers. I love doing that! Even without lots of marine life, the coastline of Cabrillo and its very distinct erosion patterns were so worth seeing. We stayed there for well over an hour and when it was time to go, the kids begged to stay.






It was such a nice family day. All four of us are excited to go back soon. Maybe we'll take Dama Shan out there when she comes in June.
Happy Monday. :)