Evening at the Ballpark

May 2013

 

A few days after I started my new job, Olivia and Jack's daycare sponsored a fun night out at the Frisco Roughriders game.  It's a beautiful minor league ballpark, prices are reasonable, and all-you-can-eat dinner was included in the package.

We saw quite a few of Jack's friends from his class at the game.  In fact, his fried Ariel's tickets were right next to ours! 

At the last Roughriders game Livi attended, I think she was about 2 months old.  She enjoyed herself much more this time.

Our seats were great - right on the first base line:

As the sun set and the later innings arrived, it was time for Jack to put on the rally cap:

Olivia, on the other hand, was ready for bed.  Somehow, she managed to fall asleep laying on my chest as I sat in my seat.

Jack was a little disappointed that it was too windy for the fireworks display they usually show at the end of every game, but despite that, we had a great night!

 

The next day, we decided that it would be fun to head to the Fort Worth Zoo.  On the way, we picked up cousin Lincoln to give his momma some alone time with baby Charlie, and hopefully some quiet time while Charlie was napping.  I'm pretty sure I took some photos at the zoo, but they were lost when a certain three-year-old who shall remain nameless typed in the wrong password one too many times on Mom's phone and wiped it - including 5 months of not-backed-up photos.  Fun times were had by all, I promise.  Lesson learned - the hard way!

When we brought Lincoln home, we got to spend some time with the rest of the family, including getting to hold baby Charlie for the first time.  Such a precious little guy, he fell right to sleep in his Uncle Tommy's arms!

Big Changes for Mom

May 2013

So I've alluded to some big changes in my life and the time has finally arrived.  Over the past few years, it had become more and more evident to me that my time at Deloitte was nearing an end.  Despite all of the difficulties my job had brought over those years, the long hours, the time away from my husband and babies, the stresses and tears and failures ("learning experiences"), the decision was so much more difficult and complicated than it seems.  Since I started that job on my very first day of work after college, September 10, 2001, I was committed, driven to become a partner.  The percentage of first year staff who become partner is tiny, but I always swore it would be me.

Until it became more complicated...life happened...I hated not getting to put my kids to bed...I missed my husband...I was intimidated by certain aspects of my job as senior management in a large audit firm and disillusioned by others.  It took a long time for me to come to terms with the fact that maybe I wasn't going to be a partner after all.

So one day I got a random message on LinkedIn.  I've never actually responded to one of those, but this one caught my attention, so I called for more information.  The job fit my skill-set, and what I enjoyed about my current job, the salary was right, and the Company's headquarters was located only 15 minutes from our house.  So I thought why not interview?  One thing.  It was a Deloitte client, which meant my decision process probably had to move a lot faster so as not to violate any tricky auditor independence rules.

Long story short, after two interviews, many discussions, and some serious soul-searching, I left the only job I had ever known to become the Director of Financial Reporting at Alliance Data Systems.  I have nothing but respect for Deloitte - some amazing people I'm lucky enough to call friends still work there.  If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I would do anything differently.  But it was time for a change.

So my first day on the job was May 28th.  Instead of being stuffed in a windowless room somewhere like auditors always are, I had my very own office:

It has a window, and a meeting table and yes, I took a panoramic photo of my office (on a weekend when no one else was around): 

My name was even on the door!

This is the computer screen in the lobby on the day I took the photos.  It wasn't my first day of work, but I thought it was appropriate.

So did I make the right decision?  Fast-forward to today.  As I left work, the light in the Deloitte audit room still shone brightly, as it would for at least another 3 hours.  I enjoy the work and find it challenging, I like and respect the people working around me.  And the best part?  Tonight, my kids took a bath - they giggled and laughed, made bubble beards and squeezed bubble guppy toys. Oh yeah, and Olivia pooped in the potty.  And I was there to see it all.  Yes, I think I made the right decision.  So far so good...

Exciting Times for the McCarthy Fam

May 2013

 

Happy 4th Birthday Lincoln!  On May 18th, we headed to the McCarthy's house for a super hero birthday.  Brandi and Kathryn made capes for each kid to wear.  The birthday boy was excited to wear his cape, along with his Robin t-shirt:

The birthday party was fun, very casual  with lots of family and friends and kids running around in the backyard.  Livi wore her dress that Aunt Brandi gave her for her birthday.  I abolutely love this dress and would've put Livi in in every day if I could!

As usual, Jack was being a little nut job:

He had fun on the swing with cousin Lincoln while Daddy and Uncle Ryan pushed:

Poppy drove Momom and Popop into town from  Lafayette for the celebration and to meet Charlie.  They came over to our house after the party to see it for the first time.  During the party, Livi even sat happily on Momom's lap for a while.  This doesn't happen often, so yay!

Nana and Papa were also there.  Here's Nana with her first born son, all grown up:

After all the playing, it was time for cake and presents. Lincoln had an awesome Batman cake and a Robin one, too!

Yum!  Everyone enjoyed the cake!

 Besides the big birthday party, the other big news in the McCarthy household was that little brother Charlie was finally well enough to leave the hospital and join his family at home permanently.  Given that he was still pretty tiny and weak, he didn't get to join the party, but we got to peek at him sleeping in his room.  So wonderful to see our little nephew (and cousin) for the first time.  We've waited a long time for you Charlie - welcome to the family!

Jack's First Trophy

May 2013

 

So I seem to have a lot of posts about the Unicorn Lions.  I guess I can't help posting pictures of Jack just starting out in the same sport I loved for so many years.  I don't know whether he'll play forever, but I'll enjoy it while he does, and try not to be a crazy soccer mom.  So in May, Jack's first soccer season was drawing to a close. A few games before the end of the season was team picture day.  A few team members were missing, but the "regulars" were there:  

(Top row - Coach Mark, Ava, London; Bottom row - Jack, Lucy, Sean)

 

Of course, they took individual pictures as well. You don't think about the coordination it takes to hold a soccer ball in one hand and put your other hand on your waist, until you watch a three-year-old try it.  It took a little too much concentration for Jack to be able to manage a real smile :) : 

 After the last game, we had a team awards ceremony, complete with Jack's very first trophy.  I'm not sure if he was excited about it or not - what do you think?!?

We got another team photo, too.  Most people are smiling and sort of looking at the camera :):

Jack and his buddy Sean.  So fun to see him making friends and having fun!

Congrats to the Unicorn Lions for a great season full of fun, goofiness, stubborness, laughs, learning and everything you'd expect from a team of three and four year olds!!

First Birthday Family Pics

May 2013

I felt guilty that we didn't get professional portraits made when Livi was born - I think I still regret that we don't have any tiny cuddly sleeping newborn photos of her - just a little.  Anyway, we normally get our professional photos taken right around Jack's birthday each year for Christmas cards so i was feeling doubly guilty that we wouldn't have any pictures of Livi on her first birthday. Sooo.....to remedy that, we decided to call our amazing photographer, Allison Duckworth of eleventhirtysix images to take some photos of Livi for her first birthday, and some family pictures while we had her there.

Unlike our last photo session, the kids were far from perfect angels.  It was late Sunday afternoon, so they were already tired after a long weekend.  Livi was getting over a spring time cold, complete with super runny nose, and Jack was just crazy-hyper.  Despite all of this, Allison the miracle-worker was able to get some really good shots.  This is my favorite one of the whole family:

And a couple cute shots of the kids together:

 

Very Reservoir Dogs:

My babies look so angelic in these shots:

But these give you an idea of what little stinkers they can really be:

 

 

 

Mommy and her little girl:

 

Finally, we changed Livi into her birthday outfit and tried to get a few birthday photos.  She had pretty much had it at this point, but we managed to capture a few smiles:

 And then we gave her a cupcake!

 Yum, yum, yum!!



A Rainbow Birthday Party

May 2013

The Saturday after Olivia's birthday was the day of her big first birthday party. As usual, I had been tied up with work and contemplating an exciting new job offer (more to come), so thank goodness Mom and Dad came into town on Friday night. Mom and I made late night trips to several grocery stores to pick up many of the necessary goodies for the party.

The party was on Saturday afternoon, but we had a busy day before that, beginning with an exciting morning of Unicorn-Lion soccer. Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Papa all joined us for this one. As with most games that season, Jack was much more focused during warm-ups than in the actual game. Dad took some great pre-game action shots:

And this is a picture during the actual game - something very interesting was apparently going on in the grass :)

Strawberry-bottomed Livi enjoyed watching from the sideline:

And getting hugs from big brother during game breaks:

Leaving after the big game with Grandma:

In between game time and the party, while parents and grandparents busily prepared for the party, Miss Livi and Mr. Jack rested and had a delicious spaghetti lunch:

Before the party, Nana gave Livi three beautiful, handmade dresses. The one in this picture was made for our little soccer fan. Soccer ball-patterned fabric and ribbon to match Jack's uniform. So cute!

The theme of the party was "rainbows," but unfortunately, I don't think any of these pictures really do it justice. Tommy's and his mom mixed many brightly colored cake batters for the cupcakes and smash cake.

Here are the finished products.  Each of them had layers of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple batter inside.

 I tried my best to continue the rainbow theme through the snacks.  This is the rainbow veggie tray.  There was also a rainbow fruit tray with strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries, and grapes.

And here's the birthday girl in her rainbow tutu and birthday onesie:

Mom and her baby girl (and yes, I know the bow is ridiculous):

Tommy borrowed all the supplies from Austin and we had a good old-fashioned cajun crawfish boil. Here they are before they became dinner:

And after...poor guys:

I don't think Jack had ever seen crawfish before, and he was very interested:

But not quite sure what he thought about them:

Everyone else enjoyed them, though:



All of the grandparents enjoyed cuddling the grandbabies:

And everyone else had a pretty good time, too:

Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and Cousin Lincoln came with big news.  They found out a few days earlier that they had been chosen by a birth mother who had just had a baby boy!!  Little Charlie still needed a bit more time in the hospital before he was ready to join his family, but they had gone to meet him and big brother Lincoln brought pictures of his new baby brother to show his cousins:

Here's Livi's smash cake.  There is supposed to be a #1 in the middle, without sprinkles, but that didn't turn out to be a great idea:

But the inside of the cake still looked pretty cool.  Livi didn't dig into her cake quite as much as Jack did on his first birthday, but I think she enjoyed it:

Little Miss Livi had lots of people who loved her very much - and she was definitely the best dressed one-year-old out there:

I think her love of books must have started right about at this point:

We were so lucky to have so many friends and family come to celebrate Olivia's first birthday.  Happy first birthday Little Miss Livi!  We love you so much!!