Good evening everyone! This week was by far, the most insane week I've had in quite a while. Maybe since he holidays when I was trying to bang out Mia's Christmas book. Thinking about it now makes me wonder how in the world I survived it. Tuesday through Thursday, I had elementary schools to photograph at. Tuesday, I was at Lowell Elementary for a couple hours before I went to work. Wednesday, I was at Tonawanda in Elm Grove. Let me tell you, photographing the kids isn't the hard part, its navagating the weird layouts. Every school is slightly to wackadoodle different. Tonawanda could have been filed under "wackadoodle" They have had what I was told the 1970's layout since they opened that year. A lot of schools used to do it, and they're one of the rare ones that still do. I first experienced it when I walked into the Kindergarten area and every classroom had ZERO walls and was a completely open-concept layout. It made it difficult for photographers to snap a picture of the class teacher's door to put sort of a label on the pictures you're taking of their kids. I made it work.
I thought maybe that was the end of the bizarre layout. Nope. The library was the center hub for the rest of the classes which had similar layouts. It's cool in theory but really painful for myself, PLUS every teacher switched their kids around so I had to work with that. Seriously? When I was done, I jetted down to Milwaukee for a photo session with Milwaukee Wave star Ian Bennett. He wanted some new shots for his 2nd clothing line. After getting escorted through the building, I found myself watching the Wave practicing before their Baltimore Blast playoff game. It was fun to watch them from their player's bench. After the practice ended, Ian and a few of the guys did a quick photo session. I think for the most part the photos turned out alright. Afterwards I wished them good luck and was on my way. Got home, had some luck and watched some of the UCL Chelsea vs Barca game. It was a rough one, so after I picked up Mia, I didn't watch much more of it because we did a little Harry Potter part 2 photo session. Went a lot better than the last one and throughout the week, I did some edits and have about one more left to do. After the session, we drove to Target to pick up something for her friend Ryan's birthday party on Sunday.
Thursday, I had one last school to get through before work. Swallow in Hartland. Did a good group of classrooms before encountering my first classroom of middle schoolers. They were by far, the least favorite class I've done. They were awkward and weird and totally OVER getting their photos take for year book. Get over it kids. Didn't do the other class because the teacher was doing a test and didn't really want me there oh well. After that one, I packed up and went home. The majority of the week, we made final preparations for Mia's epic Wizardy Harry Potter party. Saturday, Mia was both stoked and excited to see what her leprechaun left her and her very exciting party. After a quick scavenger hunt, she quickly got in her Hogwarts robe and tie and helped us get ready for the party. It wasn't long before the kids started arriving. Mia was so excited to see who'd be the
first one. Turns out, it was Easton. His Mom said he likes to get to parties early. It wasn't long before Charlie, Noelle, Cecilia and the rest of Mia's guests arrived. We had a Quidditch tournament in the living room, a make-your-own-tie session in the den, and a Potions 101 class in the dining room. We had forgotten to do the pin the scar on Harry. Oops. Before they did the projects and tournament, they were sorted out with their own personal sorting hat. If I could find the Qudditch board, I could post which kids were in which Hogwarts house. Oh well. Mia, Cecilia and Charlie represented Gryffindor, Izzy and Ryan were in Slytherin and that's all I can recall for now. Anyways, Gryffindor won the tournament of Quidditch. Mia, Charlie and Cecilia did really well throwing the balls through the hoop. They all had fun designing ties and participating in Potions 101. The cake turned out great and Mia loved all of their gifts. I made my best effort to take as many photos as possible. Jill's parents were a MASSIVE help with the whole party as well as our friend Leanne that drove in. We couldn't have made this happen without their help. I dressed as Severus Snape and Jill dressed up as well. Hopefully everyone had fun.
Later, Jill and Leanne went out for sushi so Mia and I hung out at home. She fell asleep during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Probably a good thing since the ending was pretty dark and creepy for her. We'll probably not watch any more of the movies with her since I have heard they get creepy.
Sunday, Mia and I drove to Ryan's birthday party with Grandma Gail. She refused to go to the Chuck E Cheese party without the both of us. Immediately upon arriving, she didn't want to be there. She got very upset and the mere thought of Chuck E showing up like he has before at parties. Since she didn't have Cecilia to hide with, she had to use us to block any view of the terrorizing mouse from hell. She got herself through it, and played plenty of games with her friends. She will always remember the moment she won 100 tickets on the Pirate Wheel game. She joined the "100 club" with Ryan and Charlie that have both won 100 tickets at Chuck E Cheese. Charlie won again before all the kids had to pick out prizes. Despite the lack of effort from the staff that gave the game cards to the kids almost 30 minutes late, they all had a blast. Mia, eventually. Just as long as the rodent didn't see her. I missed the Chelsea FA cup match but was told later they won. Quarter finals, here we go!
This week, I've got plenty of photos to edit and need to start working on a couple of drawings for an auction basket for a fundraiser coming up in April. Mia's been taking hot lunch, so I've substituted drawings for some fun #dadjokes. She likes them a lot.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
