Wreck it Turkey

Good evening everyone. Busy and enjoyable little break for Mia and the family (with the exception of myself working). Early in the week, I finally found a snowboard for Mia. On a whim, I decided to drive to the Play it Again Sports in Greenfield and luckily discovered a board perfect for Mia. I picked up a pair of matching boots too, so I imagine both were sold together. Cost a little more than I wanted to spend on it, but I wasn't going to keep looking. The guy behind the counter said kid sized boards don't last long at their store. They're just such a hot item for Christmas so I think Mia's going to sincerely love her present. Thursday morning I had a group art lesson. Added two new students to my group so we worked on drawing feathers. My other older student Micah worked on a pencil sketch of Lord Voldermort. She really nailed her sketch so I was totally proud of her. My other kids weren't totally stoked on their feathers but it was a good thing to start out with.  Thanksgiving morning was fantastic. We got to see Ralph Breaks the Internet which was pretty amazing. We had tickets to a 10:15am show so we picked up some breakfast food at KT and made our way to the Ridge. The movie was just such an amazing sequel that has me wondering if it's better than the original. That's not always the easiest to say but all three of us really liked it.

Later after the movie, we went home and Jill made her infamous mashed potatoes before we drove to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time and everything was tasty. Friday, we did some painting on the cabinets before I went to work.

Saturday, I watched a very frustrating Chelsea vs Spurs match. They struggled everywhere and unfortunately ended their unbeaten streak. They have a Europa match this week so hopefully they can pull off a win. Later, we took my parents out for their birthdays to Big Tuna. Had the best sushi. They always are good so it was a nice dinner.

Today, we set up the Christmas tree. Mia enjoyed going through all the different ornaments and when I got home, I noticed she set up her Christmas village. Always cute. Over the weekend, she had to complete a science project over the weekend, and hers consisted of chemical reactions when you mix liquids together. Hopefully she wrote her report correctly. This week, super stoked for Conan O'Brien on Friday. I've been looking forward to this for quite a while.  I think we're grabbing a bite to each before and Mia's having a sleepover. I'll work on her book throughout the week as well and hopefully can find myself a board at some point. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Space Oddity

Good evening everyone. I'll get through this quickly so I can crash for the night. So most of the week, I've been thoroughly scouring the webs and store websites looking for a nice snowboard for Mia for Christmas. She's been really really wanting one so I've spent a great deal of time trying to get the most bang for my buck. I'd prefer we find a board her size, but have looked at some a bit bigger. Wednesday I was off so after school, Mia and I hit up a Play it Again Sports in Tosa. The store was much older and smaller than the one I've been to in Greenfield, but we checked to see if we could get her boot size figured out. Turns out I was right and she is a size 2. The guy helped us figure out how to tighten them on these apparently better boots. She liked them, so when I eventually get her board, I'll pick up some boots too. Boots are a heck of a lot easier to get than the perfect board. The hunt continues...

I had debated about getting one for myself for cheap as well so we could learn together. We'll see how this goes. I know the sport is tricky and difficult but I don't want Mia to get discouraged so if we both fall and laugh about it, it'll make the the all-important process of learning all the more enjoyable. Saturday, Mia made a birthday card for her friend Charlie while Jill and I did some painting in the kitchen. We tried a couple of new paint colors for the wall. Not sold on either so we'll try again. Mia mentioned how much she misses soccer and wished we still played matches on Saturday. I miss coaching it too kiddo. The fact that she ended this season on the high note of scoring her first goal was amazing and she's setting her goal for the 2019 season of a hat trick, is feasible. I like her determination so I think it's very possible.

Sunday, Mia went off to her friend's birthday party. Always cute how they greet her "MIA'S HERE!!!!!" We cleaned out Jill's car and picked up Mia an hour or so later. She had a blast making slime and chilling with her friends. We started to think what to do with Mia's birthday next year, so we'll see what happens. Mia wants it "Red Panda" themed. Not sure what that means for her, but we'll figure it out. Plenty of time, although the month of March will be hectic because we'll be hosting the school-wide art gallery show. So much going on, so little time.

This week, we've obviously got Thanksgiving, so that'll be fun. Mia's got Pajama Day on Tuesday along with a big writing day. Not sure what they have the kids doing but it's supposed to be a ton of fun. Wednesday I have a pair of art lessons so this week leading up to it, I'll have to come up with a good lesson plan. I've been sorta casually looking at jobs here and there. Something to get me out of the current FT place. Nothing serious as of now. Chelsea are back in action on Saturday after a 2 week international break so it'll be good to catch them again.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Quality Creative Time

Good evening everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the week including a little snow tease. Mia enjoyed her first week in full bright purple hair. She got plenty of compliments which is always nice. I watched the Bate vs Chelsea match Thursday. The good guys got the win thankfully so we'll be moving on in the Europa. Later after school, Mia and I met up with Jill and attended her conference with her teacher. It was the very first time we've gone to a conference together since Mia's been in school. Her teacher had only the best things to tell us so that was nice to hear.  Mia sat and drew while her teacher told us she's doing amazing with reading and comprehension. Later, we went to Stonefire Pizza for dinner and games. Mia earned over 3,000 points over a few visits there so she picked out a big surfing penguin. Awesome!

Friday, Jill chaperoned Mia's class to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. Originally, Mia had wrote in that I was going to do it, but I have to watch how many days I take off, so I had to cross that off but apparently Mia put Jill on the list. Jill got a group of 6 kids and they all had a blast. Saturday we had a low-key kind of a day. We weren't able to do any yard work due to the new bit of snow that came. Jill went to acupuncture while I watched Mia play in the snow. Later, we grabbed lunch at a new exciting place called FreshFin Poke. Super tasty. I had a coconut shrimp curry and Jill had spicy tuna. Mia had a little cup of fish eggs as well. In Hawaii, Jill fell in love with their poke so we were very curious on this new place. It turns out, it was better than what Jill had and of course Mia enjoyed her fav little fishy eggs.

Later, we spent some quality time together making art. Mia and Jill creating some ceramic masterpieces while I just doodled. Doesn't seem like much, but when you rarely get to spend time with your family, it's truly special. Most likely, the highlight of our weekend. We put on Zootopia later and had some pasta for dinner before crashing for the evening. Today, I woke up and watched Chelsea struggle to beat Everton. The match ended 0-0. Bugger. Plenty of chances but Everton was outplaying us. Lots of yellow cards and some dirty garbage the refs were missing on the Toffees. Still unbeaten, so there's that. I was hoping City would lose today, but they stomped on Man U. Damn. Need to step it up and grab some much needed wins. This week, maybe some art lessons, Mia's got a birthday party coming up and I've got to continue working on the Christmas book. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is already next week. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Comeback Kid

Good evening everyone! Busy week with some much-needed and deserved time off. Wednesday, we took Mia out trick or treating one last time for the year in Waukesha where my parents live. Not the warmest weather but Mia braved a cute little outfit without sleeves. She's either acclimated to the cold temps, or just doesn't care when it comes to candy hunting. She had a great time going house to house and it was an overall fun night out. Thursday was my usual time off so I started to work on some of our book for Mia's Christmas book. Later I had some art lessons. Micah and Gigi. Gigi went first and we worked on a baby Moana sketch. She did awesome. Micah had some struggling moments with her Dobbie sketch but she'll get it worked out. I met 3 new students that are eager to start new art lessons. It's going to be a lot of fun working with more kids that are passionate about art.

This week, my father in law burned us a copy on both the computer and a physical disc of the last match, so we have a permanent copy of Mia's goal. Because it had went to fast on that day, I didn't quite catch how she got the ball and got it in so it was fun to see the how Ainslee cleared the ball out, Sophie snagged it from the opponent, passed it directly to Mia and she outran one of their players to blast it on the left side of the net. She did a slight jump and was ready to restart and try to get another goal. I've literally watched the video clip 30 times. Every time, better than the last.  So incredibly proud of her. She was so timid last season and this year finished strong with pure confidence. What a comeback for her. She's looking forward to next season alongside her BFF. It'll be a new challenge that both of us as well as my loyal assistant Coach Kevin. 

Friday, I helped out with her Fall party. I ran a little candy corn race in the hallway. The kids were crazy but a lot of fun. Later after the park, Mia and I walked home and she packed up her bag for a sleepover with Cecilia. They had pizza and pasta from Mama Mia's (yum!) and we hung out and chatted with her parents till later in the evening. Mia and Cecilia watched The Emoji Movie and passed out and fell asleep in the living room. We ran some errands in the morning including dropping off the soccer gear before picking up the diva. She had a blast playing with Cecilia in the morning after chocolate chip pancakes. The kids hugged goodbye and we were off on our way. We did some yard work later after Mia and Jill went to an arts and crafts fair. 

 Earlier in the week, we made an attempt to dye her hair with some stuff from Target. It didn't work at all and the purple was pretty light so later Saturday, we found some Manic Panic vegan purple hair dye. Manic Panic was standard in punk rock hair dye, and pretty much every punk rock fan or musician that dyed their hair used it. It's apparently actually good for hair. Neat. Anyways, after she washed it last night, we let it dry overnight and Jill dyed it this morning. Turned out super bright and vibrant. She LOVES it. I watched the Chelsea vs Palace match. 3-1 win to the good guys. Morata has been on fire lately and I hope he can continue his strong form. In between halves, I helped Jill start our big project of painting our cabinets and trim. It's going to look so nice when it's all done.

This week, I've gotta vote, I've got plenty of art to accomplish and we have Mia's conference. We're stoked that both Jill and I can go for the first time ever. She's got a super sweet 2nd grade teacher so it'll be nice that we both get to go and hear how awesome our kid is :P Friday, she has a field trip to the Betty Brinn and she's pretty excited for that one too. That's all for now, thanks for reading!