The Two-Wheelin' Chef

Good evening. What. A. Week. I know I post that often but so much went down this week with even more going down this week so I best get right to it. This week was Mia's Spring Break. The goal was to relax and have plenty of fun. The weather was absolutely amazing and we took full advantage of that from the beginning. Mia and I made a little trip to Target in pursuit of a new bike. The diva took a 2 1/2 year hiatus on having any interest in riding her bike. She would ride bike with the training wheels every once in a while, but it was super rare. she never had any interest in actually learning to ride it sans training wheels up till this week. She saw over the weekend prior this teal mountain bike that peaked her interest. There was no way I was going to get it if she didn't think she'd she could learn how to ride it. Bought the bike on sale and a brand new helmet. She brought it over to my Mom's when I had to go to work. She made a few laps attempting to get used to riding and balancing at the same time. A little wobbly at times but I definitely admire her first go at it. The next morning she said goodbye to Jill when she went to work and immediately wanted to go back outside and ride. Did a little more riding before my in-laws came over. I once again had to work, so my father in law took the next shift at helping Mia ride her bike. When I got home from work, Mia was awake waiting up for me just to tell me that she learned how to ride her bike! Two solid days of practice and patience and determination. She did it. She was out till dark riding laps around the house. The rest of the week, she wanted to ride her bike. I had told her from the very beginning that once she learned how to do it, she'll always want to be riding it. Boy was I right. I want to take this opportunity to thank my very patient Mom and in-laws for helping Mia. The next day, she had me running with her and she rode around for at least an hour and a half. So fun, yet exhausting running along with her.

Thursday, I was off so my Mom and I took Mia to the zoo. The weather was actually too nice out that some of the animals weren't out. Most importantly, the red pandas weren't out. Sadly, the otters area was drained and they were cleaning their compound. Bummer, my Mom really wanted to see it. We did get to see a seal/sea lion trainer train another zoo member on tricks for the creatures which was fun. The onlooking polar bear was super jealous of his neighbors getting tossed fish. A little lunch and a few other exhibits before calling it a day. All in all, really fun time. Friday, Mia and I did some fashion photo session at her school in the back on the playground. She picked out about a dozen outfits and sadly, we couldn't get to all of then. I've got plenty to edit this week, that's for sure.

Saturday the snow came in. I did some grocery shopping while Mia had a play date with BFF Cecilia for a few hours. It was nice the two could get together and hang before school started up again. Later, Mia planned a fun dinner for Jill and I. She made us Fettuccine, mashed potatoes with sparking strawberry drinks with a lime wedge. Mia prepared everything and did a great job. This was sort of an intro to her very exciting class she would have the next day with BFF Charlie.

Today, we got up early and I took Mia and her friend Charlie to Maggianos Little Italy for an authentic Italian cooking class. I had planned to just drop the kiddos off and pick them up later, but A-they really wanted parents/guardians to stick around and B-The class actually ended early. Oh well.  It ended up being fun snapping photos of the divas playing and creating meatballs. The girls were taught by a real chef which both thought it was really cool. They had a little breakfast/lunch while the chefs fired up the meatballs. After wards, they decorated cookies, learned how to flip food in a pan and colored. All in all, amazing time for the kids with a truly unique experience. The little bonus was that the proceeds from the ticket prices went to the Make a Wish foundation. I took Charlie back to her house before heading back to watch the rest of Chelsea vs Man hoping they'd get the win but it ended in a draw 1-1. Still in 4th place. 3rd is still a possibility. Mia shared a bit of her meatballs with Jill and I and they were pretty awesome. Totally proud of her and I'm so glad she had fun day with her bestie. Over the weekend, I found out one of my ALL-TIME favorite bands The Lawrence Arms is playing in some old arcade in of all places, Cudahy in June so I immediately picked up tickets before they sell out. More bands are to be announced for this show, so it'll be interesting to see who else is on the bill.

This week, I've got High Interest Day rock painting on Friday, Mia's got dance photos Saturday before a HAWS event she's receiving an award for. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Easter 2019

Good morning everyone. Starting out the week with some absolute gorgeous weather. Took a while to get there with the snow we had this week, but it was most certainly a fun and busy week. Art-wise, I took this week before Mia starts Spring Break to work on on Villains as a focus for her art drawings. She absolutely loved it and really liked the de la Cruz on toned paper I did for Thursday. Wednesday I took off because she had a 1st/2nd grade concert performance at NBW where she'll go when she graduates Orchard Lane and moves on to Middle School. The kids were super cute and did wonderful. Mia was so stoked to get to play the tambourine in front of the stage with some friends. After we snapped a few photos of Mia and her friends, we went home for the evening.

I was off Thursday as well so before picking up Mia, I watched the Chelsea vs Prague game. They did insanely well in the 1st half and started to fall apart a bit in the 2nd. With some of the top 5 teams dropping points over the weekend, I hope they can secure 3 points and move into 3rd place. Season is  almost complete. As far as the Stanley Cup playoffs, Penguins got knocked out way too early so at this point, I don't care who wins. Jill's calling it that the Bruins will win. We'll see.

Saturday we went to my in-laws for Easter. Great food, beautiful weather and Mia enjoyed doing an egg and Easter basket hunt with them. Uncle Tommy made the trek over from Madison to spend time with his only niece. Aw.

Sunday, Mia was up early and was prepared to basket/egg hunt around the house. She was happy her blow pop garden grew and she had some candy to harvest. She got a handful of shirts from the Easter Bunny as well as a bathing suit she's obsessed with.

Later, Jill and Mia made some desserts and other goodies for my parents Easter at their house with the boys and Ash/Andy. Cheryl also made an appearance. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The kids were outside the majority of the day in the bounce house, or playing soccer, and of course egg hunting. Super fun. Mia crashed at about 11 and that was that. we noticed sadly that Remi busted another nail again so we'll have to monitor the healing process and hope he'll get better.  She's on Spring Break the rest of the week so hopefully we'll get to enjoy some time together before I'm at work at 2. Going to go wake her up soon actually so she has some time before going to her grandparent's house later. This weekend, she's got her cooking class with BFF Charlie on Sunday which she can't wait for. She made her very own shirt for the event that reads "If life throws flour at you, bake a cake". Cute. Other than that, nothing major going on. Just a bit of daily drawing rest for me as I continue to apply for jobs.

That's all for now thanks for reading!

The Joy of Nothing

Evening everyone. Another weird week in the books. Weird, meaning 60s-70s for 2 days this week followed by tons of wind, chilly temps and snow. Yes. More snow. So many complaining customers. Like complaining actually does anything, right? Watched Chelsea take on Prague and West Ham this week. Two great wins. Certainly didn't help them today, but we'll get back to that.

Friday when I got home from work, Mia and Jill were sleeping with the kitty. Super cute. Saturday, we didn't have anything planned for the day, which was really really nice. Sure, we did stuff, but the fact that NOTHING was on a schedule was super great. I think at times, we don't realize that just having nothing major to do, is absolutely amazing. I really needed to catch up on some sleep, but we still were up by at least 8:30. We ended up taking the bin full of hand-made dog toys by the kids from Orchard Lane to HAWS. They were so happy. Mia enjoyed checking out all the cats, dogs and bunnies after wards. Later when we got home, Jill made some incredibly tasty mini peanut butter cheesecakes for me. Today, she made some Easter macarons while I was at work. She's something else when it comes to baking. We're so proud that Mia is just as talented as her  Mom when it comes to food. Speaking of which, one of her BFFs and Mia will be participating in a cooking class at a real Italian restaurant in Tosa. She's super excited especially that she gets to do it with her friend Charlie. She's so stoked that it's in a real kitchen.

Today was a big game for Chelsea taking on Liverpool. Super nervous about this one. Chelsea played pretty well the 1st half with Liverpool putting on the stress. 2nd half, the jackasses score 2 goals very quickly. So frustrated. Hazard had some great shots and chances to even the game but they just couldn't pull it back. They got their first win at home against the Blues since 2012. Pretty much ruined the rest of the day. Chelsea had a busy week and with a defender injured, Liverpool didn't have much trouble taking advantage of this one. Hate them so much. Hopefully Arsenal doesn't win their upcoming match and we can somehow stay in 4th. Work was work as the snow flew literally day.

This week should be a quick one. Mia's got a performance at school Wednesday and she's pretty thrilled that she gets to play tambourine. :) The weekend will be busy with two different Easter celebrations and Mia will start Easter break on Friday. Lunch note wise, I'm drawing villains all week for Mia. Should be pretty fun. The weather is supposed to improve as well.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Sushi Sweetheart

Good evening everyone. Another week in the books. Actually, sort of an emotional one, but we'll get to that in a bit. April Fools Day, she played the ultimate prank on her classmates by using food markers on her sandwiches and lunch. I had a weird work week, getting a Tuesday off because of getting stuck working on a Thursday, but I made the best of it. Mia's 2nd grade teacher had her very last week of school for the year. She's officially on maternity leave, so the kids were pretty emotional this week. Her teacher and I decided to continue the tradition of myself doing a one-off drawing lesson with her class. I knew I didn't have a lot of weeks left, and with the art show, I was getting pretty busy. Luckily, we found a good day to do it. The kids were super surprised I was there, and Mia's mouth dropped when she heard us explain that we will be drawing Stitch to celebrate Ohana. I sorta rushed through it a bit due to a lack of time, but the kids had a lot of fun, and it went really well. I was requested to draw using the Smart board projector which works, but it also distorts the art when I'm drawing. Sorry kids. Finally, they enjoyed looking at all the sketches in my 2 binders. It was cute that Mia sat next to me in the chair while her classmates gushed about all the art. Hopefully it reminded her how lucky it is that I take the time to draw her something special daily.

Later, she got ready and went off to dance class. Picked her up a few hours later and it was quite nice to hear about how much fun it was. She even showed me a couple things she gets to do during her Spring performance. Jill and I voted on election day. Sadly, the referendum did not pass and they are considering some "tough choices" which include consolidating the high schools and/or closing Mia's. It's really too bad that because the school district struggles financially that ultimately the students end up suffering the most. Guess time will tell when we find out what the decisions they come up with. At the end of the week, Mia gave some baby clothes to her teacher as well as a card she made. I did a little pineapple sketch for her as well.

Saturday, we held a 2nd birthday celebration for Mia, which consisted of family. It was a lot of fun celebrating with everyone. In the morning, Mia made a cake for the party, and aided Jill with making sushi and Chinese food. The nephews Easton and Camden were crazy fun as usual. Mia crashed with Jill on the couch as I finished a pen drawing for her for Monday.

Today, not much going on. Mia woke up and immediately went to work on a Lego set Uncle Tommy got her.  When I got home tonight, I saw she completed one set. Awesome. Looks like she's done some fashion drawing as well. This week, nothing major planned. Supposed to have some weird weather this week. Chelsea is back in action tomorrow so I hope they can hop a few teams and sneak into 3rd.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!