Holiday Family Time

Evening everyone. Boy was it a busy week as we prepare to close out the year in a few days. Got to spend some time with my brother Bryan and his family from California which is always fun. Christmas Eve, we had dinner at my parents and opened gifts. We closed the night with a traditional game of PIT which is always a blast. I did my best to help Mia win a hand, which of course she enjoyed. The next morning, Mia woke up around 8:00am excited to open gifts. 8 isn't too bad to wake up since I've heard most kids are up around 6 or 6:30. My co-worker's daughter got up at 4:15am. That's crazy.

Anyways, Mia had a great time opening stuff but always gives Jill's and my gifts first. She made us little ornaments out of clay. She gave Jill the jewelry that she picked out from the Mall and Target with my a week prior. Jill and Mia got me some high end markers and illustration paper. My big goal for 2020 is to learn how to layer markers for pieces. It'll take some patience and practice but I'm game. Mia LOVED her new Nintendo Switch and games. Luckily unlike most kids, she hasn't been overly obsessed with it, which to me is surprising.

We had lunch at Jill's parents house with Tommy before I went to work. They made their traditional crab legs, mashed potatoes and other tasty food. Mia opened more gifts and had a great time. Work was super busy but somehow I got through it.

Thursday was Boxing Day, so I met up with my brother Bryan at my Mom and Dad's to watch Chelsea take out Southampton. They surprisingly lost to the Saints which certainly sucked. Can't give away points like that. Both BJ and I were certainly disappointed. Later, we all met at Jill's studio to take one large family photo all dressed in our favorite sports teams attire. Jill finished editing it today and it turned out pretty good. We said our goodbyes Thursday to Bryan and the fam as they left Friday morning for the long trek back to CA.

Friday, I worked on a special project with Micah and Gigi. The girls painted a slab of wood for their Dad's office table and needed my guidance and technical advice. They went with a galaxy-style painting with a quote from a movie the family enjoys. Awesome. Later we had my parents over for dinner and my nephews Luke and Joseph with my bro Todd as well. The kids played the Switch with Mia and had a great time.

Saturday morning, I held our New Berlin Dragon's only practice. We reserved some time on a futsal court. Half the girls that RSVP'd to play were on time, other half were a little late. I felt like I'm usually more organized with drills and what I wanted to accomplish but overall, the kids did well. Did a couple drills and a scrimmage which is what I wanted to do. For a lot of them, it was their first time on a futsal court including Mia. Takes a little time getting used to. Hopefully this week, we'll have a schedule soon.

Later, Mia, myself and my bro with Camden went to the Admirals vs Griffins game. It was the kids very first Ads game and they had a great time. Cam ate a lot but enjoyed the hockey. Mia loved all of the action and in between periods stuff like the human hockey puck and some figure skating. It was Princess Night so Elsa even dropped the puck. They had a princess meet up outside out section but Mia claimed that she didn't care about princesses anymore. Despite the Admirals losing, we all had a great time.

Today, I watched Chelsea take on Arsenal. Last match of 2019. The Gunners struck first and held a 0-1 lead for quite a while into the 2nd half. A few adjustments here and there and Jorginho picked up an equalizer off a mistake from the keeper and with that momentum, Tammy Abraham got the 2nd goal securing 3 big points for the Blues against their London neighbors. Great way to end the year. January Transfer Window opens soon so we'll see who they pick up. Returned back to work today only to wish I didn't show up.

This week, I hope to have my soccer schedule, Mia's going to enjoy what she can of her break and returns back to school on Thursday. Thanks for reading!

Holidays

Evening everyone! I gotta say, it's a bit weird that it got to 54 degrees today and I honestly would love a nice dumping of snow right now. Anyways...let's get to it.

Mia had her last week of school this week and is officially on break. Didn't do a lot of drawings for her because she took hot lunch every day. Not sure why but whatever works. Her book is complete (minus drawing the title). She's excited to have some much needed time off to relax with family and friends. Thursday, we picked up a couple things for Jill on Mia's request despite the fact that Jill and I usually don't buy for each other. Oh well. Friday, Mia had a great holiday party and had a lot of fun with her friends and classmates.

Saturday, we had an indoor soccer meeting with her team and met some of the parents and new players at the library. It was a great time and all of the kids are stoked to start up. We were missing Scarlett and Angie sadly. We handed out the beautiful Adidas kits that the kids love. They also saw the logo I designed too which may end up on the jersey. Vida snagged one of the signs for her room. She's quite excited for the season to start. A lot of parents really want to get a practice in, so we're going to try and get in a practice THIS Saturday on the futsal court in New Berlin. We'll be for sure short Adalyn and Cecilia but any practice is better than no practice.

The rest of the day, we hung out, did some shopping and made dinner while watching Elf. Jill wrapped up some gifts as well. Today, the girls went off to Walmart while I watched the Chelsea vs Spurs derby. Going into this match, I was hella nervous because the Blues haven't been doing that well and the Spurs are starting to return to a better form after picking up our former manager Jose Mourinho. There's always a heated rivalry between the clubs so this was certainly going to be a tough one.

Even though they started some players that haven't been playing much lately and even changed it to a 3-4-3, the Blues got two goals in the 2nd half from Willian. One off a great shot early and the 2nd after a careless foul from the keeper in the box. I missed the red card foul early in the 2nd half when Mia and I ran to Noodles for lunch and the racial comments shouted at Rudiger. That's just horrific and uncalled for. It's hard to believe this crap still happens in sports yet here we are. The announcers were super upset about it. All in all, good win for a team that really needed it. While I was at work, Mia and Jill made some cookies. After work, I stopped by my parents to visit with my brother, sister in law and nephew who just arrived from CA for the holidays. Looking forward to spending time with them. Mia especially is excited to chill with Alex. This week, I've got some shifts at work, off Tues Thur and Friday. My brother Todd is coming as well so we'll get to hang with him and his boys as well. Should be a great time. Jill's got to work tomorrow a bit unfortunately.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Mia's Epic Weekend

Greetings everyone. STILL no snow here sadly, but it certainly didn't ruin our week and Mia's incredibly busy weekend. I had off on Wednesday so Myself, Jill and our family could join us watching Mia and the other 3rd and 4th graders. For the first time since Mia's been at OL, they actually sang holiday-themed songs! Shocking right? They did an awesome job. The songs were incredible and best of all, Mia did a great job at her hand chime part with Cecilia and Charlie. All in all, it was amazing and Mia was stoked everyone could make it including uncle Tommy and Auntie Cheryl. Thanks guys!

Thursday. it was announced that Alkaline Trio and Bad Religion were touring together in Spring of 2020. I was on the fence about going, but the more and more I thought about it, it's been several years since I've seen either band, so sure enough, Friday when tickets went on sale I bought one. I'll be joining my bro Andy and a few of his buddies for this once in a life time chance to see them. Looking forward to it.

Saturday, I got up to watch the Chelsea vs Bournemouth match. A massive disappointment losing to a team that can barely stay out of the bottom 3. Another weekend, another loss. It's ridiculous. The January transfer window can't come soon enough. After the game, Mia went to her friend Noelle's Skateland party. She had me come with to help her skate a little. She's definitely improving her skills and overall. had an amazing time.

When she got home, she crashed and took a nap for about an hour. She skated almost nonstop with Noelle so I wasn't surprised she was exhausted. When she woke up, it was time for  to meet up with Scarlett. They ALSO went to Skateland. Mia, Scarlett, Angelina and her friend as well as Sofia and her friends hung out  and skated. Mia, for the first time skated solo. When I picked her up today, she told me she had no problems skating on her own and did really well. Totally proud of her. She also won 7 different stuffed animals from the claw machine. Unbelievable. She had a great time Scarlett and her sisters. When they got back, they played till way late and overall, had an incredible sleepover. It was Scarlett's first time having a friend stay the night and Mia was honored it was her.

While they were having fun, Jill and I ran some errands and got sushi and some wine to share. Those date nights are rare for us, but it was a great evening. Mia couldn't stop talking about her incredibly fun Saturday with her friends and I look forward to Mia having her over after the holidays. We talked about maybe laser tag and sushi with her and Cecilia sometime. Other than that, I gather Mia relaxed the rest of Sunday, did her homework and crashed early. I'm so glad she had an amazing weekend.

This week, she has her last week of school, holiday party on Friday and we have our soccer meeting on Saturday. Sunday, I've got family coming in. Jill has to write Mia's book that I finished illustrated. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Bring On the Snow!

Evening everyone. Mild week over here for us but with Christmas fast approaching, things will quickly change so let's get right to it. The weather has been real mild so Mia and I have been desperately craving some snow so we can start snowboarding. The Rock is attempting to open this coming weekend with the upcoming temp change dropping to the teens they'll be able to make snow. Our goal is to at least snowboard there at least once. Other than that, we'll continue hitting up local spots and creating jib spots with PVC pipes.

Chelsea played Villa middle of the week so before work I watched a little bit of it before work. They pulled off a win but sadly didn't work out for them Sat, but I get back to that later. Thursday I had my year end meeting for work in the morning. After wards, I worked on the book and waited for Jill to come home so we could pick up Mia from school. Sadly, the diva had a pretty rough day with a friend. Luckily, Friday was better. I wish I could fix these issues but unfortunately, Mia has to learn to handle then on her own. It's frustrating. I helped her with homework and made dinner for Jill, Mia and myself before they crashed for the night.

Saturday, I got up nice and early to watch Chelsea blow the match to one of the worst teams in the EPL. Everton fired their manager towards the end of the week so picking up the interm manager seemed to really turn their team around. They played completely different against the Blues so it was disappointing to see Chelsea struggle. Big game this week against Lille on Tuesday so I hope things get better.

Mia woke up after the game and relaxed with me till we went grocery shopping. After we got home, we celebrated her Grandpa Chicago's birthday. Friday night, Mia made him a special present-shaped cake that turned out amazing. Of course her Grandpa Chicago loved it as well and the gifts. They took their annual Christmas card photo as well with an awesome dinner by Grandma Missy Shell.

Today, Mia made us all pancakes which were pretty tasty! Jill and her hung out with Tommy and Grandpa and Grandpa when I left for work. It was a typical day at work and I was pretty gutted to find out I wasn't granted my week off for the Christmas week while Bryan and the family come in. Totally bummed out, which fuels me even more to leave and find something new.  I'm counting down the days till the indoor season starts so Mia and I can't wait.

This week, I hope to finish the book and Mia's got a birthday party and possible sleepover. that's all for now, thanks for reading!

Turkey Break 2019

Greetings everyone. It's officially December which means every one's fully into the holiday spirit. Mia had a nice short week at school before Thanksgiving break. Wednesday, we roamed around the mall for fun, which she couldn't believe I'd let her do. She walked around Learning Express, Zumiez, the ornament stores, Claire's, Hallmark and that was about it. She unfortunately found out Justice at the Brookfield location closed down and some random and weird toy store opened up there. I say random, because it appeared the store was mainly weird and random junk piled up. Wasn't the best replacement, but Mia still enjoyed our time together.

Thursday was Thanksgiving at my parents house so Jill made two amazing stuffing dishes. One jalapeño cornbread and the 2nd one a savory turkey mushroom. Mia helped mince the mushrooms for that as well as peel and cut potatoes for the mashed potatoes. On top of all that, Jill even made macarons. Everything tasted amazing and we had a great time with family. On our way home, we stopped at Walmart to partake in the craziness. It looked like a damn flea market. Just merch everywhere, people grabbing whatever they could. Mia picked up the 2nd Lego Movie and Jill got a cheap pair of Stitch PJ's and that was enough.

Friday, we set up the Christmas tree as well as decorated a bit before I went to work. I went off to Mega Media Exchange and found one of the Switch games Mia REALLY wants. She'll be so stoked come Christmas.

 Saturday, I got up and watched the Chelsea vs West Ham match. Certainly didn't think it would end 0-1 against one of the worst teams in the league. The Blues played two players that haven't seen any action all season. Both struggled along with the rest of the squad. It was a rough sight. We can't afford to drop points to these kinds of teams. They got a draw against Valencia during the week so Lampard decided it was best to rest some of the crucial players over the weekend. They play again this week against Villa so hopefully it'll be a better result.

Later after a visit to Trader's, we went to Jill's parent's Thanksgiving festivities. Awesome food and overall great time with family including Uncle Tommy. We went home later, relaxed and Mia hit the bed late as Jill and I started preparing for Mia's Elf on the Shelf to arrive.

Today, she woke up excited to see what kind of excitement and mischief her elf got into. This week, I've got our Year-End Meeting for KT, Mia's back at school and we're celebrating Jill's Dad's birthday on Saturday. I have almost everyone registered for the indoor team and most kids have payed. Jerseys are to arrive this week so we'll have to set up a meeting day for that.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!