Last Last Words

 Greetings everyone. Plenty to right about today so let's get right at it. Virtual school has been nothing short of difficult to handle at times for Jill and I. Mostly emotionally with our child. Most of the work load isn't too bad but balancing helping Mia with both our jobs can be overwhelming.  This week we misread something which caused some issues, but we're back on it and things should be okay the rest of this week. The hardest most difficult part, is dealing with a kid who hasn't seen a friend since school starts. In the last 4 years of school at OL, she's built some amazing friendships but because we decided to keep her safe during the first semester, she feels isolated from everyone. She misses them all. Misses hanging out at recess, lunch and all the fun of being in a school setting. It's been getting more and more difficult for her every day not talking to any friends both online, text or in person. Not sure what's going on tech wise, why she hasn't heard from anyone but it's been definitely affecting her lately.  I'd give almost anything for Mia to have a day to just hang with a friend or two. She needs it so badly right now. More than anyone could imagine.

Luckily, she still has soccer. It's not the same thing, but it's something. She's been getting along with her teammates and bonding lately which is great. They had their first game which happened to be a road match for the mighty Jaguars in Franklin against the dreaded Polonia. They beat us in indoor when I was coaching the Dragons so I was pretty glad with the results of a 5-0 win! We had a ref-less first match which was weird, but we made it work. They were pretty even in the first half till Loxley (aka GoldiLox as I call her) got a pair of goals before half time. She's a tough kid who's very competitive. 2nd half, we kept on the pressure and Liv net the 3rd goal of the game. Jessica finished them off with the 5th one after an awesome clearance from Autumn in net. Everyone played really well and all were smiling after the game. Mia certainly enjoyed playing up front even when she was supposed to play defense. She almost got a goal 3 different times and ran over the goalie in the 2nd half. Oops! All in all, great match and great start to the season. 

We had a great practice last night and the kids really are taking a shine to me. I'm finding more kids that want to work with me on goalie drills which is great. Love watching kids grow in the sport the enjoy and seeing them take the advice I give and apply it in a scrimmage we had to close out the practice. We've got two games this weekend. One on the road and one finally at home. 

Still working on art like always. The doggo sketch is really taking form finally. Plenty of detail to drop in still, but hopefully it'll turn out. That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

Quiet Storm

 
Well it's been a while but honestly, there hasn't been much to write about. Mia's outdoor soccer team has been working hard at their home field. We're definitely seeing a vast improvement and I'm even seeing some potential goalies! We're supposed to have a scrimmage/friendly Wed evening so I'm hoping the rain ends and we can get in the match. I'm anxious to see how these girls work together as a group but with my luck, the fields will be a mess and we won't get to play. 

Throughout the last few weeks, we've been preparing for today's first day of virtual school for Mia. Mia picked up her iPod recently and we set up her schedule and she was ready to roll. Is she excited to be home all school year? Meh. Is she thrilled to be in a class with zero friends? Not really, but what can you do. Will she miss all her friends? For sure. Does she know her parents are keeping her home so she stays safe if/when this all blows up again? Definitely. Luckily, our 9 1/2 year old is mature enough to understand  our reasons to keep her home and is embracing this new life for 4th grade. Hopefully, it'll be an overall positive experience and who knows, maybe things will return to "normal" one day. She still has soccer with BFF Scarlett and her teammates so she's got at least something. 

It's weird not to be making her cold lunch or drawing up her lunch notes every day, but my art abilities won't go to waste. I'm still currently working on a dog commission sketch. It's taking a lot of time but I'm really layering in the browns. I may be doing some art lessons for the other fellow virtual school kiddos. I've got a variety of kids that may be be interested so that could be a fun project. I always love working with kids so this could be a great and positive experience. I'm curious on what Mia's virtual art life will be for school, but hopefully we'll learn soon what that and other other specials will be like. I think the most important thing parents need to be with this whether you've got a kid thats going hybrid or virtual is just be patient. I've seen a lot of upset parents getting flustered and mad at IT, the school or anyone they could vent to. Just chill and relax, people. 

Lastly, over the last few weeks, Mia's been doing a lot of skateboarding and rollerskating. It's been pretty cute actually watching her skateboard around, then when her roller-skates came in, she would act as a waitress from Ratatouille and bring out food while we'd visit her grandparents. She's going to need these to keep her active for virtual gym class. If you ask Mia the highlights of her Summer, she'll gladly respond with "swimming with my friends at the beach, or in the pool with Noelle". She had a few sleepovers here and there, but this Summer girl certainly loves the beach and being in the water with friends.  This weekend, Mia's got a very special Zoom call with a Red Panda and zoo keeper where she can ask any questions with her and see the little cutie as close as she can. One day, she'll get to hold one..

That's all for now, keep posted for more updates through the school year and the soccer season. Thanks for reading! 

Skeleton Coast

Greetings. Looks like I'm going to have time to write every other week or so. Things have been hectic, school-wise lately. Parents are split between sending their kids back, or keeping them home for another year of virtual learning. It's a difficult call. A lot of parents work and when everything hit the fan last March, we all had to adjust how we'd work and teach the diva following the instructions given by her teacher. I totally get the parents that feel like they have no choice but to send their kids back, but the slightest hint of a school-wide spread of Covid, and we'll see everything hit the fan again. We don't want to take that chance and are hoping to get her into a virtual learning at her school. I'm hoping they have a re-entry come 2021 if things improve but who knows. Things are so in the dark and it's pretty frustrating to see that our school district isn't really doing anything to protect the kids. Mainly, the "suggestion to wear masks". Not sure how we think we can end this, but sending kids mask-less to an indoor place where they could be interacting with other children that could be carrying it certainly won't help.

The guests I meet on a daily basis that tell me how happy they are that we don't enforce a mandatory mask rule" annoys me. We wear them for 8 hours a day so we can protect us and them. Why is wearing a mask inside a store briefly so difficult? A few weeks ago, Mia had a practice with her team. Her coach got the finalized roster completing the team last week so we'll see who will be added to the Jaguars and when we'll get our Fall schedule. Scarlett is already showing signs of improvement with speed and ball control. Mia's developing strong control of the ball while running and will continue getting better. Both will be great as attackers this season and I hope I can develop some strong goalies. Maybe the new additions? We have practice this week so hopefully we can meet the new kids soon.

We got Mia her own phone recently. Mainly so that when she's out with friends, she has a way of contacting us when she's ready to come home.

Most importantly, one of my all-time favorite bands released their new record last week. The Lawrence Arms released Skeleton Coast which is their first full length album in 6 years. Their bassist/singer BK has been participating in a weekly podcast on a retrospect on their 20 years of albums they've put out. It's been fascinating to listen to it which lead to the release of the new record. It's very good and I'm slowly trying to navigate all the different references and characters they've manifested. They've always been a band that puts a lot of effort into creating stories in their albums and songs. In interviews, they mention that recording at a pecan ranch in Texas inspired some of the overall feels of the album.

Over the weekend, we had a small get together for my birthday. Sad my twin sis had to work and couldn't come, but we'll see her soon hopefully. Jill and Mia picked out a caramel praline Spidey cake and some great new art supplies for me. Always a good choice getting me art stuff. Jill's aunt Gail got me a very unique gift. She ordered me a bracelet made entirely out of glass bottles pulled out of the ocean by 4Ocean. I've always had an interest in ocean conservation and protecting our waters so this is a pretty great gift. Mia and I watched Chelsea's last league match against the Wolves. Great win securing our UCL spot for 2021. We've got an FA cup final still to play for and a UCL match against Munich come August.

Lastly, I've took some time to come up with some more concept shirts/jerseys for some of the youth clubs. The last week or so, I worked on Polonia and PSU. I'm overall pretty happy with the latest PSU away shirt that is actually getting presented at the club board so maybe it'll become something?

This week, we've got soccer and honestly, that's about it. Just trying to enjoy the Summer that seems to be moving insanely fast. Maybe some art lessons? Who knows. Thanks for reading!

And...we're back

Greetings everyone. Time keeps getting away from me and I haven't had time to write here. Been a lot of different things going on both good and bad, so let's get right to it. I'm going to hit some of the highlights of the last few weeks so prepare for some random jumping around here. Mia had a really great charity lemonade sale. We had a couple days where she set up in New Berlin to sell some extra treats and lemonade. She actually did pretty well and the good people of New Berlin really showed their support and bought plenty of art as well. Mia made a total of $777.00 which is way more than she's ever made before. Totally proud of the diva and look forward to her dropping off the cash. HAWS will be so shocked and excited. We just need to book a time for a visit.

Mia's been able to hang with some friends lately including a lengthy pool and chill day with long time friend, Noelle. Just trying to give her a semi-enjoyable Summer. The kids played for a long time and Mia watched the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. All in all, awesome time.

Another friend day, was a beach and chill day with friends Scarlett her sister Angie and myself. Their Mom was studying for tests so I agreed to take the girlies to the beach for a few hours. They had the best time and even got Mia to jump off a semi-shallow pier. Kids loved it and of course, their awesome Mom was grateful they could hang together.

A few weeks ago, Mia had her first soccer practice with her new club rec team; The Jaguars. I've joined the ranks as an assistant coach for this established team. She's reunited with pre-school BFF Irianna and indoor teammates Olivia and Jessica. She also is bringing sister from another mister Scarlett to the team. She said it was weird not having Cecilia with her (due to her age).  Her first practice saw her scoring the 1st and later a 2nd goal in a scrimmage proving she's got the chops to hang with this team. 2nd practice, she introduced the team to Scarlett on a hot Wednesday with some post-practice s'mores, pizza and fun. She had a nice chip over the defenders head to make a couple other goals.  I'm hoping as the season gets closer and closer, Mia and Scarlett feel closer to the team and all become friends. One of Mia's new teammates already wants to hang out outside of soccer, which is pretty awesome.

I started art lessons again. This week was my first group lesson. Started with watercolor flamingos with the younger group and did some waves in pen with the older group. Overall, it was pretty fun. I have to figure out what I'll do next session. It still amazes me that kids want to learn from me. I'm still learning every day and really need to get some art accomplished.

I've been working a lot of random day shifts lately (including today) which is both weird but nice for a change. It always throws off co-workers and regulars when I show up in the morning. Speaking of jobs, I applied for a trio of positions that I'd be perfect for at a company I've always supported. We'll see if anything comes from it.

Last but not least, Saturday I watched Chelsea take on Watford. Great 3-0 win. Later, Mia hung out with some friends at dusk for the 4th of July celebration.  I assisted with blowing stuff up with their Mom and the kids had an awesome time. I'm really grateful that Mia's such good friends with the girls and we can all hang out. The children are so sweet and fun. This week, I've got a Spidey visit on Thursday. Saturday was the first time I had literally nothing going on and it was the first time since the end of March we didn't have a thing booked. I've also got lessons as well and hope to create a new football kit in whatever spare time I think I have. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Spreading Smiles

Hello everyone. Absolutely exhausted after a long night at work, so we'll get through this quickly. The week was mostly good. Tuesday, we had a Spidey visit in Milwaukee. The kid was super cute and in total shock his favorite super hero arrived for his birthday. His family was very sweet and were so glad to see me. On our drive back, a woman was near us in the neighboring lane and looked over...I waved and she rolled down her window and yelled something at and finished it off with giving me the middle finger. WHAT?! WHY?? I couldn't figure out her issue. Sorta through me off the rest of the day.

Throughout the week, we've been excitingly preparing for our 7th annual lemonade and rummage sale. I love the thought of getting rid of a lot of stuff and Mia loves that we donate it to HAWS. Jill made macarons today and the other day, cat and dog treats. We're hoping for great weather and lots of people, because Spidey may make an appearance.

Friday, Mia decided it would be a great day to get up very early and go to the beach. Sure enough, we were up by 7:00am and hit up the Idle Isle in Muskego. The only ones there were people launching boats or a few kids playing at the playground. Mia literally had the entire beach to herself minus the gaggle of geese watching from a far. It was in the mid 50's so she certainly didn't swim, but she definitely enjoyed building sand castles, skipping stones and having fun.

Over the weekend, we had several Spidey visits booked for West Allis, Germantown, Sussex, Menomonee Falls and New Berlin.  Started with a car parade for a young lad. Swung by another little birthday boy who was just so shocked to see me, he just kept giving me high fives and hugs. He even wanted to throw a football :P He was so tiny and cute. We made our way to visit some twins in a car parade before taking a little break then later hitting up another young kiddo. His smile never left his face. So happy to meet me. We had a few other kids at his party want to take some photos and before long, we were off to our last stop visiting a shy little 4 year old girl. All in all, great Saturday meeting so many kids. We ended the night with sushi and a movie. Somewhere in there, Mia got to hang out with her friend Vida for an hour or so. Something she really needed to do. Haven't played with her buddy since March.

Sunday, we just relaxed and the girls continued making cookies, dog treats and cat treats for Mia's upcoming sale. I finally got a football kit design in for Elmbrook United. Turned out pretty good and I'll probably do an away kit one. Last night, we heard some horrible sounds from a baby deer crying out for help as a coyote trying to attack it, so I scared the jerk face away and the deer got away.

This week, more art, another interview and everything else leading up to the sale. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Web Crawling On the Web

Greetings everyone. Things have been pretty busy over here so I'm going to try and get this out quickly. Throughout the week, I've had some websites such as Yahoo, CinemaBlend.com, SyFiWired.com do some stories on this whole Spider-Man thing. It still shocks me when another outlet discovers me and decides to put together something on us. Yahoo! really surprised me, but I had nothing to do with CinemaBlend.com finding me on Twitter. SyFy contacted me over the weekend but still surprised me that they wanted to write up something.

With all the great things happening, my art is suffering majorly. I haven't been able to spend much time drawing or working on kit designs. With Mia completely finished with school, I should be able to get some more time in to work on commission pieces. The school year concluded I guess Friday? Who really knows. She didn't have a lot to do and by today, she turned in her books, picked up what's left of her school supplies, year book and art projects and said so long for the year. What a weird school year she had. A lot of parents who were sort of oblivious to the amount of work that goes into teaching didn't expect home schooling to be so difficult. I've always understood and appreciated them. They really do deal with a lot so if anything good could come from the Covid-19 pandemic, it truly is that people started showing respect towards educators. Here's to hoping for a better 4th grade come Fall. Till then, we'll try to make the most out of the Summer.

Over the weekend, we had a handful of Spidey visits throughout Saturday. Participating in a 90 year old's birthday car parade was pretty incredible. The car parade was huge and he was just super thrilled so see so many people and was definitely surprised to see Spider-Man. We had a few other visits that day and caught up with some friends we haven't seen in over a year before calling it a night. One of my favorite visits from Saturday was meeting this little boy wearing a super hero shirt with a picture of me on it, and he kept looking at it repeatedly to see if I am the real Spider-Man. He was super cute. It still surprises me how many people still want a Spidey visit, but we definitely try to make as many as we can. We watched Onward before ending our Saturday.

Today, I've got a visit in Milwaukee for a little boy who's going to be super excited to meet his favorite super-hero. Hoping to get some work going on art. Mia's hanging with friends later this week as well and we hope to attempt to get to this beach this week if A-the weather allows and B-it's not as busy.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

BLM

As much as I want this to be a fun little recap of the week (and we'll get to that) I have a lot to address that you may or may not agree with. Things are getting tense in the country following the murder by George Floyd by a cop. He was unarmed and never had a chance to live with a knee to the back of the head for 7 minutes cutting off his air supply. He had two children that he'll never see again. This came only recent after a jogger was gunned down by two civilians claiming an African American "could" have been stealing. Racism is absolutely disgusting and it's hard to believe it's still an issue in this country. Everything is an absolute mess with a dictator for a President that doesn't seem to see the real issues that are going on. Yes, there are looters who are using this platform to destroy property (that he cares most about) but the bigger issue is cops/police not being held accountable for their actions. Today, Trump had peaceful protestors pepper sprayed in DC so he could stand in front of St John's church holding a Bible upside down for a photo op. Not even his own but a borrowed Bible from the church. Even the archbishop didn't appreciate the move. Today in Waukesha, there were peaceful protestors close to Jill's studio as well as not too far from my work. Our management was a little concerned but we were safe. You know, mostly because they were PEACEFULLY protesting.

Racism has always been something that disgusted me. Educating Mia on the issue is tricky but very important. She said "why would anyone have a problem with someone over the color of their skin. Makes no sense. Can't everyone just get along?" Pretty much, kid. Cities all over have seen some pretty ugly things over this major issue and I hope things can improve before it continues to divide people and communities. Alright, enough of that for now.

Over the week, we continued our home schooling. Now on our last week of school. We had some Spidey visits and got to see the Fox6 piece they did on Spider-Man. For the short time they were with us including the Zoom meeting, it turned out pretty awesome. Thursday, Mia got a quick visit with Cecilia before she goes to Florida for a month. The two haven't hung out since this whole thing started. Hopefully when she returns, things improve and they can see each other again. Thursday night, Mia and I watched the last Star Wars. It was weird but shouldn't be hated as much as it is.

We had some Spidey stops Saturday, a little pre-anniversary sushi and we watched Spies in Disguise. Not a bad movie. Sunday, we cleaned the entire basement. A project we've been putting off for years. We're preparing to sell a bunch of Mia's stuff and other things in a Summer garage sale.

This week, more art, Spider-Man visits and hopefully more justice for those seeking it in these dark times following the recent racist murder. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Original Me

Greetings everyone on a very warm evening. Busy week as Spidey. Mia got through her school stuff all week and by Thursday, banged out the little she had so she could hang with friends. Another awesome bike ride with Scarlett and Angie. Their Mom and older sister worked on homework while we rode around their neighborhood. Great weather for it. Not too bad. Afterwards, we played in their court. A little soccer, some skateboarding and sidewalk art. Mia didn't want the day to end. She was having a blast playing with her BFF and Scarlett said "can Mia stay for like, 7 hours?" Her sisters are always super sweet and overall, we had a blast.

Later, we had a Spidey visit for a parade. There were plenty of people in the car line that wanted to meet me. It was super cute. The birthday girl enjoyed the balloons and that was our visit for the night. We had dinner, watched a movie per the usual and called it a night. Over the weekend, we did some much needed yard work. Later, we had three Spidey visits in Summit, Hartland and finished in New Berlin. Perfect weather for spreading joy to the little kids. The first stop had a little car parade that I was invited to meet all the little (what looked to be) pre-schoolers. They were adorable and thrilled to meet Spider-Man. All in all, not a bad day.

Later, I traded in the Corolla for a 2018 Rogue SV. Very sweet ride and happy to get rid of the always reliable Corolla. It's seen better days. I've had it the longest of all 3 of my cars that I've owned but it was time for a change. We had dinner later, watched Lilo and Stitch and called it an evening.

Sunday we didn't do much before I went to work. Today, we had a Spidey visit and Jill took some fun photos of myself on our trampoline doing some super hero poses in midair. I want to try it again. She got great photos of me, but I think I can do better. Work was crazy busy all night and all I could think about was "I can't wait to get home".

This week, more art, Mia's got a short school week, Spider-Man visits and plenty of work. Really need to continue the commission sketch and drop some color in it. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Balance

Hola. Going to try and bang this one out quick because I'm pretty exhausted. This week, we managed to get Mia through her school work. She sort of dragged her feet on a fun story project but completed this weekend. One of my favorite parts of the week, was our bike adventures for her gym time. We decided to venture across the street and explore the neighborhoods. Typically, we ride around our side of the street, but I convinced Mia to ride with me by her school. We rode through the beautiful neighborhoods and Mia enjoyed checking out all the cool houses and just having a nice father-daughter conversation. There's one house in particular she loves that's for sale. but there's no way we're in the market for a $469.000 home. Beautiful place too. Anyways, we definitely enjoyed the bike rides and hope the weather improves. We had one Spidey visit for a classmate of Mia's. He was a bit shy but Mia said he always is. 

I picked up a 2nd Spider-Man suit. My original one was falling apart, the mask was busted and overall, it just wasn't working for me anymore. My 2nd one at a distance, may not look the same, but it's different. More contour for the muscles, I ordered a tighter size and everything just looks cleaner. 

Thursday, I did an interview with Kramp from Fox 6 to follow up the Share Lemonade piece a friend submitted. Not an easy thing to do on Zoom, but we did it. We set up a meet for a photojournalist for my visits for the weekend. I was stoked because I'd have my new suit for my weekend of visits. We started with a car parade in Waukesha for a friend of ours. Fox 6 mic'd me up at the meet location and we were off to the car parade. The birthday girl was super cute and loved our balloons we brought. Fox 6 did a little spot after and that was it. After the parade, we jetted over to Mukwonago to visit a little boy and his family. He was sorta shy, but his sister certainly didn't mind seeing Spidey. On our way there, we saw some kids outside so we decided to cruise the area with some spontaneous visits and photo opts. The families would yell "GRAB THE KID! SPIDER-MAN IS ON TOP OF A CAR DRIVING AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD! SERIOUSLY!! GO GET THEM!" Too much fun. These are the kind of visits I personally like. The ones where kids aren't expecting something extraordinary in their town on their street. We headed home, grabbed some lunch, built a trampoline for Mia and went back out to a car parade nearby. The size of the car parade was pretty great. A lot of kids in the parade were waving to me as I climbed on top of the Civic. As we rolled up to the birthday boy's house, he seemed to be in shock. We gave him Jill's impressive balloon display she beautifully built and that was it. They were handing out Jello and cup cake pops as we moved to our last stop of the day in Bayside. 

Our last visit was a couple kids in Bayside. One girl had gone through a major surgery and both her and her bro were big super hero fans. I arrived on top of the car like always, and they were just so excited to meet me. I got some super hero questions and they loved watching me leave on top of the car. "HOW DO YOU STAY ON?" Kids love it. That completed the Spidey stops for the weekend. We hung out, had some Qdoba and watched Scoob! Mia loves the movie, but I give it a strong "it was okay". 

Today we woke up to a rainy soggy damp Sunday. Not an exciting way to end the weekend, but it happens. This week, more school, more art and I believe Fox 6 will air our little Spidey story on Wednesday. Keep your eyes out for it. Just trying to balance everything while keeping sane. That's all for now, stay super and thanks for reading! 

Ride

Greeting everyone. Hope all the Moms that read my blog enjoyed their Mother's Day. Wasn't a bad week for distant learning. Mia had a few projects this week including doing a report on the woman who invented the chocolate chip cookie. She did a great job. Thursday, we picked up some hanging baskets for my Mom, Jill and her Mom. Mia enjoyed looking at all the flowers and picked each person that best suited their personality (according to her) . She was ALSO motivated to bang out her school work, spelling test and math so she could have a social distance bike ride with her friend Scarlett and her family.

I hooked up the bike rack for the first time in forever, we loaded up bikes and headed over for the first time since March by Mia's BFF. The girls were thrilled to see us and we went out for a 45 min bike ride. This was the longest the diva has gone on a ride, but you'd never guess if she was tired. Catching up with Scarlett was pure joy. Her Mom, myself and Scarlett's sisters Angie and Sofia chatted and caught up throughout the ride. Really good time and fantastic weather on top of that. We went to Lee's for ice cream after. I haven't had a milk shake in forever, but Lee's had a great caramel shake. The girls started to get chilly (minus Mia in her t-shirt and shorts because she's NEVER cold) so we went back. The girls ran around a little bit before we said our goodbyes and left. Mia couldn't stop smiling exclaiming "this was SO much fun Daddy!" So thrilled to set this up for her and hope we get another day soon for the girls to ride. We did our best obeying social distancing and had an absolutely awesome time.

Throughout the week, I built a couple SCW kits for fun. Currently working on an FC Wisconsin Nationals in between other projects. Over the weekend, we had some Spidey visits. First stop was a little girl in Waukesha. She was pretty excited so see Spider-Man, but her sister seemed more excited. Her Mom later messaged me "she was in love". Ha! After that, we were off to Washington Heights to meet Elijah. He's a little dude that would do Spidey poses and wave to traffic with a sign "honk if I've made you smile" His Mom left him a note from me that read "meet you on the corner at noon. From S" When I arrived and snuck up and surprised him, his Mom and Grandma. He was super excited, we posed for a few photos, waved to cars a little bit and that was it. Definitely a unique Spider-Man visit and I was honored to meet the little mini me. Later, we drove to Brown Deer for another birthday visit. About 30 people were at this place and the little birthday boy was so thrilled to meet Spider-Man. He was dressed as the Miles Morales Spider-Man which was pretty awesome. His brother was equally excited to meet Spider-Man. Even said "Wow, you're tall Spider-Man!" After we said goodbye, we were done for the day. We stopped at my parents house with a cake Mia made for my Mom including a picture collage and her hanging basket. Later, we picked up some Qdoba, watched Rock Dog with Mia, and she finished her other cakes for Jill and Jill's Mom before calling it a night.

Today was Mother's Day. The weather was absolutely lousy and it was freakin' snowing. Despite the crappy weather, we still had a Spider-Man visit to do. After dropping off Grandma Missy Shell's cake, we stopped at birthday boy Nolan's house. Because of the lousy weather, I decided it would be better to ring the doorbell. The little dude screamed with excitement. I gave him a birthday balloon complete with Golden Rod Spidey book, posted for a few photos and said goodbye. He was just so thrilled and it no matter how many kids I've met, it always warms my heart when I see the excitement on kids faces. After that, I had an odd 1-9 shift.

This week, I have plenty of commission work to accomplish in between Mia's school stuff. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Gutted

Greeting. Busy week with much to discuss so let's get right to it. I had a few Spidey stops this week and video messages for kids in between working with Mia on distant learning. Not been easy, but we're trying to grin and bear the school work. I helped Mia work on a fun project about someone who's important to science. She chose Ocean Ramsey from Oahu, HI. She runs the cage-less swim with the sharks that myself, our friends Leanne and Andy did with me. I hope one day to return and do it again, but this time, with Mia.

Last week, I posted about how we were fortunate to get a delayed Spring season...but it turns out the WYSA (or Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association) declaimed all Spring club soccer was cancelled. Such a massive bummer. It was literally the one thing we were looking forward to. Mia and Cecilia were to play their very last season of soccer together before Middle School, but I doubt they'll adjust it. Such a disappointment. I know it was to be expected, but there was a little glimmer of hope that when they released an e-mail that read "THE SEASON IS NOT CANCELLED" that something positive would emerge from this. I guess we'll just have to do some training over the Summer in the yard since absolutely zero parks have any nets on them. The NBAA apparently is hoping for a Fall season as they just posted that they open registration for Fall soccer.

After mentally processing this, I decided that in some spare time, I'd design some fun concept kits for the area youth teams. I started with Strike FC which a friend of mine and his daughter Echo are a part of. The kit turned out nice so I hope to come up with a fun one for SCW next.

Over the weekend, I had a few more Spidey stopes in some absolutely stunning neighborhoods. We're talking like, million dollar homes. It's crazy. First house on Saturday, the kid was a little crazy but the family was super thrilled to see me. We were supposed to visit a kid that dresses like Spider-Man and waves to people on corners, but his Mom messaged me earlier in the day that he wasn't feeling well. We'll visit the lad in Milwaukee next Saturday. We explored Wirth Park to take some photos of Mia in a handful of outfits she picked out. The park is just massive and I sincerely would like to start the skatepark some day.

Later we had some dinner and Mia and I watched Sonic while Jill virtually chatted with her friends. Not a bad movie. Glad I watched it but probably don't need to see it again. We finished off the night with some Luigi's Mansion 3 before calling it a night. Today, I participated in car parade for an 8 year old in another incredible neighborhood. The people waiting to wave to the birthday boy were taking plenty of picture of ol Spidey. Always fun. Mia spent some quality time with her little furry buddy outside before I went off to work. Glad we could enjoy the gorgeous weather because from what I hear, it certainly won't last. Oh well. This week, I've got plenty of art to accomplish, maybe more Spidey stops this coming weekend. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Lights, Camera...

Greetings everyone. Another week in the books with some Spidey visits so let's get right to it. Mia returned to her "Distant Learning". The work load lightened up which includes a "catch up day" for Fridays, however last week, the students were told it would be a non-school day. Sweet. Thursday, we made a Spidey stop at Mia's friend Vida's house for her little sister's birthday. She's a shy kid unlike her sister, but she was still happy to see Spidey. Not sure if she knew it was me, but when a super hero brings in a bunch of balloons, I guess any kid would love it. Mia was happy to see Vida from the car :) We watched Trolls 2-World Tour before calling it a night. I got bored with it, and fell asleep about half way, just like I did with the 1st one. I don't know. The Trolls movies aren't that exciting to me. Mia likes them, so that's good.

Throughout the end of the week, I worked on some Green Bay Glory kits for fun. They got a lot of great reviews from the Glory fans which is always awesome. I just love making kits and wish it could be a full-time gig. It was also announced that SCW season is NOT cancelled and that we'll be starting up early Summer for "Spring soccer" and ending in the end of July. I'm totally cool with that and excited to start. The weather should be much better, so I'm absolutely stoked.

Saturday, we did a handful of Spidey stops including visiting Mia's old buddy Trey and his siblings and participated in some car parades. It's my absolute favorite driving on top of the car. The kids go mental when they see me coming down the street. "OH MY GOD LOOK!!" And then all the phones whip out. Gotta make a solid entrance, right? Jill loves it too. We delivered some amazing balloons to the kids throughout the weekend and hopefully made their birthdays better. Afterwards, we hung out, Jill had a video chat with her chums while Mia and I watched a strange movie on Netflix before a little Luigi's Mansion 3 and soon after, we hit the bed.

Today, we had a couple stops before work with plenty wanting a last min visit. We shot a quick video for a kid we couldn't make last minute at some random park in the Menomonee Falls area. Both stops were very fun. The kids were great and I loved meeting them and their siblings. This morning, the CBS-58 story aired on TV. Pari Cruz and her crew did a great job and really captured our message and mission quite well. Everyone seemed to like it a lot and we were quite proud of it. In fact, I'm more motivated than ever to be the best Spider-Man I could be.

This week, I need to bang out some art projects and start a big one of a dog for a friend. I've got some Spidey stops and video messages as well. Mia's got her typical school work per the usual. She admitted over the weekend that she truly misses going to school, which was sad but not terribly unexpected. She initially was happy she wasn't going to school anymore and could work from home, but has been really missing friends, projects and her teacher lately.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Seven

Greetings everyone. Well, it was quite the week off from work which made it super difficult returning back today, but we'll get back to that in a bit. Last week, I spent the last 7 days driving everywhere and anywhere visiting tons of kids, families and neighborhoods. Franklin, Greendale, Menomonee Falls among others. So many awesome kids excited for a super hero visit. Mia tagged along with us on some the adventures. One of my favorite things we've gotten to do was participate in car parades. I've been riding on top of cars lately and it really makes the quick little visit all the more exciting. People really like it and there's always a bunch of phones snapping pictures or taking videos of Spidey. I personally love seeing the kids all dressed up. One stop had an Iron Man, a Captain America and a tiny little Wonder Woman. So cute.

Mia's been off on Spring Break and returns to her distance learning tomorrow. At the end of the week, it was announced that school wouldn't resume this year, so Mia was a bit surprised but mildly content with it. She's been really missing her friends lately and over the weekend, wanted to do a little "virtual sleepover" but everyone she contacted was busy so she was a bit mopey.

Now this really upset me and Jill: Saturday, I discovered that a large group of idiots were protesting the extended Stay at Home order for the state of Wisconsin. It didn't help that Trump has been tweeting "liberate _insert state here" all over Twitter. So, people showed up on Bluemound road, most not in masks or PPE standing shoulder to shoulder chanting and screaming. Not good. Not good at all. Very scary actually. I understand the reaction and I too, wish things could return, but the cases are  still coming up, people are dying and hospitals are still very very busy. Trump boasted how he wanted to open the states up and because the country really isn't ready yet, he's pissed off. Everyone is. I just hope that any progression we've made in this unfortunate pandemic isn't undone. Florida already opened a beach and they've got a bunch of cases that surfaced recently as well. I've been talking to a lot of nurses that come into the store and they've brought up how difficult it is to having to communicate to families that they can only use FaceTime their loved ones in the hospital that are dying. That is pure heartbreaking. I can't imagine how they have to deal with that and work long long hours while some actually have to sleep in their cars or away from their families. It's difficult, so when I see people getting aggressively angry about the extended Stay at Home thing, it really frustrates me.

Anyways, we got notified about a last minute car parade Saturday, so I suited up and we drove to the house. The family we were surprising were totally excited and that was the end of our Spidey time. The rest of the day, we hung out, made dinner and watched a movie. This has sort of been our routine my week off from work. I honestly am going to miss the daily dinners with the girls. Jill did a video chat with her friends for our buddy Leanne's birthday. Despite the unfortunate circumstances,  the girls had a great time. Mia chatted with Vida and I worked on some football kit designs. I was glad to finally allow myself some time to work in Photoshop on one of my favorite projects. I designed and submitted my kit concept for the USNT the American Outlaws supporters group hosted as well as a USL2 kit concept for the Green Bay Voyagers. The other day, I was working on one for the Green Bay Glory, but Photoshop decided not to work for me so I had to quit for the evening. I did however, make a quit Spidey Vlog which is always fun to update our fans on how things are going from our Spidey tours.

Today, we had an awesome Spidey visit. We drove out to Milwaukee to surprise a boy who turned 8 today. He has Down Syndrome and is super obsessed with super heroes. I knew from the start I'd be arriving on top of the car with a Spider-Man balloon for the child. We rolled up and the neighbor was cracking up and yelled out "well how is my happy birthday song going to match up to this? this is crazy!" I hoped off the car, and little Henry was absolutely THRILLED to see his favorite hero. He was even dressed like me. His smile will stay with me for quite a while. It will go down as one of my favorite visits I've done and I've met a TON of kids. I'm always humbled to be a part of a child's birthday and to see this kiddo light up with excitement just made my day.

This week I'm working my normal hours, I've got some Spidey stops and Mia's back to school. Hopefully I can get some art accomplished. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Stay Super

Man, this past week has been super surreal with everything. We've been balancing Mia's distant learning thing with the whole Spidey in a Civic thing pretty well and things are still staying pretty busy. Last week, I did an interview with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via phone call and later that day, they published it on their website. It got a lot of praise and circled around everywhere. The next day, I did one or the Waukesha Freeman via e-mail, which was great because I could thoroughly think of my answers in a more thoughtful way. I jokingly said "if this makes the front page, we're taking a picture of me dressed as Spidey reading about Spiderman" and sure enough a few days later, I made the front page. It was pretty exciting and I'm glad so many people enjoyed the article and this whole experience. We've met so many kids and families and it's been absolutely amazing. I love being a part of something positive that brings happiness to kids. Hopefully, it inspires others to do something positive in their own way.

Friday on my last day before I was going on vacation, I had to work at store #184 to learn how to fry chicken. Luckily, the girls I was training under were very nice and patient and I was able to get the training I needed and could leave early. The store is super slow so I was out by 7:05pm. Saturday, we were up and ready to film with Pari Cruz and CBS-58 for the Spiderman story. They met us at Mia's friend Noelle's house so all of the kiddos were outside excited to be on TV. We got some great shots throughout the day with all the families. These kids were dressed up, holding signs, made chalk drawings and we even saw kids dressed as villans. One had a great DIY Doc Oc costume his Dad made. With every group we stopped at, the crowds of kids grew bigger and bigger. One of the standouts from the Spidey tour was a young boy we missed the previous weekend. Him and his sis were napping the previous weekend so there was no way we were going to miss him the 2nd time around. Him and his sister were SO stoked to see me when we rolled up. He was jumping for joy, and could barely keep contained. When the reporter was talking to his Mom, he kept staring at me smiling. I found out later he called his Grandma describing my suit in detail and everything about the visit. He slept with his stuffed Spiderman as well. These stories melt my heart and I love hearing about it.

 Later after our last house (Mia's BFF Cecilia) they did an interview and some fun shots of me on top of the car, crouching on a rock and others. Overall, we had a ton of fun with them and can't wait to see the final product. Mia enjoyed watching all the behind-the-scenes stuff they have to do to make it all happen. We did a Zoom video Easter chat with Jill's family later which was a lot of fun. Mia and I picked out a new addition to our family that we're not going to go into a lot of detail right now, but let's just say that she's completely in love with the little fuzzball and couldn't be more happy. I watched Spiderman 3 and worked on some art while Jill and Mia watched a movie in the living room. Yesterday, Mia did her Easter egg hunt and harvested her blow pops that came up over night from the magic beans. We did another visit, drove around and went home for the day. Sadly, my zipper busted on my mask but on our drive today, we did alright. Visited a few kids for birthdays. This sweet group of kids were so excited that I was there and talked to me like I was Santa. "So how's your super hero friends? Did you have a good Easter and go Easter egg hunting?" It was very cute and I felt like a character at Disney or Universal Studios. The smiles are always the most memorable, but from time to time, we'll get tears. This comes with the territory. You never know what kind of reaction you're going to get. Parents know their kid(s) would be excited to meet Spidey, but when the day comes, you just don't know what kind of mood they're going to be. It is what it is, and we move on. We're just here to remind kids to STAY SUPER.

This week, Mia's on Spring Break and I'm also on a week of vacation. We've got a lot of houses to visit this week and as always, I look forward to all the smiles and wonderful families. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Viral Virus

Greetings. Man, what a week. While Mia kept grinding on her school work, we started building quite a busy weekend of house, courts, and cul de sac visits throughout the area. In total, it got to about 34. Phew. I was also contacted by CBS 58 to do a tag along and interview about my story of becoming Spiderman. What started as a simple gesture turned into something bigger than we predicted.

Thursday, Mia got her school work done, we got some sushi for the girls and I enjoyed a couple tacos :) Don't remember the exact movie we watched, but it's always enjoyable spending time with the girls on a day off. Friday, I suited up and made my way to a kid's house that was celebrating his birthday. Prior to making the stop, I picked up a few Spidey balloons I'd be giving out throughout the weekend.  The look on that child's face said it all. He was absolutely shocked Spidey visited him for his special birthday.  As we pulled away, Jill noticed him making a beeline for his balloon. His Mom sent me a video of his reaction and it was priceless. Absolutely priceless. This would be one of many memorable moments from our 5 hours of driving around Saturday.

We tried to make as many houses as possible that contacted us and it turns out, 30+ houses was way too many. It was a great time with many great memories made. We met with kids that were supposed to make a trip to Universal Studios so meeting me was the next best thing. One kid said to his Mom "I've waited all my life to meet Spiderman" which was super heartwarming. Lee's Ice Cream hooked me up with some treats for spreading kindness which was pretty sweet. They took photos of me holding a cone with red/blue sprinkles that I ended up giving to Mia for being patient while Jill and I drove around making kids happy.

One pair of girls surprised me with a Thank you Spiderman" sign. One little dude had a costume on and a handful of houses had Spiderman art drawn in chalk on the sidewalk. Absolutely loved it. After 55 miles, we called it a day. It was a long exhausted day, but we definitely made some special children smile. Despite all the success this has been and recent media attention, I wish these kids could celebrate birthdays with friends, didn't have to cancel travel plans and could be at school learning. Sadly, this is what they're dealing with and it takes a goofy Dad dressed as a Superhero to brighten their day on his day off. I'm honored to bring smiles and hope they can still STAY SUPER and be kind to everyone.


We picked up some MOD for dinner and watched Onward. Jill and Mia watched it Friday while I was at work but they watched it again with me. Really good movie. Great story and beautiful art. Always got to remember the art when it comes to movies. The overall feel you get from the art is very crucial. Anyways, after the movie, Mia spent the rest of the evening video chatting with her girls and drawing till pretty late.

Today, we did a lot of cleaning and a little time outside before I went off to work.

This week, I'm literally at a house every day before work. Some interviews, Mia's got her school work and hopefully, a lot of art. Thanks for reading and stay safe!!

The Diva Turns 9 & We Pay it Forward

Evening everyone. So much to talk about, but first, the first full week of home schooling. I'd say on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a solid 7. There appears to be more work for the parents as far as keeping things organized, finding all the daily material from different sites, etc etc. Jill's been doing a lot of it, and I hope to take a more active role with that so she doesn't feel all the pressure of working from home, and dealing with the all school work load Mia takes on daily. I was handling a lot of Mia's exercise throughout the week (AKA gym and/or recess) as well as some art. We would do soccer, some hockey and yoga. Hopefully, this week gets better.  Mia spent her Thursday after online school making cupcakes for her birthday. It's too bad she didn't have school to share them with her class :(

Towards the end of the week, we started collecting video messages for Mia's birthday from friends, family, former teachers and some actual celebrities! It was a major bummer that we had to postpone her birthday, so we did our best collecting birthday wishes from everyone. We had some Dominos for lunch and as I was checking for more video response, we got a pretty shocking one. Josh Gad, AKA Olaf tweeted a video to me on Twitter! He sent out earlier in the day that if anyone would like a video message for a birthday, he'd try to send some out. He got about 6,000 responses and I think I was probably about #3 on the list. I honestly didn't think he'd get back to me, but sure enough, he did. Brendan Kelly from the Lawrence Arms didn't hesitate to send Mia a video as well which marks the 2nd video he's done for Mia for the diva. Finally, Wave superstar Ian Bennett also sent one to Mia as well. Mia was stoked to get all of their videos as well as a lot of old friends and some teammates. Jill had tears in her eyes as Mia watched all these. It takes just a moment to make a kid smile, so this was a huge deal for the diva and it really made her day. We also got a lot of honks from fellow New Berlin residents after sticking a little "honk for Mia's 9th birthday sign in our yard" We had some dinner later and Mia enjoyed the rest of her birthday, which included playing with Legos (Thanks Uncle Tommy and Grandma Gail) as well as her new Switch game; Lucky's Tail (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Chicago). She's been pretty obsessed with Legos for the last 48 hours.

Saturday, she continued working on Legos, and a little later, we decided it'd be fun to drive to teammate Olivia's house and wave to her brother for his birthday...with a Spiderman mask on. Sort of a last minute idea. He was stoked to see Spidey waving at him and we also hit up another little boy's house as well. On our way back, we stopped at Scarlett's and Cecilia's. Both sets of friends were happy to see us. I think overall, they were happy to see Mia sort of in person, along with Remi in his shades. We hung out the rest of the day, Mia played the Switch and did some more Lego building.

Today, we spent two hours driving around New Berlin, but this time, I wore the full Spiderman suit, Jill made a "Stay Super" sign and Mia wore butterfly wings. I completely lost track of all the houses, streets and courts we stopped at. After posting on the Community Page that Spiderman was driving around, waving at kids, it absolutely blew up. I was getting message after message very rapidly looking for Spidey to stop by. So many kids were shouting and waving at me at every house. The goal was to see as many kids as I could, and eventually, I had to stop and get ready for work. Mia definitely enjoyed "paying it forward" and making so many kids smile. I wish I could have spent more time hitting up more houses, but sadly, I gotta work so hopefully, we'll get to visit more places next weekend. While at work, I got an insane amount of messages STILL about a Spidey visit. After we got home, Jill quickly made a Facebook page entitled Spidey in a Civic so people could contact me easily and post their comments. It's all about positivity in the community and I'm happy to spread it. If it means driving around town and stopping for a short while. As a type this, I'm STILL getting more messages about stopping by.

This week, more online schooling, hopefully better weather, I need to finish a very tricky drawing for Mia and I'll be once again, appearing as Spiderman around New Berlin and surrounding areas. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

We Drift Eternal

Greetings. We made it through the first week off from school. The week began with a few assignments on the Chromebook for Mia, we did some writing, drawing, a ton of reading, and even a science involving some fun molecular gastronomy. We supported our local sushi join; Big Tuna for dinner and I edited the video I made of the ladies science experiment the rest of the evening. All in all, good time. Will the girls make another video? Maybe.

One of the highlights  of the week was on one of the nicer weather days, Mia and I did a little 1v1 in the yard. Mia cracked me up as she did English commentary as we played some footie. The only major disappointment of the day, was when I had to end it and go to work. Totally made me bummed. She was actually doing really well and I could have played for another hour with her but you know, gotta work. One of the extra things Mia worked on this week was learning Spanish. She's not required to learn  it at school nor has even a language unit, but she definitely has an ear for it with Jill and has picked it up surprisingly quickly. She'll continue that this week. She also wrote a report for no reason other than just for the hell of it on mythical creatures including mermaids, the Lock Ness Monster and Sasquatch. It was pretty thorough and she put a lot of work into it. Once again, she didn't have to do it for school, but just wanted to do some research on a subject she enjoys.

Saturday, we did some cleaning, Mia and I went for a bike ride/dog walk and she got to reunite briefly with friend Noelle and see her new puppy, and we had a delicious lunch at Ono Kine Grindz in Tosa. Like Big Tuna, they're also a small business so we wanted to show our support of our favorite Hawaiian restaurant/market by grabbing some amazing food. They're really good, always give a pretty good size of portions which leaves you with plenty of leftovers that you won't regret finishing later. Later at night, Jill and Mia baked some cookies and we closed the evening with some Luigi's Mansion and a little living room soccer before crashing.

Today, we didn't do much before I went off to work. Mia spent a couple days video chatting with friends Saturday and talked to a few more Sunday in between projects. Jill and I are just trying to figure things out with this whole virus thing. Mia has a birthday coming up this week and we're supposed to get family to come over and celebrate with her. Obviously we can't fo anywhere special but we'll make some dinner here, or something. We postponed her birthday party with friends but unsure who will make it. The uncertainty has really given everyone this anxiousness. People are out of work and scared they may not return. Hopefully things improve, people follow directions to stay as much as possible in their safety of their homes and we can end this. We have to remember to take care of one another.

This week starting Monday, Mia has to sign in at 8:00am to start her actual online learning in a "classroom" setting. Hopefully it goes well because this will become the new normal for a while. Hopefully not the rest of the school year like most are expecting. Alkaline Trio released an EP this week so I'm going to listen to that on repeat for a few days. Thats all for now, thanks for reading!

Breath

Greetings everyone. Well times certainly are interesting on the planet. Specially regarding the Covid-19 virus, but we'll get back to it. Most of the week, I've been working on a Pennywise sketch for Mia's friend Cecilia. I would rather draw almost anything but another clown but since the kiddo missed our final game AND she's one of Mia's closest best friends, I'll do it. It's been a struggle trying to nail the sketch and to be honest, I'm not too thrilled with what I've got currently. Hopefully I can make it work and she'll dig it.

Thursday, I was out photographing in Waterford at a grade school. Nothing too exciting to report. We just wanted to get it done quickly before they had their fire drill. Got home, worked on art, Photoshopping Bella and Cecilia in our team photo and picked up Mia later. She did her homework and rode her bike after school. Not a bad day for a ride and she definitely enjoys being outside when she can. She played "tennis" which basically was her hitting a ball at me and me having to toss it back to her to do the same thing. I don't know why she enjoys it, but she had fun. We had tacos and relaxed with Jill the rest of the night.

Friday was a weird day. I spent the morning doing a little cleaning and went to work later per the usual. When Mia came home, I got the texts that school was officially cancelled for the next 3 long weeks. Mia was supposed to go on a field trip Friday but it got cancelled. Now school is cancelled and every kid is supposed to be quarantined till early April. Crap. This is absolutely bonkers. We were insanely busy at work with the entire planet going in a frenzy with buying everything from toilet paper to eggs in fear that the world would run out of it. It's been frightening to see this much panic. I was supposed to have a soccer meeting Saturday for our club we joined but everything is on hold. The only thing that makes me nervous about this is that my work requires me to change my availably within 21 days so everything has to be figured out. With our first Spring season on hold, I have no clue when we'll be ready to roll again. The Alkaline Trio/Bad Religion concert got postponed as well.

Mia's birthday is two weeks away so she's pretty sad she won't get to celebrate with her classmates at school, bring in her treat and have me visit like always for lunch. She brought home a Chromebook to do classwork on. We're also going to work on music, art and cooking with the diva on our own. Most importantly, we need to remember too breath and relax. Too much panic in the world right now.

Saturday, we hit up Trader Joe's which was a disaster. The entire place was 70% cleaned out. Panic in the TJ's peeps. Jill was shocked. The rest of the day, we hung out, cleaned and did some work around the house, listened to some of my favorite vinyl records and organized our art area.  It was a pretty productive day overall. We made dinner and watched Frozen 2 which has quickly become a favorite for Jill and Mia. They sang along to every song. Super cute. We crashed a little later.

Today, we didn't do much. Just a little more cleaning and organizing before I went off to work. I was supposed to go and photograph at school Monday and Wed but both schools are closed or cancelled. Oh well. like I said before, I feel bad for Jill and her boss. They have major deadlines to follow for yearbooks and it's not going to be easy to book them before the end of the school year.

This week, Mia will experience virtual learning while Jill and I work our normal days. That's all for now. Keep safe and thanks for reading.

Patience, Persistence and Passion

Evening everyone. What a weekend but first the week leading up to it. I've been diligently working on the Rey drawing this week for Mia's friend Cecilia only to find out today, she'd rather have Pennywise. UGH. I'll have to start the PW one this week. Anyways, early in the week, Liverpool played against Chelsea and the Mighty Blues came out victorious in the FA Cup. After my work shift, I was dying to go watch the highlights and they certainly didn't disappoint.


Thursday after school, Mia and I played some bass guitar for the first time in quite a while. She actually had a lot of fun and I wish we could spend more time playing music together. Later we had some dinner with Jill, watched Into the Spider-verse and the girls went to bed. STILL an incredible movie.

Friday, I drove to Carmax in hopes of getting a good appraisal on my Corolla. They covered me a low  amount so I had hoped over the weekend, I'd get a better offer while looking for a car after the match.  Saturday, we got up early for our final indoor soccer match of the season. Everyone was fired up upon arriving and ready to give their last game everything. After a very quick team photo, we were ready to go. The girls took on Pewaukee-Sussex United club rec team and both came out swinging. Early in the match, Alice picked up the first goal off a clean pass from Jess. Awesome! The attackers were actually staying in position for a counter-attack off our strong defense clearing the ball out. The strategy paid off because Alice net 4 more goals. Her dribbling and ball handling was fantastic and it mirrored her skills from our Fall season. My only question to Jorge who helped out was "where were these girls ALL season?!" We were playing our best game all season and every kid was playing incredible. Averi was controlling the ball with every attack. Bella cleared everything out and Vida made a strong return to defense after a week off and did amazing. Mia and Scarlett came out fierce and both killed it. Mia was even setting herself up to score but just couldn't get a clean pass to her from her fellow forwards. Olivia's first goal of the season was amazing and got a 2nd one the 2nd half. So proud of her patience and persistence. She hated having to be subbed out and wanted to play the entire game. Same with Angelina. She was incredible as a  defensive midfielder. She would attack and defend when needed and really wanted to score for her Dad. Adalyn who played very well, also was determined to net a goal. Elia played great in defense and I felt bad I couldn't get her up front to attack when she wanted to.

Our goalies both Jess and Sofia were fantastic. Great stops from both girls. Proud of both of our strong girls between the sticks. Jess's punt is still unreal. Can't wait to work with her more in goal this Spring. The only major bummer was that we didn't have Coach Kevin and Cecilia. Both would have loved to have been a part of this match. The girls went crazy after the win. They deserved this win and worked so hard. No one was dragging their feet on and off the field and everyone gave it everything. I know some were disappointed they didn't score, but soccer is a team effort, and every position is important. It was just refreshing to see the passion. The dynamic of the match really changes when we're doing well, you know? The ref had me sign our score sheet and said "who's that little girl? meaning Averi) She's REALLY good and has a good sense of knowing where to put the ball, you know?" I told her Mom afterwards and she was quite proud of her little soccer star. She's got enormous potential.

Afterwards, I gave one final speech to the kids and we said our thank you's to the parents for their support all Winter and said goodbye. I'm so proud of this team. I wish I could get a few more matches but it is what it is. I think we finished 2nd to last, but man was it a crazy difficult season. I think our results would have been different if we didn't play against 99% exclusively club/academy teams. These girls played together year round so it was always going to be difficult. Would I do this again next Winter? Not sure. Now that we're done, Mia and I are going to get a short time off before we start our first season of Spring soccer with SC Wave Jaguars.  She'll be joining Jess, Olivia, pre-school buddy Irianna and BFF Cecilia who she's been playing with for 4 seasons now.

Afterwards, I searched for my title so I could go look for a new car. Sadly, it's gone. No clue where it went so I ordered a new one and hopefully will find a new car to replace the Corolla. Later we went to Michaels for an art cart and I met up with old work friends for beers. Great time catching up with my buddies DJ and Duff.

Today I got up for the Chelsea vs Everton game. The Blues won 4-0. Great for a clean sheet and some solid goals from the good guys. We tried to go to the zoo later, but the line to park was insane. We went for a walk at the park before I went off to work. The weather was perfect. Can't say the same about my shift.

This week I'll continue looking for jobs, working on art and looking at cars. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Business A.U.

Greetings everyone. We've officially entered March on one of the warmest starts to the month that I can remember but first our week leading to that. Nothing super exciting to report. I worked very quickly on Rapunzel sketch for my little buddy Gracie that visits me during the week. I'm not super thrilled with the final image and had panned to give it to her at her little birthday party Saturday afternoon. Thursday after school, I took Mia pants shopping. The little diva is growing and needs more pants. Specifically jogger-style. Literally the only style pants she will wear. Our first stop was Justice. One of her favorite stores. She had a mission to find a comfortable pair of camouflage pants for some reason. She also was eyeing up some camo skirts and overalls for some reason. She took a pile of clothes to the dressing room and tried everything on. Luckily, the pants fit and despite the $28 price tag, I got them. We stopped at Target next.

Target was preparing for Spring or Summer and had very little pants out so we didn't find anything there. She picked out some much needed socks and we were on our way. Overall, not a bad time with the kid. Even though we were just shopping, we still had fun together. Friday, she woke up with a fever of 101 which meant she sadly stayed home from school. We hung out, I worked on my drawing and she did a lot of reading in between naps. Saturday morning, we drove to my parent's house for my Dad's quilt presentation from the Quilts of Valor group that makes and donates quilts to vets. The quality was beautiful and hopefully he appreciates it. We watched Chelsea vs Bournmouth draw 2-2 unfortunately. They shouldn't be drawing the Cherries. Ugh. Luckily, Liverpool, Spurs and Man U also dropped points. Later, we grabbed some lunch, I gave the sketch to Gracie and we went to the Dragons game. We were playing against another Polonia team but this time, our first and only match on the middle field. The Dragons kept up with Polonia (or what Scarlett calls KFC FC) pretty well for a while till Elia made a few mistakes and the goals started coming in. They struggled keeping in positions and they just pounced on our dragons. 2nd half, Adalyn took over goal and that didn't help much either. I let Jess have her way and play defense which she did really well but I wish she would have played keeper. We had a few good chances but it just wasn't our day. We play our final game at 9am against the Strikers who are just below us and haven't won a game yet. Hopefully everyone shows up and we can get the big win. We had three girls sick and Mia wasn't 100%. We hung out at Jill's parents later and had dinner before calling it a night. Today, Mia looked better and we mainly just did some grocery shopping before I went to work. Mia probably played outside because the weather was perfect. I sincerely wish I was off so we could have went snowboarding. The Spring-like conditions would have been perfect at The Rock.

This week, I'll work on Cecilia's Rey sketch, maybe build a new football kit and possibly could be getting rid of my car. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Music+Art

Evening everyone. Not the best ending to my night so let's get right to it so I can pass out for the evening. The week was a fun one for Mia. Mia was off from school Monday so we did some much-needed snowboarding. Didn't stay out too long. The hike up Valley View's big hill is daunting but she made some good runs. We fell a couple times but overall did well. I popped an ollie off one of the rollers as well as a simple 180 to see if I could do it. I wish we had more time for snowboarding but my obnoxious work schedule ruins everything.  Later, Mia went by Jill to help do some envelope stuffing. Not a glamorous job but Mia enjoyed spending time with Jill.

Throughout the week, I continued working on my Joker comic-influenced sketch. It's taken a ton of time, but it's almost done. I've had some struggles blending some of my green colors, as well as the pen not writing well on the some of the colors but I'm mostly happy with it.

Thursday, I photographed at Hillcrest Elementary. Easy Waukesha school to work and navigate. Kids were pretty funny too. For some reason, a small group of 5th grader girls were infatuated with me and kept finding things we had in common. When one girl asked my age and I told them I was 36, they were like "oh wow, I thought you were in your 20's you're almost as old as my Mom!" Sorry? Overall, not a bad day.

Later after I picked up Mia, she had an online Kawaii drawing class. 6 other kids joined this one-off little sketch session. The woman running it was really sweet and Mia enjoyed drawing these little weather characters in her favorite Japanese style of drawing. The only downside was that the diva was SUPER shy and quiet. She shared her drawings throughout the session but never said a word. Bummer. She still struggles with being shy with adults no matter what the situation is. Mia also did some super rare drumming on my drum kit. She used to play it a lot when she was really little and loved it. She still enjoys it and even learned some beats. I was originally going to teach her "Under Pressure" on bass but we ran out of time and Jill was home so we made dinner. Later, we watched Frozen 2.  Mia and Jill LOVE Frozen 2. Me? It's okay. The music is good, art gorgeous. Story? It's alright.

Saturday, I got up early for the Chelsea vs Spurs match. I missed the first goal off Giroud but the replay was amazing. The guy was supposed to leave over the January Transfer Window, but CFC didn't release him so he's putting the effort in to play well and win games. I took Remi out at half time and came back to another goal. Alonso blasted one from a good distance. The match ended 2-1 which means we beat them twice this season. Fantastic! Jill and Mia woke up soon after the game was over, we met up with Tommy and drove to IKEA for the very first and probably last time. We weren't super impressed but Mia enjoyed some Swedish candy and ice cream. The cinnamon roll was pretty awesome too.

We went back home, hung out and had pizza for dinner with Tommy. We watched Frozen 2 again. Afterwards, played board games at "Mia's Arcade" and she drew us pictures as prizes. Super cute. Mia did some reading as well as Jill while I continued my Joker sketch. Mia fell asleep on the couch and I brought up the sleeping diva before we all crashed. Today we didn't do much. Ran to Menards in search of some new light fixtures and or a ceiling fan for the dining room. No luck.

This week, more drawing and we're back in action soccer-wise on Saturday. Chelsea takes on Munich on Tuesday so hopefully we can get a big win. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Soccer, Sushi and a Sleepover

Greetings everyone. Lousy day at work but an overall solid weekend so let's get right to it. Most of the week was pretty mellow with not much to discuss. We got some more snow Wednesday evening, which made my commute to a school to photograph at really lousy. Luckily, it was a pretty simple school to navigate and the class sizes weren't too big. The only struggle was some lag time waiting for the older groups to finish up their sports pictures. The highlight was a group of 3rd graders I had with me looking all over the school to photograph 2 missing kids that were with an aid. We couldn't find these two boys ANYWHERE. These kids with me were running everywhere and I didn't really want to be running after them with a camera but I tried my best to keep up. They were running into the chapel, the lunch room, offices..We must have looked really good on the school security cameras. When Jill's boss and I were done, we left.

I picked up Mia from school who was super cold and she told me this horrid story about her sub that I really can't go into here. Let's just say, it was insane. We hung out with Jill when she got home, played a little Luigi's Mansion 3 before calling it a night. Friday was Valentines Day. Mia was stoked for her class party and hopefully, her teacher's return. Jill and I don't really do anything and saved our "celebration" for sushi with Mia and her friend Scarlett (sleepover)

Saturday we did some grocery shopping before Mia's game. Dragons, who sadly haven't had a solid practice were playing against 1st place Polonia (who practice twice weekly). They destroyed us, which we expected. Clinic passing, oversized and probably way too old kids throwing elbows and tripping one of our kids every 5 minutes and as usual, our defense having some inner struggles were some of the main problems. Our attackers weren't spreading out and it showed. SOMEHOW the 2nd half, Alice scored her first goal of the season. She was a major threat in the Fall and has been sort of a shocker that she hasn't been able to score or even show this indoor season...but she had a good run and put one through their goalies hands. Our supporters went nuts and the kids were high-giving. It was a breath of fresh air. I totally hyped her up when she came off for a break. The kids once again, never gave up and despite all the issues, they still played their hearts out. I really wish I could get Mia involved in some sort of clinics to amp her skills. I know indoor has been a really tough for her and it's clear she likes outdoor a little more. It's not as fast as indoor. My buddy Brad and his wife came and watched our team. Always nice when people can make a match. Some of our top players of the match were Elia, Olivia, Scarlett, and Alice. Angie had some good moments, as well as Jess when she moved to goal. She had her first go at defense and has plenty of potential to be better. Speaking of Angie, she was super thrilled I gave her the sloth sketch she requested. SO many hugs from that little 10 year old.

Afterwards, Mia said goodbye to her awesome grandparents who came, and we took Scarlett back to our house for a sleepover. The girls ordered sushi and I picked up dinner. The kids played Switch till I got back. Scarlett downed her 6 pieces of salmon sushi quickly. They played card games, chased each other around the living room and overall, had an awesome time. She's only the 2nd other child besides Cecilia to sleep over. Originally her sister was going to join her but Scarlett didn't want to share her "Mia time" so she set up a sleepover. Eventually after a dozen of rounds of Snappy Dresser, the girls called it a night. Jill made everyone pancakes in the morning. Scarlett and Mia played Exploding Kittens before another few more rounds of Snappy Dresser before we brought Scarlett back. They're such a hilarious duo. When Mia and I got back, she crashed. She was up late chatting with Scarlett throughout the evening so I wasn't surprised she napped.

Tomorrow, Mia's off so we may try to get some snowboarding in before I head to work. At least I hope we can. Last week, I've been working hard on a joker sketch. Originally it was supposed to be a marker sketch but like an idiot, I realized I drew it on dry media paper so it's now a mixed media color pencil and pen sketch. Luckily, it's coming along nicely. Maybe I'll complete it this week. We've got another by week for soccer this week so not completely sure what we're doing yet but we'll figure it out. Chelsea plays Man U tomorrow but sadly, I gotta work. Hopefully, they get the must-win.
Thanks for reading!

Day Trip

Greetings. Man, was it a busy week with an even busier one coming up so let's get right to it. Mia had a low-grade fever this week, but with schools putting on the pressure to either provide a doctor's note when your child is sick, Mia opted to soldier on and make it through. I joined her for lunch on Thursday to see how she was doing. She was happy to see me, and was looking pretty good. She wanted to go to art, but her teacher made her go outside so we played a little soccer with her buddies. She wanted to simply just sit and talk to a friend. She said her goodbyes and I was on my way. I went in thinking I may have to sign her out if she was still not feeling well, but in the end, she was doing well.

She came home and was very lethargic. Sort of reverted again and wasn't feeling well. Poor kid. She once again, toughed it out. Luckily, when she got home, I got a text from my Mom that she was good. Phew. When I got home, we packed up our bags and Saturday we were on our way to Illinois. Saturday, Jill and her buddies set up a girls night where they watched the Downton Abbey movie and had tea and little sandwiches. First, we went to Caleb's basketball game. This was the very first time Mia ever watched a basketball game so it was sorta fun to watch her take it all in. "Why are they NOT kicking the ball?" First of all, Caleb was a straight baller. He's got confidence and he controls the plays and even got the first basket. The teams were pretty even-matched but Caleb's team won. NOT before the poor kid took a smack to the face which knocked out one of his teeth! He freaked out and after the picked up his tiny tough, the game continued. He sat the rest of the game out and clotted his empty tooth spot. I tried to lighten the mood with some missing teeth/hockey jokes but he stayed quiet. Oh well.

We went back to the house and the kids played games and had some lunch. After wards, I took them to our hotel and the kids swam and played in the gym. This was probably the one time we were at a pool where it was super full of kids. Mia and Caleb still had fun. Later, we went back to the house and the kids continued playing games both board and video games. Caleb had to show me how to play Battlefront 2 and Spiderman. The dude is such a great kid and he and Mia always pick up where they left off. Friends since babies. Mia even refers to him as one of her cousins. Awwwww, right? We said our goodbyes and went back to the hotel for the night.

This morning we got up had some breakfast and were on our way back to Wisconsin through all the crazy snow. I didn't know how much we were supposed to get, but it certainly was quite a bit. Roads weren't great but we made it in. Mia crashed on the coach for a bit while I cleaned up the driveway and walked Remi. Remi had the best time playing and rolling in the fresh powder, just like he did when he was much younger.

This week, the Dragons are back in action on Saturday at 4:30. The kids really wanted to get a practice in over the weekend, but unfortunately there wasn't a place for the kids to practice. Hopefully, we can get some goals and give the opposition a good fight. I've been working on a really tricky and technical drawing of the Joker so I'll be continuing that. Thursday, I'm working at a school with Jill's boss. I'm not sure how many schools we're photographing this year, but this will be the first one. I applied for a new job and will continue to keep looking.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

Evening peeps. Quite a busy weekend but we'll get to that later. The week was a fun one for Mia, because they got to dress up in different themes including crazy hair day and "work out" your problems (wear workout clothes) where a chunk of her teammates all wore their Dragons jerseys. Awesome! I worked on a giraffe sketch for Mia's friend Scarlett's 9th birthday gift. I used a slightly heavier paper with a different pencil. At first, it went well but I was getting frustrated when it kept breaking. Also, the tan pencil wouldn't allow me to get those "darker darks" when it comes to heavier shading. In the end, the drawing looking great and Scarlett loved it and gave me a hug Saturday.

Thursday, Mia worked on her very own soccer jersey concept for a made-up team; The Red Pandas. It was her first time playing in Photoshop as well as using multiple layers and editing. Overall, she did a great job and was totally proud of her concept. Later, she took a shower and we had dinner before she crashed for the night.

Saturday was a busy day. I got up early to watch the Chelsea vs Leicester match. It ended 2-2 which was frustrating, but not terribly surprising. They're in 3rd and we're in 4th so I expected a tight match. After Mia woke up, we went to the Pet Expo for a few hours. Plenty of animals to pet. Mia loved the huskies and dachshunds, all the kittens and cats and the adorable mini horse. Wish I could have grabbed a shot of the diva with the horse, but it didn't stick around long. All in all, she had a great time.

We grabbed some lunch before picking up Cecilia for a much-needed soccer practice. My buddy Brad set up a time slot for us where his team practises in a futsal-setting. 5 kids were already waiting for us and were working on some drills already. I let Brad lead the practice since he got a good view from above last week at the match and could tell what we needed to work on. I mean, I knew what we needed to work on, but he also works with a U-11 girls team and knows some seriously good drills to tighten things and improve technical skills. A little 6v2, some Y-passing and a scrimmage was all we could squeeze in before we had to split for Vida's birthday party. I brought Cecilia home and despite the fact that she really wanted Mia to sleep over, we had plans for the evening. Mia, Vida, Cecilia and Scarlett (along with Vivana her sister) went tubing at The Rock. I low-keyed wish I brought my snowboard, but my job was simple: push the kids. Myself and Vida's parents pushed the kids on their tubes and I think every one of them won at least one race. They had an absolute blast. I hope the next time I get there, Mia and I can snowboard.

After wards, we went back to her house so the kids could eat pizza, cake and be silly while the adults chatted. The girls had a great time. When we got home Mia was pretty tuckered out and crashed.

Today, not much happened. Mia played Mario Kart with Uncle Tommy after I left for work.
This week, not much going on. I'll keep applying at jobs and working on art projects. I think Mia's got her first week of Art Club? We're heading out of town Saturday and Mia's Dragons team may have another practice. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Keep Fighting

Evening. Going to try and get through this rather quick because it's been a pretty lousy day. Monday, Mia was off from school so we enjoyed some time drawing and playing a little Luigi's Mansion 3 before I went to work. Thursday, Jill's Dad and I drove her ride to get a remote starter put in that her boss got for her for Christmas. It's a nice little novelty that she's enjoying on cold days. We had another round of snow Friday evening but it wasn't as bad as the week prior. I went to lunch with Mia and her friends Friday. Lunch was fun. her friends were a little crazy and she skipped recess to go work on art with Scarlett. Vida joined as well. All in all, fun afternoon before going to work.

Saturday, I tried to catch the Chelsea vs Hull FA Cup match but the stream wasn't working. The Blues ended up getting the win so that was great. We did some grocery shopping before Mia's 4:30pm match against the Dynamo. I requested the girls arrive early so we could have a good team talk and get through some of the issues. I explained about how they need to hold their positions, communicate and PASS. Some got it, the the majority struggled. At HT, it was 0-6. We weren't able to get really any solid shots for a while but they were grinding and trying really hard. Jess was trying her best in goal but I was ready to get the kid on the field and score. Sadly. that didn't happen. They were all struggling with picking a position to stay in at times. Defense was problematic and offense wasn't spreading out. We had a few chances but in the end, it finished 0-10 again. Somehow, we're not in last place still with the one win still under their belt. The girls kept fighting till the end, but it wasn't enough. I'm starting to question my ability to coach indoor against these bigger club teams. We need practices or something before our next big game against a tough team. Luckily, my buddy is looking to see if we can get in where his Pewaukee soccer club trains. I feel like the majority of the parents would be happy with more practice. Speaking of which, he's looking at possibly having me redesign some kits for their club teams. I'd love to do it and I hope he comes through with getting me some time. Cecilia had her first match and I think she did pretty well. Angie is staying aggressive and Bella proved she prefers defense. Mia's got some work to do on staying aggressive. Averi and Scarlett never gave up and ran their hearts out. I hope we can get the problems fixed before the next game.

I may have an assistant coaching role for spring soccer with SC Wave this season. Actually, it would be a co-assist so the Cecilia's Dad can help out on days I can't do. Tomorrow, I'll talk to the head coach and see what we can work out. I think this team would be great for Mia and Cecilia. More soccer and the ability to grow with a team that's established would be a better fitting than NBAA where you get new players every year. Overall, it should be a pretty positive experience.

When we got home, Jill made an incredible dinner. Mediterranean gnocchi, chicken and air fryer zucchini. Mia tried escargot which was a bit weird. Jill was quite proud of her creation. She never gets to cook like this anymore and it's honestly like watching an artist paint. She's incredible. Mia and I played some Luigi's Mansion 3 before crashing.

Today, nothing exciting to report. Work was absolutely awful after 9pm. One of the 3rd shifter called out and I was stuck till 10:40 till our unfortunate ASL had to return to work. I felt terrible calling him after he worked a full early shift. Applied at a job Friday after I re-did my resume so let's hope this time I hear back.

This week is a busy one. I'm working on a sketch for Scarlett's birthday, I'm building football kits for Pewaukee-Sussex club and Mia's going to hang out with Vida for her birthday Saturday. I think they're going tubing at the Rock. I'm tempted to go and snowboard while she has fun. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Rise and Grind

Evening everyone. Quite the busy weekend with even more snow, so let's get right to it. During the week, nothing too exciting to report. Thursday was a normal day off for me. I started attempting to work with alcohol-based markers. Definitely not an easy medium to work with. Mainly because I think I may or may not have asked for the correct paper for it but we'll see how the next attempt goes. Hopefully I can figure it out. After I picked up Mia from school, we knocked out her homework and got to spend some quality time playing her favorite Switch game; Luigi's Manson 3. It's definitely a game you want to play with a friend as the challenges go on. Since Jill's not really a fan of video games, Mia settles for me :) We made turkey burgers with Jill before calling it a night.

Friday while at work, we got some serious snow. It picked up quickly as my shift went on. Certainly made my drive a nightmare and question if we'll have a game the next day...at 7:00AM!
5:30am came and we woke up early to get ready for Mia's game. I had parents concerned for the weather since we had received a healthy amount of the white stuff the night before. If we were going to cancel, I would have had to have done it the day before. Majority of the kids made it. The only two that didn't notified me prior which wasn't weather related. The game certainly wasn't one to remember. The girls lost pretty badly. Couldn't even pick up a goal unfortunately. EBU that beat us are a club that keeps the kids together from season to season so they clearly knew how to play. They haven't even lost a game yet this season. They were well organized and had no trouble beating us. We had a few close moments to score, but in the end, couldn't find the net. I need to figure out how to get the kids to stay in positions, not bunch up and PASS. They focus more on dribbling. Liv had a break away but her touch was too heavy and she couldn't get the shot off. Angie and Scarlett are showing improvement as well as Vida as a defender. She just has to work on her passing when the ball comes towards our end. Jill's parents made the early trek in the morning so Mia was happy to see them. Our next match is at 4:30 next weekend. Hopefully they can pull off a win or at least make some goals.

You'd think Mia would want to nap after wards, but she had some post-game energy which we used to help me shovel for a while. She ended up playing in the snow while I snow blown the driveway. She buried her legs in the snow, which was cute. After I pulled her out, we packed up our gear and went snowboarding. This time, I set up a couple PVC pipe rails so we could learn some grinds and slides. Mia figured out the FS 50/50 pretty quickly. Helped that a few months ago I had set up a rail for her to practice tricks on flat ground. She did a little smith grind as FS board slide as well. I realized way later when we got home I should have set up the rails on flat ground. Her board slides would have been better and cleaner but you know, you learn and figure things out. After a few hours of snowboarding, we went home. I ran to TJ's for some groceries, and Mia and I soon met up with her friend Scarlett and her sisters (and teammate) Angelina and older sister Sofia for some free ice skating. For the last 3-4 years, Mia and I have gone skating at Eble during Waukesha's JANBOREE where the public could skate for free for 2 hours. The girls had a blast. Mia was grasping hands with myself and Scarlett till they were comfortable skating without me. Her goal is to get better and it and I hope one day she does. Angie got better as the day went on and Sofia totally knew what she was doing. She wasn't feeling the best and I ended up taking Mia, Scarlett and Angie back to our house after the skating session was over while her sister and Mom went to the doctor. The girls were so excited to play with our animals and hang out. Mia and Scarlett went straight to the Switch while Angelina went through my art books looking at the stuff I've done. Everything impressed her and she picked mine and Jill's brain about literally everything. Art, photography, life etc etc. The girls were having so much fun that they requested I call and ask if it was okay if they stayed for dinner. Of course their Mom was cool with it so they excitingly had some pizza while Jill and I ate sushi. Sadly, our sub pump line had some water frozen which backed up in the corner of our basement with my beloved drum kit getting sprayed heavily with water. UGH. Luckily, we melted the pipe and things were fine. The kids ate dinner, played some more Switch, a little hide-and-seek and a whole lot of fun. Eventually, I had to talk the girls into going home. Mainly, because I think their Mom was probably missing them. It was quite the day that started at 5:30 in the morning. After I dropped the girls off, Mia, Jill and I crashed for the night.

I completely skipped the Chelsea vs Newcastle match to snowboard with Mia, which ended up being a good idea since they blew the game. This week, Mia's off Monday so we'll find something fun to do. Other than that, that's about it. Thanks for reading!