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!