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!