Cousins Weekend

Greetings. Dead exhausted as I type this, but I'll try to get through it before passing out. The week was a fun one. Spent a lot of time with Mia outside hanging and she did a little art while relaxing in her hammock. Wednesday, Mia proudly showed me some new bass things she's learned at lessons. She's slowly starting to show progression and a bit more confidence which is fantastic. Thursday, Mia picked up a pair of Nike Neymar Hypervenom boots off the Facebook Marketplace. After a few weeks of convincing her cleats were getting too small on her, she finally agreed and we got these for a steal. $10. Not bad for a used pair of pristine boots. Too bad they're Neymar signature but it's all good. Mia digs them and is looking forward to Fall soccer. We drove over to Guitar Center for fun and she played a pricy Fender bass, did some drumming on the E-kit. She somehow has double bass drum techniques down. I've never even explained it to her other than "both feet usually go pretty fast if you want to do blast beats" and she quickly got the hand of it. Later, we went to the studio for some lemonade photos as well as a few fashion pictures for the kid. We even got Remi in on the ad. Never easy getting him to cooperate, but eventually we got the shot. All in all, awesome day with the kid. A little lunch, new cleats, some great photos and later, we put together the ad and published it for the public to advertise Mia's big charity sale.

Friday was mine and my twin sister's birthday. I decided to not take off and work like any other day. Work was pretty busy but the day wasn't too bad. Mia made me a lunch before taking her over to her Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour's house. There, she made me a cute little square piece via sewing machine with a "C" on it for Chelsea. Soo sweet. When I got home from work, she also gave me a cool tropical t-shirt and a soccer ball cake. Awesome.

Saturday, we went to Dave and Busters for lunch. Never been there before but it was a great time. Food was alright, but the games were fantastic. The highlight was the incredibly fun Star Wars pod game. Raced on a speeder bike on Endor shooting at scout troops. Total blast. Cheryl really enjoyed it too. Mia did a fun but difficult plane game, a ring toss one and a few other different games. All in all, great time.

Later, the boys Easton and Camden came over for the weekend. Jill planned a lot of fun activities like  bingo, crafts, Nerf Gun battle, silly string, etc etc etc. The kids woke up today at 5:30am and I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. We went to the park for a few hours and rode around our driveway as well. Later, they were picked up by their Grandma and said their goodbyes. Tonight after work, I discovered my house completely dark with Jill and Mia fast asleep. Clearly, worn out from the weekend. On that note, I think I'm going to crash myself. This week, maybe some art lessons, I've got art to create for our upcoming sale and Mia is heading to Ohio Saturday. I'm going to go to the Torrent match Saturday.

In a few weeks, I'll be getting my tattoo done of a very cool drawing Mia made for me. Can't wait.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

One Last Dance

Good evening everyone. Quite a week with a fun weekend, so let's get started. Throughout the week, Mia's been wanting to explore as many music stores as she could. First stop was Guitar Center. She sat down at this pricey e-kit equipped with a double bass drum pedal, and immediately went to town on it. I explained how drummers who play double bass play really fast and she figured it out quite quickly and surprisingly stayed in time while drumming with her hands. HOW? She constantly impresses me with things she can do. We made our way over to the bass room and she plugged in a very bright green Jackson bass guitar and instantly fell in love with it. She never heard my bass guitar  plugged in when I play it because as a baby, she broke the knobs. She loves the low sounds of the bass and really really really wanted it.

The next day, we went to Cascio. Mia immediately wanted to look at bass guitars but alas, they didn't have any nearly as "cool" as the one she discovered at GC or that actually fit her.  She still had fun exploring the E-kits, banjos and ukuleles. Later, we picked up Jill from work before making dinner and calling it a night. The movie for the evening was Ralph Breaks the Internet. Such a great movie. I didn't have any art lessons this week, but will be getting back in this coming week. Mia had rehearsal Friday for her big recital the next day. Saturday, we made some pancakes, did some cleaning, cut the grass and later met up with family for Mia's recital. Her last dance. She has been a part of the Dance Academy LTD for the last 3 years and decided at the half way point this year would be the end of her dance career. 3 years of ballet and tap, 2 years of jazz. She'll claim that it became "too easy" for her, but deep down I know that it just wasn't as fun anymore. After the recital, she admitted she'd miss the rehearsal/recitals but really disliked the practice for some reason. She's most excited about her new adventure that starts this week. I'll post about that soon :) Thanks go to both our families that could make it including Auntie Ashley and Uncle Tommy. After wards, we went to YoMama for some fro yo before calling it a night. I gave my very special Father's Day gift to my Dad as well which was 2 tickets to see Fiorentina vs Chivas in Chicago at field level. I swear to God, I've never seen him more excited. I had a really hard time this week coming up with something fun and unique for Father's Day, but decided the old man needs more experiences than "things" so this was a good idea. He'll probably never ever get to another European game again, so why not sit him as close as possible? I'm looking forward to it as well as he is.

Today, Mia made blueberry muffins for Father's Day with Jill and we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before I went off to work. It was a nice little moment with the kiddo. Her and Jill got me a cute pineapple shirt and Mia made a fun card.

This week, I'll polish off the rest of my resume before sending it out to jobs, I've got an art lesson, Mia and I are planning on some much-needed soccer at the park and hope the weather improves. The last few days have been weirdly cold. Mia starts her new adventure Tuesday evening as well which she couldn't be more excited about. That'll do for now, thanks for reading!

Sunny Days With Friends

Good evening! Completely exhausted from the night at work, but I've got some writing to do reflecting on Mia's Spring Break. Majority of the week, she spent time with friends including Hayden, Cecilia and Noelle from her kindergarten. Hayden and Cecilia met us twice at different parks and on Tuesday, Mia got to hang out with old friends she hasn't seen in a long time. Trey, Irianna and Kaylee met up and they had a great time. Mia's been missing Trey since his epic Halloween party and Irianna and Kaylee, Mia hasn't seen since end of 4-K? Anyways, the kids had fun and will hopefully get to hang out over the Summer.

Wednesday, Mia went to Valley View Park with Cecilia and Hayden and I think this park may be her favorite. We haven't been there in a long time and I sort of forgot it was still there till Cecilia's Mom brought it up. After a few hours of fun with friends, Mia and I visited the hockey store in search of some of her favorite little dogs. Luckily, she found them and played with them for a little while till we went to Guitar Center. Myself and Mia did some drumming on the E-Kits and Mia actually held a beat (sort of) The drum set she used was a great height but the kick pedal was wonky and she couldn't hit it at the same time. I applaud the effort. She wanted to try one of the bass guitars but they were way too heavy to hold on her little lap. It was a fun afternoon with the diva and I was thoroughly impressed with her drumming skills.

Another thing Mia did a lot of on her break was reading. She's super confident with reading and I believe it was Friday, she read a book front to back by herself. It was sort of a graphic novel and she really enjoyed it. Saturday was supposed to be dance class, but for some reason, the doors were locked and they gave the kids the day off. I guess for Spring Break? We went to Trader Joe's and went home. After that, I watched a very nerve-wrecking FA Cup Semi finals match between Chelsea and Spurs. We got the win 4-2, but it sure was a tough one. The shining moment was the incredible strike from Matic that secured the match. The reaction from his teammates on the bench was unforgettable. Almost better than the goal. The final match, we'll play Arsenal and hopefully will get the FA Cup. Tuesday, they play but I'll be at work :(

After the match, Jill and my Mom went kids resale shopping while Mia and I played soccer at the park. Mia put on the Hazard jersey and ran all over the pitch. She's getting really good at shooting with her opposite foot that she normally does. It was a lot of fun, just her and I.  Jill came home later and we had dinner. That night I had made plans to see The Descendents but they completely fell apart. The Milwaukee Torrent had their first friendly match that night as well in Racine and won 4-0. They play this coming weekend and I hope the weather is good.

Today, we spent the majority of my time before work outside enjoying the warmth. Back to reality tomorrow for Mia. School. She's not excited but IS excited to see some friends again.

This week, I'm working on a drawing for a 2nd grader I taught as well as other projects. Friday is the kick off party and Saturday is the Torrent vs Whitewater match. Should be fun. That's all for now, thanks for reading!