Eggs, Art and Friends

Good evening everyone. A bit behind on writing/blogging but it's been a pretty busy week (and weekend) Let's get to it. Wednesday was a really busy day. Tuesday night when I got home from work, Mia was asleep on the couch, but suddenly woke up and asked half-asleep "can you come to lunch tomorrow Daddy?" Yeah sure that's fine. So Wednesday, I met up with her for lunch. Her friends were surprised I was there, but like the last time, talked my ears off. I couldn't stay for recess (which of course lead Mia and Charlie to do puppy dog eyes) but returned later to teach the 2nd grader class Drawing Characters 101-Featuring BB-8.

I was honestly nervous. I have never taught a group of 23 kids before, I'm not that great at public speaking and frankly not even sure they'd enjoy the experience. Luckily, all of them did. They were super polite, friendly and asked many questions. Some wanted me to be their permanent art teacher and one kid asked for my drawing I did (with the kids) I told him if it was okay with his teacher it was fine with me. So I gave it to him. He wanted it signed and I found out the next day, he had it framed to put on his wall. I felt like I was a bit rushing myself because of the sincere lack of time to teach them. We had to move as slow as possible so all of the kids were on the same page (literally) After we were done, I showed them my binder of 130+ drawings I've done for Mia. They really enjoyed that. I was asked to return again before school lets out. Now that I know their skill level, I may teach them something like Emoji's or something simple, yet a bit challenging if you look at it correctly. Wednesday, I taught them shading and making an object "move". If I do Emoji's I can teach them color value and gradients with yellow. These are tricky concepts but I think they can get it. The class ended up being a lot of fun for me and I look forward to the next time I meet these guys again.

After the class was over, they all were giving me high fives as I attempted to find Mia. Mia met the very friendly 2nd grade teacher and we were on our way. Friday was Mia's first full day of Spring Break so what did we do? We hung out at Noelle's house with friends. It was nice enough out for the kids to play outside for a few hours.

Saturday, we took her to dance which we found out later was cancelled. Blah. Later, we played tennis with Jill's buddy Leanne who visited for the weekend. Mia was having a hard time with it, but wants to try it again. Later, we went to my parents house for some Easter egg hunting with cousins and dinner. After that, Jill, Leanne and myself met up with my friend for some tasty alcoholic ice cream drinks.

Sunday, I watched some of the crappy Chelsea vs Man U game in between our Easter Brunch with Jill's family. The game was garbage. The Blues couldn't make a shot off and just couldn't break down their defense. The gap is much smaller for the lead and we meet up with Spurs for the FA Cup semi this weekend. Later, I went to work.

Today, Mia met up with friends Hayden and Cecilia at the park. They had a great time, and tomorrow, Mia's meeting up with some of her old preschool friends she hasn't seen since October.

This week, we're just making the most of Mia's Spring Break and enjoying the weather while it lasts. Saturday I was supposed to see the Descendents but I have a feeling it's going to fall through.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Yoga, Soccer and Ink

WOW. What a week it was! Good evening everyone. So I had my 33rd Birthday on Tuesday and of course worked. I don't get that excited about birthdays (as far as getting off) but it wasn't too bad. Mia was mostly good and my shift was a normal Tuesday. What I was more excited for was Wednesday.
In the morning, Mia and I went to her art class. More kids this time, and she even was a bit more social with the instructor. We did this cute square cat that turned out really well.

Later was my tattoo session. It was supposed to be my last one but after 4 1/2 hours of some intense background work, detail on the beautiful turtle and Diamond Head, that he wanted to wait on the shark and detail to the waves for another time. As much as I really wanted to finish it, he knows what he's talking about and we decided to hold off on it. This was a more intense session with some awkward posses to get my arm the way he wanted it to be to do some back-arm stuff. That area is super sensitive and was no fun filling in with blue but I toughed it out and it looks solid. The dark blue that gradients to light blue looks really beautiful and makes the animals pop. I have never been given so many compliments in my life on a tattoo as I have with this. A woman at my work wanted to take a picture of it, despite the fact that it isn't complete.

Mia had a successful dance class and is already looking forward to her next one. Saturday morning, Mia started her art and movement class with Jill at the same venue. It's yoga first with art projects after. More kids in this one and I guess she really liked it. Later was the Torrent/Muskegon game. LAST game of the season and this was considered a "friendly" for the Wichigan trophy that I helped design. My parents, Mia and myself attended this amazing match. The weather was perfect and the crowd was the biggest they have had. 947 people! I joined my Flood members on the hill while Jill and my parents with Mia headed to the bleachers. I did my best to get the crowd chanting with every thing I had. at half, it went 2-1 with things getting a bit heated up. Both coaches were kicked out of the game! Oops. 2nd half, the battle commenced. The Torrent went on to win 4-2 and keep the trophy in Milwaukee. The crowd was incredibly amped and the kids had a blast. Something I didn't know they did, was after every Torrent goal, they get to kick or toss the ball out to the kids at the hill. Its fun and gets the kids all fired up. I got to use two player-chants during the game, which was a lot of fun. It was pretty neat to see some away fans at the game too. That means fans traveled from Michigan for this friendly, and that's amazing. Supporting your local team is great for those organizations. On our way to the game, someone at the stoplight looked over at our car, and says through the window "You guys going to the Torrent game?" During the week leading up to this game, I designed probably my very best game day image for this match. Something I'm quite proud of and will use in my portfolio when the right job comes knocking. After the game, they announced they'll be playing in an indoor league throughout Jan into March, and 11 players signed new deals for next season. Great news to hear as well as they'll be extending their season into August for 2017. I was stoked Mia could enjoy her very first professional soccer game even if I was chanting in the back. She even wore her Chelsea kit too and badly wanted to play soccer on the pitch after the game. It would have been fun and we totally could have, but we were all hungry and ready to get home

Sunday, we did a little cleaning before I went to work. This week, Mia's got her last day of Art Class with me, hopefully get to hang with some friends during the week. We're considering opening her Mia's Sweets & Treats this Weekend, but we don't know yet for sure.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Art of Dance

Good evening everyone. With July almost over (already?) another busy week is in the books. Mia had her first art class Wednesday morning. What I thought was a "drop off and pick up later" class really  was, was a parent-kid story book art class. Basically, you do the craft with the kid. The art center this class was at was absolutely beautiful and there was an acting class going on down the hall. It very much intrigued Mia all the silly little exercises they were doing. Class started and there was ONLY one other kid in it! The instructor said there may be another kid the following week. So she did the class. They read stories and asked questions and finally, we did this piece together of some elephants that were made of smaller pieces of paper and some water color painting. Mia actually did enjoy the art part, but not so much the "lets get the kids to sing along" stuff. The other boy was pretty shy as well.

After class, we got home, ate some lunch quick and met up with some friends for her pal Alexa's "goodbye party" at the park. It was pretty warm and a ton of kids there but everyone had a lot of fun. Alexa has always been a great friend to Mia and I'm glad they'll keep in touch when she moves to Texas. Trey, Olivia, Kaylee, Maya, Nate they all came. Mia was super excited that her man Trey came. We unfortunately couldn't stay too long because we had to jet to our next class, dance. We somehow made it a few minutes late but the class didn't start :) This time, I dropped her of because I just needed a moment to chill. When I got home, I had some Torrent work to do so I worked on that for a while. I also got a message from Olivia's Dad Steve that Trey got injured at the park and required stitches. Mia would be devastated when I would have to tell her about it. I picked up the diva, who had an awesome day at class. I told her that her boyfriend fell and split his little chin open on the stairs at the park and got stitches. She was so worried about him that she told me to take a picture to send to her Mom of Mia holding a piece of paper that read "I LOVE YOU TREY" on it to make him feel better. Luckily, it did.

It was a busy Wednesday and I was glad the chasing was done. We relaxed as a family and watched Masterchef together. Mia was grossed out by the weird parts they were cooking. Saturday my family and Jill's came over to do an early celebration for mine and my sister's birthday. Jill made us cakes, got me an awesome shirt and I received some cash towards my last session for my tattoo as well as a gift card from my Mom. We went to Mod Pizza for late lunch/early dinner because I had planned on going to the Torrent game that evening. Well all week I have felt like utter crap. every time I'd eat, I felt like death and I wasn't sure if pizza would be great Saturday. I ate it anyways and immediately felt horrific. I was torn about sucking it up and going to the game, or sitting home and being miserable instead. I didn't go and the Torrent won, grabbed the trophy and won the conference in the rain. I should have gone but didn't feel good at all. Today, I woke up better and after breakfast took some stronger probiotics and felt great. Before my dinner at work tonight, I took the same things and felt great. I'm so glad that there is a possibility that this is out of my system because it's been a real hell-ish week for me. Nothing like the feeling of "why eat, I'll feel like crap" feeling for almost 7 days straight.

This week, some Torrent work, my tattoo session is finally coming to an end and Mia's got her art/dance class on Wednesday. I'm absolutely going to their final inaugural game this Saturday and hopefully will bring my Dad and maybe Mia since she's been wanting to go. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Summer Fun With Cousins

Good Morning Beautiful weather today to start the week. Early in the week Mia was reunited with some old friends at the new Malone Park. These girls have been best pals since she was two and a half years old. They had a lot of fun exploring the new playground. Wednesday, we met my friend Nichole and her boy Benny (plus sister) at the zoo. The weather was pretty hot, but the kids had a lot of fun checking out all the different indoor exhibits as well as some outdoor ones.

We couldn't stay too long because Mia has her 2nd dance class. It was my first time taking her since her injury last week. She was a bit nervous going in, but I told her that I would be waiting in the lobby for her when she's done. I sat and drew her a baby Dory (which didn't turn out so well) but she had the best time. She danced, did crafts and met some nice girls. She's already looking forward to the next dance class. If she likes dance, we'll keep her in classes, but I sometimes worry her shyness in front of large groups could give her stage fright (she'll counter that with both concerts at school that she sang beautifully) so I don't know. I'm just glad she found something she enjoys.

Saturday, we did yard work before a get-together at my parents house. My 1/2 bro and his family were on a road trip and they stopped by for the afternoon. The kids had fun chasing each other around laughing and being silly. Sunday, Mia went to her friend Irianna's birthday party while I went to work. From what Jill said, she had a lot of fun. Irianna is this adorable free-spirit kid that always broke Mia out of her shy shell. At the kindergarten assessment test, she got Mia to go into the testing room and relax while she was super nervous, and on Sunday, she got Mia to come into the gym and have fun when she was shy (again). She's very fun and full of energy and I hope Mia and her can be good friends for as long as possible.

This week's gonna be very busy. Wednesday, Mia starts her art class in Brookfield 9:30am-11:30am, THEN she's got a "goodbye" party with her friend Alexa at the park, THEN she has her dance class till 3:30. This is probably the busiest Wed we've had in quite a while and I'm sure both of us will be dead exhausted after the day is over. It's crazy how fast July has gone. My birthday is next week (along with my final tattoo session) and it feels like July just started. This Saturday, the Torrent play the Chicago Mustangs home so I'm hoping for no rain and a great crowd. My Dad is supposed to come as well so it should be a good time.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)