The Gala Night

Good evening peeps. What. A. Week. I know it's been said a few times, but wow it's been busy and pretty surreal. Leading up to the art show, we've been preparing and getting everything ready for the big night. Thurs we got our taxes done and later arrived at the school to help set up the massive display. Between Jill, myself and the two workers from Artome' that delivered everything, it didn't take too long. After, Jill and I delivered little bookmarks from the pieces we created with the classes to their desks. It was a little something from us to them :) After I put on my Dali stach' it was go time!

Everyone came in and checked out the amazing art their kids worked super hard on. Jill's Mom had a dog-toy making table where the kids made dog tug-toys out of recycled shirts that they could either A-donate to HAWS or B-take home to their own dog. The kids and parents really liked my Dali mustache with matching shirt. Mia enjoyed seeing all her friends and showing us her room. The only thing that was a huge downer was that less than half of the art sold for the fundraiser. I was hoping for quite a bit more than that. I know not everyone has $30 to spend on art, but man, was it a huge bummer that so much art was left behind. In the end, they'll get their art back eventually, but sans frame. Some parents didn't know they had to bring cash/check so we had plenty of them sending their husbands or wives to the nearest store to hit up the ATM. After we took everything down, it was time to split. The principal told us it was a huge success and she loved everything we did. It's surreal that it's over because of the huge lead up to the whole thing. I'm very proud of Jill for all the hard work she put in with me. We had the best time working with these kids would do it again if given the chance, but maybe in a few years. Looking forward to continuing art lessons in the Spring and/or Summer with my usual students and would love to take on new ones :) I love teaching and watching kids grow in art.

Saturday, We picked up some balloons for Mia's traditional birthday photo. Apparently there is a helium shortage so we luckily got some balloons at the Dollar Store. Phew. Before that, I took Remi to Petsmart to get his nails trimmed. They've been pretty rough and he was overdo for a good trim. The salon ladies couldn't get enough of his adorable face and pleasant personality. We spent a few hours cleaning and later, Mia and I drove to the Wave vs Tropics match. My buddy from The Flood (Torrent supporters) gave me some free tickets so of course I'm going to take the diva. Last year when we went, we were running late due to a severe lack of parking but this time we made sure to arrive early to get the Lemos bobble head and some food for Mia. After the first half, she regretted her choice of popcorn and would have preferred shave ice or dippin' dots. Oh well. They were up 5-0 at HT and were dominating these guys. Mia kept telling me "why would they have to play such an easy team??!" at FT they beat them 9-1. Easy night out for the good guys. Mia had the  best time watching them. Every single goal, she'd go crazy. Her hopes were that when they kick the ball out, that she'd catch out and "cherish it forever" but it never got close enough to her. The whole match, she was on the edge of her seat enthralled with the game. It may seem like I really push soccer with her, but truth be told, she really loves the game. She doesn't care for watching baseball or basketball and was bored to death with football (American) so yeah just like her parents, soccer and hockey are the two sports she prefers. Jill still loves watching baseball but Mia just never got into it.

She passed out on the way home but woke up when we arrived back at the house. I made her my special grilled cheese sandwich that she always says "is the best". Aww. She watched her new fav show Just Add Magic before crashing for the night.

Sunday, we didn't do much. Hung up some of the lanterns for her upcoming party and that was about it. This week I'm going to complete the drawing for her friend Charlie that she requested and we'll be cleaning and preparing all week for her birthday party. I work a short week because I took off Wed and will be off Thurs. Hope to get a hair cut this week and I'll be visiting Mia for her birthday on Wednesday. Can't believe she'll be EIGHT! The EPL returns so hopefully Chelsea can finish the season strong. That's all for now thanks for reading!

Late Night

Good evening everyone! Quite the busy week but an overall fun one. The week started pretty rough with Mia getting a gnarly fever. Sunday evening it started and kept her from making school on Monday. She spent the majority of the day just sleeping. She didn't want to eat and every once in a while, would wake up, take a few sips of ginger ale, and went back to sleep. When I came home from work Monday night, Jill had told me she was pretty dizzy and weak due to the fever and lack of food. Luckily, Tuesday she was starting to fever but we kept her home because she still had a bit of a temperature. She finally was able to eat something and started to act like her normal self. Phew. Major thanks to my in-laws for helping out with her.

I had 3 schools during the week. Two in Waterford and one in Pewaukee while Mia was recovering. Both schools were pretty fun but the most intense one of the season was Pewaukee Lake Elementary. So many classrooms to capture but the kids and staff were a lot of fun. I've got one more this week and I'm done for the season.

Anyways, Mia returned on Wednesday and had a decent day. Didn't really eat much lunch throughout the week unfortunately because she was worried her tummy would hurt again. I joined her for lunch Thursday as a surprise. The temp was super nice so I figured it was a good idea. Every dropped their coats off at the door and they all had blast at recess. Her friends threw their coats at me to hold onto while they played charades. Super fun.

Friday, I took off so that after we dropped off Mia at her friend Ryan's epic sleepover birthday party, Jill and I could grab some sushi and watch a movie at night. First of all, Mia was absolutely stoked for the party and couldn't wait to go. Upon arriving, she was mugged by her excited friends before saying goodbye to me for the night. We picked up some Meiji sushi. Jill always picks out the very best at every place we go. I never tell her what I like, she just knows what sushi would be a hit for me. We watched some goofy movie with Jason Sudakis and called it a night. Saturday morning we picked up a very sleepy Mia. She said they stayed up late and she ended up waking up pretty early. When we brought her home, she passed out on the couch for hours. After she woke up, we didn't do too much. Just did a bit of art. I've been working on Mia's friend Charlie's custom fairy sketch while Mia did an animal poster for a contest. I picked up some hair dye for Mia as well so she could dye it Sunday with Jill.

Today, Mia did her traditional St Paddy's Day scavenger hunt. We made pancakes as Mia did an Irish jig in the kitchen. Later I watched a very frustrating Chelsea vs Everton match. This season has been such a nightmare for the Blues and I really don't know how they think they'll break top 4 or even 5. I watched them pick apart Dynamo Kiev on Thursday. 1st half of the CFC vs Toffee's match, they looked really good. 2nd half, they just weren't in it. It's been proven the manager just isn't the right person for the job and the players for one reason or another just aren't working with his system. Someone needs to take over and do a factory reset on everything.

This week is a really big one. Photographing my last school Tuesday and we've got the much-anticipated art show on Thursday. So much work has gone into this and I really hope the parents and school staff love the hard work we put into it, as well as their talented kids. I may be bringing Mia and her friend/Dad to a Wave game this weekend. We'll see if we can pick up some tickets. That's all for now, thanks for reading!