Hard Work Pays Off

Good morning everyone. What a busy week and exciting week it was. Almost could say a bit of sadness but we'll get back to that.
Throughout the week (art-wise) I did some spooky Halloween-inspired drawings for Mia. Some were okay, others "meh". I got my car back finally after almost a month of repairs and painting.  I'm going to totally miss the 2018  Rogue, but it was good to have my ride back. They did a fantastic job on it and now I'm just waiting for my insurance specialist to get the deductible back from the truck company. That part of this whole thing has been pretty frustrating so hopefully they'll get it.

Thursday I watched the Chelsea vs BATE match. Great win as always. Mia was stoked to see my car with Remi in the front seat (with his signature sunglasses of course) because she doesn't have to really look for my car, she just hears the chorus of kids screaming "OOOOOHHH LOOK AT THAT DOG!!!" and she knows "yeah my Dad's here". We got a snack post-school and Mia immediately got ready for practice. She wanted to get to the field as soon as possible to prepare herself for a possible 2nd chance at a PK since she missed last week. Okay fine. She didn't really work on the PK's when we arrived and more so worked on dribbling around me to shoot from every angle. Also equally important. We had a few girls missing but ran the practice as usual. Did a bit of a relay working on ball control and speed. A lot of the girls are very quick so it was well worth it. Did a few pass and shoot drills and did something we haven't done in a long time: A scrimmage. They really liked revisiting this familiar part of our practices and played well into the darkness. We called practice a little before 6:30 before visibility was practically gone. Overall, solid practice and they all felt confident going into Saturday's match.

Saturday came. Our final game of the season.  Mia was pretty bummed thinking about it as she got ready after breakfast. We got to the fields, I got the medals as Mia said a quick "hi" to her preschool BFF Olivia and new friend Tenley that played earlier and she joined her team warming up. The kids did their usual 1v1 against a defender and keeper. A few other quick drills and it was time to play. Olivia took the captain role for the last match. The Leprechauns looked almost like mainly 2nd graders. Or, they've got some seriously tall 1st graders on team. Most likely, the 1st one with the way they were shooting. Tons of power but somehow our girls weren't letting them through. In fact, some of these girls played their best game all season. One notable one was Charley. She had the most amazing 1st half ever. Every time the ball came near her, she booted the ball far and high out of our side of the field. Adalyn picked up our first goal of the match dribbling around a few of their players and finally finding the net getting her 9th goal of the season. The big shocker was still to come though.

Mia got the ball and outran one of their much bigger players and left footed it from outside the box right in the left side of the net.  UNBELIEVABLE. She was very reserve in her celebration. Originally she said she'd pick up her BFF when she'd score but she wasn't in at the moment. Her and fellow winger Sophie just looked at each other with big smiles and Mia ran back to the line ready to have another go at a goal. Her bench went crazy because I promised I'd do the "floss" dance if she scored...and well she finally scored. All the hard work paid off and she did so well in our last match. She made two goals this year. Learn to skateboard and score a goal. She accomplished the 2nd one very well. Adalyn got one more goal totaling 10 for the season. Great goal before the end of the half. The girls were feeling great going into the next half. Ainslee was solid in the back getting a great clean sheet. Sofia's turn. The Leprechauns put on the pressure but we did our best to keep them from scoring. A few scary moments of our defense clearing the ball to them gave me small heart attacks. Thanks Jana :P They got a handball against Ainslee and blasted a free kick that sneaked from under Sofia's legs and she scrambled to grab it and it leaked in. Damn. Game ended 3-1 and the girls went insane. Their traditional "Cheetah pile" before saying "good game" to the other team...then they piled up again. As promised as parents circled around the team for the medal ceremony, I floss-danced with the kids. They loved it and we had a good time. In sports, you have to keep it fun and this team was a complete blast. We gave each one of them their medals as we revealed their stats for the season and highlights. I hope they all enjoyed their time this season as much as I did. They bonded so well and were a blast to coach. The frustrating moments always subsided when I'd see the fun and smiles they had. We had just a great group of girls and both Coach Kevin and I are so proud of them. He was a great help this season and I couldn't do it without him.

Next season, 4 of them will be moving up to the 3rd/4th grader's Juniors division. If the sign up is low, they may add 5th graders like they did this season. I hope it doesn't come to that but we'll prepare for it. Mia and Cecilia will (and anyone else who wants to join us) will train over the Summer  for this new challenge. If the younger kids want to play casually with us as well, I fully welcome it. Love the kids so it'll be fun. Later after the game, We went to business trick or treating in downtown Waukesha. Mia kept her soccer uniform on with new medal so she went as a "champion soccer player". The weather was pretty great and she got plenty of good candy. Later, my parents met us up at MOD for pizza and we carved pumpkins. Jill made a gorgeous sugar skull, Mia did a red panda and I did Oogey Boogey. Sunday I had to work an early shift. Later we went trick or treating with Mia's cousins. Not the best weather but they had a total blast. I was Snape, Jill was McGonagall, and Mia was Hermione. This week, a return to art lessons, a Fall party at her school and I have to turn in the equipment back to the NBAA. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Spooky Times & Soccer in Sleet

Good evening everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. Been some weird weather but so what else is new. I took on a challenge to create some realistic food sketches that for the most part, worked out. The last day of the drawings, I literally threw away 4 sketches that didn't work. Frustrated, but I somehow finished it and was glad it was over. Working with toned paper and trying to nail realistic food drawings can be tricky. Toned paper isn't forgiving. You make too many erase marks, and it starts to wear out. Thursday, Mia requested I join her for lunch. REALLY? Alright. So I met up with her and her crazy friends. They all wanted to sit next to Mia. Not sure if that had anything to do with me being there, but it was a good time.

We went out for recess and all of them wanted to know what we were doing. Mia spent a lot of time trying to find BFF Cecilia. Eventually, I spotted her playing soccer with a bunch of kids. Mia joined in and I helped. It was pure chaos. The boys were insane. They'd run the ball in hands, put it down in front of a line of unfortunate kids at the net and blast it. The ball wasn't like a regular soccer ball. It was very light so when you kick it, it's going to travel very quickly. One of her friends Hayden got blasted in the stomach. A few tears and she was okay. Someone else took one as well. I told Mia today that come Monday, her and Cecilia should just grab a ball and go practice by themselves for their last game. Later, we had a soccer practice and actually had a complete team. The girls weren't listening at times, but other they were fine. They were all feeling good going into our next match.

Friday was the annual Star Trek to pickle pond. I volunteered to help. Not the best day for the trek, but the kids had fun. They did an obstacle course and played on the playground while it rained. Yuck. They didn't seem to mind and had an awesome time. Saturday morning was the return of Soccer Saturday.  I got up nice and early to watch Chelsea take on Man U. An early lead, and they were looking great. Man U's Pogba was awful the first half and after our goal, I thought we had them. 2nd half, they tied us and got another goal to pull ahead. Luckily, Barkley got the equalizer and we picked up a point. Frustrating but entertaining match.

Later, Mia and the Cheetahs took on her good friends Charlie and Tenley at 12:30. We also found out her long time BFF from pre-school Olivia was on their team. Crazy. It was our first match in a few weeks (due to all the cancellations) so I didn't know how great we'd be. The weather was godawful. Heavy winds, sleat/snow and freezing temps were not playing in our favor. A lot of the kids were out of sorts playing in the cold temps. The Lady Badgers caught Ainslee out a few times and picked up 2 goals on us. Ugh. Our kids kept trampling over each other, and not getting ahead of their defense. 2nd half, they had a hands in the box so we were rewarded a PK. Mia made the attempt and shot it straight at her friend Charlie. Damn. If I would have got her to take a running start and shoot, she would have had a better chance of getting her first goal. Luckily, Ainslee picked up one for us and the crowd went crazy. I don't know why, but it always seems like we have a lot more supporters than the other team. A few more chances but we just couldn't equalize. They had a PK on our end and their biggest kid took a blast at our wall of a keeper Sofia and she stopped her with ease. The funny thing is, that she didn't even want to play goalie but said "okay, I'll do it" pretty easy and had a great cleat sheet the 2nd half. Not the result we wanted but the kids still had fun. ONE last game left. Can we pull off a win? I certainly hope so. It's been such a frustrating season. While some players are doing pretty well, others just lack the focus to A-pass the ball, B-not run into fellow teammates, and C-LISTEN! Mia's been the hardest on herself lately and I have to figure out how to get her to listen more. She played very well, but sometimes backs off too much on the ball.

Later, Jill and I went to our friends Kat and Gregg's annual Halloween party dressed as Snape and Trixxxy the witch (Jill's made up character) Plenty of drinks and fun with old friends and like always, met some pretty awesome new people. We picked up Mia and went home. We watched a weird movie on Netflix before heading off to bed. Today, I didn't get much accomplished before work, but when I got home, it appears they took off all the cabinet doors to start the new project.

This week, hopefully a practice, some drums (maybe) and our last game. Trick or treating is Sunday so I've got an early day. We'll have to find time to carve pumpkins as well. That's all for now, thanks for reading

Summer Chillin'

Good morning everyone. Only about a week and a half before school starts so we're making the most of the little Summer we've got left. My work schedule adjusted this week to having Thursday off (which should be my weekday-off till October till Mia's soccer season completes. During the week, we made an attempt to get some shoes at the Journey's down the road from our house at the mall. Mia tried on a pair of Vans with kitty mermaids on her sneakers. Didn't like how tight they were on the bridge of her foot. Tried on a pair of mermaid Chuck Taylors. Wasn't a huge fan of how they felt on her ankle because she was wearing a shorter sock. Dammit.

I had not one, not two but THREE art lessons on Thursday. I added a 3rd student, Gigi. My 2nd student's little sister. She's a fun kid that loves to draw. Micah did a great job with her Hermione sketch as well as Gigi did with her grape drawings. I met up with to grab some lunch and we went to my 3rd lesson of the day with Ella. We tackled a tricky sketch of Hagrid, but she nailed it. She's always willing to learn new and challenging mediums and techniques which is amazing. After the lesson, Mia and I went to the Journeys Kidz store at Mayfair in attempt to find some sneakers. Tried a few similar pairs from the other store, wasn't a fan. Just as we were about to leave, she was eyeing up a pair of Doc Martens. She tried a pair that were on clearance and we ended up getting them. She loves these boots, but they weren't sneakers. She NEEDED sneakers. We stopped at Payless and she picked up a cheaper pair for everyday use and gym class. Note to self: Go to Payless next year. Lucky little diva picking up a pair of boots. Good thing I'm pulling in some extra cash doing art lessons :)

Later, we had our 1st team practice for the season. Last year, we were very lucky to have the entire field to ourselves. This season, we're sharing. There were at least 3 other teams across the back field including a much older group on our field. Luckily, they shared it and we were fine. Met all the parents and players and overall, we had a solid first practice. The kids learned proper passing techniques, dribbling, shooting and how to do a throw-in. Already these kids are starting better than my team last season. The majority of my team have played before with the exception of one 1st grader. I received an email a few hours before practice of an extra player to be added. She couldn't make the practice but we'll meet with her next week. Hopefully we can get a scrimmage in. Mia's proudest moment of the day was her booting the ball over the keeper's head and in the net. She's literally told everyone she knows about it. Even yesterday when she went ice skating with her BFF and teammate Cecilia. "CAN YOU BELIEVE I SHOT IT OVER HER HEAD??!" That reminds me, we have a very ambitious and solid player who would like to play keeper this season. I'll probably use the same strategy that I did last season: Play the keeper for one half and switch her out on the field the 2nd half.

As mentioned earlier, Saturday, Mia hung out with Cecilia for the day at the Petit. Both girls really wanted to go ice skating so her Dad dropped her off and we did some open skating. The girls had a blast. They also made some gummy worms/bears with Jill and loved mixing the colors.

Today, I'm watching the Chelsea game while Jill travels to Illinois for a baby shower. Work later. Blah. That's about it for now. This week, Mia's got open house to meet the already familiar 2nd grade teacher, and we've got our 2nd practice for the New Berlin Cheetahs. Thanks for reading!

A Wizardry Birthday Celebration!

Good evening everyone! This week was by far, the most insane week I've had in quite a while. Maybe since he holidays when I was trying to bang out Mia's Christmas book. Thinking about it now makes me wonder how in the world I survived it. Tuesday through Thursday, I had elementary schools to photograph at. Tuesday, I was at Lowell Elementary for a couple hours before I went to work. Wednesday, I was at Tonawanda in Elm Grove. Let me tell you, photographing the kids isn't the hard part, its navagating the weird layouts. Every school is slightly to wackadoodle different. Tonawanda could have been filed under "wackadoodle" They have had what I was told the 1970's layout since they opened that year. A lot of schools used to do it, and they're one of the rare ones that still do. I first experienced it when I walked into the Kindergarten area and every classroom had ZERO walls and was a completely open-concept layout. It made it difficult for photographers to snap a picture of the class teacher's door to put sort of a label on the pictures you're taking of their kids. I made it work.

I thought maybe that was the end of the bizarre layout. Nope. The library was the center hub for the rest of the classes which had similar layouts. It's cool in theory but really painful for myself, PLUS every teacher switched their kids around so I had to work with that. Seriously? When I was done, I jetted down to Milwaukee for a photo session with Milwaukee Wave star Ian Bennett. He wanted some new shots for his 2nd clothing line. After getting escorted through the building, I found myself watching the Wave practicing before their Baltimore Blast playoff game. It was fun to watch them from their player's bench. After the practice ended, Ian and a few of the guys did a quick photo session. I think for the most part the photos turned out alright. Afterwards I wished them good luck and was on my way. Got home, had some luck and watched some of the UCL Chelsea vs Barca game. It was a rough one, so after I picked up Mia, I didn't watch much more of it because we did a little Harry Potter part 2 photo session. Went a lot better than the last one and throughout the week, I did some edits and have about one more left to do. After the session, we drove to Target to pick up something for her friend Ryan's birthday party on Sunday.

Thursday, I had one last school to get through before work. Swallow in Hartland. Did a good group of classrooms before encountering my first classroom of middle schoolers. They were by far, the least favorite class I've done. They were awkward and weird and totally OVER getting their photos take for year book. Get over it kids. Didn't do the other class because the teacher was doing a test and didn't really want me there oh well. After that one, I packed up and went home. The majority of the week, we made final preparations for Mia's epic Wizardy Harry Potter party. Saturday, Mia was both stoked and excited to see what her leprechaun left her and her very exciting party. After a quick scavenger hunt, she quickly got in her Hogwarts robe and tie and helped us get ready for the party. It wasn't long before the kids started arriving. Mia was so excited to see who'd be the first one. Turns out, it was Easton. His Mom said he likes to get to parties early. It wasn't long before Charlie, Noelle, Cecilia and the rest of Mia's guests arrived. We had a Quidditch tournament in the living room, a make-your-own-tie session in the den, and a Potions 101 class in the dining room. We had forgotten to do the pin the scar on Harry. Oops. Before they did the projects and tournament, they were sorted out with their own personal sorting hat. If I could find the Qudditch board, I could post which kids were in which Hogwarts house. Oh well. Mia, Cecilia and Charlie represented Gryffindor, Izzy and Ryan were in Slytherin and that's all I can recall for now.  Anyways, Gryffindor won the tournament of Quidditch. Mia, Charlie and Cecilia did really well throwing the balls through the hoop. They all had fun designing ties and participating in Potions 101. The cake turned out great and Mia loved all of their gifts. I made my best effort to take as many photos as possible. Jill's parents were a MASSIVE help with the whole party as well as our friend Leanne that drove in. We couldn't have made this happen without their help. I dressed as Severus Snape and Jill dressed up as well. Hopefully everyone had fun.

Later, Jill and Leanne went out for sushi so Mia and I hung out at home. She fell asleep during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Probably a good thing since the ending was pretty dark and creepy for her. We'll probably not watch any more of the movies with her since I have heard they get creepy.

Sunday, Mia and I drove to Ryan's birthday party with Grandma Gail. She refused to go to the Chuck E Cheese party without the both of us. Immediately upon arriving, she didn't want to be there. She got very upset and the mere thought of Chuck E showing up like he has before at parties. Since she didn't have Cecilia to hide with, she had to use us to block any view of the terrorizing mouse from hell. She got herself through it, and played plenty of games with her friends. She will always remember the moment she won 100 tickets on the Pirate Wheel game. She joined the "100 club" with Ryan and Charlie that have both won 100 tickets at Chuck E Cheese. Charlie won again before all the kids had to pick out prizes. Despite the lack of effort from the staff that gave the game cards to the kids almost 30 minutes late, they all had a blast. Mia, eventually. Just as long as the rodent didn't see her. I missed the Chelsea FA cup match but was told later they won. Quarter finals, here we go!

This week, I've got plenty of photos to edit and need to start working on a couple of drawings for an auction basket for a fundraiser coming up in April. Mia's been taking hot lunch, so I've substituted drawings for some fun #dadjokes. She likes them a lot.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Hop, Skip and a JUMP

Good evening everyone! Busy week with an even busier week ahead preparing for Mia's epic birthday party. Wednesday, I helped Jill photograph a college friend of ours little twins. The two boys are super adorable so it was a fun photoshoot.  After school, Mia decided to show me her new jump rope tricks she taught herself. It's just always amazing to see her learn something new, especially when she teaches herself. She'll be hoping on one leg while jumping while switching to the traditional two-footed jump. Very impressive kid. We made pizza and watched Big Hero 6 while Jill and my Mom did some wine and chocolate eating at night in downtown Waukesha. Awesome night for them. I made them pizza when they got back as they finished Coco, which is easily one of Pixar's best movies ever.

Friday night after work, I came home to an empty house. Jill and Mia spent the night at Grandma/Grandpa Chicago's so they could hang out with uncle Tommy in the morning. I worked on some of the prize bags for Mia's party while watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Really good movie with a bit of a twist towards the end. Saturday morning I drove out to my parents with Remi to watch the Chelsea vs Palace match. My bro Andy joined us as well as we watched them win 2-1. The 2nd leg of the Barcelona vs CFC match is this week so I'm pretty nervous. Later, I drove to meet up with Jill and Mia and we hung out at my in laws till it was time to go. Mia fell asleep on the ride home and stayed asleep till about 5:00am when she woke up on the couch looking for me. Oops.

Sunday, I woke up a bit confused with the daylight savings. We all cleaned the house as much as we could and it looks pretty good. Sincerely appreciate all the help and Mia is super excited for this weekend's party. There will be so many fun games and good to eat. This week, we have to finish any last minute things, and Mia's got to get her friend Ryan a present for her birthday party the day after Mia's. I'll be photographing schools Tuesday and Thursday  as well as Ian Bennett on Wednesday.  Just way too much to do, plus I've been fighting a cold and sinus headache for days now. Need it to clear up soon.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Pizza Pals

Good evening everyone! Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Always seems to go quickly over here, but that's mostly because I'm always off Saturdays only and work Sunday nights. Anyways, so the week started a bit rough. Mia stayed home sick Monday recovering from a fever. She was slightly afraid her consistent coughing would keep her distracted from schoolwork so she stayed home and we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Great movie. Can't believe it took me this long to watch the HP movies. They're really well done and I've never seen Mia so captivated by a movie.  Looking forward to watching the next one.

Luckily, the rest of the week she felt better and went back to school. Tuesday, Noelle's Mom messaged me asking if Mia was feeling better because Noelle missed her. Awww..Mia was glad to go back. Wednesday after school, we delivered her friend Hayden her birthday party invitation only to discover that Cecilia was playing at her house as well. Upon us arriving at the door, there was high-pitch screams of excitement coming from both Cecilia and Hayden with Hayden yelling "HOW DID YOU FIND ME!!?!?!?!?!" They couldn't believe Mia was there. Never knew my kid could have that kind of impact on her friends. Hayden didn't know the previous weekend, Mia and I were out delivering the Hogwarts letters to her friends and didn't leave one with Hayden because she wasn't home and had no way of sticking it in their door. Well, the kids played for a while and when Cecilia's Mom came to pick her up, Cecilia pleaded with her to let me take the girls to StoneFire Pizza. Her Mom couldn't go, so I ended up taking the dynamic duo. So we went back home, Mia finished her homework and I took Remi out for a pee before returning to Cecilia's house to get the kids over to StoneFire.

Wednesdays, they're half off which is why we wanted to do it on a Wednesday. I never anticipating the place to be THAT busy. Cecilia was instructed to return closer to 7pm for bed time. We didn't get to eat till about 6, so by 6:30, we were ready to play games. The blew through the game cards pretty quickly and didn't get a lot of time to play. They played Space Invaders, Air Hockey and a few racing games before picking out prizes. I think both her bummed they couldn't stay longer, but Cecilia has an early bed time, so we had to split. They both grabbed slushees on the way out. Mia said her goodbyes when we dropped Cecilia off, and we were on our way. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I hope the next time we go, we can go earlier and bring other friends. Thursday, I drove out to Waterford to photograph 4K-5th graders for candid year book photos. It was pretty fun, despite the confusing school layout.

Saturday, Mia's cousins Easton and Camden came over and we went to the park. Not the warmest weather out, but still fun. Mia scooted and chased them around. Later, we went to lunch before they went home. The night before, Cecilia's Mom texted me about asking if Mia wanted to sleep over with Hayden and Cecilia. Mia was totally for it. For some reason later in the day, she switched and didn't feel like it. She ended up going over and playing with them as well as Harper, Hayden's sister while Jill and I chatted with the parents. I gave Mia the option if she wanted me to return home to get her overnight bag, and I could tell Cecilia REALLY wanted Mia to stay over, but Mia sadly opted not to. It turns out she was nervous there would be too many people over at Cecilia's house like the previous gathering when she had 6 women dancing. I think Mia was worried she wouldn't get to sleep or something. So, later we split and watched a movie. Mia got tired a bit before 10 and crashed. She wouldn't have lasted with her friends who at the time, probably were still awake. She'll sleep over again some time. It was nice to chill and hang out while the kids played.

Sunday, I watched an entirely disappointing Chelsea vs City match. The lack of urgency and passion is ever so present and I don't know what's going to happen. They're sunk in 5th place without that spark that won them the Cup last season. They've got a Barca UCL match coming up and really need to haul ass to get motivated to beat the giants.

Throughout the weekend, Mia's been crazy obsessed with jump roping. I never even knew this kid could jump rope. In previous years, she'd attempt it and get pissed and not want to do it. She's actually really good and can even jump rope one footed. Super impressive.

This week, I've got another school to photograph and there's talk of snow returning. Yuck. Thanks for reading!

Neon Glow

Good evening everyone. Busy week and plenty to talk about. Here...we....GO. Early in the week, I went to lunch with Mia. Well, I completely surprised her for lunch. I couldn't stay for recess though, but we still had fun with her silly friends. They still ask her "SO WHAT DID YOUR DADDY DRAW YOU!?" Wednesday I got a hair cut and had the barber cut way more than usual. Mia at first wasn't a fan of it, but got used to it over time. After school, I couldn't convince Mia to go sledding in which appeared to be perfect ramp-building snow conditions so we built a "Snow Mia" instead and a few porgs and penguins. The snow as pretty wet but we made the most of it. Noelle and her sister came over too and played for a while as well. Later, we had heart-shaped pizzas and watched a movie before Mia went to bed. Not a bad Valentine's Day.

Friday, I was off to help volunteer the Valentine's Day/Friendship party. I ran a Pictionary station. The kids took turns drawing and guessing what their classmates were drawing. Great fun. Some of them were pretty competitive to win candy. Probably could have avoided a prize, but they had fun. After wards, I went home and watched Chelsea destroy Hull City 4-0. Great game! Picked up the diva and went home to get ready for the 2018 Neon Glow Daddy Daughter Dance.
Mia picked out a cute dress and sweater and I gave it my best to match her. This kid sure is stylish. Anyways, we arrived at New Berlin West and discovered that there were a LOT more people at this dance than the last one we did. I swear that one was in spring and not around Valentine's Day. ANYWAYS, Mia instantly wanted to located all of her buddies so we looked around and found Cecilia, Noelle, Charlie, Hayden and Izzy. The girls ran around, danced, chased each other, ate food, took pictures and from time to time, remembered it was a Daddy'Daughter dance and danced with their respected Fathers. Most of the time, they would spend time trying to find _insert friend here_ so we'd have to help them look. It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to have a blast. I was pretty disappointed that they didn't have anyone playing the music. They had a computer set up with some lights. That was it. No one taking requests or anything. Mia wanted to request Portugal.The Man but no one was available to take the request. Bummer. We left a bit after 8, but not before BFF's Mia and Cecilia made plans to ice skate Saturday afternoon.

Saturday, we drove to the American Science Surplus store. (I think that's what it's called) We were on the hunt for tubes and bottles and files (oh my?) for Mia's Harry Potter-themed birthday party. Jill's got a bunch of fun ideas that require lots of science stuff for the kids. We've never been here and had heart it's pretty fun to explore. After wards, Jill dropped Mia and I off at the Petit to meet up with Cecilia and her Dad to skate. The kids skated for about an hour and a half. Cecilia had got new skates she was dying to use. She did great as well as Mia. Still hoping I can get Mia to skate solo without my hand hopefully in the near future. Later, we went back home to relax and start making a list of things we want to do and people to invite for the party in March. Later, we went to my brother Andy's hockey game. Close one, but they lost in the penalty shootout.

Sunday I worked and didn't get much accomplished. Came home tonight to Mia bouncing off the walls till she got tired and went to bed. Tomorrow, she's off from school. President's Day. She asked me "does that mean we get a new president?" Sadly, no. Chelsea plays the dreaded Barcelona game in the UCL this week. HUGE match they really have to win. Come on Chels!

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

A Concert And a Sleepover

Good evening everyone! Quite a busy week, and with only a week before Christmas, it's going to get even more intense. Wednesday after school, we raced through the snow to Jill's studio for Mia to have her picture taken with Santa. Like normal, she was pretty shy, but excited to see the big man and tell him what she wants. The reason why we "raced" is that Mia had a holiday concert that night as well, so we had to make sure we were back in time to feed the diva and get her to the school. The snow may have been a bit sketchy, but we made it as well as both her Grandparents and even Uncle Tommy made the trek from Madison. Despite the fact that the songs were a bit silly being related to farms and farm animals and not remotely close to anything holiday-themed, it was pretty adorable and the kids did great. Like always, Mia was stoked everyone could make it. We had a rough angle to watch Mia sing (as you can see on the picture) because one of her classmates stood sorta in front of her most of the concert. Ugh.

Remi's paw has still been a problem. Just when I thought he was improving, I came home tonight and discovered its as rough as ever. The spray and balm I got for it haven't been working much so I dunno what to do. Friday was an exciting day for Mia. She was going to a big sleepover at her friend Noelle's house. Charlie, Cecilia, Noelle, Ellahrose and Katelyn were all spending the night together, watching movies and doing crafts. I came home from work at 10:30 and discovered a pretty cute picture of all of them on the living room floor watching The Santa Clause. Apparently, they were still awake at 11:30 with some wanting to sleep, and others chattering away and giggling. Mia and Katelyn fell asleep first. I spent my Friday evening post-work working on the book.

Saturday morning I got up to watch Chelsea take on Southampton. I got a message from Noelle's Mom that the girls all woke up around 5:00am! WHY kids!? They watched some a Descendants movie and lay around before working on crafts. I picked up Mia at halftime during the game. She had the best time and had so much fun. I thought she'd still want to play with her friends, but she was exhausted and wanted to head home. We went home, watched Chelsea beat the Saints before turning on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. First of all, great movie. Really fun and Mia would explain every single scene to me whether I wanted her to or not. Really enjoyed it. We didn't finish it till Sunday morning because when Jill got home from some photo sessions at the studio, we packed up some baking supplies and went to my parent's for the traditional cookie baking extravaganza. The ladies had fun making all kinds of tasty treats my Dad and I sampled. Mia's severe lack of sleep started to show its ugly colors and she became more and more crabby. We split and went home. She passed out on the way home but awoken when we got in. Watched a bit of My Little Pony before calling it a night...at 8:30pm. Way early for the kid, but she needed to catch up on sleep. I worked on some drawing and an Ian Bennett photo edit before sleeping.

Sunday, she woke up happy and conquered her homework. We finished HP and a bit later, I went to work. This week I need to finish the book and we're baking cookies with some friends of Jill's as well. Saturday, she's doing a day trip to Chicago to meet up with friends while I take Mia to see Star Wars. That's all for now thanks for reading!

Dribbling Divas

Hello everyone. A little over a week before school starts. So much going on and leading up to it, so let's get right to it. Mia lost her 6th tooth! Can't believe how many she's lost. Monday was the solar eclipse. We didn't get the best weather in the area for it but eventually after I went to work, Mia did from my parent's sun room. Awesome. Won't see the next one for several several several years so I'm glad Mia could catch it. Tuesday was Picture Day. Mia dressed up in her Harry Potter shirt and Descendants leggings with fashion boots. Took a total of 5 seconds to nail a couple pictures of the diva and we were on our way. On the walk down to the driveway, Mia insisted I take a picture of her pretending to hold a wand so that "Daddy can Photoshop me with Harry Potter images". So I did. Later before work, I worked about 10-12 minutes on an image that Mia thought turned out pretty rad.


Wednesday was Mia's very first team practice. She was pretty excited all day about it. Eventually, it was practice time and she was eagerly excited to meet all of her new teammates.  She ran out on to the pitch and with the first kick in her new Adidas boots she yells out "OH MY GOSH THESE CLEATS FEEL AMAZING!!" Scarlett was the first one that showed up and immediately, Mia and Scarlett ran around kicking and chasing the ball. One by one the team showed up with a familiar face that Mia was stoked to see: Cecilia. All 8 girls came to their first team practice. Awesome. No one dropped out. We did some basic passing having the girls partner up and pass to each other. After a few minutes, they switched partners and continued. The idea was to have them be familiar with each other. I'll be doing some more passing exercises this week. After that, they once again in partners, came down the pitch and passed to each other ready to shoot on me. We later added a defender and keeper. It sorta worked. After that, I had them practicing throw-ins. They'll obviously need to know this before their first game in a couple weeks. One of the last things we did was dribble around the cones and shoot on a keeper. They liked this one but will have to work on shooting as soon as they can instead of waiting 15-20 seconds. One of my favorite moments was when Mia and Cecilia asked me "so like, when does the OTHER team show up?" Sorry girls, we've got practices first before a match.

Overall, great first practice.  Some great talent on the team that I'll have to figure out the best way to utilize at matches. I handed out uniforms and we'll meet for a short practice this week. I'm going to work on the girls passing while calling out teammates names. I think we'll do 1st touch passing in this exercise in a circle group. I also want to have the girls run up to a ball as I pass to them and have them shoot directly to the goal. Another 1st touch exercise. Plus, we'll get to see who will work best in goal.

Mia and Cecilia played a bit before we left for the day. Mia and Jill were starving for some MOD pizza so we made a stop there for dinner. Later, we met up with my parents at Yo Mama for some frozen yogurt. Delicious! Always a great selection there. Friday night when I came home from work, Tommy was hanging out and gave me a late bag of presents. Thanks man! The weekend went pretty quick. Saturday, Jill, Mia, Tommy and their parents drove to the Jelly Belly Factory after a quick family photo. We haven't done one of those in a long time. My bro Andy and I went to the Torrent game. Last friendly to end the season. The good guys defeated Milwaukee Sport Club 1-0 to end the season on a high note. It wasn't always the best results this season but I was always there to support them. Hopefully with a whole bunch of new things coming for the team, the attendance will grow and they can develop talent and finish better. After wards, we went to the bar for a beer before heading out.

This morning I got up early to watch Chelsea beat Everton 2-0. Great game. Solid result and I look forward to the next one. Quakes toppled LA in the Classico 3-0 as well. After work tonight, I came home to find Mia learning Photoshop with Jill. She helped her touch up pictures for work.

This week is Open House for Mia. Tomorrow morning she's hanging out with an old friend from her pre school. Should be fun. Hoping we can enjoy the last week of Summer Break before next week's start to school.

That's all for now thanks for reading!