The Dancing Divas

Good morning. Well, we got through the first month of a very busy school year so far with Mia. She's loving it way more than when she started. New friends, new things to learn about and a whole new routine are keeping her (and us) quite busy. During this month, I've successfully drawn her 22 different lunch note pictures every day. I hope to continue it as long as possible. It takes a great deal of time planning on what I'm going to do, but the end result is usually pretty positive.

Wednesday was Mia's first play date with a friend from kindergarten. She was super stoked to hang out with Noelle, who lives very close to our house. She lives so close that Mia rode her big wheels to her house. As soon as we got home from school, she could barely contain herself to hang out with her friend. She ate an after school snack quick and by 4:30, we were rolling to her friend's house. As soon as her friend saw us by their cul de sac, Noelle went RUNNING down yelling "MIA!!!" she showed us that she had written "Mia" several times on a sign and taped it to her door so Mia knew which house was hers. She was super sweet and her parents were just as nice. The girls played in the semi-cold weather and if they could, they would have played all night. 

Friday, I worked a very rare early shift. 6am-2pm. Trying to go to bed early Thursday night proved to be a difficult task. Between eating food and cleaning the kitchen, it was a struggle but the morning shift went super fast. I kept thinking about how I haven't seen Mia since Thursday morning when I took her to school and how stoked I was to get to pick her up later. When Jill got home, we had "breakfast for dinner" which consisted of pancakes, eggs and hash browns. Mia changed into a dress and we walked across the street to her school's dance party. I tell you, it was LOUD with about 120 kids singing to the DJ's Top 40 music. It was almost too much for Mia at first. We met her other awesome friend, Charlie and her parents. They too, were very nice and her friend is such a sweetheart. "I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT MIA!" Her and fellow classmate Ellarose kept trying to get Mia to dance and be silly, but she just wouldn't do it. Before I had to leave for Ian Bennett's launch party, Mia started to be more independent and hanging with her friends. I later learned that she eventually started dancing with the girls. "Dad, my heart kept beating loudly during the music!" She had such a fun time and it was nice to meet some more friends of hers. 

The IB26 launch party was a lot of fun. Very small bar but Ian hooked me up with some drinks. Very proud of him and his hard work. The banners I helped design turned out incredible and he's already got ideas for his next photos he'll need me for. It's fun doing different projects for Ian and I get to keep my design skills sharp, which is always a plus. Saturday morning, Jill had to work and Mia had dance class. I wasn't sure if the diva would want to go since she had hurt her head. She woke up. not feeling the best about going, but she put on her rights, I did about 3 or 4 tries at her dancer bun and she got to dance class. I went home, watched most of the first half of the Chelsea vs Hull City game before picking her up. She came out excited and immediately said "Daddy, I'm glad I went to class". They learned about counting steps with tap shoes and she absolutely loved it. We came home and watched Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0. Great to see the Blues getting all three points, even if it was against a sub par team. They have an international break and won't play next till Mia's Halloween Party.

Later, we picked up costumes for the Halloween party and went to the China lights exhibit at the Botanical Gardens. Absolutely worth it. Even in the crappy weather, the lights were spectacular. Mia was confused thinking "so do we just DRIVE through?" They had a really good turn out for their opening weekend and if you're in the area, I highly recommend checking them out.

Sunday, we did a little cleaning before they went to Jill's parent's house to celebrate Tommy's birthday.

This week, art, designing and more preparations for the party. That's all for now, Thanks for reading! 

The Early Bird Drinks His Morning Orange Juice

Greetings. It was a busy, but pretty solid weekend last week. Friday, Mia had a GREAT playgroup. ALL of her little friends were there. Gracie, Hannah, Omina, Zack and Weston. She was so stoked to she the girls. They played so well. It was the first time in a while she wasn't partially sitting on my lap to play. After play group ended, some kids hang out and run around the empty room. Mia participated this time. It looked like a toddler mosh pit. When it was time to go, Gracie had gotten her fingers slammed in the door, so she was crying. Hannah, like always was the first to give Mia a hug goodbye, and I SWEAR TO GOD my heart melted when I saw Mia hugging her back with a little smile on her face. As I type this, my heart is already melting. It was so freakin' adorable. Gracie cried in her mother's arms as we walked out. Mia INSISTED on holding on to Omina's hand, so I had little Hannah's. As we were heading to our car, Gracie was just not calming down and eventually sat in a snow bank for absolutely no reason what so ever. So she cried even more. Eventually, she ran up to Mia and gave her a big hug goodbye. One of those hugs that "I'm in pain, and I need my friend now" hugs. Mia was so sweet that day, and invited the girls to her birthday party in March.

 Saturday morning, I was awaken by a text at 6:30am explaining from my older brother "no hockey today, the ice is too slushy" from the freezing rain we had got the night before. Okay. I also knew that Chelsea was playing Hull City at 6:45am, and was hoping to get a little more sleep before match time. Sadly, Mia, who crawled into our bed, started kicking me in the ribs so I gave up on that idea and got up to take the dog. As SOON as I moved my head off the pillow, she rolled her little noodle on it. Oh well. Took the dog out for a nice quiet walk through the icy neighborhood. Came back, made breakfast and watched the game online. I gotta say, it was quite nice having a little morning to myself to enjoy my favorite team beat Hull City 2-0. Both goals were real slick, and I was hoping they'd motivate me to get some goals come futsal time Sunday night.

The girls ended up sleeping most of the morning, which allowed me time to go salt the driveway, work on a little art and clean up the kitchen some. Sunday morning, early shift. Wasn't exciting, but all I could think about was playing futsal. Jill and Mia came to my game (with my sister) and that meant a LOT to me. Originally, they weren't going to come because the last time they did, Mia cried and I had to split early. This time, Mia WANTED to come, and we brought some distractions for her if she got bored. I mean come on, it was a 2 hour game, I wouldn't hold it against her if she had lost interest. So, I started on the colored team (we do colors vs white) and thanks to some Messi-wannabees, I wasn't receiving a whole lot of passes. Our team wasn't doing the best with defense either. When it was my turn in goal, I got scored on, 3 or so times. No one was in back to help defend. Bugger. So when it got to the point of "do you guys wanna do a trade" I was immediately offered. Fine. So I went on the white team. WAY better team to play on. No wonder they were beating us. Better passing overall, and I got a really slick goal, and a couple of assists. My goal was a nice pass of a teammate, a quick move around a defender and shot it far right post on goal. It was my first time playing that my teammates were vocal about the goal. "Those were really nice moves, Mike" Thanks :) When it was my turn in goal, I noticed that they had one fella that stayed back for defense which helped with keeping the goals down. Ended up letting in two. Oh well. It was a lot of fun and I hope to get in to play again in another month or so.

This weekend, my nephew Easton is having a birthday party. Should be fun. That's all for now. Next week, I'm posting my FINISHED Mia portrait :) Thanks for reading!