Rise and Grind

Evening everyone. Quite the busy weekend with even more snow, so let's get right to it. During the week, nothing too exciting to report. Thursday was a normal day off for me. I started attempting to work with alcohol-based markers. Definitely not an easy medium to work with. Mainly because I think I may or may not have asked for the correct paper for it but we'll see how the next attempt goes. Hopefully I can figure it out. After I picked up Mia from school, we knocked out her homework and got to spend some quality time playing her favorite Switch game; Luigi's Manson 3. It's definitely a game you want to play with a friend as the challenges go on. Since Jill's not really a fan of video games, Mia settles for me :) We made turkey burgers with Jill before calling it a night.

Friday while at work, we got some serious snow. It picked up quickly as my shift went on. Certainly made my drive a nightmare and question if we'll have a game the next day...at 7:00AM!
5:30am came and we woke up early to get ready for Mia's game. I had parents concerned for the weather since we had received a healthy amount of the white stuff the night before. If we were going to cancel, I would have had to have done it the day before. Majority of the kids made it. The only two that didn't notified me prior which wasn't weather related. The game certainly wasn't one to remember. The girls lost pretty badly. Couldn't even pick up a goal unfortunately. EBU that beat us are a club that keeps the kids together from season to season so they clearly knew how to play. They haven't even lost a game yet this season. They were well organized and had no trouble beating us. We had a few close moments to score, but in the end, couldn't find the net. I need to figure out how to get the kids to stay in positions, not bunch up and PASS. They focus more on dribbling. Liv had a break away but her touch was too heavy and she couldn't get the shot off. Angie and Scarlett are showing improvement as well as Vida as a defender. She just has to work on her passing when the ball comes towards our end. Jill's parents made the early trek in the morning so Mia was happy to see them. Our next match is at 4:30 next weekend. Hopefully they can pull off a win or at least make some goals.

You'd think Mia would want to nap after wards, but she had some post-game energy which we used to help me shovel for a while. She ended up playing in the snow while I snow blown the driveway. She buried her legs in the snow, which was cute. After I pulled her out, we packed up our gear and went snowboarding. This time, I set up a couple PVC pipe rails so we could learn some grinds and slides. Mia figured out the FS 50/50 pretty quickly. Helped that a few months ago I had set up a rail for her to practice tricks on flat ground. She did a little smith grind as FS board slide as well. I realized way later when we got home I should have set up the rails on flat ground. Her board slides would have been better and cleaner but you know, you learn and figure things out. After a few hours of snowboarding, we went home. I ran to TJ's for some groceries, and Mia and I soon met up with her friend Scarlett and her sisters (and teammate) Angelina and older sister Sofia for some free ice skating. For the last 3-4 years, Mia and I have gone skating at Eble during Waukesha's JANBOREE where the public could skate for free for 2 hours. The girls had a blast. Mia was grasping hands with myself and Scarlett till they were comfortable skating without me. Her goal is to get better and it and I hope one day she does. Angie got better as the day went on and Sofia totally knew what she was doing. She wasn't feeling the best and I ended up taking Mia, Scarlett and Angie back to our house after the skating session was over while her sister and Mom went to the doctor. The girls were so excited to play with our animals and hang out. Mia and Scarlett went straight to the Switch while Angelina went through my art books looking at the stuff I've done. Everything impressed her and she picked mine and Jill's brain about literally everything. Art, photography, life etc etc. The girls were having so much fun that they requested I call and ask if it was okay if they stayed for dinner. Of course their Mom was cool with it so they excitingly had some pizza while Jill and I ate sushi. Sadly, our sub pump line had some water frozen which backed up in the corner of our basement with my beloved drum kit getting sprayed heavily with water. UGH. Luckily, we melted the pipe and things were fine. The kids ate dinner, played some more Switch, a little hide-and-seek and a whole lot of fun. Eventually, I had to talk the girls into going home. Mainly, because I think their Mom was probably missing them. It was quite the day that started at 5:30 in the morning. After I dropped the girls off, Mia, Jill and I crashed for the night.

I completely skipped the Chelsea vs Newcastle match to snowboard with Mia, which ended up being a good idea since they blew the game. This week, Mia's off Monday so we'll find something fun to do. Other than that, that's about it. Thanks for reading!

Art Teachers For a Week

Good evening everyone. First of all, totally forgot to do my year-end review of 2018, but will go through all of that and the exciting things we've done last year in another blog post. For now, a well-thought out post about our week as Artists in Residence at Orchard Lane. In 5 days, we had over 450 kids and lead 22 art classes and assisted several kids in 5 separate lunch/recess sessions. Each class had a specific artist as well. Kindergarten had Picasso, 1st graders had Van Gogh, 2nd graders had Klimt, 3rd graders had O'Keeffe, 4th graders had Britto Romero, 5th graders had Dali and finally, 6 graders had Warhol. Phew.

Kindergarten was easily, the toughest group. No matter how much we tried to clarify how to do the project, we always had kids that didn't pay attention. A lot of them did an amazing job, and had a great time helping me put the pieces of my in-class portrait together. The first class we taught, all gave us huge hugs afterwards. Our last class drew us some cute pictures.

1st graders was another tough one. We knew water color would be a tough medium for them to work with along with the oil pastels, but for the most part they did okay with the majority of the projects. Starry Night was a huge struggle. The wheat fields and flower piece turned out alright for the most part.

2nd graders did pretty well with Klimt. Mia's class was our very first one of the week. Each class took on a different version of the Tree of Life. Mia's class did really well. Some struggled with the basic tree shape, but overall they were pretty great. All 3 classes recognized Jill and myself so they were pretty sweet.

3rd graders had a tough one, using mainly chalk pastels with Georgia O'Keeffe. The landscape one was a pretty basic one, but some had a hard time getting those basic mountain shapes. It was our first group that we got to instruct and teach how to properly blend the pastels. A different class took on her flowers and our last class on a sea or snail shell (pending how you look at it). They really liked the last one and most of the class did a great job.

4th graders took on Britto Romero. They drew their version of his fish, cat and dog pieces. Our class that did the dog was the only one that had a handful of people struggling, but once they got that basic shape, they were off and running. I had one girl in tears trying to get her fish shape. She told me how she was never confident with art but once I calmed her down, she was totally into it and make her piece her own. Totally proud. The cat drawings were super cute as well. We always had some 4th graders stopping in during their lunch/recess to finish their Romero-inspired drawings. We had a handful of girls in our last class asking for our signatures or a quick drawing (with an autograph) Super cute.

5th graders had a pretty tricky one. Salvador Dali's pieces are both intriguing and intimidating for kids but I think all 3 classes knocked them out beautifully. First class took on his elephants. They carefully worked on getting that shape and bringing in the background to give the illusion that this creature is larger than life. 2nd class took on his "Eggs On a Plate (without the plate) which was basically the kids creating their own food images in the same style he did. We were prompted this group would struggle with this project but they were super creative and had a total blast. Very proud. Our last group had the famous "Persistence of Time" or better known as Melting Clocks. Most of them did a great job. A few needed some blending and shaping help but they rocked it as well.

6th graders took on that wild Andy Warhol. They all did their own food-package artwork. There was some seriously talented artists throughout the 3 classes. Our last class of the week blew me away. Some of the kids methodically planned their artwork out and will be finishing it in due time. Like i mentioned after wards, we always had kids hanging out during their lunches so it was pretty fun.

This was definitely an experience we'll always remember. Jill wrote a well-thought post the other morning about her experience that sums it up perfectly. She found herself gravitating towards the struggling kids, where myself and the school art teacher would help out wherever we were needed. IT may be with some kids needing some blending techniques or simply getting kindergartners to draw a simple circle. Ever since I began doing private art lessons, so I knew this would be a fun test for myself and I sincerely love working with kids. A lot of them would take our suggestions to heart and many asked if we could return. Of course we'll be back for Showcase Night and I can't wait to see the kids again. Lastly, I've always respected teachers of all subjects and everything they do, but when you're thrown into the mix teaching over 450 kids in a week, you really feel what they go through. We were there for only a week, so I can only imagine how this art teacher goes through. We had a lot of kids asking if we could just work at OL..If only it was that easy. Mia really enjoyed having us at school every single day and we even had lunch with her on one of our breaks. Super fun. She was always a great helper setting up our classes before school and helping us take them down after school. I'm super thankful for Jill and Mia's art teacher for making this happen.

Saturday I watched the Chelsea vs Newcastle game. Great match. Even better that Spurs and Arsenal lost over the weekend as well. Saturday evening, Mia and I went to the Petit. She was super fortunate to skate on freshly zamboni'd ice. She absolutely loved it. Still needs to release my hand and skate solo, but hopefully we get there someday this year.

Sunday, nothing special. I returned back to work unfortunately. I've got some logos to design this week and we'll be heading to Indiana for the day on Saturday. I promised Mia that unless the conditions are lousy, we're going snowboarding. Can't. Wait. 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!

Two Divas Skating

Good evening everyone. I want to try to get through this rather quickly. Body is pretty exhausted after work today.  We had plenty of snow this week so after school on Wednesday, Mia and I went on an adventure to try and find some new sledding hills. We couldn't find the one with lights at Valley View. I found out later in the week that it's on a different side of the park. We ended up at a place called Calhoun Park. The hill had potential to be really great except it was way too powdery and no fresh sledding tracks. Mia didn't get the speed she needed to even make it all the way down. She got frustrated so I dragged her butt in her sled all the way back to the car and we went home. We worked on her Valentines for her class when we got home before dinner.  Earlier in the day, I had a meeting with some parents about two big events at the school I'm helping with.

Friday, the lucky little diva had a snow day. After another dumping of snow in Southeastern Wisconsin, everybody had off including her school. She woke up around 8:30 and was SO excited to learn she didn't have school. She hung out at home, we went out to Panera for lunch before I had to dig my car out to go to work.

Saturday, I got a text from one of Mia's best friends Cecilia's Mom about ice skating at Petit. Funny that Mia mentioned during the week the girls were planning on skating over the weekend and well there it was, a text about seeing if Mia could skate. I said absolutely we could go skating.  Jill wasn't feeling that great so Mia and I met up with Cecilia and her family. All of them went skating. They had to hold up her little sister but she was a good sport about it and made it a few laps. Cecilia had only been skating ONE other time and after a few early jitters, she was skating solo BY herself. Every once in a while, she'd bail and want to hold a hand but she always had a smile on her face. Even falling on her butt, she'd get up laughing. Great attitude. Mia is still getting used to single-bladed skates so she'd hold my hand or Cecilia's while holding my hand. It was an absolute blast. The girls are so fun to listen to when they're together and always have a great time in each other's presence. It truly brings a smile to my face when I hear different stories about them. Like when Cecilia forgets to bring snow pants to school, Mia will purposely not wear hers at recess so she'd stay on the blacktop to hang with Cecilia. Those little things are just so sweet. I mention that to Mia, and she thinks nothing of it because that's what you do for your best friends. Clearly, she could wear her pants so she would stay warm at recess, but that's not what Cecilia did, so Mia opts to just not wear them and hang with her. When Cecilia feels sad, Mia told me she tries to have her friends help Cecilia feel better.

After two hours of skating, Mia was exhausted. Cecilia didn't seem like she was, but they both didn't mind getting their skates off their little feet. Mia wanted to go over to her house, but knowing Jill was waiting for Mia to come, we had to decline the play date offer and head home to see how she was feeling.

Later, we had some dinner and watched the Olympic skating and snowboarding events. Both were great. I don't know how much of the other events I'll get to see, but it was nice for us to watch them together.

Sunday, we got yet another dumping of snow. After Jill got home from church with her parents, we went out to lunch with them and cleared the driveway so I could go to work later and Jill's parents could return later to visit. All in all, great weekend. This week is a busy one. Have a lot of design work ahead of me, Mia's got her Valentines Day party + the Daddy/Daughter dance Friday night. Saturday, no plans that i know of.  Mia's off that following Monday so hopefully we can meet up with friends to enjoy the time. Maybe sled or something. Chelsea plays West Brom tomorrow and if they want to secure keeping Conte around, they need to start winning again. We dropped to 5th place and need to dig ourselves out of the rut BIG TIME. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Beyond The Music

Good evening everyone. Hope you all got to enjoy the weekend. I know some are upset today about the Packers losing, but hopefully you can move on. The week was a pretty busy but mostly enjoyable one.  I've been really stepping up my lunch notes for Mia this week. I had sort of a misfire with the Alice and Cheshire Cat, but overall it turned out okay. The ones I'm most proud of were Mr. Big from Zootopia and Naveen in frog form from The Princess and the Frog.  Both images, I used a single color pencil on and was able to create the images close enough to the real thing. I'm very stoked about it and hope to keep up the good work. My GoPro Hero 4Silver came in over the week as well. I have yet to really dive into what it can do but I can't wait to explore it. I've basically put a battery in it and make sure I've got all the parts and SD card. I looked online for a good camera for months and after some dead ends, I decided with some Christmas money to look into a GoPro. We're planning a trip to Hawai'i in a year or two and it would be nice to have a camera that can be used in water, but still have good solid quality. I also want to use this for Torrent games, videos and Flood Supporters Group images as well.

Last week my all-time favorite band Less Than Jake performed a live "practice set" on Facebook. I don't always listen to them, but they are and have been my favorite band for so many years. Mia even likes them as well. It was great to watch them perform even a short set. Wednesday, I picked up Mia from school and her friend Noelle and Mia walked home together. It was nice and fun for the girls to walk home and talk on their way. It's fun having a friend from school in the neighborhood that sometimes gets to walk with Mia. Noelle typically takes the bus but since the weather wasn't that bad, the kids walked home. Mia got her homework done and we relaxed before dinner with Jill. My tattoo artist Marcus had given me two stencils he hand-drew for Mia of foxes and I tried to put one on her and messed it up. I'll try it again another time.
Friday was inauguration day. I completely avoided watching the circus show of Trump getting sworn into office. It totally proved that even a lying celebrity with zero political experience can some how get to rule the free world. Our country is indeed, in some serious trouble. On a better note, the weekend was pretty enjoyable. Saturday, Mia had dance and loved it. She loves to tell us that she's doing better each time. Later, her and I went ice skating while Jill went into her new studio space to do some work. They had free skating day at Eble Ice Arena so you can imagine how busy they were. Mia had a blast and always loves going skating with me. She only fell once but it was because the diva kept jumping while holding my hand and when we went around a turn, she jumped and she let go of me. Silly kid.

Later, we met up with Jill and went to my brother's hockey game. His wife, kids, mother in law AND my parents all joined. Even though they lost, it was a fun outing. After wards, Jill, Mia and I got pizza and a movie.

Sunday I watched the Chelsea vs Hull City match. Great game and well-deserved 3 points. They were struggling at times trying to break through the back line but they got the win they needed. Mia unfortunately got a fever Sunday and was laying around most of the day. Jill said she would wake up from time to time to eat some apples but that was about it. When I got home from work, she was asleep but woke up to change into something cooler before going back to bed. I'm pretty sure she's staying home tomorrow, but I hope she can bounce back and make it.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

This Party is Surreal

Good morning everyone. Phew, what a busy week(end) we had (again).  The Christmas book we're working on for Mia is taking a lot of hard work and I hope I can get it done in time. Wednesday when I picked up Mia from school, she ran out with this 1st grader named Leilani who styled Mia's hair while they wanted to be released for the day. Such a nice kid. I'm always glad when Mia makes a new friend, even if its just for a little bit.  Saturday morning I got up very early to watch Chelsea take on Man City. This match promised to be a good one and the good guys won 3-1. Chelsea came from behind (on an own goal) to take the 3 points, but not before a rather nasty skirmish. Sergio Aguero lunged at David Luiz's leg with two feet causing almost a fight among some of the players. Another player from Man City picked up a red card for grabbing Cesc Fabregas by the throat and shoving him over an advertisement board. Ugly display by the home team. Both players are out for several games, hopefully causing these twits to drop in points in the upcoming matches.

After that intense game, I had to wake up the diva for dance. She's starting to like this more advanced class more and after class, she had to change and go to her friend Noelle's 6th birthday party. She had an art party at her house with all of the girls from the class. Mia was the last one to arrive and when she came down the stairs, all of them screamed "MIA!!" and this girl Hayden ran up and gave her a very big hug. Popular little kid, I have. They painted, did sand art, decorated cup cakes, swatted at a piñata and all in all, had a blast.  Mia loves hanging out with her girls and once again, didn't want to leave.

Later, she someone had the energy to go ice skating at the Petit. She's been insisting on going for weeks. I'm the only one who can take her and skate so later that evening, she grabbed her skates and we went. Took her a bit to get used to skating again but after a lap or two, she refused to hold my hand and wanted to skate solo. I could tell this made Jill nervous, but she looked confident and did very well. Yes, she's on double blades, but she only really skates maybe twice a year, so this was pretty good. Some boy acknowledged her while we were skating, and said she was doing well. She didn't want to leave, but we were all hungry.

We went to MOD pizza later, put on a movie and called it a night. Sunday, we got some snow, so Mia and Jill were out playing in it during the day and later at my in-laws house while I went to work.

This week, work on the book, some IB 26 stuff, and start to plan Mia's holiday party with some of the parents. Thanks for reading!

The Skating Diva

Good evening. A weekend has come and gone in a blink of an eye. But first, the first week of December. It used to mark the first big dumping of snow, but as I gaze out the window, all I see is super thick fog. Not a lot of snow has fallen yet, which is fine. No rushing the inevitable, really. Mia had a busy week of school. I went to pick her up on a day, and one of her friends yells out "MIA'S DAD IS HERE!" and as Mia got up to walk out the door to me, 6 friends attached themselves to her with a huge group hug. It was cute, but Mia got a bit freaked out. Monday, I did a little editing in Garage Band. That weekend I had recorded Mia and Jill singing "Rudolph" and later, I added a soft drum track to it. Sounded kinda cool but Mia hated it. Such a critic.

Friday, Mia and I went shopping for my sister for Christmas. It was actually kinda nice, just the two of us. Because Mia was so nice at the store we went to, I let her look around the ornament store at the mall. She loved it. Looking at all the different villages and decorations. "This is better than the free popcorn sample I got!" Saturday, she did her Santa pictures at Jill's studio before we watched the rather disappointing Chelsea game. I can not believe they lost to Bournemouth. They made it into the EPL this year and have a lousy record. How did we blow it? The defenders looked pretty lost and I think they mistakenly started Hazard as a striker again. It's getting to the point of "can we at least TRY to win a game?" I don't know what it's going to take for them to win a damn game. It's getting scary that we're barely above the relegation line.

Later at night, Mia and I went skating at the Petit. She got to break in her new skates Jill got for her earlier in the year ( I believe). She had so much fun. She's getting better but needs to work on her gliding. She would try to sprint across the ice at times. I would skate backwards and have her skate solo to me. It worked most of the time. A few times she fell and landed on her butt. She'd get upset, cry a little and then want to skate some more. I think she skated about 2 hours which is pretty impressive. She spent most of the night coughing and it was difficult to get her to sleep for a while. Hopefully she's feeling better come Monday morning. I worked on some Milwaukee Torrent art which turned out pretty good. I got an email this week from a woman looking for a business logo for her nail salon. I'm going to work on it after I drop Mia off on Monday.

This week: Wednesday, Chelsea plays Porto, so we'll watch that. She' got Olivia's birthday coming up Saturday so we gotta find something for her blonde BFF. That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)

Feelin' it in Your Bones

Good morning everyone. Hope everyone had a great New Years. Wednesday, Jill and Mia finally came home. We had made plans to do a dinner & a movie and have my Mom watch Mia but since she was coming home late on Weds, we decided to reschedule it for another day. Bummed, but we still had a good night. We watched Tinker Bell-Secret of the Wings for the 20th time with Mia and she threw confetti everywhere at 12am. The rest of Jill's time off, we relaxed and enjoyed as much as we could. New Years Day, I turned on the Chelsea vs Spurs game. Ughhh...It ended 5-3 with the Spurs beating us badly. I don't know what happened, but it was awful. We could blame it on the refs making or missing calls, or just overall a bad performance. It just wasn't a fun game to watch at all. Saturday, we went to visit my great Aunt and give her a belated Christmas gift. Mia chased her old dog around and it was a good time. At this point, the snow was flying ,but we still had fun. All day Saturday, Mia talked about wanting to ice skate. We tried to find this place in Waukesha, an outdoor rink by a huge sledding hill, but it wasn't there. So we drove to the Petit, woke up the Sleeping Beauty from her nap and skated. She had a blast and could keep her self going on her own. It was pretty impressive. She mostly held my hand, but every once in a while, she'd let go "Daddy, I can do this by myself". I love the confidence in her. She insisted she wanted to figure skate, so I would spin her once or twice and she loved it. Saturday night, I sliced my thumb pretty good on Jill's new Ninja fruit/veggie thingy. It's amazing how much you use your thumbs and since I'm lefty at 88% of everything, it's making daily tasks a lot harder.

Sunday, I attempted to find the FA Cup Chelsea vs Watford game (but it wasn't online/TV anywhere). We got even MORE snow, so Mia ran out and played in it. She made the attempt to ride her bike and discovered it just wasn't possible. She goes "why did I wish for snow....??" It was a cold walk this morning, but the moon was bright and beautiful. Nothing too exciting planned for the week. If it wasn't so cold, I'd love to take her sledding. That's all for now. Thanks for reading.