Quality Time

Good morning everyone on this beautiful Memorial Day. This is my last of my 4 days off and it's been pretty fun. We'll get back to that later. The week went pretty quick with a lot of different things going on. Wednesday, Mia hung out with her friends again after school. My Mom stopped by her school for lunch and brought my brother's old scooter for her to use when she got home. It took some tries, but she's getting better with it. Friday was Hot Dog Day, where the parents/grandparents can come to school and have hot dogs outside with their kids/grand kids. My Mom was supposed to go along with Jill and her parents but ended up having to work. I took her place. It was a beautiful day and the kids were a lot of fun. The weather started to shift and I got nervous since later that night, Mia and I were going to the Torrent game.

Sure enough, it on and off rained the rest of the afternoon and evening. Mia and I first stopped at Leff's for a bite to eat. Never ever ever again will I stop there with her. She ordered a quasadilla and for some odd reason, they served her one with jalapenos on it. WHY? I did my best to get it off and she ate little bits of it. When I mentioned it to the server, she said "yep, that's how we make them". Mia was so mad, but mature and kind enough to tell me "Dad, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at them for not knowing how to properly make a quesadilla"  Such a sweetheart.

Soon later, some of The Flood members rolled in as the weather went from skies of grey to sunshine! The storm passed as we walked into the game. I didn't know if Mia would have fun at the game, and really hoped she would. She honestly did. Wrapped in my jacket and Torrent scarf with a Torrent hat on her noggin, she cheered and blew her horn as the Blues got a late bicycle kick goal to win the match. She loved it when one of the guys lit off some smoke bombs and she especially loved it after the match where the supporters group was chanting her name "MIA! MIA! MIA!" because she had told everyone she'd be the teams "good luck charm" to win the game. Turns out she was right! After the game, she told me she wants to go again to a home match. I think she enjoys the chanting the most because it keeps the game fun. I had a reporter come up to me from the local paper doing an interview.

Mia somehow stayed awake on the ride home, but soon fell asleep on the couch waiting for Jill to get home with her girlies that spent the weekend here.

Saturday was dance class. She had lots of fun as Jill and the girls went to Chocolate Fest. We watched Chelsea lose to Arsenal for the FA Cup match. Totally disappointing. Mia and I went miniature golfing in the hot sun. The range was super busy, but Mia didn't mind. She even got her first HOLE IN ONE. She was totally proud of herself. I ended up getting one too on a later hole. Later, we all went out for sushi in downtown Waukesha. great place with some delicious rolls. Mia loved the fish eggs and dumplings.

Sunday, Mia and I met up with Grandma Gail and went to a painting studio to make something for Jill for her birthday, while Jill and her girlies went off to their own glass painting class. This morning, all of the girls left. Mia's still asleep and will be bummed she missed saying goodbye to Leanne. All in all, really fun weekend away from work. Jill's been working extra hard lately and really deserved this time away, while Mia and I did some father-daughter bonding.

This week, back to school tomorrow, and she's got her lemonade sale Saturday with Noelle outside Jill's studio. Should be a lot of fun. Our wedding anniversary is this week so we're hoping to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie Saturday. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Beauty and the Dad

Good morning everyone. Another busy week in the books. I spent my Wednesday off helping out Jill with her workload for a few hours. It wasn't the most exciting work, but it was nice to help her out and attempt to make her work-life easier. She gets super stressed so to help in anyway is a major bonus. Mia and I enjoyed the nice weather while walking Remi before homework. Towards the end of the week, Jill spent some late nights perfecting macaroons. I'm talking 3:00am still popping these little suckers out of the oven. They're absolutely incredible.

Friday, I took off for the Daddy/Daughter dance at the local HS. Before any of that,  I watched a nail-bitter of a soccer game between Chelsea vs West Brom. 3 points and we'd secure the Premier League title. I picked up Mia from school within the last 15 or so minutes and when she got home, their substitute Michy Batshuayi got the only goal of the game. They won 1-0 and the good guys won their title. Mia credited the whole win to when she got home. "They only scored because I came home, Daddy". That's all that matters. It was a crazy excited season as a Chelsea fan and with one trophy left to play for, they're not done yet.

Later, Mia and I got ready and went to the dance. As soon as the diva got in, I heard screams of "MIA'S HERE! MIA'S HERE!!!" and there were her friends, Cecilia and Hayden. The girls played while I met the Dads. We would dance together throughout the evening. She really like spinning around as much as possible. It honestly was a lot of fun and she was really glad she went. The turnout was low, but it was a good time nonetheless.

The Torrent played the dreaded DCFC on the road in front of 5,000+ Detroit fans and ended with a draw in the last minute. The Blues deserved to win, but with low visibility because of the smoke, they got scored on. They played Lansing yesterday and lost 0-2. Hope they can get on track with winning and get some major points.

Saturday, Mia had dance. It was open house so Jill and I stayed and watched her class run through the dance routine. It's pretty cute. Later, we met up with my parents to take them out to lunch for Mother's Day. Later, we went to see my buddy DJ's orchestra group play in Mukwonago. It was Mia's first concert experience. Some of the songs were pretty long for her, but for the most part she really really enjoyed it.

Sunday, Mia and I made Jill breakfast in bed, which consisted of Nutella waffle with a strawberry smile and some tea. She loved it, along with the variety of things Mia made for her. We later went to the beach till I went to work.

This week, lots of art to accomplish. Stressing myself out as usual, hoping to win the inner struggle of never feeling like I've accomplished anything. Nothing major for the weekend. Jill and Mia are going to a play, so that should be fun.

Thanks for reading!

Sun, Soccer and the Arts

Good morning everyone. Great to have another sunny day here in New Berlin. Despite the chilly start, I'm just glad we haven't had any rain for 3-4 days. This week was pretty busy, per the usual. Wednesday after school, Mia hung out with the neighbor girl Izzy, her newest friend. She goes to school with Mia, but is in an older grade. She joined Mia and I on a walk with Remi. She sure is a gabby girl, but I'm glad Mia has someone in our cul de sac to play with every once in a while when Noelle isn't home :P

Friday was High Interest Day. Apparently, it's the craziest most fun day out of the school year. Jill's parents and myself volunteered to help out in Mia's class room. Every grade had different activities and demos going on throughout the day including a juggling guy on a hover board, Quidditch outside, hockey, drumming and so much more. Our classroom was more on the arts which included Dot like Seurat, Food Art, music and a Rube Golberg machine. We had a variety of kids in groups of 4-5 come to our stations mixed with kids from different kindergartens. Myself and Noelle's Mom ran the Dot like Seurat activity.  For the most part, the kids got it. They understood Pointillism. Some kids didn't care and did what they wanted. Most of those kids weren't in Mia's class. It was a lot of fun and afterwards, the volunteers could stick around for lunch and recess. Of course I did. Jill's parent's stayed inside while I sat outside on the ground with the crazy kids. Recess was insane. They had every single kid from K-6th grade out there. It was hard to find Mia and her pals at times but it looked like they had a lot of fun.

Saturday, Mia had dance and pictures (later). I didn't see her fully in costume, but Jill said she was absolutely gorgeous. Mia and I took advantage of the nice weather and played at the park. Playing soccer with her was the highlight of the afternoon. She's so clever and fun to play with.  Later, I met up with my Dad to go to the Torrent vs Ann Arbor match. First one for the league for the season. It was scrappy one as the men and blue did everything they could to beat down their defense only to end the match in a 3-1 loss. I had a lot of fun drumming with The Flood and hyping the crowd. The next game I'll make will be the 26th against the Risers. They play this Friday in Detroit and man, is it going to be intense. They pack their stadium with 4,500 fans. We got 900+ on Saturday. It'll be different for the team for sure. Hope they can get a win on the road and my brothers in the Flood make it home alive.

Sunday, we did some yard work before I went to work. This week, Chelsea plays TODAY against Boro' and hopefully can get the win edging closer to a title. Spurs lost to West Ham Friday so our outlooks is looking solid. Friday is the Daddy/Daughter dance and Mia's super excited. Some of her friends are coming too. Should be a good time.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Sunny Days With Friends

Good evening! Completely exhausted from the night at work, but I've got some writing to do reflecting on Mia's Spring Break. Majority of the week, she spent time with friends including Hayden, Cecilia and Noelle from her kindergarten. Hayden and Cecilia met us twice at different parks and on Tuesday, Mia got to hang out with old friends she hasn't seen in a long time. Trey, Irianna and Kaylee met up and they had a great time. Mia's been missing Trey since his epic Halloween party and Irianna and Kaylee, Mia hasn't seen since end of 4-K? Anyways, the kids had fun and will hopefully get to hang out over the Summer.

Wednesday, Mia went to Valley View Park with Cecilia and Hayden and I think this park may be her favorite. We haven't been there in a long time and I sort of forgot it was still there till Cecilia's Mom brought it up. After a few hours of fun with friends, Mia and I visited the hockey store in search of some of her favorite little dogs. Luckily, she found them and played with them for a little while till we went to Guitar Center. Myself and Mia did some drumming on the E-Kits and Mia actually held a beat (sort of) The drum set she used was a great height but the kick pedal was wonky and she couldn't hit it at the same time. I applaud the effort. She wanted to try one of the bass guitars but they were way too heavy to hold on her little lap. It was a fun afternoon with the diva and I was thoroughly impressed with her drumming skills.

Another thing Mia did a lot of on her break was reading. She's super confident with reading and I believe it was Friday, she read a book front to back by herself. It was sort of a graphic novel and she really enjoyed it. Saturday was supposed to be dance class, but for some reason, the doors were locked and they gave the kids the day off. I guess for Spring Break? We went to Trader Joe's and went home. After that, I watched a very nerve-wrecking FA Cup Semi finals match between Chelsea and Spurs. We got the win 4-2, but it sure was a tough one. The shining moment was the incredible strike from Matic that secured the match. The reaction from his teammates on the bench was unforgettable. Almost better than the goal. The final match, we'll play Arsenal and hopefully will get the FA Cup. Tuesday, they play but I'll be at work :(

After the match, Jill and my Mom went kids resale shopping while Mia and I played soccer at the park. Mia put on the Hazard jersey and ran all over the pitch. She's getting really good at shooting with her opposite foot that she normally does. It was a lot of fun, just her and I.  Jill came home later and we had dinner. That night I had made plans to see The Descendents but they completely fell apart. The Milwaukee Torrent had their first friendly match that night as well in Racine and won 4-0. They play this coming weekend and I hope the weather is good.

Today, we spent the majority of my time before work outside enjoying the warmth. Back to reality tomorrow for Mia. School. She's not excited but IS excited to see some friends again.

This week, I'm working on a drawing for a 2nd grader I taught as well as other projects. Friday is the kick off party and Saturday is the Torrent vs Whitewater match. Should be fun. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

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!

If The Shoe Fits, TIE it!

Good afternoon everyone! Been a busy week, and April seems like it's already flying by. Mid week, I watched the very exciting Chelsea vs Man City game. We were ahead going into the 2nd half and I had to run to pick up Mia from school. As soon as she got out of class, I had said "hey how was school?" She responds quickly "Great, but what's the Chelsea score?" Priorities. She was glad we were winning and as soon as we ran home, she shed everything off (jacket/backpack) and sat down on the chair to watch the rest of the game. While cheering on our favorite team, she was also able to write up her thank yous to her friends for their birthday gifts.

Towards the end of the week, Mia had mastered something truly fantastic. The always tricky shoe-tying. That morning, she was playing with the laces on my hoody and just about had it but we didn't have time to play around so she had to get to school. Apparently during school, one of her friends Cecilia's laces were loose and asked Mia if she could tie them for her. Mia said she wasn't sure how to tie yet, so Cecilia took the time to show her the method she knew. By the time I got home from work, I was told she could do it. Friday morning, she tied her OWN laces like a pro. I'm totally proud of her. We really didn't have much to do with her new skill. It was her friend that had the patience to show Mia. She now likes to untie our laces only to re-tie them herself. Bravo little diva!

Saturday, she had dance class. I think she's slowly losing interest in it. She's looking into maybe doing a different activity after she finishes her semester and the dance recital. I think its good that kids want to try different things. She didn't quit mid-through everything and still really loves dancing.
Who knows, maybe she'll keep going, but as of lately she's been wanting to take tennis lessons with her BFF Charlie from school.

After she got home, we drove to the zoo. I skipped the Chelsea vs Bournemouth game because the weather was absolutely gorgeous and it'd be insane not to be outside. The Blues won and I watched the highlights before I went to bed. At the zoo, Mia took her instamax camera and took beautiful photos of the animals. Later, we went to the park and enjoyed even MORE of the day off together.

Sunday, the nephews came over and Mia took them to her playground at her school while I went to work.

This week I'm teaching the class of 24 2nd graders on character drawings. Nervous but excited. It'll be a lot of fun and I hope the kids really enjoy it. Mia starts Spring Break on Friday and has a birthday party to attend. She wants to keep as busy as possible on her break so hopefully we'll get to hang with lots of friends. Saturday is Easter at my parents house and Sunday, we'll do an Easter Brunch at our house before I go to work.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Birthday Beauty

Today is Mia's 6th BIRTHDAY! But...before we get to that, much to cover from the week. I had some random days off including Monday (for some reason) so Mia and I spent the first day of Spring hanging with her neighbor friend and classmate Noelle. We also brought Remi along with us so Noelle's dog Daisy and Remi ran around their fenced in yard. It was cute. They just chased each other all over the place and had a blast. She tuckered Remi out a few times. All in all, everyone had fun.

Wednesday after school. Mia wanted to do some drumming. She can just about reach the bass drum pedal. I think then next time she wants to play, I'll lower things so she can reach them a bit more comfortably. She can rotate sticks in between beats like a pro when she's playing the lower tom. "Dad, can you teach me something new on drums?" was probably the coolest thing she's said lately. Next time, we'll try something new and fun.

Saturday was her birthday party with family, but first was dance class. She had a great class and they had a demo of some dance moves from older kids. Mia was pretty impressed. Later, family came over and we celebrated her birthday. She got lots of great gifts and enjoyed spending time with her family. Her Grandpa Chicago and I had to build this big Monster High play set of the catacombs in her room. Took about an hour but it was worth it since Mia absolutely loves it. Another gift she's been really enjoying is this Hello Kitty Instmax style camera that prints out photos immediately. She's got about 25 pictures on the wall of her room. Her Grandpa Grumpy bought her 4 small containers of butter because apparently thats all she asked from him and today, Mia's wearing this beautiful dress she got from her Auntie Ashley and Uncle Zombie. After Mia fell asleep Saturday, Jill and I stayed up and binged Skin Wars on Netflix. That show is pretty fascinating.

Sunday I took off, and we spent some of the day cleaning and Mia spent it playing with new toys and such. Jill's parents came over for dinner since Mia wanted to stay in tank top and shorts and not leave the house. Eventually, the diva went to sleep and I spent the rest of the night drawing her picture while Jill did some photo work.

Today, I took off and will be joining Mia for lunch. Jill secretly is getting out early so she can walk over with me to meet up with Mia for some birthday fun. We love our little diva and are fortunate that we'll get to spend time with her today. It's hard to believe for us that she's already 6. She's grown so much in a short amount of time. Between 5-6, she's learned amazing things. She can write really well,  she doesn't have the stage fright she used to get, her art is beautiful and she writes the best stories. I think the most amazing thing, is that she she learned how to make friends. This may seem simple but think about that. You send your kid into a new school where they know almost no one. They walk into a class room full of 20 kids and they have to figure out who do they have something in common with. Mia made so many friends since starting Kindergarten in the Fall that to this day, impresses me. It could be as simple as finding people that are into the same things you're into, but it's still interesting to me. Mia's still in love with a boy from her 4K class, Trey. She talks about him every day and how she'l marry him one day. With all the great things she does and has done, she still has her diva moments and we have little battles. It's not all sunshine and cupcake here. Sometimes the battle is about clothes, going to bed/getting up or toys. Ugh. I'm hoping at 6 years old, she'll figure out tying her shoes and/or riding a bike with two wheels since they're two goals she'd like to accomplish.

This week, we'll be getting ready for Mia's 2nd and last birthday party. This one's with friends so it should be fun and crazy with a bunch of girls running around the house. Hopefully they'll have fun. I'm sure Mia will want to take pictures with all of them with her new camera. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Singing Diva

Good evening everyone! Great week for the most part. Not a bad weekend. We had some bizarre February weather with 60s-near 70's up to Wednesday! It was unreal! When Mia got out of school, we immediately got home, she went to the bathroom and we hit up the park. Normally, we'd just go to the park but from incidents in the past, the park bathrooms have been locked during the Winter months. Anyways, so we took Remi for a walk and she ran into her classmate and boy-next-door Max at the park. The kids ran around and enjoyed what would be the very last day of the warm weather.

Friday, I took the day off so that later, Myself, Jill and both sets of Mia's Grandparents could watch her perform and sing at the Kindergarten Friendship Concert. There were 3 classes of kids. 20+22 each. They all sounded great and the songs were adorable. As far as Mia, she sang her little heart out. Did all the motions, and had an awesome time. We were all so proud of her. She's really come a long way from 3K when she refused to sing to now in Kindergarten singing in front of a much larger group.

Later, we all went out to MOD pizza for some much deserved food. Saturday, Jill had acupuncture after a few hard weeks of manual labor at the new studio space. I took Mia to and from dance in between the Chelsea vs Swansea game only really catching about maybe 10 minutes total of the match. We won 3-1 grabbing an important 3 points giving us a 10 point lead over the Spurs. Later, we did some grocery shopping, had a very late lunch and watched the Penguins vs Flyers game. Another great game and win for the good guys. This was probably the first game I've been able to watch all season. Not surprising since most of the games are at night when I'm at work :( Mia even watched the game despite claiming to be a Hawks fan since Jill is. Psfff. Always, after the match, she passed out on the couch. I took her up to her room and drew till about 1am. I had to finish a rather difficult lunch note of Princess Poppy from Trolls. Don't think I'm drawing anymore. To blend the pinks is just super difficult. I need to get better at my soft Prismacolor pencils. It's difficult. I struggled with my drawing last week of Disgust. I used normal pencils on Poppy. I think for the most part it turned out okay. Earlier in the afternoon, we visited Mia's friends selling Girl Scout cookies at the local Pick N Save. Mia's addicted to the Lemonade ones and Jill got the coconut chocolate ones for herself.

Today, didn't do much. Jill and Mia went to my sister in law's clothing event. I did laundry and cleaned the kitchen. Mia called me before I left for work to excitingly say that she's lost her 4th tooth! She now has two missing up top giving her that authentic hockey mouth look. It's crazy. She'll be super excited to show her friend Charlie her missing tooth because she has the same two missing up top as well. It'll be funny.


This week's a weird one. I work tomorrow and then I'm off for three days in a row. I've got a lot of vacation to burn up so I'm using two days this week in that. Thursday I took off for a different reason: I'm volunteering at the Journey to the Arts program at her school. I'll be working back stage during the performance and helping get the kids ready for whatever it is they're doing. I'm sort of in the dark about everything so I'll find out this week what I've got to do.

That's it for now, thanks for reading!

Creativity Never Sleeps

Good evening everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the week and your weekend. The week started pretty rough. As posted in my last entry, Mia started the week sick. She said she was dizzy Monday and stayed home from school. Tuesday, still not right. She didn't want to miss school, but stayed home one more day. Wednesday was the 100th day of school so there was NO way she was missing it. She survived the day and had a great time at school. She did her homework when she got home and we watched Trolls. 

She survived the rest of the week and hoped to be well enough for dance on Saturday morning. She got through dance just fine and went to some sort of Women's convention at the expo center. I enthusiastically stayed home and worked on some projects. They were both for Mia's friends. One, was Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon for her friend Noelle who had a really bad fever Thurs-Friday. A little bird told me she's obsessed with dragons and that movie so it was a no brainer I'd draw her Toothless to cheer her up. Saturday, Mia told me her other friend Makayla is a big fan of my art and wanted Rosita from "Sing" drawn for her. Okay, sure. So after I knocked out Toothless last night, I started working on Rosita. I think I had restarted that drawing 3-4 times before getting the shape and form just right. It's not nearly done, but its coming along really nicely. Toothless, I did in a real sketchy pen/color pencil attempt so hopefully Noelle digs it. 

Picked up the girls later, we came home, organized and changed things around in Mia's room,  made some dinner and put on a movie. Mia was passed out before dinner was out. Seriously, was out the rest of the night. So, I did some drawing before I went to bed. 

The next morning I got up early to watch the Chelsea vs Burnley game. Thought this should have been an easier match than it was but they said at home, Burnley is pretty solid. We got a goal in the first 8 minutes. Pedro netted one in the bottom right corner. Later, they nailed us with a free kick to even the game the rest of the match. Costa was struggling to get any chances at getting a goal as well as others. 10 points still ahead on the table. FA Cup this weekend. Gotta knock out Wolverhampton. Mia woke up an hour later, happy but very hungry. She had some breakfast, we did some homework and put together her valentines for Tuesday's party before I went to work.

This week is certainly a busy one. I'm off Tues-Wed (YES!!!) for Mia's valentines day party at her school. I get to run the cookie decorating table. Hopefully the kids have fun. Wed, I hope to get new front tires. Saturday, Mia's got dance and Jill's leaving town for the day so Mia and I get to spend the entire day together. We're planning on seeing Lego Batman. I kind of want to take her out to dinner as well, so we'll see if that happens. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

Dance Little Girl

Good morning everyone. It was a pretty busy week so let's get right to it. Monday, I dressed up for work for Halloween. I was 80's hair metal drummer Metal Mike. It's the one holiday we can dress up (sorta) at work so I donned a black/blonde wig with aviators and had drum sticks in my back pocket.
I got all kinds of compliments and guesses who I was supposed to be. Bob Marley, Howard Stern and Ted Nugent were just a few of them.  Wednesday after school Mia and I hung out with her friend Noelle, and Noelle's sister Cora and neighbor Caitlyn. The kids had fun playing in the driveway despite the drab weather till Mia looks at me and says "Dad, I'm pretty hungry, but I REALLY want to play still". We went home. Jill and I stayed up and watched the World Series (which I can honestly say, I've never watched ever) in its entirety. She was so excited the Cubs won (despite being a White Sox fan) Jill believes in city solidarity. If a Chicago team can win a championship, she's stoked. Blackhawks, White Sox, Bears etc.

Mia had dance class Saturday. Apparently, it went really well because when we went to pick her up the woman who runs it pulled us aside and said "Okay, Mia's doing REALLY well and we want to see if she'd like to move up. She's got all of the technical skills down and I think she'd benefit from a more challenging dance group". Awesome. We had no idea what to expect when signing her up for dance or if she'd even like it. Turns out she likes it enough to be the best in class. To be fair, her group consists of 3-5 year olds but since it was her first formal dance class, we didn't know what to expect nor want to give her something she didn't feel confident doing. Starting tomorrow, she's in a new group at a different time. The reason why she's in Tuesday's dance class is because Wednesday, she's leaving for Florida with Jill and her family so it's a "make up day" for her. Hopefully it goes well and she likes it.

After dance class. we worked on the yard and raked leaves (despite the fact that on Sunday you could barely tell we even tried) Later, we drove to my parents house and Jill/Mia/my Mom went to a craft fair at HAWS while my Dad and I watched Chelsea thrash Everton 5-0. What a game. Hazard putting away two goals, Alonso gets his first and Costa adding to his already impressive list with Pedro grabbing the last one. It was a great performance showcasing confidence and pure raw talent that they so badly lacked last season. Conte is bringing the best out of these players and it makes watching every match more enjoyable when you see the players entering the pitch with their heads up high confident they'll bring home another victory.

Later, we drove to Milwaukee's First Stage Theater to watch the Goosebumps-Phantom of the Auditorium play. Mia loved it. Anything with ghosts and creepy singing, she enjoys. Afterwards, we're walking out and she says "I'm going to write and direct my own play called Shopkin: The Musical and have all of my friends star in it". Love this kid's creativity. Before the night ended, she completed a few sheets of homework before calling it a night. Sunday, we cleaned some of the garage before I went to work. Jill went to her parent's house and made her first batch of macaroons. She wasn't too happy with the final result so she'll have some tweaking to do with the recipe.

This week is a busy one. Tomorrow, Mia's got her last day of school and first day of her new dance class before she leaves for Florida early Wednesday morning. They'll return to Wisconsin Saturday evening. My plan is to do a lot of art, organize Mia's play area and make the most of the time. Saturday my friend is having a housewarming party so I'll probably stop over. Going to miss my girls. This is the first time she's ever flown without me.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Trick or Treatment

Good morning ghouls. Getting closer to Halloween and I've been successfully drawing up Mia's daily lunch notes in spooky themes throughout the month. My favorite so far as been my Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas. It's tricky working with negative space, but this one turned out really well. Wednesday was a beautiful day, so Mia and her friends met up at the park and got to play for a few hours. We ironically ran into her old friends Hannah and Gracie so all of them played together. Later that night I was lucky to witness something beautiful. I was fortunate to be present at the table watching Mia read aloud a book. It was the most beautiful thing that I don't think non parents can understand. She used to be this tiny kid trying to walk and make sentences. Now, she's comfortable reading sentences.  It honestly blew me away. I love watching her grow and get smarter. Thankfully, Jill has been working with her since the Summer with the technical aspects of reading so she's really polished Mia into this intelligent student while I'm stuck at work and the hard work shows. I've seen Mia get frustrated with work books over the Summer, but she has yet to get upset reading. It's beautiful.

Over the weekend, Mia had her dance class in the morning (as usual) which was fun. Later, we trick or treated at the zoo. She dressed up in matching unicorn costumes with Jill. The weather was gorgeous and she probably could have gotten away with her Draculaura costume. Later, we trick or treated the businesses in Delafield. We brought Remi who was dressed like a pirate. The kids loved him and everyone wanted to pet our dashing dog. Next year however, we won't bring him. It was a bit stressful and tough to walk at times. They moved the pumpkin lighting to a very tight area, so Jill and Mia wandered over there and I hung out with Remi on the opposite side of the street. He graciously excepted the pets and kisses.

Sunday, I watched one of the best matches of the season. Chelsea destroyed rivals Man U at the Bridge 4-0. FINALLY a game I could watch. Pedro opened up the assault at the .30 second mark and the goals just kept coming with Cahill, Hazard and Kante all getting on the board. Later, we went to lunch at Jill's parents house with her Aunt/Uncle that drove from Sun Prairie before I worked till 10pm. Busy week this week. I've got conferences with Mia's teacher Wed after school, she's got a Fall party on Thursday and she's off Friday. Saturday, dance class, then visiting Tommy in Madison, THEN we have her boyfriend's Halloween party. Trick or Treating in New Berlin is Sunday. Phew.
Have a great week everyone. Thanks for reading!

Short Week For Short People

Good evening. So it was a rather short week for Mia at school. The kids at Orchard Lane were granted two days off for teacher inservice or something but come Tuesday night, she wasn't feeling well. I got home from work and Jill said she was dizzy and had a fever. Poor girl. Wednesday we tried to wake her despite having a crappy night sleeping. We ended up letting her sleep in hopes the rest would help her out. After Jill left for work, Mia woke up feeling a little better. She didn't make it to school, however we did have a little adventure together.

Since she was feeling better and eating some food, we took it upon ourselves to surprise Jill. Wednesday apparently marked 16 years since her favorite show Gilmore Girls aired. Jill has been an avid fan since before I met her. She has watched every single episode dozens of times. Can quote it by heart, has researched some of the references etc etc. Netflix is doing a short one-off series based on Gilmore Girls with the same characters and they redecorated 200 different cafes across the country. Two of the 200 cafe locations were in Milwaukee, where they were handing out free coffee to the first 250 people that came. I asked Mia few times if she'd like to go and get Mommy a special coffee with Luke's on it (one of the characters). She really liked the idea of surprising Mommy, so we packed some food and headed out. We knew there would be lines so I made sure she had something to do. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we talked to some of the people in front of us who thought getting Jill coffee was really sweet. They had Luke's signs on the building and employees dressed up. It was pretty nice. The fans were smiling with their coffee, headed back to school or work. Mia felt so glad she could be a part of this and she couldn't wait to bring the brew in to Jill at work. I personally never got into the show, but I know that it's a big part of Jill's life so I knew I had to get her something special.

After school let out, we took Remi for a walk by the bus stop where her friend Noelle gets out. She was glad to see Mia because she missed her at school. "Charlie said you were sick today Mia!" I'm glad throughout the day she felt better. It was only Wednesday and she was worried she'd miss dance on Saturday morning. She had a great day at dance and we spent the majority of our Saturday doing some yard work, cleaning the house and getting ready for the big Halloween party. Later, Jill went out with some former co workers so Mia and I visited Grandpa and Grandma whom she hadn't seen for about a week. She helped decorate their house for the spooky holiday. We left after 9:00pm and Mia fell asleep instantly in the car. I spent the rest of the evening looking up ideas to draw her for the week. Sunday, we rearranged the basement. My drums are now on the opposite side and Mia has a bigger area to set up toys and play. After the party, we're going to use a long table for her stuff. Chelsea had an international break this week and are back in action early Saturday morning. Hopefully I can watch some of it.

Busy busy week this week getting everything ready so it'll probably go fast. Thanks for reading!

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! 

Ripe For The Pickin'

Good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and the pleasant weather (when it wasn't raining). School is going real well for Mia, she seems to be really enjoying learning new things and playing with her friends. One of her friends apparently lives nearby and wants to have a play date after school this week so we may make that happen come Wednesday. Early in the week, Chelsea played Leicester in the EFL Cup. They beat the EPL champs 4-2 which at the time, I had hoped would carry them into the weekend derby against Arsenal, but we'll get back to that later.

Wednesday, I spent the majority of the day finishing some design stuff for Ian Bennett's clothing like IB26. The website launched and you can order his new gear. Friday, Mia and Jill went to see the Storks. They've been showing the trailer for this goofy movie for what seems like months and months and I never had an interest in it. Jill said it was pretty silly, but Mia liked it. Jill told me when I got home from work that a boy apparently smacked Mia in the mouth at school. Apparently during lunch, Mia was being silly and he smacked her. Today, Mia told me that "I'll let him off with this warning but next time he does it, I'm telling the teacher". I doubt he did it maliciously and since Mia was being goofy,he was most likely playing accordingly. She's fine.

 Saturday morning, she had her dance class. Still really loves it but she said she has a hard time keeping her arms up for the moves because "it makes her arms tired".  Later, we tried to go to the Halloween store to see if we could find anything she may need or Jill may need for our costumes. Mia insisted she's a big girl and can handle walking around Halloween stores. Apparently, she IS in deed a big girl, but parts of the stores are still frightening. We didn't make it more than 20 seconds. Oh well. "DADDA! WHY WOULD THEY PUT CREEPY THINGS IN HALLOWEEN STORES WHEN THERE IS A CHILD WHO GETS SCARED OF THESE THINGS???!!?!"  Oh Child...

Later, I watched the majority disappointing Chelsea vs ARSEnal match. The Blues for some reason, didn't have their heads on straight. From Cahill's poorly executed back pass to the weak mid fields, it was a game I wish I never watched. They better get their heads of their arses for the next one or we may lose Conte by the holidays. After that nightmare of a match, we went to the apple orchard. Elegant Farmer to be exact. Gorgeous day for it. Mia climbed the trees getting all of the best apples she could reach. She road a pony and also wanted to do the corn maze but it was closing soon.

Sunday, we didn't do much. Cut the grass, retrieved some sale items from the JBF sale and Mia hung out with her grandparents and uncle the remainder of the evening.

This week, more lunch notes for Mia, some light graphic designing and for the first time in several several years, I'm working a weekday shift 6am-2pm so I can attend Ian Bennett's launch party Friday night.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Falcon Soars At Midnight

Good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and the gorgeous weather (at least Wisconsin has been having).  My week was sort of short, because I took off Thursday for one of the best live shows I've ever been to, but we'll get back to that later. School's been going really well for Mia, she's been having a lot of fun making new friends, playing and learning new things. In fact, we decided to let her host a Halloween party at our house and let her invite her Kindergarten friends and her old pre-school pals. So far, we've got 5-7 friends coming and she's going to hand out the invites to her class today. This will most likely be the biggest party we've had for her. Her 4th birthday, we had 10 kids running around which seemed intense at the time so hopefully we survive this one.


Speaking of school, she got in to a little bit of trouble during the week. Apparently a little boy was playing with something that she wanted and didn't want to play with Mia, so she decided to knock whatever it was on the floor. Naturally because she's a Justman, she got in trouble. If at all, both should have had a stern talking to. He should have included her, and she shouldn't have reacted that way. She felt bad when she got home and had a good cry about it. The next day, she said she didn't get in trouble this time so I was glad she was able to get along with him. Apparently a boy named Easton keeps giving her kisses during class that she claims she doesn't like. In a way, I was glad she didn't get upset and cry that the wouldn't include her, but at the same time my kid was in the wrong for knocking crap to the floor.

Thursday was a beautiful day to have off. It's normally a busy day at work so having that day off was fantastic. I was able to finish some art that I made for the singer, do some cleaning and laundry and it was the perfect weather for a walk to school to pick up Mia. It truly makes me wish I had a 1st shift job so I could be home with her every night. Later that evening, my co-worker Jon and I met at our work and drove down to Madison to see super-ground The Falcon headline the Frequency, a quaint little venue that the owner of Red Scare Industries claims is one of his all-time favorite places for shows. The crowd was pretty tame during the 1st of 4 acts. Not the best group (since I can barely remember their name). During the 2nd one, I saw lead singer of the Falcon (and Lawrence Arms), Brendan Kelly walking around so I walked up, and handed him the Lego drawing I made. He was stoked about it and I found out later, hung it at the merch booth. Hopefully it wasn't picked up by anyone. We talked for a while by the merch area. He's definitely one of the nicest musicians I've met in the last 20 years. The 2nd band, Help Desk wasn't too bad. More hard-core meets Joe Cape style. All of them in shirts/ties singing about work-related stuff. Not bad stuff. Last opener was local band from Eau Claire, Arms Aloft. They were okay, and had quite a mosh pit going for the majority of their set. I was more than stoked to hear some Falcon. They took the stage and dominated a 16 song set list. They opened with Sailors Grave and performed at least 10 songs off the new album, Gather Up The Chaps. They closed out the night with "Lazyboy 500". At the end of the set, they had a conga line going around the venue to the infectious 80's tune "Call Me Al" by Paul Simon. I got on stage with my buddy and we conga'ed around the whole place with everyone. The band quickly went back stage. Some came back out to start packing up their gear. I saw Alk3's Dan packing so I went up to talk to him. I thanked him for coming to Madison and he gave me a set list off of Neil's drum monitor. Never got a set list before so I was pretty stoked about that. We drove home exhausted from an exciting show at a fun venue.

Friday, I was dead exhausted all day but had to work. I was bummed to be missing the Chelsea vs Liverpool game, but later found out at work that Chelsea lost. So pissed. Saturday, Mia had dance class again. She still REALLY loves it. Later, she hung out at the park with BFF Olivia and her brother. She watched him play soccer at his game WHILE playing soccer with Olivia. While I was at the park, Jill hit up the JBF sale and picked up some fall/winter clothes at a good price.  Sunday, we gave Remi a bath and that was about it. Jill and Mia did some trial runs on some treats for the party at Mia's Grandparent's house. Majority of the week, I've been working on Ian Bennett's clothing line ads getting him ready for his big event. I've also upped the quality of Mia's lunch notes. So far, my favorites that I've done are Clawhauser from Zootopia and a Rainbow Dash. Both really turned out nice and I hope they get better and better. Today I'm starting note #14. Tomorrow, Mia brings a snack to school for her class. String cheese! :)

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Put On Those Dancin' Shoes

Good morning everyone. Well, the school year is in full swing and things seem to be going well for Mia in kindergarten. She's befriended two or three new girls in her class and one in particular she talks about ALL the time, Charlie. In fact, she had me draw two Monster High pictures for her friend because Mia was stoked that she too, loves the show/movie series. This morning I finished the 2nd one and Mia brought them to school. I've also been drawing a picture in her lunch every single day as well. Some more complex than others. My nightly routine when I get home has turned into: eat food, draw Mia a picture, shower then bed.

Tuesday, Mia was supposed to have her very first ballet/tap class. I had a missed call and a vm while at work and it was my mother-in-law telling me that Mia didn't want to do dance that day after school. She was tired, hungry and didn't want to put on the outfit. As frustrated as I was, I was glad we were able to transfer her to a Saturday morning class. It was weird Wednesday. It was my first day off while Mia was at school so I had literally 7 hours to myself in the house. Did some cleaning, some art and drumming before getting Mia with my parents to show them exactly where and how to pick up the diva. The rain was obnoxious keeping me from hitting the pitch for the first time so I'll have to try again this week.

Saturday, Mia had her dance class. It was like night and day from Tuesday. She got up, got in her tights and outfit and was out the door for dance. She's in a class that consists of 3-5 year olds which is good for her since this was her first year taking a dance class. I forgot how old some of these kids were when I saw her next to some of these girls and saw how tiny they were. We dropped her off and had about 45 minutes to do whatever we needed (which is almost always a Trader Joe's run)
We picked her up after TJ's and she couldn't have been more excited to tell us about dance. She wanted to dance more! Great. Glad she was able to do Saturdays.

Later, Mia raced the neighbor boy (and her classmate) Max in the cul de sac before we had my parent's over for dinner. We started the preliminary planning for a friend's Halloween Party at our house. Mia wants to invite friends (old and new) to our house for a flashlight candy hunt and snacks. Hopefully, we can figure it out and get her friends to come. To close out the Saturday, I watched part of the Earthquakes game and missed the Sounders unfortunately tie the game.

Sunday morning I watched the Chelsea game.  Talk about an intense match. Chelsea got the early lead with a great goal from Costa. 2nd half, two mistakes led to Swansea getting the lead but once again, Costa picked up another goal and we secured a draw. Should have won but it was pretty physical. I'm missing the Friday match against Liverpool sadly.

This week, I'm busy busy busy in the creative department so hopefully I can get all of my projects complete. I'm off Thursday for The Falcon show in Madison. I only go to concerts once every few years usually for a band I either have never seen or rarely get to see. These guys are totally worth driving for. That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

First Day of School

Good morning everyone. Having a very slow Labor Day after a night of drinking and dancing with some old college friends of mine last night, but we'll get to that later. This week was the official last week of Summer before school started Thursday. My goal was to enjoy it as much as I could with the diva. Wednesday, we met up with some friends of hers at the park. Hannah and Gracie met us so the girls had a great time playing and running around. They won't get to see each other much during the school year so I figured it would be great the day before school to hang out, tell secrets and play one last time.

Mia had high hopes her BFF Olivia would join as well since she had a Best Friends necklace she wanted to share with her. She didn't make it. I guess the past few days she wasn't feeling great. Mia was missing her greatly, and well after FaceTiming with her and her Dad, it appeared she was feeling better so we went BACK out to the park (different one) and they hung out for one last time. She gave Olivia the necklace and they played. I love seeing Mia care for her friends like this. To have these special friends that she loves so much, it makes me very happy. Wednesday evening we got the very excited girl to sleep a little after 9:00pm. I packed her lunch for her and drew her a small picture for her to see at lunch time.

Thursday we got up early, got the sleepy diva awake, dressed, fed and out the door. It was a very emotional walk to school. To think how fast the last 5 years have gone, and where we're at right now, is surreal. This little child will be at this school for the next 6 years, making new friends and experiencing new things. Mia was determined as ever as we walked in with the other misty-eyed parents. We waited in the gym for the teachers to meet with the kids. They told them to say their goodbyes, and that was it. I wouldn't see Mia till the very next morning. 7 hours of school. It seems like a lot to take on but that's what kindergarten is these days. Jill and I walked home, both sad and somber about our little girl growing up. We were relieved when we learned the neighbor boy was going to be in her class with her so at least she knew ONE kid. Jill went to work and I went home, but luckily had a freelance photography job to go to at 10:00am to keep me busy. I can't talk much about it till things are published, but it was a lot of fun and you should see something in the near future.

Mia and Jill stopped in by me at work and I couldn't have been more stoked to hear how school went. Mia didn't say much because I was hella busy, but it sounded like she liked it. She said the girls liked her pink/blue hair piece she had in and they thought it was dyed. She simply told them "no, but the blonde hair is natural!" Adorable.

The next day, we walked across the street again and dropped her off but this time at her class. When I saw her Friday night after work, it sounded like she had made some new friends. Saturday she did her homework while I helped my sister move some chairs with my brother to her new apartment. We cleaned and spent some time outside with Jill's pal that drove up to visit. Jill and Leanne conspired a plan Saturday to get early Sunday and drive down to Indiana to visit a friend for her birthday. Sort of a surprise, and thats exactly what they did. They left at 5:00am yesterday and should be home today. After I got out of work last night, I drove over to Bullwinkle's to meet up with some old college friends to celebrate my friend Shawn's wedding. We drank, danced and had an awesome time. It's pretty rare I get to drink with friends these days so this was a pretty fun night. We always have an awesome time, and I expected nothing less than pure drunken debauchery from Shawn and his new wife.

This week, back to school tomorrow for the kiddo,  she starts ballet and tap tomorrow after school, I'll probably squeeze in some drumming and I don't know what else is going on. Thanks for reading!

Double Feature

Hello everyone! hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and the gorgeous weather. This week, Mia got to hang out at the park with a couple of her crazy friends, Irianna and Nate at the always busy; Malone Park. I swear, it is super easy to lose a kid at this place. There had to be at least 50+ kids running around. They chased each other around, climbed the monkey bars and swung from a large saucer swing. All three of them needed my assistance getting them off upside down from the monkey for most of the time we were there. I'm sincerely glad she's got such great friends and hope they can all hang out during the school year (when possible). It's going to be tricky with all of the kids doing different activities during the school year, but we'll just have to try.

Wednesday was Tattoo Day, but first a quick photo session for the Torrent at Jill's studio. Her boss took a few photos of me in jersey/scarf and as well as some with my mask/drum for their social media sites. Basically, it was to announce I'll be continuing to work for them in 2017. Later, it was tattooing time. It was my very last session of my gorgeous Hawaiian half-sleeve that I've been working on all Summer, and I couldn't have been more excited to finish it. My amazing tattoo artist, Marcus put about 4 hours into coloring the shark, finishing the blue around the bicep and above the turtle and tightening any lines that needed it. The painful areas were defiantly "the ditch" or the hinge of the forearm and upper arm, but that wasn't nearly as rough as the last 15-20 minutes of coloring up my arm. He was going to stop where the shark tail ended but I insisted he kept going and finish it. "Are you sure? I figured I would do you a favor and stop." No, let's do this right and finish it. So, he did. It was real rough and sorta reminded me of my 1st tattoo (2nd session) when my artist was pulling from the inner arm. I'm proud of myself for sticking it out and couldn't have been more happier with the final results. This tattoo captures my sincere love of Hawaii, the marine animals and my beautiful family. I've had a slew of people asking me about his work and where to find him and I've happily given them all his info. He gave me a product called tegrederm that he's never used before in any session. It's mainly used for burn victims, but tattoo artists are starting to take advantage of this wrap that apparently helps with the healing process. You can leave it on up to 5 days at a time. Friday, I took off the first wrap and boy did it hurt. I put a new wrap on it and tomorrow, will be removing it. I'm excited to clean this arm, get all the adhesive off and let it heal.

Thursday, Jill and I had a biometrics test. My results were great and we'll have a better cheaper insurance for another year. Saturday, I finally got to watch Chelsea play a match in the 16/17 season. They beat Burnley 3-0 comfortably. Hazard got the first goal, Willian put away the 2nd and Victor Moses completed the day with the final goal. It's great to see them playing well again and on top of the league. There's an international break so no games for a little while. Later, we went to Mod Pizza and went to the movies. Jill's parent's met us and took Mia to see the highly anticipated animated movie called Kubo and the 2 Strings. Mia said it was really good, dark with some scary parts. We went and saw Florence Foster Jenkins. It's a true story about a woman who is awful at singing, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. I It's pretty rare that we get to enjoy some time like this, just the two of us and the movie was actually pretty good. It was fun that Mia got to see a movie while we saw one for us. When we got out, she was waiting eating Gelato.

Today, we went to the zoo briefly to enjoy the gorgeous weather before I had to work. This week is a busy one. Mia's got her orientation day on Tuesday, which she'll bring in her supplies, meet her teacher again and see the classroom. I'm trying to get some of her friends together to hang before they all go off to Kindergarten. Thursday will be her first full day of Kindergarten. Jill's taking part of the day off and I have to work so I won't hear how it went till the next day :/.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

GOLAZO!

Good evening everyone. Busy week (and weekend) over here, and I'm dead exhausted, but for some reason, feel like writing before hitting the showers/bed. Cold temps this week, which sucked, but after school on Wednesday, I took Mia over to the temporary ice rink at Malone Park and we skated. We had the whole place to ourselves, so it was nice to skate, just the two of us. She would get frustrated because the surface isn't all that smooth and was difficult at times to skate solo. It's not as easy to get going as the Petit but we still had fun. She's really into "ice dancing" and we'd have to dance together. It was cute. Later that night, I played a very rare session of pick up indoor soccer at Brookfield Indoor. Rusty at times, but I had a lot of fun. Only snagged one assist and no goals, but it was a good time. The guys were pretty cool. I gotta work on ball control a bit. My finishing was rough at times. I would get in a weird angle with a player against me, and I'd lose my bearings. It was crappy at times. I got a few good shots, but not enough for me to be happy with. I hope to play again some time.

Friday, I got Mia registered for Kindergarten for the 2016/2017 school year. YES, you actually have to have them registered already. It's insane, really. We could never get the school district site to work, so we walked across the street, sat down and did it on their stupid laptop. Took a while, and thankfully Mia was very patient but she's registered. She has an "assessment test" scheduled for March so we'll find out where she is for the class. It'll be a totally new environment for the diva, new friends, teachers and schedule. She'll have to get used to going to bed even earlier then she is now, and a full days worth of school and fun. She's excited, but sorta sad she won't have her best friends in class anymore. Luckily, we keep in contact outside of school so she'll have opportunities to be with them.

Saturday, I had a Flood meeting later in the afternoon. We discussed merch, the league and schedule that should be released soon, the songbook and other things at the Nomad, the jersey sponsor for the Torrent. I picked up the Flood scarf after we did a photo-op with the Fonz to help promote the supporters group. I'm really happy with how my design for the supporters scarf turned out. The detail looks real cool and I'm quite proud of my work. When the schedule comes out, I"ll be able to get some solid work on it. Should be soon. Myself and the intern are also taking on a project to get a kids club put together so that will be fun.

Later Saturday evening, we went tubing with Mia's BFF Olivia, her bro Gavin and Dad at The Rock Sports Complex. TOTALLY fun for a couple hours. The kids totally could have gone longer. Jill watched and will probably do it next time. I would go down with Mia, then her BFF, THEN her Bro..it was fun. They have this "magic carpet" that takes you back up the hill. The kids had a blast.

Today, I watched Chelsea defeat those no-good rivals Arsenal 1-0. Costa got a great goal in, thus digging into the rivals more, which was perfect. The 2nd half,  the Blues shoulda done a bit better since the team was down to 10 guys after the red card early in the 1st half, but a win is a win.
Mia and Jill went to my nephew's birthday. From what I was told, they had fun and Mia was social with every single one of the guests. This week, I've got some serious Torrent stuff to do, and most likely cleaning. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!