Bring On the Snow!

Evening everyone. Mild week over here for us but with Christmas fast approaching, things will quickly change so let's get right to it. The weather has been real mild so Mia and I have been desperately craving some snow so we can start snowboarding. The Rock is attempting to open this coming weekend with the upcoming temp change dropping to the teens they'll be able to make snow. Our goal is to at least snowboard there at least once. Other than that, we'll continue hitting up local spots and creating jib spots with PVC pipes.

Chelsea played Villa middle of the week so before work I watched a little bit of it before work. They pulled off a win but sadly didn't work out for them Sat, but I get back to that later. Thursday I had my year end meeting for work in the morning. After wards, I worked on the book and waited for Jill to come home so we could pick up Mia from school. Sadly, the diva had a pretty rough day with a friend. Luckily, Friday was better. I wish I could fix these issues but unfortunately, Mia has to learn to handle then on her own. It's frustrating. I helped her with homework and made dinner for Jill, Mia and myself before they crashed for the night.

Saturday, I got up nice and early to watch Chelsea blow the match to one of the worst teams in the EPL. Everton fired their manager towards the end of the week so picking up the interm manager seemed to really turn their team around. They played completely different against the Blues so it was disappointing to see Chelsea struggle. Big game this week against Lille on Tuesday so I hope things get better.

Mia woke up after the game and relaxed with me till we went grocery shopping. After we got home, we celebrated her Grandpa Chicago's birthday. Friday night, Mia made him a special present-shaped cake that turned out amazing. Of course her Grandpa Chicago loved it as well and the gifts. They took their annual Christmas card photo as well with an awesome dinner by Grandma Missy Shell.

Today, Mia made us all pancakes which were pretty tasty! Jill and her hung out with Tommy and Grandpa and Grandpa when I left for work. It was a typical day at work and I was pretty gutted to find out I wasn't granted my week off for the Christmas week while Bryan and the family come in. Totally bummed out, which fuels me even more to leave and find something new.  I'm counting down the days till the indoor season starts so Mia and I can't wait.

This week, I hope to finish the book and Mia's got a birthday party and possible sleepover. that's all for now, thanks for reading!

Merry Halloween

Greetings everyone. Normally I write late Sunday night after a long night at work, but due to a couple of failed attempts at drawing Penny Parker for Mia's lunch note, I stayed up working on a sketch of Spidey instead. The week was manly uneventful but things certainly got interesting on Thursday. Wednesday night into Thursday we had a little snow that turned into about 2-4 inches total Thursday afternoon. Unreal. Most kids have never seen snow this early before for the majority of the trick or treaters in Waukesha, that didn't stop them. Sure, a lot of kids stayed home but if you're motivated enough for candy, you'll dredge through the snow bundled up. Mia said the kids were going around school saying "Merry Halloween!" So cute...

Friday, Jill and I volunteered at Mia's school Fall party for her class. It always goes super fast because everything is in stations. Jill ran a make your own scarecrow craft and I did rock painting. Vida's Mom did cookie decorating and Elia's Mom helped with snacks. The kids honestly only had about 10-12 minutes per station so not a lot of time for kids to come up with a rock idea. A lot of the boys just scribbled obnoxiously on the rocks while the majority of the girls carefully painted their rocks. Mia did a cute red panda (shocking). After that, we went home for the day and relaxed on a rare Friday off from work. Saturday, I watched the 1st half of the Chelsea match before heading to an even more rare Saturday shift. Luckily, they got the job done and are still in the top 4. The shift was utterly insane and I hope I don't have to do it again. Getting short shifted is all too regular and I can't even walk in the door without thinking "so who's going to call out 'sick' a gain?" After the shift, I stayed up drawing till late since it was Daylight Savings. Such a stupid thing to observe.

Sunday, Mia cleaned out her room of toys and clothes she doesn't wear anymore. I'm honestly surprised that she was able to part with a lot of her stuff so that was a positive experience. Came home last night and continued drawing till 12am.

This week, not much going on. I may have lunch with Mia this week. I'm going to also attempt to create an indoor team interest for the Jan-Feb season since I can't do futsal with the kids.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

An Anniversary and a Field Trip

Good evening everyone. Quite a busy week and almost end of school year. My day "off" was spent helping my homey Jon and his fiance move from Waukesha to South Milwaukee. Quite a bit of heavy lifting in some super muggy weather, but we got the job done. The worst was complete and they only had a few other things to move. Later, Mia and I post-school drove to Spectrum to upgrade our super slow Internet. What a major different 1.2 mbps to 100 mbps is. We sincerely needed the speed upgrade for the heavy amount of work Jill and I do.

At some point this week, (I think it was early in the week) we had a massive tree branch come crashing into our wires. They where able to cut out the branches and clear the area, but left me a nice bunch of logs and branches to move by hand. Fantastic. Throughout the week, I've been moving pieces of the tree. Someone stopped by the other day and picked up some of them. Great. I've got more to move so we'll see if they too get moved. After Mia and I got back from Spectrum, she immediately made Jill and myself an anniversary card, and demanded she wake up early to make us breakfast in bed. Aww..

Thursday was Mine and Jill's 10th wedding anniversary and Mia unfortunately wasn't able to get up "early" to make us her special breakfast. She did however give us her super sweet card that read "Happy Anniversary.  Mom, thanks for marrying Dad,. Dad, thanks for marrying Mom" SO sweet. She included our pastor and wedding cake. Great detail kiddo. It's been an amazing 10 years with plenty of ups and downs and I couldn't imagine a better person to marry. So grateful I met Jill.

Friday, I took the day off for Mia's very first field trip at OL. Myself and a few parents carpooled to Milwaukee to meet the kids for the play Judy Moody and the Mad Mad Mad Mad Treasure Hunt. I had Mia with 3 other kiddos. Mostly easy group to deal with. Great play and lots of fun. Later, I drove solo to the Torrent Kzoo match. I had high hopes the boys in Blue could pull off this major win. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the stars and Kzoo defeated us with two men down, a coach and plenty injured. They where diving left and right all over the pitch getting plenty of chances and pissing off the good guys. It was a chilly, but disappointing match. They picked up 3 points today in Indy but with plenty of missing players. The rest of the season won't be easy so I hope they can finish strong.

Saturday, Mia and I went to Toys R Us to look for a gift for her friend's party. She found a few things she really liked for her but stumbled on something that she just about dropped her jaw for: macaron earrings with kitties. Now for years she's been tossing the idea of piercing her ears but kept talking herself out of it with "no, it could hurt and I don't ever want to". Well this all changed. If she had her way, she would have walked into Avant Garde that moment to pierce those ears. Nope. She has to wait. Next week is her dance recital and the company strictly forbids it. Sorry kiddo. Going to be a tough week, but with so many things going on, she'll be distracted till the day she goes in.

Later, we had lunch and hung out with my in-laws and good ol' uncle Tommy. Later, we went out for Grandma Missyshell's birthday. We had intentions on going to People's Park but the wait was a bit long so we strolled over to Mia's; An authentic Italian restaurant. It was very very good with massive proportions so if you ever go with a significant other, you can easily order one dish and share. Mia and I split a pizza that was super tasty. She LOVED that it was called Mia's and as we where heading out, she was holding the door for other guests that where leaving for the night. What a sweetheart.

Later, we had cake, watched Coco and went home for the night. Sunday, Mia and I walked over to her friend's party. She had fun while Jill and I cleared out some toys and organized some of the living room/den. All in all, pretty good weekend. This week is the final week. Spirit week, year books and I'm teaching a class on Tuesday. Always fun with Mrs Mayer's class. She's got her recital on Saturday and her BFF Cecilia is staying the night as well.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

A Snowy Christmas in a Galaxy Far Far Away

Greetings and Happy Holidays everyone. Man, was it a busy week but the holidays are over and we're almost complete with the year, but not before a busy last week of school before Mia's break. We did some cookie baking with some friends on Wednesday. Great time and a possibly new holiday tradition. Mia had a Pajama Day Thursday and a holiday party Friday at school before she was done for the year till January. It'll be a nice break from the schedule and we'll take full advantage of the time to relax and hang with friends. Saturday, Jill made the trek down to Illinois to visit her friends Kara and Sammi while I watched the Chelsea vs Everton match. It was quite the disappointing draw and we really need to stop losing or drawing to these teams that we should be defeating. I missed most of the League Cup match against Boro because A-My half bro Todd came for a surprise visit (which was fantastic) and B-I made a haircut appointment at a barber. Great place that I may return to in the future. CFC won and will be in the semi-finals.

After the Chelsea vs Everton match, Mia and I ran to a few stores (bad idea) to get our candy and Izzy before The Last Jedi. She was super excited to see her first Star Wars movie in theaters (as was I). Despite my sister telling me a pivotal moment in the plot, we enjoyed it and Mia lasted the 2 1/2 hours. She of course loved the Porgs and and crystal foxes. The movie has had some serious backlash with parts that could have been omitted or edited, but no movie is perfect and overall, we both liked it. We went home and met up with Jill before heading over to her parents house for a Christmas eve eve dinner. Great time playing the dice game and spending time with family. Mia even tried crab legs and loved them. At Heather's house she tried peanuts and surprise surprise, loved them.

Sunday morning, we got up early and went down to Illinois to skate with Jill's friends Leanne, Jacqui and Rick plus Caleb. Jill somehow got through the crappy snow and we made it. She took pictures of us. It was Mia's 1st time on single-blade skates and Caleb's first time ever skating. Both kids did great and had a lot of fun. We met up with Nicole and Jason after and had lunch before make the trek back to Wisconsin to meet up with my family for Christmas Eve. The drive wasn't as bad going back. Mia got all kinds of great gifts and myself some money towards our big trip. She had a lot of fun playing with her cousins and it is ever so evident that Easton totally looks up to Mia. He wouldn't leave without a hug from her and luckily Mia was cool about it. We drove home, watched a few episodes of Fuller House and Mia crashed for the night. We were all exhausted after the traveling back and forth. I did some final touches on the book before going to bed. Today, Mia got up around 9:00am, remembered we got snow just in time for Christmas, and made her way dow the stairs to check out the loot.

She immediately gave us our gifts she picked out before getting too much into her own. She did the sweet gesture last year as well. As much as she loves to get presents, she equally likes to give. Whether its hand-made gifts or things she picked out with a parent, she's always stoked to give. She LOVED her new Adventures of Mia and Red Panda book that she read before we went to The Ridenours. She got plenty of Shopkins stuff, some Hatchamal toys (ugh) and LOL Dolls (double ugh..) We had breakfast and relaxed before going to the inlaws. Mia opened more gifts as well as Jill and I did. I got an Everything Sucks Descendents record, a cool pocket drone, TLA live dvd, A GoPro stick for our trip, the new Pirates movie, a CFC street sign, A Bob Ross Pop vinyl,  plus plenty more. Jill and Mia both got flippers and snorkels for the trip as well as a crucial inversion table for Jill. Hopefully she can better her body overall with it (as its been recommended a dozen times to her from various people in the medical field) I'm hoping it helps. My parents came over later and we had a delicious dinner, played another few rounds of the dice game before they left. We left soon after. It was a busy weekend and we're off and running with Mia's Winter Break. As far as plans for the week, we have nothing planned. I have work tomorrow again and we may hang out with Mia's friend Olivia. Possibly go sledding? Who knows. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

End of the Season

Good evening everyone. Hoping to get through this quickly because I'm dead tired but I have a lot to write about. This week was a busy busy busy one. Wednesday, we had our very last practice as a team. I wanted to have the kids learn a thing or two before one last fun game of Sharks and Minnows. The kids counted first touch passes while alternating their passing feet. We did some 1v1 and 1v2 drills as well. Throughout the season, I'd have good concepts on how to do a drill, and half the time it'd work, the other half it'd get lost and they wouldn't get it. Overall, good practice and the kids were ready for Saturday's last match. A few of them told me they wish we had way more games left, and they didn't want the season to end. They became more friends then anything at the end of this season, always playing great together and there for each other. This was something I didn't expect to happen, but proud it did. Mia and I stopped for some chocolate milk before heading home to make dinner.

Friday, I had my front brakes replaced before going to work. Saturday, I woke up to a chorus of texts from my older brother about the Chelsea game. I missed Pedro's 11th minute goal but watched the rest of the match. Great win for the Blues getting the much-needed 3 points. Mia woke up soon after and got ready for her last game. She was determined to get a goal and wanted to play her very best. We arrived at the field and started warming up before Scarlet arrived, then Cecilia, Elia and Kylee. Before giving me a nervous breakdown, Addison and Bella showed up. Still needed Antwita, our #1 keeper. They had to be checked in, so we started Scarlet in goal. She was having a rough time in warm ups and avoiding using her hands so I had a feeling the start wouldn't go well. Sure enough, they got an early goal. Crap. Antwita arrived before the goal and I promised she'd be in goal the 2nd half.  She had some time on the field in both D and striker. We equalized soon before they got a 2nd goal. Kylee, got another goal after a fantastic pass from Bella giving us the lead 3-2 before half time. We controlled much of the 1st half and I was pretty in awe of that perfect assist from Bella. Antwita switched with Scarlet and went into goal. The girls played well,  had some great moments and it wasn't long before Kylee picked up her 4th goal of the game. Cecilia came out with what she described was a hurt hip. Mia played striker for quite a while determined to net a goal. She played about %5 more aggressive but still was cautious around the opposition. Bella, who mainly played defense took a rare turn as striker. She was always more comfortable in her defending position, but quickly got a shot off almost netting her first goal. Soon, the refs blew the whistle and the Lightning won their last game. WOOO!!

The girls went 5W and 2L. Impressive for these amazing players. I decided to do a quick medal ceremony giving the girls their much-deserved hardware one at a time while describing how they did and giving them a nick name. (Electric Elia, Awesome Addison, Kick Butt Kylee, Mighty Mia, Courageous Cecilia, Ambitious Antwita, Sweetheart Scarlet and Big Bad Bella) I can't describe how much fun this season was for me. To be able to combine my passion for soccer and love for teaching kids at this age was truly enjoyable. When I signed up to be an assistant coach and ending up head coach, I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself in for. The goal was simple: To have them learn the game while having fun. They all have a better knowledge of positions, proper passing techniques and teamwork which is more than I could ever ask for. The parents were great with helping out with snacks and giving me notice if their kid couldn't make it. All of the kids said they had a great season and I hope to do this next year. I'd love to develop Mia as a player so she's got more confidence on the field. For one guy running a team for some kids that have never played before, I think overall I did well and would do it all over again. I got a hand-written note from Kylee thanking me for coaching her this season and a really nice costume water bottle from Bella's Mom. So incredibly kind of them and totally didn't expect that!

After the game, Mia, myself, Jill and her family went out for some celebratory pizza at Mod. Great way to end our successful season. Later, Mia got into costume as well as Jill and we went to the Spooktacular at the Zoo. We met up with Mia's friends Noelle and Katelyn as well as their siblings. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved the spooky displays. During the week, Mia was on the fence about doing a sleepover at Noelle's house but by the end of the Spooktacular, she decided she absolutely wanted to do it. So, after the zoo, we went home, changed their costumes and packed a bag for Mia before walking her to Noelle's house. The girls watched one of the Descendents movies before crashing. Jill and I went out for sushi and Big Tuna. Super tasty and a really nice and rare evening for us. We had thought about going to a friend's Halloween party but with Mia at a sleepover and the party in Waukesha, we didn't want to be too far from Noelle's in case she wanted us to come back to pick her up.

We picked up Mia in the morning before taking her to her friend's birthday party. On the walk home, she told us how much fun she had and she was glad she spent the night. She's growing up so fast. She wants to have a group of girls come over sometime now :O

This week, we're carving pumpkins Wednesday and I took off the weekend so we can trick or treat with friends and family. 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!

Fun With Friends

Good morning everyone. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is just about here. Last week was an intense one for Mia. She returned back to school on Monday only to receive 15 sheets of HOMEWORK! Oh em Gee. Luckily, she didn't stress out about it, and even though she didn't have to do it all in one night, she did anyway. She didn't want to get behind and conquered it all. For the most part, homework for her is just repetitive sheets all very similar. Write this out, rhyme words, etc. She also has to read through sight words and poems every day. Seems daunting for a kindergartner but she seems to handle it just fine. I was off Tuesday and worked early Wednesday morning. Strange schedule, but it was nice to spend time with Mia on both days. Unfortunately this week, she got sick (along with Jill). Thursday, she didn't sleep much but got herself to school. We had told her that if she didn't feel good enough to stay at school, she could go to the office and have them call. She apparently was too afraid and instead, drew some pictures that said "Mom Dad, I don't feel good". The other one said "I am miserable".
Felt so bad.

She didn't make it to school Friday and took the day off to try and knock out her sickness. Her goal was to be better enough for her new level dance class and her friend Charlie's birthday party. Mia woke up super excited that we had snow in the grass. She wanted to play in it, but A-there was too little of it, and B-she had dance to get ready for. She made it to dance and really liked it. She's mentioned that its harder than her previous dance class, but she seems to like it all the same. We got home and she changed into a dress and was off to her friend Charlie's 6th birthday party. She was joined with the majority of her classmates at a fancy dress up party. When we walked up the driveway, girls ran out the door to greet her. One gave her a huge hug and they all asked "ARE YOU FEELING BETTER MIA???!!" All remembering that the previous day, Mia didn't make it to school. They did nails, make up, hair, jewelry and a fashion show. All things a Dad would excel at. I helped the the girls tie on their necklaces and was asked by Birthday girl Charlie to help judge the fashion show. They had parfaits, pink lemonade and danced like crazy. I think what was really nice, is during hot potato (or their version was pass the crown) when a kid went out, they weren't upset. They played and danced around while the remaining girls continued. Mia was the last one to leave the party. She (and Charlie) didn't want to split, but I reminded her that she is off Wednesday from school as well as her friends are and that maybe they can hang out. Charlie was Mia's first new friend when she started kindergarten. In fact, her first day they became friends. She would tell us all about her, and apparently Charlie would tell her parents about Mia. It's cute.

Later, we met up with my parents and got some Blaze Pizza for my Mom's birthday. My Dad was sporting his new tattoo (first one in over 40 years). He tries to put up a front that it doesn't hurt but he's not fooling me :) Mia, Jill and I watched Finding Dory till Mia fell asleep.

Sunday I got up and watched the Chelsea/Boro game. Great game. Tricky one but they got the win and are on top of the table once again. Boro played really well, but Costa got the best of Valdes with a quick little kick on an open side. Pedro almost doubled the lead but ended up smacking the crossbar. It's been great to see Chelsea playing so well and I hope they can continue the momentum.

Today, I'll complete my 50th picture for Mia. Haven't decided what I'll do yet, but it should be good. She's got a short week this week and I'm working back to back early shifts on Thanksgiving. Have a great holiday everyone and thanks for reading! :)