6 Day Break

Good morning everyone. My goodness, was it a fun 6 days off. My brother from CA and his family came in to town for the week (and my 1/2 brother and his boys, for a few days) so we had all kinds of fun. 4th of July, myself, my Dad, my little brother and older brother went to the Brewers game. First one for me in 12 years. Baseball has never been something I've gotten too excited about. The game, however, was a lot of fun. The Brewers ended beating them 6-2 I believe and the O's fans we were surrounded by weren't too happy. All in all, great outing with the guys. Later, we had food, watched the fireworks and played a family classic game PIT. Added the rewards of vodka shots if you lost or won. With the amount of shots I did, I don't know if I really won in the end :) It was a fun night in the end.

Mia went to a friend's birthday party Wednesday afternoon. She apparently was very shy with the salon staff and didn't eat much. I credit the experience to myself waking up Mia a bit early. She did have a lot of fun with her friends, which is always important. Mia played with her cousins the rest of the evening. Thursday, she had some friends over and they played in and outside our house. Charlie and Noelle (and Noelle's sister) played for about an hour or so. Mia hasn't seen Charlie since school ended and hopes to have a sleepover here with the two girls sometime in August. Later, we went to Stone Fire Pizza with my family. My nephew Alex was too excited to do the Ninja Warrior Course. Sadly, he's a bit short to do a lot of the obstacles but he had a blast doing what he could. Mia won 2k tickets and that was enough to get a large panda thing.

Later, we went swimming at the hotel my brother and fam were staying at. Friday, we did a little soccer at the park before we went to the Torrent game. Jill, Mia, my Mom and my Sister in law + Alex went out shopping and grabbed some food. The game started out great 2-1 before the storms hit and we all had to take cover. Just when we though it would never clear, it DID and the game went on. I was with my supporters group before the storms hit, but quickly found the brothers/Dad/sister. I convinced them to stay till the 73rd minute and we left while the Torrent picked up their 5th goal, securing their first league home win 5-1 against Indiana. Great win and fun experience. Tuesday is their last match at home so I hope we don't get hit by storms. After we got back to my parents house, we said our goodbyes, as they would be leaving the very next morning. Saturday. we kind of bummed around. Visited my in laws and later and saw Despicable Me 3. Fun movie. The premises was similar to the 2nd one when Nafario wanted to do evil again. In the 3rd, the Minions wanted to do evil again and ended up leaving. Mia really liked it a lot. Sunday, Jill and I went to my cousin's baby's baptism. Mia would have never made an 8:30am mass so my in laws watched her. We had went home to pick her up to go to the party after the baptism, but Mia didn't want to go. The poor girl got a mosquito bite on her forehead and she reacts pretty rough to bites. Her bite swelled up the bridge of her nose and she was afraid people would laugh at her. I, however, went to the party because I had our present and wanted to visit with family I don't see often. Later, I went back to work 2-10.

It sure was great having the 6 days off, but all good things must come to an end. This week, I'm going to the Torrent's last game Tuesday. I believe I'm meeting up with friends for drinks Wednesday night. The rest of the week, totally playing by ear. Hopefully Mia can meet up with friends she so very much enjoys spending time with.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Dance Party at Mia's House

Good morning everyone. It was quite the busy week over here so let's get to it. Monday was Mia's actual birthday, so I surprised her class by joining Mia for lunch. It was truly a trip. A few of them yelled "MIA'S DAD!" when they saw me as I joined her for lunch. I got to first hand, watch how they do everything. She sorta forgot I was with her, as she walked off to get her strawberry milk and mark where her name is on the list for payment. All of her fiends tried to figure out where to sit and where I'm sitting. They all talked my ear off about everything from boys, to math to "how do you do art so well?" It was fun. There was no chance that I'd leave without joining them for recess, so after they finished their food and were dismissed, they got their coats and went outside. The weather was pretty lousy, but they made the most of it. Most of the time, they tried to figure out what they actually wanted to do. We ended up playing duck, duck, goose. It was fun. They were sad when I had to leave, but Mia was glad I was able to join her and didn't let me leave till I got a kiss on the cheek.

Later, Jill and I together picked her up. She was totally surprised that Jill got to join me. She's never picked up Mia before, so it was truly a treat. We went to Stone Fire Pizza for dinner and games after. Mia's getting really good at racing games and beat both Jill and I at Mario Kart. We had an amazing time, just the three of us.

Wednesday, I was off again and Mia got to walk home with Noelle. Wish it was warmer out, but luckily Saturday was pretty great. She went to dance class as I watched Chelsea let a pair of stupid goals go in from Palace. No clue how we blew this game, and couldn't get any of the dozens of shots in. They play this week so I hope we can beat Man City and widen the gap back to 10 points. Later, we got our taxes done and set up for Mia's friends-from-school party. We had 8 girls total in the living room watching Moana after a very noisy dinner of pizza. The kids ware crazy, but from what I could tell, had a great time. They didn't make it through the movie, since some of them wanted to do art projects. A few wanted to sit with me and watch it. One lounged on my lap as the others were having a dance party. It was intense. After about 8pm, they all started leaving one by one, giving Mia big hugs. She said this was the best birthday party ever. I'm truly happy we could give her something like this. It wasn't an overly expensive party at a big place, but it was fun enough for the kids and thats all that matters. She's got some really fun friends that love her to pieces and I love watching them interact and talk about which boy likes that girl" etc etc. They got her light sabers, Shopkins, a handmade pillow case, and dolls for her birthday.

Sunday, Mia did homework before I went to work. This week, nothing super busy going on. I may have a photoshoot for Ian Bennett's clothing line, but we'll see how the weather is. I was recently presented with the possibility of teaching a 2nd grade class art and drawing techniques as a "reward' for good behavior during class. This is an honor and I'm excited to dive into it. Haven't completely decided on what to do, but it should be a lot of fun.

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

So Long 4K, Hello Summer

Morning! Another busy week(end) in the books so I'm going to try and blast through this post so I can finish a logo design that's taken way too long to complete. Tuesday, the diva with my Mom went to her very last field trip with her 4-K class, to the Zoo. I made them both special lunch bags. Mia's was had Shopkins on it, my Mom had Olaf. When I went to pick them both up. Mia was super tired and was exclaiming "I...can't walk anymore". Wednesday was her last regular day at school before graduation. I spent the majority of the morning talking to my tattoo artist who will be doing a Hawaiian half sleeve on me. I saw his color study he was working on and I couldn't be more excited about it. NEXT Saturday is the first session. I ran back to the house to get Remi and went to pick up Mia. 

She and her friends hung out at the park for a few hours. The kids had such a good time enjoying the nice weather. I even caught Mia sitting with her "boyfriend" Trey on the bleachers talking. It was cute. Thursday was her very last day at Smarty Pants. Jill and I took her to school together. Mia, decked out in a beautiful dress ready to graduate. When we brought her in, her friend Audrey yells out "MIA, YOU LOOK LIKE A PRINCESS!!!" Mia couldn't get rid of us fast enough. A little subtle hand-wave to signal "okay GO" and that was it. No hugs. Slightly disappointed, but we went back home and did some cleaning before our families who could attend met up and went into the graduation. 

We took our seats and watched the kids come marching in, singing about the last day of school and how they're ready to graduate. I had to stand in the back so I could get a nice view of my short little kiddo. Everyone had phones out videoing and me, I took a few pictures but didn't want to cover my face with it. I wanted to soak in as much of my kid finishing school as possible. This was a big deal for her, and we couldn't have been more proud. Last year, she wouldn't sing or do anything and it was frustrating. This year, she matured and sang with her friends and classmates beautifully. They had the kids get their diploma and toss their hats in the air. They all got to keep their tassels which is pretty cute. I took as many photos after with her and her friends and family. The morning of graduation, she was sad thinking she won't see her friends much anymore, but I promised her we'll keep in contact. This Thursday she'll get to meet up with them at the park for a picnic. Should be fun but I'm bummed I can't take her. The parents and faculty have been real nice over at Smarty Pants and I can only hope at Orchard Lane they'll be the same. She's honestly excited to make new friends but wants to keep her old ones. 

Friday, we met up with BFF Olivia at the park and the two played, drew with chalk and kicked the soccer ball around before a nature walk. They wanted it to be "just us girls alone walking" but we had to keep them in sight. Friday night, Jill's friend Leanne came in to town for the weekend but when I got home, everyone was asleep. Saturday the rest of the friends plus Leanne's new boyfriend came in (minus Nichole). The weekend was a lot of fun. We went to Jokerz and for the first time EVER had someone "friend sit" Mia (plus Caleb) that wasn't a family member. My friend and coworker Shelby watched the two kids. They both were very good for her, and when we got back from the comedy show, Mia was hanging out with Shelby on the couch watching Netflix and eating a sandwich. She had a great time with her and wants to hang out again. the comedy show was all kinds of fun. Good food, raunchy jokes. What more can you want? 

Sunday we went to breakfast and the kids went swimming after. Leanne, Rick and I wandered over to a nearby car show and DAMN where there a lot of fancy nice cars. Leanne's getting into cars more and more since her new BF drives a very very fancy one, and honestly it was kind of nice to go to something that I've never been to before. For dinner we went over to Stone Fire Pizza. The kids LOVED it and played all kinds of games before picking out prizes. After the brief but gnarly thunderstorm, they said their goodbyes and were back to the hotel for the night before leaving this morning. This week should be mostly relaxing but excitement as well. Friday is the Torrent kick off party. They won over the weekend 4-0 in Chicago and supporters made the drive in to watch the good guys win. Saturday is the home opener. The team sold 500+ season tickets, which means over 500 people will be watching me, the El Capitano mascot pound a drum and getting fans to chant and sing loudly THIS Saturday. I'm both nervous and stoked. I signed up Mia and Jill for a zoo class Saturday afternoon. Polar Pals. They'll take a class on animals in both the North and South poles with costume making and some painting. Both girls are stoked.

That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

"Fabregas is magic, he wears a magic hat..."

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! Good grief has it been a busy week with all kinds of things to discuss. So it turns out, I had the date wrong on Mia's parent/teacher conference and it's not for a few weeks. Dammit. Oh well. Early in the week, I completed the 2nd kit (also known as the "away kit") for the Milwaukee Torrent.  This turned out really great.  I'm really proud how it came together. I was surprised a few days ago, I saw the Slinger Soccer Facebook page had saw it, and shared it reading "Sweet Uniform design for our future pro team in Milwaukee" I was stoked the concept was circling around because I really like the clean design I came up and truly hope they chose at least one of the kits I've come up with. It's been really fun getting creative and coming up with different ideas that the community likes. I started the 3rd kit on Friday and have a lot of work to do. My goal is to come up with three completely different kit designs and hope they all turn out well.

Mia got to hang at the park Wednesday with her pal Hannah. The weather was nice and it's always fun when the two get together to play. It was real cute, at one point Mia was at the stop of the slide lending out her hand to pull Hannah up. Later, Hannah left and Mia and I hung out a bit to kick the ball around. When she had her ball, I could hear her talking to herself saying "okay, he's got the magic in his feet and is about..to take a SHOT". Couldn't stop laughing at that one. Later, we watched Chelsea take on Leicester . Great win for the team. 3-1 FT. Awesome to see Drogba get the equalizer and that strike from Ramires was absolutely perfection. Easily, a goal to watch again and again. It was a struggle at first, but the 2nd half secured the win setting the stage for Sunday, but we'll get to that later.

Mia and I went home shortly after. She drove her Mustang around the cul de sac waiting for her "boyfriend" Max to come out and play. She even was doing donuts while driving BACKWARDS! He never came out. Bummer. Later, Jill, myself and Mia went to StoneFire Pizza for dinner. It was weird because we haven't been there in quite a while, and upon arriving, we learned that they have a Wednesday $5/buffet and $5 for a $10 game card! Good deal! Mia had a blast playing games. Needs to work on her racing, but had a lot of fun. She really enjoyed the bounce house. I can't even remember how long she stayed in there, but she had a total blast. Friday. she had school. She learned all about bees and how they help the Nature. As I was dropping her off, she could NOT get rid of me faster. "OKAY DAD, LOVE YOU SEE YOU LATER" When I went to pick her up, her teacher immediately told me how she is absolutely impressed with Mia's art skills. "Mia is so interesting to watch do art. She made a bee today, and carefully lined up the stinger on the bee and made she each stripe fit perfectly on the body" as she showed me the finished bee. It was really great. I'm glad Mia enjoys art as much as I do. Jill and I used to talk about how our kid will love music and art because we do so much. Mia has always enjoyed being creative and has really developed a great style.

Saturday, was Mia's FIRST soccer practice. She's been amped about it all week. When we got to the field, she was complete with cleats/socks and matching Chelsea jersey/shorts. But there were NO kids there. WHAT THE...I ran inside. Every kid was in the gym playing. Are you KIDDING ME?? Why is the practice in a damn gym? It's gorgeous out! So I told a parent that we'll run right home to grab sneakers since running in cleats on a gym floor would most likely lead to her falling straight on her face and I would hate to see that happen.  So, we came back and slipped the shoes on. Mia was a bit nervous at first, but got into it. She learned how to dribble around cones and pass/stop the ball. It was real difficult for the kids to dribble around the cones, because MOST kids play on grass. Hopefully next week's practice is on an actual field. At least she had fun, and throughout the ENTIRE day, she didn't want to take off her jersey/shorts. Later, we went to the park. There was a big group of people playing, flying kites and playing baseball. Mia ended up meeting a little girl named Abby and they played "hide the pixie dust from pirate-Daddy" It went from two kids hiding from me, to three, then  4 and ultimately 6 kids were running around playing the same game. Mia had SO much fun with the kids and talked about the day as soon as Jill got home from work.  When it was tome to get ready for bed for Mia, she STILL was wearing her jersey and shorts. Why "Because they are so comfortable Dad, can I still wear them??"

Sunday was the big game. Chelsea vs Crystal Palace. And WHAT a victory it was! A PK for Hazard (which he got the rebound on and headed it in) secured the only goal scored and the clinched us the title. FIRST title in 5 years, and fourth title to date. What a sweet sweet victory. It was a fantastic season, and fitting for Drogba to rejoin his Chelsea family.  4th title for King Drogba. Even with the injuries and suspensions throughout the season. Even with Costa, the man who got 19 goals was out, we kept going and stayed on top of the table. Couldn't have been more proud of the Blues. Hazard has been a real benefit for the club and is easily the best in the league. Fabregas had a great first season with the club and became absolutely vital throughout the title race.  I look forward to watching them lift the trophy at the end of the season. The cherry on top, was Terry, giving his condolences to Rio Ferdinand's family after the death of his wife. Talk about total class act. It was a rare moment, going into work happy (despite all the work I had to do) but thinking about the positive season, the goals and how amazing we played sure made the evening better.

Mother's Day this weekend. Jill's family is coming up. Plus, Mia's got soccer, so we've got all kinds of stuff going on this weekend. Thanks for reading!