CHELSEA FC 2013 UEFA EUROPA CHAMPS!!

BLUE IS THE COLOUR!! Greetings folks. Great day for the Blues. My team. My Chelsea Football Club. Visited my Dad today to catch the Chelsea vs Benifica game. This was surprisingly a close game. Thought Chelsea could have done even better, but the first half proved that Benifica wasn't going to go down.  They played real well. After Ivanovic's beautiful goal, I got scared because Benifica nearly got an equalizer. In the end, the Blues took the title and it was an awesome game. Like last Wednesday, Mia slept through the entire game.

Mother's Day weekend went real well. Jill loved her picture with water colour paint tracing of her hand with 3 flowers (3 representing her third Mother's Day) Cut grass, dinner with Jill's family and Sunday night, my family. Overall, great weekend.

The other day, Mia sadly ate it on the driveway and scraped the side of her noodle not too far from her right eye. I swear, all head injuries are near the right eye. The worst part could have been that she didn't want to wear a band aid, or that I had to dig dirt out of the corner of her eye. As a parent, you've got to be prepared for everything and i didn't want the small pieces of dirt getting deeper in the eye.

Later today after dinner, Jill, Mia and I went to the park. BEAUTIFUL night to go to the park. This park, we've never been to. Sorta in the middle of nothing between Brookfield and New Berlin. I guess.
Mia didn't wanna leave, but we had to hit up Trader Joe's before heading home to watch a very great episode of Modern Family.

Going to be starting a wedding gift for a good friend soon. May not make it by the wedding, but it will be really great. Before I call it a night, been making tremendous strides with some soccer training in the back yard. Especially nice now that it's cut and the ball is easier to get under. Been shooting against my garage side while Mia plays in the sandbox. Usually lasts about 12 or so minutes before she wants to do  something else.
Okay that's all for now. LATER!

The Mighty Sparrow

Greetings. Watching a little bit of Hell's Kitchen before heading off to bed. Normally, I'd stay up later then I need to, but probably could use a good night's sleep. Over the last few days Mia and I have been having little tea parties in the morning. It's pretty adorable how she pours "tea" for me and has little cup cakes. I love her imagination. How many Dad's out there would have a dainty little tea party with their daughter? All of them should :) Had a delightful day off with Mia today. She absolutely loved her sunflower dress (with matching hair piece) that she rocked all day long. In fact, while eating pizza tonight she didn't want us to take it off her! Did a lot of running around with my little dove. Man, the last few days getting things together for Mother's Day, she's just been super great and patient dealing with the dilemma's. It's too bad she didn't wanna go with my original idea...But that's okay because Plan B will work, and plan A will when she gets older :) 

Visited Jill at work today, plus Grandma for some grapes and a cookie, stopped to get some bread at KT and finally, hang with Grandpa :) She lasted about 10 minute over at Grandpa's before crashing for a nap. Ended up missing the entire Chelsea vs Hotspurs game. The ended in a draw, which is fine, but would have been great if they had a solid win. Oh well. At least I got to watch the whole game with my Dad. After she woke up, we hit the park for some fun before dinner. Jill had a late appointment so I wanted to take full advantage of the gorgeous weather and keep Mia happy. This kid LOVES the swings. Just absolutely loves them. We of course played Mia's favourite game at the park where she roars at me like a lion and chases me around the park. It's funny because she'll catch me and say "Daddy, you're safe, have some juice (pretend) then she flashes that signature smirk of hers and roars again. 

Later, we went home and we took Remi for a nice walk. When we got back, she played in the yard a bit. It was hilarious how she wandered over to the fence by our neighbors and stared at Liam, the little boy there. He was nervous how she just simply stared and watched him play in the sandbox. She didn't say a word for like 5 minutes until I asked her "whatcha doing Mia?" "Daddy, he plays in the sandbox like ME!" 

Solid day off with the kiddo. Love these days, especially when she's delightful, patient, loving and friendly. Jill's familia is coming up this weekend for Mother's Day, so it should be fun. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Mouth Of a Tiger

Hello! Didn't get the chance to write in the blog last night. Way too exhausted from an otherwise insane day. Over last weekend, Mia and I went to Madison for my oldest bro's birthday. We played soccer at the nearby park. Felt great kicking the ball around, playing keeper and overall, enjoying the day off. Sunday morning, we went to the zoo for the first time this year. There will be many more visits again, like last year. She was totally stoked checking out all the animals. She even wanted to go on a pony ride. I was hesitant at first because I remember last year she wanted nothing to do with the carousel after it started, but Tommy (bro in law) and Jill saw how excited she was about riding a pony so I said "eh why not?" Like I predicted, it didn't go well. Once she sat on him (of course she gets stuck with the biggest pony) she was fine. But after they strapped her in, that was the end of it. Luckily they gave the cash back and we moved on from there. She kept talking about it throughout the day. "I don't like the ponies they're scary!" 

Yesterday, she was a nightmare child. Terrible two's have hit my little girl hard. I was changing her into new clothes, she said she wanted to go potty. Fine. Sat her down, she didn't do anything. Tried getting her diaper on her and all hell broke loose. She got SUPER mad and very hysterical. Eventually I was able to get the diaper on and her skirt. Tommy came in and she got upset with him too. We tried taking her and Remi for a walk, she was STILL mad and freaking out. Took her back home, and set up her water table. BOOM, problem solved. This morning, I got nervous about changing her again. I don't want her to transform into Demon Mia again. Luckily, she was fine, and has been in a good mood all day. I know the terrible 2's are a temporary thing, but damn it takes a LOT out of you! You have to try SO very hard not to yell at them because deep down you know it's pointless. It's not like she's in a state of mind where she can reason with you and understand that her freaking out. "Oh I'm sorry Daddy I'm freaking out over a diaper that I wear every day, I'll behave". No, it has to be the body growing or something. Anyways, so that was fun. Later in the day when she was happy, we hung out in the front yard, she sat in her yellow chair with umbrella yelling at speeding cars "SLOW DOWN!..Sigh, Daddy, They weren't listening". Had me laughing quite a bit. 

Today, she had a little victory. Well, at least for me. After the last few days of gorgeous 70s-upper 80's weather, the temperature dropped quite a bit. low 50s. Well later it got better, so we hung outside for an hour or so. Okay, her little victory, sorry folks. After a lot of time on the swing she wanted to go down her little slide. Great. She said "I'll climb the ladder" and wouldn't you know it, she did it flawlessly. I don't know for sure if She's done it before for my Mom or Jill, but it was the first time I ever saw her climb the ladder, get herself situated on the slide and go down. She'd even land on her booty, shake it off and do a happy dance followed by a high-five. I was pretty stoked. The little victories and accomplishments are great and it shows me how smart and confident she's getting. 

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading! 

I Was a Fool

Greetings. Getting late so let's get this underway. Over the weekend, we made a visit to Illinois so Jill could have a girls night with her best buddies. They live in different part of the midwest which means they don't get to see each other that often. Needless to say, they had a good evening, I'd imagine. Well, Jill said they did. Sushi and drinks are always awesome, right? Sunday we went to the park before dinner and heading home. A bit windy, but nonetheless a good time for Mia. Who doesn't love the park? I'm starting to think she gets a bit intimidated around the bigger kids running wildly around. Today, same thing. Had some fun, then these bigger boys ran around with fake swords and knives. She was ready to call it a day. Later today, Jill came home and we went for a nice family walk with Remi. Totally highlight of my day. Why? because it's the simple things that can make you happy. Spending time with the two of them always makes my day. Plus, it was quite nice out, and it's supposed to only get better. Super stoked about that.

Most of last week and part of this week, we were getting way too much rain. Was able to get some cool photos of Mia wondering around in the rain and puddles. Gave my Lil Wayne portrait to my buddies daughter and I was quite surprised how much she loved it. Could I have done better? Probably. It wasn't easy but I'm glad she was happy. Trying real hard to complete a picture for a birthday gift. Hopefully I can pull it off. Hoping to get a bike ride in with Mia either tomorrow or Friday morning. Okay,that's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

Balanced on a Shelf

Greetings once again readers. Hope every one's enjoying their week. Weather sure has sucked lately. Well, the last few weeks, really. Tried taking Mia to the park the other day because the SUN was OUT!! She was super stoked to hit the swings, but everything was very wet, and it was cold and windy. We'll have to wait for a warmer day. Over the weekend, nothing too exciting to report.  We explored and wandered around Carroll University after dropping some food donations off at the campus. Holy crap how the place has changed. Jill and I were baffled. Everything was different, but it was fun walking around. Mia enjoyed going up the stairs at the campus center. Maybe someday she'll go there. Who knows. It'll be up to her. This weekend, we're heading to Illinois, plus before we go Jill's setting up for a big sale in the area. it's a big kids sale so we're ridding Mia's old toys and clothes that don't fit. Should be a good opportunity to make some cash and minimize the clutter.

So a few days ago, Jill did some cute braids in Mia's hair. She loved it so much that the next day when she woke up, the first thing she asked me was "Daddy, do braids in my hair?!" So, of course Daddy's got to do it right? I searched Youtube up and down and could only find these advanced french braiding, princess braiding, dreads, etc etc etc...Eventually was able to get a diagram on Google and after about 4 tries, I got it right. They weren't perfect, but I swear that kid sure as hell didn't care. "DADDY YOU DID IT YEAHHHH DADDDY! Do another??" So I ended up doing three braids. Made me quite happy. Like when a kid learns to walk, ride a bike, or master an instrument. I taught myself to braid and for the first time in quite a while, I was proud of myself.

Today during the lovely thunderstorm, Mia and I watched the Chelsea game with Grandpa. It was an awesome win for the Blues. After John Terry's amazing header in the goal, Mia said "YAYYY CHELSEA SCORED! Daddy, now we clap!" Love this little girl so much. She had a great nap on the way home, and for a few hours when we got in the door. Allowed me to work on a new art project. Can't discuss much about it, because I'm not sure if my older bro reads my blog. Let's just say, its' a birthday gift for him, so he better love it.

Before I end this blog, I feel it's important to discuss what happened Tuesday with the bombing. My heart broke when I was getting in information at work from customers throughout the evening about the bombing. Running a marathon, you'd think you'd never have to worry about an attack of that nature. Of course the crazy people are trying to find a conspiracy behind this, which is not only insensitive to the people who perished, but also idiotic. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Draw a Crowd

Greetings. Been an interesting rainy week so far. Glad to be off today, unlike last week when I was working 2-10. Over the weekend, Jill's parents came up to celebrate a late-Easter. Dinner, a little easter egg hunt were the highlights of Saturday. We also cleaned the former Guinea Pig room and will be turning it into a nice play room for Mia. We even got some nice carpet as well. Look forward to getting this started and finished. Myself and Grandpa put together Mia's little playhouse my Mom/Dad/Sister got for her for her birthday. Didn't take long get up and she absolutely loves it. Even has a pink chair in it (which is currently floating in the river on the side of our house.

All of the current rain has really put a damper on my time off with Mia. Can't play at the parks, can't play soccer or hit up the swings. We did keep quite busy though. Dropped off some left over guinea pig litter at the local humane society. Mia loved all of the dogs and cats. Surprised she didn't care for the rabbits, but that's alright. She went from cage to cage checking out the different dogs. When they'd bark she'd quickly grab me and say "DADDY WHATS THAT!? THEY BARKING!" You know how kids say "why?" a lot? well she tends to say "whats that?" a LOT. It's more cute then annoying so we'll leave it at that. Anyways, she thoroughly enjoyed the dogs and also the cats. She'd say in the highest pitch "hiii kitty!" Totally adorable. As soon as we got by by Dad, she was too tired to chat, and ended up napping for a few hours. Oh well.

Nothing too exciting going on this weekend. Hopefully the weather improves for once this week. ALMOST complete with the Lil Wayne portrait. Hopefully will complete by next week. HOPEFULLY. That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Just Keep Swimming

Hello friends. Lots to discuss tonight, so let's get to it! Last week (and into this week) everyone in the house has been ill. Jill's got a double ear infection (mostly better now) and of course Mia's got a gnarly cold. Nothing worse then a snotty, upset and angry toddler. You wipe the nose, get all that crap off her face and she takes her arm and swipes her nose again bringing out MORE boogers. Gross, and redundant, but pretty much happens ALL day. Hope she gets better soon. I've got a lingering cold that needs to leave too.

Monday, our guinea pig sadly passed away. Not the best way to start out the day. Mia and I walked in the room and she was just laying there...Mia asking "what happened to Riley? I don't hear any squeaking". Pretty much talked about it the last few days. It was incredibly sad to break the news to Jill since it was HER piggie. We love our pets and when we lose one, its like losing a family member (as lame as that sounds). The good news, is that we can turn the guinea pig room into a nice play room for Mia. Going to get some new carpet in there, and I've got a mural to paint eventually. If the weather stays nice tomorrow, I hope to take her to the park, either play some soccer or maybe basketball. We've got to build her new play house in the yard too, but I want to wait till the 30 degree temps are gone. Come on Spring!!

No days off this week. Worked a Wednesday for the first time in a few years. Luckily, Jill's pop drove up to spend the day with Mia. Got some nice work done on the LIl Wayne Portrait. I want to get this thing done quickly so I can work on a last minute idea for my older bro's birthday coming up. Plus, a slew of other projects that I need to work on.

Mia had a great Easter. We didn't make it down to Illinois on Saturday, but we did visit with my family and have Easter dinner PLUS a little egg hunt for Mia. She loved looking for the eggs and after finding them all, she wanted to do it again. We may do something this weekend.

Oh, and one last thing-The announcement for the new Nemo sequel sounds great. Hopefully it won't go the same route with the last sequel (Cars 2) and not be that great.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading :)