One Down, Two to Go!

Good Morning, hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. It was a pretty quick week over here, and now that we're in March, we hope the snow eventually melts and that we can finally enjoy some nice weather. Thursday, my little bro and I took the kids to Tot-Time at Helium. This may have been the LAST time we will go, because they changed the rules. Upon arrival, we found out that NO parents are allowed to jump with their kids. We were both pretty bummed out since both kids like having us out there. Eventually, Mia was fine and I sat on the platform in the middle of the park and watched her jump, but my nephew Easton is 2, and needed his Dad out there. They stayed for about an hour, but Mia wanted to hang a little longer. We were whipping balls at the basketball hoop from 20 feet away. Eventually, I made one in. Not as much fun as dunking, but whatever.
 Friday, Mia had a pretty good day at school. She invited a few of her friends (Alexa and Olivia) to her birthday party in a few weeks. I even had her write out the letters on the envelop to give her some practice. When I went to pick her up, it was the first time that she wasn't coming from either the gym or outside. Usually, I have to hang out a bit in the entry way and wait till I see her running down the hall way. I came in, and the class was enjoying some free time with some music. She didn't see me for a few minutes till some kid goes "WHO ARE YOU?!" They've been reading a lot of different books, and learning about the artwork created. They even have a little "book store" the kids can play and checkout books to read during class. Cute right? Friday was a normal busy day at work. My inlaws came in for a short visit for the weekend. When I came home, they were at the house looking up houses with Jill and Mia. I changed and headed over to my little brother's hockey game. Got there, doors were locked. DAMMIT.

Saturday was a pretty low-key day. We didn't do too much. Mia had them watch Lego Movie. Still funny and awesome. Sunday morning was what I was amped for. Sunday was the class of the rivals Chelsea vs Spurs for the Capital One Cup Final at Wembley. The final wasn't on TV or even NBC Sports Live which made it difficult to find a different place to watch it on. I swear, if I wasn't working, I would have went to a soccer pub and taken my Dad to go watch since he too couldn't watch the finale I eventually found a BEin sports in Spanish that worked for the first half before going down. Terry got the first goal, an awesome corner that he was able to get a loose ball and boot it in. In the 2nd half, I found a Youtube channel that had a live feed of the game in Russian. It was a few minutes behind, but whatever, it WORKED. Costa got the 2nd goal off a deflection (like Terry's) When it was all said and done, we won the trophy. Spurs couldn't dig their way through our defense. We had a very strange formation when they showed the line up, and for some reason, Mourinho had Cahill playing a more attacking mid position instead of the likes of Oscar. At one point, my favorite Left Back Azpilicueta got kicked in the back of the head and was bleeding. Mia came over and sat on my lap with this sad look on her face "IS HE OKAY??" With Man City losing to Liverpool, we're looking real good for the Premier League title. They need to continue to blow these important games so we can widen the gap. We play West Ham on Wednesday and our 2nd leg of the Champions League against PSG soon. I worked later 2-10, and when I got home, read Mia a story and she was fast asleep.

March is shaping up to be a pretty busy month with a handful of birthdays, a baptism and other events filling up our weekend. Thanks for reading!

Everything is Awesome!!!

Good morning everyone. Hope the weekend was enjoyable. Everyone here is pretty much back to normal and not sick and miserable as we all were in the previous week. Mia went back to school Friday and when we arrived, she had discovered she got a bag of Valentines from her classmates that she would have got if she went last week. She was pretty stoked by all of them. When I went to pick her up, her teacher told me how she had such a great day with her friend Olivia playing in the kid's Post Office for quite a while writing and making letters for each other. That kid is so sweet to Mia. As she gave a hug goodbye to her when we were leaving, a brave little boy ran up and hugged her too. I think his name is Finn. After he ran back to the rug for "Calendar Time" she whispers to me "Daddy, I did NOT want him to hug me". Kid, it's no biggie, he just wanted to say goodbye. Ugh. What was real nice Friday, is that I had the day off. I rarely take off on Fridays but since Jill was in Madison till about 7ish for a conference/seminar for work, I spent the rest of Mia's day after school with her.

We grabbed some lunch after I picked her up and went to Monkey Joe's. Haven't been there in a while, but she had a good time. I can never talk her into going down some of the bigger slides, but we still had a lot of fun. They were pretty busy, and later I found out it was because a lot of the area schools had the day off. Afterwards, we visited a few stores, and on the way home, she was fast asleep. When Jill came home, we made dinner and watched The Lego Movie. Mia wanted nothing to do with this, but as soon as I turned it on, she instantly got into the film. It was pretty cute and very funny. It was really nice to enjoy the evening with Jill and Mia.

Saturday morning, I got up, did the usual routine and made my way to the computer to watch the Chelsea vs Burnley game. This should have been easy. Real easy. It still drives me insane that we couldn't secure 3 points at the Bridge, but something wasn't right. Ivanovic set the tone in the first half with a great goal from a very creative pass from Hazard. We had two different instances in the box and the referee didn't even pull a card or stop the play. One guy, easy hands in the box. Everyone saw it. Nope. Ref didn't stop the play. Costa, got shoved in the box. Once again, no card. He was pretty furious about that one. Then the cherry on top. Matic had the ball, and Barnes from Burnley stuck his boot straight into his leg and clearly missed the ball. NO CALL ON THIS. When I saw Matic get up and sprint to go shove Barnes, my jaw dropped. Now, we're out a key CDM for three games including the Capital One Cup final all because the incompetent ref didn't catch that blatant and dirty tackle. Ashley Barnes was fouling our boys all game. It was crazy. I don't know how Mourinho didn't go crazy in the post-interviews, but the game ended in a draw 1-1.

Tuesday, we played PSG. Sadly, I missed the Champions League match, but we also finished 1-1. Hopefully we can beat them in the 2nd leg.

After that frustrating game Saturday morning, we spent the rest of the day doing laundry and later Jill and I went on a rare date and had grandma babysit the kiddo. We haven't had a date night since I believe May. I thought August at first, but I just figured out that the last movie we saw in theaters was A Million Ways to Die In The West. Yeah, it's a raunchy comedy that we felt dumber after it was over, but it was still funny. I'm not going to go into great detail what we went to see, but It was nice evening. For the first time, we did the Dine-In thing where you order food there, and watch the movie. It's like cutting out the "going out before the movie" and just eating there. The food was pretty good. Mia wasn't too stoked we went out, but she had a great night with Grandma.

Sunday I worked. Nothing too exciting. When I came home, Mia was asleep. Jill said she fell asleep sitting up watching Cinderella at 8:30pm. WOW. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Sick Week

Good morning everyone. Wasn't exactly the best week over in our house. Actually, overall it was lousy. Tuesday night, I come home from work, and the entire house was quiet. Jill and Mia were asleep.. ok. I learned Wednesday morning they had fevers and were sick. Both fevers were gone Wednesday, but they left behind a nasty cold so I spent my Wednesday taking care of Mia. I hate it when kids are sick. I'd rather be sick then them. They're so miserable and hard to deal with. We made the most of the day together and worked on a nice homemade Valentines Day card for Jill (which she absolutely loved) and watched the Chelsea game together. Great win! It was also the home debut of our latest signing Juan Cuadrado. Not the best form for the former Fiorentina player. Hopefully he improves. Eden Hazard also recently signed a new 5 1/2 year deal keeping him in a Blue shirt till 2020. Probably the best news we can get. He's been real solid and hopefully will continue to aid in getting the team some hardware this year. This week, Champions League first league against PSG. Could be a really good match. I'll be able to watch a little bit of it Tuesday before work.

Thursday, Mia was supposed to go to her school's Valentine's Day party. She was still not feeling the best so we had to skip it. I texted her friend Hannah's mom explaining she was still sick. Mia wanted to give her friend a Valentine still, so we made one up anyways. It read "Dear Hannah, I love you so much. What is your favorite food? Mine is grilled cheese. Happy Valentine's Day. Sorry I'm sick. Love Mia".

Poor kid. She didn't make it to school Friday either. She's been doing better, just stuffed a bit but mostly good. Saturday, we spent the day together as a family. Made heart-shaped pizza and watched a movie. No dinner plans or anything for Jill and I Just family time. Her and Mia got me inside-out carrot cake cookies. Super tasty.

Sunday, nothing too exciting. They made dog treats for Remi after I left for work. We watched the Pens/Hawks game for a while before I left. Damn Hawks won and squeaked by with a shootout victory.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

I'm Olaf and I Like Warm Hugs

Good morning everyone. It was quite the busy week over here, so lets get to it. Friday, Mia had a great day at school. They learned about Valentines Day and about love as well as did some art to show who they love. She painted a beautiful piece for Jill with a nice boarder of different buttons and such. Her teacher said she sat there and worked on it for 30 minutes. This kid definitely has the patience for art like her parents do. When I went to pick her up, her teacher told me that she talked Mia into wanting to go to a Valentines Day Party at her school on Thursday. Some of her classmates and her long lost BFF Hannah would be attending but what sold the event to Mia was that "so, can I dress up Miss Angela? Dress and shoes?" Any excuse to dress up, she'll do it.

Saturday, I got up and watched Chelsea take on Aston Villa. I sadly was only able to watch the 1st half, but in the end, we won 2-1. Hazard had a great first goal to get us on the board.  Jill was on the computer booking tickets for Florida during the 2nd half, and normally I would turn on my phone and stream the game, but I was dealing with a very crabby Mia so that didn't happen. We take on Everton on Wednesday. Wonder if our newest signing Juan Cuadrado will make another appearance.

Like I said, we're all booked for our vacation in June. Disney World for ONE day, then the rest of the week with Jill's Grandpa. It's a little overwhelming, thinking about navigating Magic Kingdom for a day and making the most of the experience, but it should be a good time.

Later Saturday, we built a big Olaf in our front yard. To capture some of the detail, Jill used food coloring to paint the eyes, mouth and nose. We think it turned out nice and some cars where slowing down by our house to take photos. Mia would wave to them. Mia took some of the paint and painted her own little snow boulder. It's very Jackson Pollack. Later, we went out for dinner. Mia had to go to the bathroom at one point, so I took her. After she was done, she loudly proclaims "LOOK HOW BIG MY POOP IS!" Hope no one got startled at the urinal. Sunday morning, we drove to this pet spa near my parents house with Remi. If you donate $20 to HAWS animal rescue, they would trim your dogs nails and give them a bath, plus they'd give you a gift certificate to the pet bakery next door. Remi didn't care for the washing and trimming but he smells a lot better now.

They dropped me off at work, and picked me up at 10pm. Mia was so stoked to see me, which ended the long night perfectly. I've been looking around with hopes of finding an indoor team to play on come Summer time but I have doubts I'll find anything. Every team is established so I may try contacting dudes I've played with in the past and see if they could use another attacking midfielder.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Call Mr. Plow, that's the name..

Good Evening. Hope everyone had a great weekend. The last time I posted in the blog, we were lacking some power/Internet in the house, but alas, everything is back to normal, and we even have a no light fixture installed in the kitchen (to replace the one that shorted out). Friday, Mia had school. After I gave her a hug and kiss goodbye, I registered for 4K, so she'll be staying at Smarty Pants in the Fall, and going to Orchard Elementary for kindergarten in 2016 (which is across the street from us). It was a sort of conundrum for us at first. Smarty Pants can be pricy, but the class size is smaller and the teaching staff is really nice. Mia of course, loves it there anyways. She painted me a picture of myself in blue.

Saturday, Jill had to work the Pet Expo in West Allis most of the day, so Mia and I watched the Chelsea vs Man City game. Man, was I hoping we could get a bigger gap and win that one. Rey's goal was great off a nice pass from Hazard. Mia went nuts when he scored, but quickly before the end of the first half, Silva snuck one in when Courtois was vulnerable. Ugh. We finished with a draw at 1-1. I had a feeling it would end like that. It was nice that some of the crowd at Stamford Bridge was nice to Lamps when he came on in the 77' minute. So, we're still ahead on the table. Hopefully can get 3 more points this weekend at Aston Villa. I saw today they made it official that Andres Schurrle is going back to the German league at Wolfsburg. He had some good moments in his career at Chelsea, so hopefully he can get back to form in a more familiar league. Mohammed Sallah is also departing for Fiorentina. Another guy who rarely got on the pitch. Good luck guys.

After the game, Mia and I went to the Pet Expo. Met all kinds of different dogs. She enjoyed watching the agility test for some of the dogs. They raced some fire fighters. One even beat one of the guys. Mia liked the K-9 police dog demo as well. We loved this super soft husky named Sven. Mia and I went to my bro's hockey game later. They won in a real close game. We saw him net the final goal when they pulled their goalie. Nice to see his team win every once in a while :P Last few games we went to, they weren't so lucky.

Sunday, I worked, and spent a lot of time snow blowing between last night and this morning. The drive home was insane. The freeway was fine, but the exit ramp was super sketchy. So lucky I made it home after dropping a coworker off at her house since her call literally, fell completely apart.

Other then that, that's about it. Need to get some art accomplished soon. We also have a lot of different things coming up. Our Florida trip is in June, so I need to look for some flights as well as book some things. We're only spending a day at Disney and need to make the most of it. That's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

Week From Hell

Good Afternoon. I'm pretty behind on my blogging. I'll explain why shortly, but more importantly, last week's week from hell. Monday at work, I got a call from Jill's dad. Weird. He said that Jill wasn't feeling real well, and I should probably come home Luckily, there was coverage at work, and I booked it home. Jill was experiencing chest pains that lead to her back and it was hard to move. We waited to see if it would subside, but after about an hour, we headed to the hospital. We waited and waited. A hand full of tests later, and they had some results. About 1:30am, they said that Jill had gallstones, and gave us a name of a surgeon if we decide to go that route to remove the stones. Jill would prefer to go the more holistic way. She adjusted her diet and will be eating differently. As of lately, she's been doing real well. Not the best way to start the week, but Jill was real glad Mia and I stayed till the early hours with her. We all went to sleep around 3am.

Later in the week, we discovered we had some leaking issues with our kitchen sink, so that's in the process of getting fixed. Wednesday, Mia and I hung out with Birthday Boy and nephew/cousin Easton at the trampoline park. They had a lot of fun. Friday, Mia went to school. Before we left, I stuck some laundry in the wash machine. When I got back from dropping her off, I saw the floor was all soaked. A rag had got in the bin and plugged up the drain which lead to water over flooding everywhere. Lucking, I was able to clean up. And just when things couldn't get more frustrating, our circuit breaker fried when Jill was changing a lightbulb. Part of our house is without power including internet/wifi, the den, our entire kitchen and part of the basement as well as the garage, Cooking and cleaning the kitchen in the dark has been oh so fun. So that explains why I haven't been able to blog. I picked up Mia from school and she was crying. The boys in a 4k class were screaming very loudly in the gym and she got real upset. :( Saturday, we went to Easton's birthday party and she had a blast!

Chelsea's out of the FA cup, but we've got bigger hardware to worry about. Hoping the week improves. Off to work I go. Thanks for reading.

Do The Penguin Slide!

Good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your week, and that if you're a Packers fan, you're feeling better today :) We'll get back to that later. It was a busy week, but we had a lot of fun. Earlier in the week, I took Mia sledding. I made the attempt at this golf course real close to our house. The fresh powder was too deep and we couldn't get good tracks to get her down the hill. So, before we gave up on the day, we tried a different hill. Mia LOVED this park's sledding hill! It was big enough to get some really nice speeds down, and she only fell out once but didn't care. Wednesday (later) I took her to this man-made ice rink in New Berlin to do some skating. It was getting dark, so it was a tad cold for skating, but she did skate a little while and ended up being the only person there. She's getting more confident on skates and is starting to really impress me. Friday she had school and got to finish her snow flake she's been talking about. She told me her favorite part at school was when her friend gave her a hug goodbye when I picked her up. Awww..:)

Saturday, I got up and watched the Chelsea vs Swansea game. Wow. Opening 50 seconds and Oscar got a goal. Perfect way to start. He would finish the game with two goals, Diego Costa secured two as well as Andres Schurrle. We finished 5-0 and took the 3 points easily. What made it even better, was that Sunday morning, Man City fell to Arsenal 2-0 giving us a 5 point lead. After the game Saturday, we went sledding again, and Jill came along. They had a lot of fun. Mia discovered sledding on your belly on the sled was a LOT of fun. The temps were upper 30s so it was real nice. A little TOO warm to skate, but we tried anyway.

We should have left it at that, but we tried skating (Me and Mia did at least) The ice was horrific. If I would have remembered, we could have gotten in for free at Eble Ice Arena near our house. They had free skating Saturday. UGHHHH!!!! Saturday night, we all were working on different projects. The girls were working on custom jewelry and I was hand-painting a Tegan and Sara shirt for Mia. I'm going to have to go over the yellow in "Sara" again. I should have done all of the lettering in White. The hot-pint blank shirt was too heavy of a color to paint on. The colors I used were bright neon ones, but they look quite muted on the shirt. Oh well. Mia loves it still.

Sunday I worked. I am so glad I'm not a Packers fan,  because if I was, and had any chance of watching it post-work, every single customer came in talking about it. From the moment they were winning, to the gut-wrenching loss. The moment I found out they lost, was when this guy came in with tears running down his face, in disbelief. HOW does a team blow a 16-point lead? Did they get cocky? Overly excited for what they thought was a sure-thing? Whatever the case is, everyone is going to be hurting today, except everyone in my house. :) That's one of the many things Jill and I came together on on our "date" the first time we hung out together. She didn't like the Packers or American Football, and I clearly don't either. She even made cupcakes and delivered them to my store before the game was over "to soak up the tears and to celebrate LAST DAY OF PACKERS PLAYING" as she was broadcasting.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!