The Torch

Good morning everyone. We're preparing for an exciting but busy week over here, but we'll get back to that later. Last week, Mia registered for 1st/2nd grade girls rec soccer for the Fall season. I also will be involved as an assistant coach. My Dad coached for several years in both soccer and softball and I honestly didn't think I'd end up doing it. The opportunity came up to have a role on a team as a coach and since I'm not sure how much responsibility I'd want to take on, I figured assistant coach suits me better. Mia's really excited and hopefully her friend Cecilia from school that registered as well will be on the team. My Dad seems indifferent about my role, but hopefully can make Mia's games. The torch of the coaching role has been passed on to me so hopefully I can do well with these girls.  Mia got to hang out with Cecilia and Hayden (and her sister) from school at the park. Beautiful weather, plus she was really excited to see the girls since she hasn't seem both of them since school got out. Malone Park is really nice, but there's always a massive crowd of people so if you're planning on taking a kid there, I'd recommend they play with a friend so they always have someone to be with. This week Wednesday, Mia's going to Cecilia's birthday party. She's super excited because it's at a kids salon.

Wednesday,  Mia had a zoo class. Oodles of Art. It was a really fun all-day class. When I picked her up. she had a big portfolio full of projects she made, but for some reason, was way more excited about the custom lunch bag I drew for her of a red panda. Later, we celebrated Jill's birthday after she got home from work with tacos and ice cream. YUM. My sister stopped over with a unique Stitch mug. Jill loved it. Saturday, we did yard work ALL day. Cut the grass, did some planting and mulch work in the front. Later, we had late dinner and a bon fire. We were all pretty exhausted but worked well and our yard has never looked better.

Sunday, we spent the day cleaning before I went to work. We've got a lot of family coming into town today. My brother Bryan and his family are driving in at this moment from Nebraska and my half-bro Todd and his boys are coming in from Michigan. I work 2-10 but will get to reunite with everyone later. We're all very excited to see them all and it promises to be a pretty great week. Brewers game tomorrow, celebrating Alex's birthday Wednesday and Torrent game Friday. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

3 Day Weekend

Good evening all. Voice is completely hoarse after a rough Torrent game today, but we'll get back to that later. The week was pretty good.  Mia got to hang out with old buddies Hannah and Gracie on Wednesday. Mia had a blast and it's always nice catching up with their Mom. Friday through Sunday, I took off. Friday, Mia and I went to the library and she checked out as many Eric Carle books she could. Her absolute favorite author.

Later, I went to the Torrent vs Stars match. I felt confident going into the match, then I found out 3 major players were suspended. Not great. We drew 0-0. Great crowd, we hyped the crowd as best we could. Going into Sunday's match, the win would have been solid. They won Tuesday, drew Friday and today, we lost 2-1. We got an early goal against the dreaded DCFC before giving up a PK to draw 1-1 before HT. The Northern Guard supporters invaded Tosa and chanted all match. They're an impressive supporters group, despite their hate for our city, our team and our state. We can get to their level one day, but it always takes time and patience. 2nd half, we started strong, but ended up having a slip up on the backbone leaving a 1v1 for DCFC to chip one over our always hard-working keeper.
DAMN. If we could have beat these jerks, we could have sent them home crying and destroyed their winning streak. As for now, we're tied for 4th, with not a lot of matches left to play. Next game, my older bro is coming in to watch. We should be able to win this and I hope we can hold our place. That's the goal.

Saturday, we celebrated my wonderful wife Jill's birthday early with a rooftop dinner at People's Park in Waukesha. My parents and Jill's family attended. Despite the rain that ended our rooftop dining experience, we had a great time. Jill loved all of her gifts and that everyone could come. Wednesday is her actual birthday so Mia and I will take her out for frozen yogurt most likely. Today, Mia had a zoo class while I was at the match. She had a lot of fun with Jill making a diorama about polar bears. Wednesday, she has an all-day class and is really looking forward to it. Her good friend Cecilia returns to Wisconsin today, so she's looking forward to hanging out with her again. Hopefully we can set something up this week.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

A Father's Life For Me

Good evening everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and Father's Day (to the Dad's out there) Summer is in full swing here, and Mia's enjoying not having to get up for school. She hasn't been getting up as late as she probably thinks (usually rolls out of bed around 8:30-9:00am which is fine because we'll get to spend the day together before I'm stuck at work. Wednesday, Mia and her partner in the lemonade business Noelle went to HAWS to donate their earnings to the shelter. The girls had a blast looking at all the dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs and birds. They played after I brought Noelle back. While driving, I heard Noelle say to Mia that she wishes she has her in her 1st grade in the Fall. I'm glad she's got a nearby friend in the neighborhood. Mia really liked that Noelle had some blue-ish semi-perm highlights in her hair so on Friday night, Mia and Jill did some hair dying of their own. Aqua to be exact. It's a cute Summer look. 

Thursday, Mia reunited with some old friends that she hasn't seen in a really long time. Gracie and Hannah. Her first friends she made when she was about 2 1/2 years old. The girls have definitely gotten bigger and were cart-wheeling and flipping all over Gracie's room. It was fun to watch Mia play with them again and we hope they can hang out when it's not 90 degrees.  Friday, Mia and I hung outside and colored under the tree. Such a simple thing to just sit and color but it was so relaxing and fun. When I'm stuck at work inside, all I want to do is be outside with Mia doing something.

Saturday after cutting the grass, we visited my Dad for an early Father's Day celebration. He loved the goofy light up shoes he wanted when he saw Mia's pair. Later, we played some backyard baseball. It was Mia's first time swinging at a ball and she did pretty well. I heard today, she played again, but with Jill's family. 

Sunday, Mia insisted that we watch my favorite movie-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She really liked it and was such a sport to watch the whole thing. She made me a really nice beer mug, some cards and a cute book to read together. We went out to MOD pizza for lunch before I went to work the rest of the day.

This week, nothing majorly planned till the weekend (unless we spare-the-moment hang with some of Mia's buddies. I'm off Friday-Sun. Friday night-Torrent game. Sunday, we're celebrating Jill's birthday at People's Park for dinner. Sunday, another Torrent game that I'll be face painting kids faces before the match. Should be a good time. I need Mia to talk Jill into coming and bringing her trumpet skills. They drew 1-1 on Friday away and have an away game this Tuesday as well. Time to start winning matches again boys! 

That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

One Last Dance?

Good evening everyone. Well, it's been a busy year but school is finally over for the diva. What a year. She gained so much knowledge, confidence, friends and a lot of skills that I can't believe she could master in a short amount of time. She's academically and physically more than ready for 1st grade, but for now, we're going to enjoy the time off from school as much as possible. She's got two zoo classes coming up this month and we're working on setting up violin lessons as well.

Wednesday after school let out,  I delivered my Skywalker drawing that I did for Samuel, one of the awesome kids I taught a few months ago. He wants to be an artist one day (like I did when I was his age) so I decided to surprise him with something special. I found out he had a rough week and the drawing made him smile. Awesome :) After wards, myself, Mia and Noelle walked home from school together. The pair most likely can walk to school daily next Fall since Noelle may be not riding the bus. I know Mia would love it. They hung out with Noelle's neighbors for a few hours till it was time to head home.

I met up with my Dad later and we went to the Torrent vs Kzoo FC match. Both teams fought hard, but in the end Kzoo with the help of some clueless refs got the win. It was a frustrating loss to say the least. Today, they drew 2-2 in Michigan. The team really needs to kick it up and get some more wins. We had a great time at the match and hope they can win the next one on the road. Thursday, Mia had her dress rehearsal before her recital. She had no problem dancing in her costume and was ready for Saturday.

Friday was Mia's LAST day of school. She was super excited and brought a couple of gifts for the teachers. She had a early release and got to spend the rest of her day with Jill and I before I had to split for work. The pair went to Store Fire Pizza for dinner.

Saturday was the first time we didn't have to get the diva up for dance, although she ended up waking up early anyways :P We visited with Jill's family before heading home to get ready for the big recital. Mia got ready backstage with Jill as we patiently waited for her group to come out. There was about 26 different groups performing all together. My parents joined us as well. When Mia came out in her dress and ballet slippers, I couldn't stop smiling. She stuck it out through dance class and performed very well. A lot of the girls in her group would be peering over at Mia to see what dance moves to do next. She was just so perfect on that big stage in front of so many people. She's currently proclaiming that she will not be doing dance next year and would like to try something new and different. I'm fine with either. Who knows what her future could look like for an extracurricular activity. All I know is that it was very special seeing her perform. She was also rewarded Perfect Attendance as well. After dance, we went to get frozen yogurt at Yo Mamma. VERY good and we'll for sure be back.

Sunday, Jill and I surprised Mia by taking her to Minooka where she met up with her grandparents who set up a little End of School picnic at the beach. We grilled and Mia and Grandma made tin can ice cream. Very tasty. I watched the Penguins beat the Predators in Game 6. What a season. First Chelsea takes the Premier League title, and now Pittsburgh gets back-to-back wins. Unreal.

I'm glad that Summer break is here and we can try and relax before the school year starts again. This week, back to work. Jill's got some late nights coming up. I've got some Torrent game day images to make and Mia will most likely play with some friends. Nothing major going on this weekend coming up. Father's Day is Sunday and I'm working so we'll see what the girls have planned.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Last Week

Good morning everyone. Hope you enjoyed the incredibly warm weekend, and mostly pleasant week. The week was a pretty busy one. I was off Monday, which was great. We did yard work and enjoyed the Memorial Day together. Mia had went fishing and caught several bull heads. Every time she'd catch one, she'd just for joy. I worked the rest of the week, while cranking out art and design any moment I was home. Saturday, Mia had her very last dance class for the semester before her recital next week. I'm unsure if she's going to do dance next year, but I think she'll move on to a new activity. As a kid, I did baseball and soccer so I understand the desire to try new things. Hopefully, she finds something she's in love with and enjoys going to. If not, no biggie, we'll move on to the next one. After dance, Mia immediately changed and met up with Noelle at our house before driving to Jill's studio for the first Mia and Noelle's Sweets and Treats sale. The girls have been super excited all week about it. With the crappy weather, I didn't know what to expect. The stand was set up indoors when we got in, but luckily, everything cleared and we moved it outside. The girls did really well and had a lot of fun. It was interesting to watch them figure out how to operate as a business. One would get the little umbrella, while the other would pour the juice and grab the straw. They had a blast and honestly were the perfect pair. Mia's shy at times and Noelle totally isn't. It worked out well. Noelle would be yelling "LEMONADE FOR SALE! BUY MY LEMONADE!" And that would get people walking from down the sidewalk over. The girls would get all giddy every time someone would wave and walk over. "WE GOT A CUSTOMER!!" They can't wait to do it again. They earned about $187.00 for the local animal shelter. Very proud of them!

Later, We dropped off Mia by my in laws and Jill and I had a late-anniversary dinner at People's Park on top of the roof. SUPER tasty food and we definitely will go back again some time. After wards, we went to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean-Dead Men Tell No Tales. GREAT movie. Better than the 4th by a little bit. VERY dark for a Disney/Pirates movie, but we really enjoyed it. I thought it was the last one, but with the after credits scene, we're left thinking there will be one more. Hmm...

Sunday, Mia and Jill met up with the in laws for my Mother in Law's birthday. They drove to Madison to spend time with Tommy and enjoy the beautiful weather.

This week, I have a LOT of art to crank out including a special Luke Skywalker sketch for an awesome little 2nd grader. Wednesday, the Torrent take on Kalamazoo FC. They won their last league match so I hope they can win again! This weekend is Mia's recital so we're all excited to see her in her cute costume dancing.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

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!

Champions of London

Greetings and good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. The weeks are getting busier and busier as we get closer to Summer. Mia can't wait to be done with school. Wednesday after school, she hung out with her pal Noelle for almost an hour  outside. The girls can't wait for their lemonade sale. June 3rd, they'll be selling lemonade and treats outside Jill's photo studio. All proceeds go to HAWS. I think it'll be a lot of fun and I hope the girls have great weather.

Saturday, Mia had her dance class. Only a few more left before the recital. After wards, we did a little shopping before spending the rest of the day cleaning. We've got Jill's friends coming up from out of town, so we had some massive cleaning to accomplish. Things are looking good, with just a few minor things to clean.

Sunday, I watched the last Chelsea league game of the year. The good guys destroyed Sunderland 5-1 at the Bridge giving them 93 points total, and an incredible send off to legendary CB John Terry. He's been with the club for 22 years and has scored 67 goals in his over 700 matches played. Chelsea won't be the same without him, and I hope he can retire instead of going elsewhere. Captain Cahill really did well this season and I hope he can continue his success in seasons to come.
It's been an incredible season. Conte really turned this team around and made them all champions. It was an awesome celebrations and I hope they can destroy the Gunners this weekend in the FA Cup final. Best part of Sunday's game, was that Mia excitedly watched it with me.

After wards, we did a little more cleaning before I went to work. Jill made a German Rhubarb dessert as well. Apparently, it's really good.

This week is a busy one before I'm off for the weekend. Friday is Hot Dog Day at school, which I'll be going to with my in laws and Jill at Mia's school. Should be fun. Friday evening, Mia and I will be going to the Torrent/Risers match. The boys in Blue have been struggling and I hope they can win this non-league match. Jill's friends are rolling in Friday, so I'll be hanging with Mia while the ladies are out at night. I've got some fun things planned for our time together.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!