Greetings everyone. STILL no snow here sadly, but it certainly didn't ruin our week and Mia's incredibly busy weekend. I had off on Wednesday so Myself, Jill and our family could join us watching Mia and the other 3rd and 4th graders. For the first time since Mia's been at OL, they actually sang holiday-themed songs! Shocking right? They did an awesome job. The songs were incredible and best of all, Mia did a great job at her hand chime part with Cecilia and Charlie. All in all, it was amazing and Mia was stoked everyone could make it including uncle Tommy and Auntie Cheryl. Thanks guys!
Thursday. it was announced that Alkaline Trio and Bad Religion were touring together in Spring of 2020. I was on the fence about going, but the more and more I thought about it, it's been several years since I've seen either band, so sure enough, Friday when tickets went on sale I bought one. I'll be joining my bro Andy and a few of his buddies for this once in a life time chance to see them. Looking forward to it.
Saturday, I got up to watch the Chelsea vs Bournemouth match. A massive disappointment losing to a team that can barely stay out of the bottom 3. Another weekend, another loss. It's ridiculous. The January transfer window can't come soon enough. After the game, Mia went to her friend Noelle's Skateland party. She had me come with to help her skate a little. She's definitely improving her skills and overall. had an amazing time.
When she got home, she crashed and took a nap for about an hour. She skated almost nonstop with Noelle so I wasn't surprised she was exhausted. When she woke up, it was time for to meet up with Scarlett. They ALSO went to Skateland. Mia, Scarlett, Angelina and her friend as well as Sofia and her friends hung out and skated. Mia, for the first time skated solo. When I picked her up today, she told me she had no problems skating on her own and did really well. Totally proud of her. She also won 7 different stuffed animals from the claw machine. Unbelievable. She had a great time Scarlett and her sisters. When they got back, they played till way late and overall, had an incredible sleepover. It was Scarlett's first time having a friend stay the night and Mia was honored it was her.
While they were having fun, Jill and I ran some errands and got sushi and some wine to share. Those date nights are rare for us, but it was a great evening. Mia couldn't stop talking about her incredibly fun Saturday with her friends and I look forward to Mia having her over after the holidays. We talked about maybe laser tag and sushi with her and Cecilia sometime. Other than that, I gather Mia relaxed the rest of Sunday, did her homework and crashed early. I'm so glad she had an amazing weekend.
This week, she has her last week of school, holiday party on Friday and we have our soccer meeting on Saturday. Sunday, I've got family coming in. Jill has to write Mia's book that I finished illustrated. That's all for now, thanks for reading!
A tasty collection of thoughts and rants on everything art, music, soccer and my life as a Dad.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Bring On the Snow!
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!
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Turkey Break 2019
Greetings everyone. It's officially December which means every one's fully into the holiday spirit. Mia had a nice short week at school before Thanksgiving break. Wednesday, we roamed around the mall for fun, which she couldn't believe I'd let her do. She walked around Learning Express, Zumiez, the ornament stores, Claire's, Hallmark and that was about it. She unfortunately found out Justice at the Brookfield location closed down and some random and weird toy store opened up there. I say random, because it appeared the store was mainly weird and random junk piled up. Wasn't the best replacement, but Mia still enjoyed our time together.
Thursday was Thanksgiving at my parents house so Jill made two amazing stuffing dishes. One jalapeño cornbread and the 2nd one a savory turkey mushroom. Mia helped mince the mushrooms for that as well as peel and cut potatoes for the mashed potatoes. On top of all that, Jill even made macarons. Everything tasted amazing and we had a great time with family. On our way home, we stopped at Walmart to partake in the craziness. It looked like a damn flea market. Just merch everywhere, people grabbing whatever they could. Mia picked up the 2nd Lego Movie and Jill got a cheap pair of Stitch PJ's and that was enough.
Friday, we set up the Christmas tree as well as decorated a bit before I went to work. I went off to Mega Media Exchange and found one of the Switch games Mia REALLY wants. She'll be so stoked come Christmas.
Saturday, I got up and watched the Chelsea vs West Ham match. Certainly didn't think it would end 0-1 against one of the worst teams in the league. The Blues played two players that haven't seen any action all season. Both struggled along with the rest of the squad. It was a rough sight. We can't afford to drop points to these kinds of teams. They got a draw against Valencia during the week so Lampard decided it was best to rest some of the crucial players over the weekend. They play again this week against Villa so hopefully it'll be a better result.
Later after a visit to Trader's, we went to Jill's parent's Thanksgiving festivities. Awesome food and overall great time with family including Uncle Tommy. We went home later, relaxed and Mia hit the bed late as Jill and I started preparing for Mia's Elf on the Shelf to arrive.
Today, she woke up excited to see what kind of excitement and mischief her elf got into. This week, I've got our Year-End Meeting for KT, Mia's back at school and we're celebrating Jill's Dad's birthday on Saturday. I have almost everyone registered for the indoor team and most kids have payed. Jerseys are to arrive this week so we'll have to set up a meeting day for that.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Thursday was Thanksgiving at my parents house so Jill made two amazing stuffing dishes. One jalapeño cornbread and the 2nd one a savory turkey mushroom. Mia helped mince the mushrooms for that as well as peel and cut potatoes for the mashed potatoes. On top of all that, Jill even made macarons. Everything tasted amazing and we had a great time with family. On our way home, we stopped at Walmart to partake in the craziness. It looked like a damn flea market. Just merch everywhere, people grabbing whatever they could. Mia picked up the 2nd Lego Movie and Jill got a cheap pair of Stitch PJ's and that was enough.
Friday, we set up the Christmas tree as well as decorated a bit before I went to work. I went off to Mega Media Exchange and found one of the Switch games Mia REALLY wants. She'll be so stoked come Christmas.
Saturday, I got up and watched the Chelsea vs West Ham match. Certainly didn't think it would end 0-1 against one of the worst teams in the league. The Blues played two players that haven't seen any action all season. Both struggled along with the rest of the squad. It was a rough sight. We can't afford to drop points to these kinds of teams. They got a draw against Valencia during the week so Lampard decided it was best to rest some of the crucial players over the weekend. They play again this week against Villa so hopefully it'll be a better result.
Later after a visit to Trader's, we went to Jill's parent's Thanksgiving festivities. Awesome food and overall great time with family including Uncle Tommy. We went home later, relaxed and Mia hit the bed late as Jill and I started preparing for Mia's Elf on the Shelf to arrive.
Today, she woke up excited to see what kind of excitement and mischief her elf got into. This week, I've got our Year-End Meeting for KT, Mia's back at school and we're celebrating Jill's Dad's birthday on Saturday. I have almost everyone registered for the indoor team and most kids have payed. Jerseys are to arrive this week so we'll have to set up a meeting day for that.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Up and At Them
Evening everyone. It's been an alright week with some added stress, so let's get right to it. Starting this week, Jill's able to work from home on my day off, which is nice. We're able to get some things done when possible all the while getting our own work done. For me, I'm looking at jobs, working on Mia's Christmas book and trying to get this indoor soccer team up and running. We picked up some little liquor bottles for Jill to experiment with some macarons for my parents birthday presents. She made Friday evening some Chocolate Kahlua macarons for my Dad as well as some Cherry Amaretto ones for my Mom.
The New Berlin Dragons Have all the players and now I'm in the process of getting all the money and funds for the team. We're going with a Rave Green jersey color with black socks and shorts. It'll look nice and hopefully I'll get everything in order so we can get the jerseys ordered. I'm just thrilled everyone ones to play but it's a bit stressful gathering everything.
Saturday, my brother Andy and I made plans to meet with his BFF at the Highbury Pub in Bayview to watch the Chelsea vs City match. We had to suffer through the Liverpool vs Palace match first. The pub was super packed with Gunners fans watching them struggle against the Saints, and surprisingly there were Palace fans watching the Liverpool match. They almost had them but Liverpool had a pair of ugly goals that got them the win. BOO! Chelsea was next. Great crowd of Blues fans and a handful of City fans as we watched a tight match. Sadly, they couldn't get the win but it was a great time. I don't make the Highbury that often with the fellow Chelsea fans, but we had some good fun cheering. Andy even got himself a free MKE Blues scarf. We wanted the pins, but they had nothing. Boo. It was my first time literally losing my voice at a football pub, but to cheer on our team was worth it.
While I was at the pub with Andy, Jill and Mia saw Frozen 2 and had a day at the mall. Later, the two did some reading while I worked on her book. I'm trying to knock out a page a day so we're not struggling at the end of the month. So much on my plate, so little time. We had dinner with my family at Red Robin for my parent's birthday celebration. Mia wanted me to tell the staff it was my Dad's birthday so they'd sing to him but I let it go. We had some annoying teens behind me slamming into my chair and making annoying noises so I wasn't exactly in the best mood.
Today, we did some grocery shopping and I had hoped to mulch some leafs but sadly the rider's battery was dead. Jill told me later her Dad tried to mulch with the rider but it didn't really make a difference. Ugh.
This week, Mia's got a short week of school with just Monday and Tuesday. Thanksgiving is Thursday so we'll have dinner with family at my parents. Jill will make her famous mashed potatoes and her new recipe for stuffing that's pretty awesome. Will we go get some Black Friday deals? Not sure, we'll have to see what's available.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
The New Berlin Dragons Have all the players and now I'm in the process of getting all the money and funds for the team. We're going with a Rave Green jersey color with black socks and shorts. It'll look nice and hopefully I'll get everything in order so we can get the jerseys ordered. I'm just thrilled everyone ones to play but it's a bit stressful gathering everything.
Saturday, my brother Andy and I made plans to meet with his BFF at the Highbury Pub in Bayview to watch the Chelsea vs City match. We had to suffer through the Liverpool vs Palace match first. The pub was super packed with Gunners fans watching them struggle against the Saints, and surprisingly there were Palace fans watching the Liverpool match. They almost had them but Liverpool had a pair of ugly goals that got them the win. BOO! Chelsea was next. Great crowd of Blues fans and a handful of City fans as we watched a tight match. Sadly, they couldn't get the win but it was a great time. I don't make the Highbury that often with the fellow Chelsea fans, but we had some good fun cheering. Andy even got himself a free MKE Blues scarf. We wanted the pins, but they had nothing. Boo. It was my first time literally losing my voice at a football pub, but to cheer on our team was worth it.
While I was at the pub with Andy, Jill and Mia saw Frozen 2 and had a day at the mall. Later, the two did some reading while I worked on her book. I'm trying to knock out a page a day so we're not struggling at the end of the month. So much on my plate, so little time. We had dinner with my family at Red Robin for my parent's birthday celebration. Mia wanted me to tell the staff it was my Dad's birthday so they'd sing to him but I let it go. We had some annoying teens behind me slamming into my chair and making annoying noises so I wasn't exactly in the best mood.
Today, we did some grocery shopping and I had hoped to mulch some leafs but sadly the rider's battery was dead. Jill told me later her Dad tried to mulch with the rider but it didn't really make a difference. Ugh.
This week, Mia's got a short week of school with just Monday and Tuesday. Thanksgiving is Thursday so we'll have dinner with family at my parents. Jill will make her famous mashed potatoes and her new recipe for stuffing that's pretty awesome. Will we go get some Black Friday deals? Not sure, we'll have to see what's available.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Roll Out
Greetings! It's been a crazy week with a lot of different things to discuss so let's get to it. Sunday through Wednesday, Remi unfortunately had diarrhea. Ugh. Woke up to crap in our bedroom so we had to clean that pile up. Monday night, I was taking him out every hour and only got an average of about 3 hours of sleep, maybe. Felt like a complete zombie at work and it certainly was a horrid start to the week. Luckily by the end of the weekend, he was better.
Wednesday into Friday, I can't discuss via social media the absolute craziness that occurred but it was definitely an experience for Jill, Mia and myself. Saturday, Mia was stoked to go to her friend Charlie's birthday party at Skate Land. I had all the intentions of leaving Mia after she got her skates on and was ready to go have fun. I ended up talking a while with Scarlett's Mom for a while and after she got on her skates to join in the fun, I honestly thought I was leaving. But...when Vida arrived, her, Tenley and Ryan demanded I stick around and help them skate. Vida was super scared and Tenley struggled as well but after asking Mia "Mia, should I stay or leave?" she responded with "Stay and help, Daddy" so I would have 3-4 girls on my arms at a time. Vida would keep her eyes on the skates and and Tenley would be all over the place. She was actually doing well taking my advice about alternating feet to glide. We would also get one of Mia's new friend's, Lily's who had her first time on roller skates that day as well attach to my arm. Scarlett's sisters laughed and said "WHY are you so popular?!" I don't know. A lot of parents see me as a "fun" Dad for some reason. Only Mia really knows why her friends like me and want the help. It was hard to have so many kids all stay on their feet, but I did my very best preventing them from eating it. Overall, It was a great time and they had a blast. On our way to the party, Mia wasn't sure if she wanted to go to Cecilia's for a sleepover till we were skating and after she heard "Despacito" and I said out loud "Aw, I miss Cecilia" and Mia responds "Alright, I'll sleep over at Cecilia's".
Later, Mia went over for sushi and an epic sleepover. Jill and I wrapped gifts, watched a movie and crashed rather earlier than usual. We got up and after breakfast I went to pick up the diva. Upon arriving, she wasn't even at Cecilia's but on foot with Hayden and Harper walking down the driveway after I had been there a few minutes. She ended up sticking around to play while I ran to Waukesha to feed my in-laws cat as they hang out in Florida with Jill's Grandpa. I came back and the girls made ornaments. Cute. Mia said her goodbyes and we went home. Cecilia's Dad and I discussed the upcoming indoor season and everything going into it. The rest of the day, Mia relaxed with Jill the rest of the day while I went off to work. When I got home I discovered some amazing homemade macadamia nut cookies the girls made for me. Awesome! Before I went into work, I started getting more info for the indoor soccer team. One of the parents said she would order jerseys for the girls so for an additional $10, the kids will have matching uniforms. Totally cool. It's surreal so many kids want to play soccer this Janurary so I'm thrilled to make it happen.
This week, we have Mia's conferences. The little snow we had has mostly melted and with the upcoming warm up, there will be nothing left. Not totally bummed out since it's still November. I worked on my board set up and discovered the previous owner made a mistake with the ankle strap and I ended up having to order a replacement one from Burton. I'll work on Mia's book this week as well so hopefully I'll make some good progress.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Wednesday into Friday, I can't discuss via social media the absolute craziness that occurred but it was definitely an experience for Jill, Mia and myself. Saturday, Mia was stoked to go to her friend Charlie's birthday party at Skate Land. I had all the intentions of leaving Mia after she got her skates on and was ready to go have fun. I ended up talking a while with Scarlett's Mom for a while and after she got on her skates to join in the fun, I honestly thought I was leaving. But...when Vida arrived, her, Tenley and Ryan demanded I stick around and help them skate. Vida was super scared and Tenley struggled as well but after asking Mia "Mia, should I stay or leave?" she responded with "Stay and help, Daddy" so I would have 3-4 girls on my arms at a time. Vida would keep her eyes on the skates and and Tenley would be all over the place. She was actually doing well taking my advice about alternating feet to glide. We would also get one of Mia's new friend's, Lily's who had her first time on roller skates that day as well attach to my arm. Scarlett's sisters laughed and said "WHY are you so popular?!" I don't know. A lot of parents see me as a "fun" Dad for some reason. Only Mia really knows why her friends like me and want the help. It was hard to have so many kids all stay on their feet, but I did my very best preventing them from eating it. Overall, It was a great time and they had a blast. On our way to the party, Mia wasn't sure if she wanted to go to Cecilia's for a sleepover till we were skating and after she heard "Despacito" and I said out loud "Aw, I miss Cecilia" and Mia responds "Alright, I'll sleep over at Cecilia's".
Later, Mia went over for sushi and an epic sleepover. Jill and I wrapped gifts, watched a movie and crashed rather earlier than usual. We got up and after breakfast I went to pick up the diva. Upon arriving, she wasn't even at Cecilia's but on foot with Hayden and Harper walking down the driveway after I had been there a few minutes. She ended up sticking around to play while I ran to Waukesha to feed my in-laws cat as they hang out in Florida with Jill's Grandpa. I came back and the girls made ornaments. Cute. Mia said her goodbyes and we went home. Cecilia's Dad and I discussed the upcoming indoor season and everything going into it. The rest of the day, Mia relaxed with Jill the rest of the day while I went off to work. When I got home I discovered some amazing homemade macadamia nut cookies the girls made for me. Awesome! Before I went into work, I started getting more info for the indoor soccer team. One of the parents said she would order jerseys for the girls so for an additional $10, the kids will have matching uniforms. Totally cool. It's surreal so many kids want to play soccer this Janurary so I'm thrilled to make it happen.
This week, we have Mia's conferences. The little snow we had has mostly melted and with the upcoming warm up, there will be nothing left. Not totally bummed out since it's still November. I worked on my board set up and discovered the previous owner made a mistake with the ankle strap and I ended up having to order a replacement one from Burton. I'll work on Mia's book this week as well so hopefully I'll make some good progress.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Sunday, November 10, 2019
It's Coming Together
I forgot the mention that about the middle of the week, I sent out information to Mia's team in search of kids that wanted to continue playing soccer. Immediately, I got a response from Alice's Mom that wanted to sign her up. Amazing. I put the info out in the community and had about 9 kids so far confirmed to play including Ice Breakers Mia, Cecilia, Elia and Alice. Bella from the Pink Panthers (and my 1st year team), a couple of girls from SC Wave, Vida the beast in defense and Adalyn from my team last year. We've got a few "maybe's" but still need 3 more kids to get a 12 kid squad. I'm stoked that so many kids want to play and really hope I can make this happen since they all want to play. I need to find a gym for practices still as well.
After pick up on Thursday, Mia immediately put her snowboard gear and wanted to go snowboarding. Since we don't nearly enough snow for that, Mia had to settle for a little PVC pipe rail setup to work on building muscle memory for grinds. I didn't think she'd be able to develop and progress that easily, but she certainly surprised me. She went from a basic 50/50 grind position to frontside lip slides, backside board slides, backside 50/50s and frontside board slides. Unreal. I know it's not the same as in motion, but for her to build the muscle memory from an ollie to twist herself was remarkable. Hopefully she can try them out soon with a regular amount of some good powder.
Friday, I got up nice and early to watch the Chelsea vs Palace match. Goal-less 1st half, but it didn't take long in the 2nd half for Tammy to net his 10th goal of the season. Pulisic picked up one as well to find the match. Earlier in the week, Chelsea played against Ajax and came from behind to draw the match. Azpi had the 5th goal that would have won it but VAR confirmed that there was a handball. Ugh. Good effort coming back though. The rest of the day, we did some cleaning, shopping and made a late dinner.
Today, Mia and I attempted to find some regular water-proof boots for playing in snow at recess, accept oops, the mall stores weren't open. Target had nothing so later while Jill and her former co-workers at tacos at our house, Mia and my in-laws and myself went out to lunch and Mia later found some boots when the mall opened. This week, I hope to complete the team, I need to reassemble my snowboard bindings and illustrate Mia's book. That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Monday, November 4, 2019
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!
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!
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