The Frozen Water Experimentation

Greetings. Hope everyone survived the crazy snow we got yesterday into today. The freeway was a nightmare, but my Corolla prevailed and I made it home. Today, Mia and I made a decent size snow-penguin. Everyone always has pictures of snow men and I thought it'd be fun to do something completely different and challenging. So we built one in the front yard. It was a lot of fun. After I took the picture of her standing next to it and posted it, I started thinking of ways I could have improved it: Maybe slim the side down, carve the beak or add a scarf. Oh well. I'm content with it. Mia wanted to go back inside, so I had to call it quits. The picture even got on the TMJ4 local news kid's section of their website. Rad :) Decided not to try the whole sledding thing again because every time I even mention the word "sledding" she says "NO NO Daddy".

Mia's already outgrew her shoes, so we picked up some nice ones that fit better. Can't believe how big she's getting. Her vocabulary is insane. She can say so much, ask questions, says thank you, remembers people's names,etc. My Dad told me today that she's growing up too fast. I can't agree with him, sorry fellow parents. I am absolutely loving how smart she's getting, the independence, the fact that she's actually getting the whole potty training thing!! Just today, I took her to her potty seat AND the toilet at my parent's house. She's really getting it. Hard to believe, but it's happening.

Sort of on a whim, Mia and I went on our classic adventure around the area: Surprise visit Jill at work , surprise visit Grandpa and catch the majority of the Chelsea FC game, then after go see Grandma. Mia and I cheered on our Blues to a 2-0 victory (FINALLY!) Shortly after we headed over by Grandma. She was happy to see us, per the usual. As soon as I start to leave the parking lot, she was out FAST. Overall, it was quite a nice day off. Makes up for my last Wednesday when I was stuck working. Love these days off. They're the best. Especially spending time with Jill after work. We barely see each other so we try to enjoy our time together if possible. This weekend, my older bro and his familia are coming to town so we'll get to visit with them. Also we're going to try to make some custom shirts for Mia through Vista print. Should be rad :) Thanks for reading!

Navigating the Windward Passage

Greetings. Been an interesting few days. Over the weekend, we ended up going to Stone Fire Pizza again. Mia bowled for the FIRST time. yes, they have bowling for little kids. Only one bumper was up, so gutter balls frequent, but she still had some fun. The place was super packed, which reminds us not to go there on a Saturday evening. The lines for food were insane and the game room was littered with people. Overall, great evening :) Not excited to post this, but Sunday, my lovely wife Jill hurt her back again. Luckily, she's on he slow recovery, and as of today, feeling a little better. Even after an 11 hour shift. But man, that Sunday when I left work early to get home and take care of her. She couldn't move, walk or do anything. I could easily ramble about how unfair it was that she hurt her back again after suffering with a bulging disc most of 2012, but that would take me quite a few hours. Plus, no one wants to read a long ass rambling. Anyway, so this week, she's recovering and I hope she can get better soon. It isn't easy trying to take it easy on the back and chase Mia around. She's a sweetheart, but can be a challenge at times.

Been thinking about Spring lately, on my early run/walks with Remi. Can't wait to go on bike rides, hit up the park as a family (or with my friend Nicole and her kiddo) play soccer, family walks with Remi...etc It looks like we've got some snow in the forecast for the next day or so. Exciting right? Nah, I'm over Winter. Good riddance.

While Tommy and Mia napped on the couch today, I did some drawing before work. Haven't done anything real serious lately. Sorta wanted to try something different. My friend Jaci does some real cool and adorable art work and it inspired me to do a little sketch of Mia playing soccer. It's nothing super exciting, and I'll probably do another one much cleaner and post it when I can. Normally, I'm off today but ended up working 6 hours to make up for the time lost Sunday when I left early to take care of Jill. So my day off will be Saturday, which still feels far away. Haha.
That's all for now, thanks for reading. Sorry for another week without a fun picture. Nothing on my sad laptop :(

Boarders and Boundaries

Ever have one of those days, that just everything goes wrong, whether it be something small, or something quite large? Like, the entire day is full of mini catastrophes? Today, was one of those days. Surprisingly, on a day that we were off together. Weird, right? The night before, Mia was having issues staying asleep. Actually throughout the week she hasn't been going to sleep at a reasonable time. Last night, she fell asleep around 1:30am, and got up around 8am. Throughout the night she would still wake up. It's almost like she's an infant again. We have no idea what the problem is, but we're partially blaming the day on her wacky sleep schedule. It's almost like we have to cut out naps to get her to sleep earlier then 12am, but then she's cranky for my Mom who babysits from 1:40pm-5:30pm.

Took Remi to the dog park. First time in two years, I think. Temperature-wise, it wasn't too bad out, but the entire park was pretty covered in gnarly bumpy ice. Not easy going downhill on ice. Luckily, no one fell, especially Jill. Most importantly, Remi had a good time. Mia really liked the other dogs. She didn't really wanna leave, but I just couldn't walk up and down the icy hills anymore. Later, I took Mia over the Eble Ice Arena to watch my bro play some pick up hockey. She loved it. She also got to see Easton and her auntie Ashley. Also great.

The worst issue came after Mia woke up from her nap. Jill was working on Mia's photo album in Photoshop, and after I pulled something up on the computer, it started to grind. You NEVER wanna hear grinding coming from your hard drive. Ever. The computer is old, and we sorta expected this thing to die soon, but we also didn't back a lot of folders off her computer onto an external drive. So hopefully Jill's coworker can get the files off before the machine becomes a very expensive paperweight. My laptop (which I'm currently typing this on) isn't in the best shape either, and needs the discs reinstalled again too. So unfortunatley we're gonna need a new computer. And yes, it should be an Apple again. Why? because we use every aspect of the machine an Apple user should use. We've used photoshop, illustrator, the movie editing, the music editing, EVERYTHING. Macs were built to power the heavy duty Adobe programs that PC just can't handle. So we'll see what happens, if we can pick one up.

Other then that, Valentines Day is tomorrow. We agreed not to get each other anything (but hey, Mia and I made her something cute...shhhh!!) We're going to try to go to Cafe Manna again this weekend. Man, that place had some tasty vegetarian food :)

Okay that's it for now. Have a good evening. Sorry no pictures to post tonight :(

I Held Her In My Arms

Hey everyone. Not a lot to discuss tonight. Didn't play futsal last Sunday. Worked a weird shift. 11am-7pm so it didn't give me a ton of time to eat, let the food settle and head off to work, PLUS I was quite exhausted. Sorta holding out till my lil brother gets a Sunday off for us to play together. Not playing this coming weekend because we'll be heading off to Illinois. The weather wasn't too bad so we tried to enjoy it during the day, but Mia wasn't having it. Sorta has a 'tude lately. BUT the good news is that she doesn't mind wearing mittens AND the hat now! If she wants to go outside, she's gotta wear the boots, mittens and her winter hat. So lately she's been real good about that. Loves playing in the snow while I shovel. Kinda makes the mundane and rather un-fun activity of shoveling a little bit more enjoyable. Can't wait till Spring. Bike rides, walks, playing soccer at the park, swings...all the fun outdoor stuff we miss during the Winter. Mia was on the swings today for a bit at the park.

A new Alkaline Trio single came out recently. "I wanna be a Warhol". I wasn't sure about it upon first listen but it's slowly growing on me. Hope the rest of the album is better then the single. They really don't disappoint as far as records go. Some songs here and there aren't the best, but I've stuck by them since the very beginning and they've written some of my all-time favourite songs so I've got some high hopes for the rest of the record. Penguins are doing real well. Chelsea, eh not so much but hopefully they'll beat Wigan. Can't afford anymore losses.  I seriously need to get back to work on the art. The lack of motivation has been plaguing me after work for some time now. Can't shake it. Probably won't do any art tonight before heading to bed. I know what I need to get done, it's a matter of GETTING IT DONE! Since my laptop isn't working the best right now, I can't put any work into my soccer stuff I started last Fall. Bummer. But I do need to restart the Lil Wayne portrait, maybe do some fun kid sketches of Mia as well. Eh, maybe in Illinois I'll do some drawing. I feel like I need to constantly be keeping myself busy creativity-wise. You should see the random sketches I leave at work of random objects. Oranges, a light bulb with a mustache, and whatever else I come across. Hahaha. That's it for now. Real short one tonight. Thanks for reading.

Love They Say

Hello people. Going to try to knock this one out quickly. Getting quite sleepy, so bare with me. Last Friday, I got an email from a gentleman who runs the different pick up futsal games in Brookfield. Looks like they do games Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Well, they needed TWO subs for last Sunday's game so guess who FINALLY got to play? :) Jill gave me the okay to go check it out, so after work, I contemplated going (weather was crap) but the roads ended up being pretty good. We quickly headed down to the BSA training facility where they have the games. Actually, we later figured out that it wasn't too far from our old apartment and within walking distance of my old advertising/marketing job. I was super stoked to play when I got there. Futsal is totally different then outdoor and indoor turf soccer. I've never played futsal so it was an interesting experience. It's 4 on 4 plus a keeper. No throw ins, you kick it in when it goes out. No offsides either and the ball moves quite quickly. With this group, every 10 minutes they rotated who'd play keeper, so everyone would get to play on the court. I ended up volunteering for the 1st rotation after kick off. Never played keeper before, but it wasn't too bad. Got two goals scored on me. One off a cheap bank shot but it was still pretty fun. Glad to switch it up when I could :) I didn't get any goals, but took some good shots and hit the cross bar (totally thought It was going in) Didn't play the 2nd half sadly. I could hear Mia throwing a huge fit towards the end of the 1st half, and could see Jill struggling to keep her happy. Oh well. I really wanted her to enjoy watching me like the first time I played back in October. She was hungry and pissy so it just wasn't happening. Jill said she said "go Daddy" every once in a while. Totally worth coming out to play. Because it's $10 to play, I won't be playing every weekend. Just two times a month I think. I ended up hurting my foot, when  defender stomped accidentally on it. Still sore.

Saturday,  I played a little hockey with my older bro. We walked down to the rink near his apartment and skated around passing the puck. We avoided the rink with the boards because there was some high school kids playing a pick up game. We didn't wanna be recruited. Hahaha! All in all, it was a fun time skating and discussing Chelsea, the Penguins and everything in between. So last weekend was full of sports for me. For lunch in Madison, we ate at Monty's which is one of the best restaurants in the area. 

Today, Mia and I shoveled the 3-4 inches of snow we got. She even wore her MITTENS! It may not sound like a big deal, but she never ever willingly wears mittens or gloves. Next, maybe she'll wear a hat. My friend Nicole, her kiddo B and myself with Mia hung out at Kids in Motion down the street today. Mia had a lot of fun climbing through the tubes and playing with the giant Lite Brite. I also enjoyed catching up with Nicole. 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading. 

Mostly Memories

Greetings readers. It's getting late and I've got all kinds of things to discuss so let's get at it, shall we? First, I'd like to get to last weekend. My in laws came in for a visit for a few days, and stayed at a hotel near us. Saturday night, they checked in, and Mia and I casually watched a 60's cover band butcher songs in the hotel bar. The door woman told me we weren't allowed to go in because she wasn't old enough. After about 10 or so minutes we headed upstairs to check with Jill's familia. Soon after going up, she said "Daddy, go see band?" So naturally we went back down again. This time, the door woman said after about 5 minutes of watching outside the door "if I get a wrist band on you, you can go in and get closer to watch, but just make sure you leave by 9". Hell yes, sounds good to me. So that's what I did. Mia and I had so much fun. The band was compiled of older men ranging from 50s-60s. I didn't think they need two tambourine players, but that's alright I guess. Mia had a great time. Clapped after every song. Older women would approach her and say "oh are you going to dance sweetie?" She'd simply ignore and try to watch behind their big ol' head. That'll make them go away :) So that was technically Mia's first "show" if you wanna call it that. We left after 9, and when we went back upstairs she told everyone about the band and how she clapped.

Tuesday, 11:08pm my little brother became a Dad, I became an uncle again and Mia got another cousin. Today, she met little Easton Cole Justman. She got jealous of Jill holding the little 5 pounder. I guess every toddler goes through that. They hate seeing their mother holding another kid. Man, seeing my little brother with his new son, and the smile on his face reminds me of when I was a new Dad. Everything is new, scary and exciting. The kid was totally brave to be there to watch everything happen is pretty amazing. Since Mia was a emergency c-section, I wasn't allowed to be in the ICU. Mia tried handing a block to sleeping Easton and said "Easton play with block!" Poor kiddo doesn't get it yet, but before you know it, they'll be playing as often as possible.

Speaking of playing, today we met up with some friends and let loose our kids at the Big Back Yard, a little indoor playground for kids of all ages. They had different jungle gyms, slides, basketball hoops etc. Mia met some new kids and had a lot of fun. Good place to let her run off some energy and meet some new children. She befriended a little girl, Caroline and her bro Wyatt. They even gave her, Jill and myself hugs before the place closed down for the day. All in all, busy day. Found out Chelsea FC tied and the Penguins lost. Not a good day for my teams. :( That's all for now. Thanks for reading and stay warm. It's been a cold few days here!

Drop the puck

Greetings everyone. Today was rather a weird day. First off, Jill was off from work. During the Winter, she has to take one weekday off, so why not take a day off on MY off day right? Well after a late night with Mia Tuesday, she ended up sleeping in till 11:40am today. Jill woke up first around 11 something and said to me "what time is it? I hear the mail truck outside". I knew it was later then usual. So we started the day late, and ended up heading over by my brother Andy, picked him up and headed over to the Delafield pond. He repeatedly asked for myself or Jill to shoot some updated photos of him playing hockey. It was a great time. Jill got behind the lense and took some fantastic photographs. I love watching her work hard with the camera. I'm quite used to seeing her shoot pictures of Mia just about every week, but today seeing her get creative with the elements & shooting some action shots of my brother was a little treat for me. Mia loved watching her uncle play. She would keep yelling "MISS IT MISS IT!"  when he'd shoot at the dilapidated net. All in all, fun time. While walking with Mia on the ice today, I imagined in the next few years seeing her playing hockey on her own. Skating circles around me, stick in hand. I won't be disappointed if she decides not to play hockey, but it'd be rad if she had interest in it. Hopefully the next time, I'll get to hit the ice and play some with Andy.

In other news, the NHL and the big wig owners finally reaching a deal means hockey season is in full swing. As a major fan, I'm super stoked to get to see my beloved Pens play again. Today in Pittsburgh, they had a free scrimmage for the fans, and it packed about 18,000. Needless to say, NHL hockey was quite missed and every one's stoked. It's great timing for the casual fans because football is drawing near, which will possibly draw some people towards professional hockey. It's still a pity the Winter Classic fell through, but what can you do? So now I'll be avidly following all things Penguins and of course, Chelsea FC.

Speaking of Chelsea, bummed they drew today. 2-0 up in the first half, then they ended up tieing in the end? They need these points to catch up to Manchester United. Let's do this Blues!

All in all, great day off. Mia was pretty silly most of the day. Later in the evening when she hurt her head, Jill said "Mia would you like some ice cream?" Mia quickly perked up and said "With candy on top!" We have no clue where she got that from. Still adorable, as always.

That's all for now.