Skits and Sun

Afternoon everyone. Should be able to get through this one quickly. Summer has officially arrived with nice and toasty temps. Awesome! Wednesday, Mia and I had the best time playing outside after school while Jill unfortunately had a very late night at work. We played soccer at the park, and had an early dinner with Jill (before she went off to a dance academy for the evening) and did some art. She was pretty tired so without much of a fuss, she crashed close to 9pm. As much as we enjoy family time, I do enjoy a little one on one with Mia. We rarely get moments when we're not trying to rush out the door to school so hanging out on my day off is nice.

I stupidly forgot to take off on Friday for the Torrent game, but they didn't need me there to watch them destroy Indy 5-0. First win of the season. Great job Blues! Friday was a busy and fun day. Mia's grade did little skits about Very Important People in history. She played Johnny Appleseed's kid and a narrator. Despite the microphone being a bit far from her, she did well as well as the other kids. Some of them memorized their lines really really well and were adorable. After wards, she showed all of us her classroom, picked out some books from the Book Fair and we did Hot Dog Day outside. It was a tad warm for some, but overall a really fun day. Later, I worked till 10.

Yesterday, we went to our friend Christina's baby's 1st birthday party. Penelope is the cutest little kid and despite the warm weather, everyone had fun. Jill made some really great pineapple shaped macarons that everyone enjoyed. Mia played with Arabella and a little girl named Camilla. They enjoyed launching rockets, tossing bags and playing on the swings. Later, they did a "Girls Night" with my Mom, Auntie Ashley and of course Jill. They went out to sushi while my Dad and I hung out at home.

Today, they're on their way to Camden's 4th Birthday Party while I prepare for another fun day at work. This week is a short one. No school for Mia on Monday, I'm helping my buddy move on Wed and we've got a field trip on Friday. I'll also be taking my Dad to the Torrent vs Kalamazoo match. The women's team played yesterday and pulled off a 2-2 draw on a hot day in Minnesota.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Pencils and Kiddos

Good evening everyone! Busy week per the usual with plenty to get through so let's get through it. This week was a fun one. Wednesday, I was a guest artist teaching drawing techniques in a 3rd grade class. It was a part of the basket event that a mother won for her son and his lucky class. The focus was on Emoji drawing so I explained and demonstrated proper techniques to show dimension, shading and color blending. Instead of the above camera with the Smart Board, I had an easel and quite literally sat in front of the class and we all drew together. They were all great and created their own Emoji's or used one of my examples. We took a "brain break" and all of the kids got to look at my large book of drawings I've done for Mia. They went back to drawing while I joined Mia for lunch. After lunch, I rejoined my 3rd graders and they all excitedly showed me more Emoji's they drew while I was gone. Very proud of these kids. They were great and after their teacher gave me a hug goodbye (no, really...) I said so long and thanks for having me before joining Mia and her crew for recess. The 3rd graders where on their way to lunch. Some of them spotted me at recess and just had to say hi again..

At parent pick-up, a handful of kids spotted me and once again...had to say hi. "HEY YOU TAUGHT OUR CLASS! THAT WAS AWESOME!" The art teacher and I where chatting when the kids came up and she immediately said "well great, now you're the most poplar artist here"...Sorry! I really really love working with kids and may end up doing two more classes before the end of the school year.

Mia and I enjoyed the gorgeous weather when we got home. She tried on her cleats from last season and booted the ball around the back yard. She's getting better with her shooting so I hope the next time she wants to play, we go to the field. We also went to the park with her friends and later had subs with Jill. When it's that nice, you really do need to be outside and enjoy it. Friday, Mia stayed home from school. Wasn't feeling the best. Later, she felt better but stomach still hurt a bit. She spent her time off drawing and relaxing with me before I had to go to work.

Saturday, my brother, my Dad and myself went to the driving range for some golf. I think at one point in my life, I used to be a little good at driving the ball. Maybe had 20 that did okay. Most sucked. Oh well. Still a lot of fun. Immediately after wards, we watched the Chelsea vs Man U FA Cup final while Jill and Mia went to Good Harvest. Chelsea pulled the much needed win securing the FA Cup. It was a season full of disappointment results, but at least they pulled a trophy out this season. Who knows what the Summer Transfer will look like but hopefully our key players stay around.

Jill made some macarons that turned out adorable while I did some Torrent edits. Today, Mia and Jill painted while I worked on laundry and watched the Fiorentina vs Milan match. The Torrent took on Kalamazoo on the road today and picked up another 2-2 draw. Went up two goals and got caught twice. Hopefully they'll get their first win this Friday. The women had their first scrimmage this week and had a great turnout and win.

This week's a fun one. While I don't have anything figured out for my day off on Wednesday, Friday Mia's got a play followed by Hot Dog Day at the school. Always a fun event and it's the first time Mia's in a play. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Mother's Day and Rain

Greetings everyone! Busy week once again with more fun and excitement coming within the next few weeks as well. Penguins got knocked out of the NHL playoffs, which totally sucks so I literally have no horse in the race at this point. Don't care who wins, just as long as it isn't the stupid Capitals. Chelsea played Huddersfield on Wed and just couldn't snag the much-needed win. Bollocks. 1-1 draw. Mia played with Noelle on Wed for about an hour or so, which is always enjoyable. Throughout the week, we had way too much rain, in fact it was enough rain to spring a leak in our sub pump. I was going to play drums one day and noticed some water by my kit. NOT good. After a lot of investigation, I discovered the leak and where it was exactly coming from. With some sealer tape, I fixed it. YAY! Drum kit safe for now.

Friday I was stoked to get to pick up the diva during yet another day of rain. I took the day off to go to the Milwaukee Torrent match against Grand Rapids FC. The cold temps and rain certainly kept the fans away. Maybe 25 fans+ joined us in the stands. The Flood looked strong with about 10 guys pounding buckets and cowbells. The last time GR came to Hart Park, we blew a 2-0 lead and drew them. We didn't get any goals and neither did these jerks. I say jerks, because they were getting way with a ton throughout the match including hammering on our trusty and tough keeper Auggie. He took a beating and the refs just weren't calling anything. We held a 0-0 draw, which was fair. I still can't believe Auggie survived the match. Today, the Torrent played Columbus and picked up another draw 2-2. Friday's match was a rainy but frustrating game, but we made the most of it.

Saturday, Mia had dance class with the other class. Picked her up later, she had lunch and went back for photos at the studio where Jill was snapping pictures of all the kids. Mia looked adorable in her outfits and I'm looking forward to seeing her recital. Cecilia is joining us as well, which Mia is super excited about. She got through the pictures and we spent a few hours chilling at home. I had a handful of Torrent graphics to do as she played some games. Jill came home later and we drove to the in-laws for BBQ chicken and pie/strawberry shortcake. Uncle Tommy was around too so we got to catch up with him. He's stoked that he bought a condo. Looking forward to seeing it in June.

After yet another storm, we drove home. Mia passed out quickly and I had to get her butt in the house in the pouring rain. Never fun. She woke up quickly, but changed into jammies and crawled into her new bed. Jill and I stayed up till 2:00am working on various things. Today, she woke up at 6:00am and poked at me "Daddy, we have to get the Cheerios for Mommy!!" I asked what time is it and she goes 6:30am...Nope, it was 6:03am...WAY too early. So we made her breakfast and since we all agreed that it was too early for us to stay awake, we went back to sleep for another hour. We got up, met at the Peach Tree for some lousy service from the hostess for breakfast with my parents and after went back home to relax before I went to work. Mia gave both grandmas books, and painted flower pots with flowers planted in them. Great job Mia :) I missed Chelsea's final game against Newcastle which was totally fine since they blew it and lost 0-3. Sums up our general season. Europa league here we come. FA Cup final against Man U still so there's hope.

This week, I have to pick up some art supplies for the class I'm teaching on Wed at Mia's school. We'll be drawing Emoji's so it should be fun. I signed up Mia for soccer in the Fall today so I hope her cleats still fit. hoping for better weather this week. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Spring Time FUN!

Good evening! It was a great return to the beautiful weather (mostly). Wednesday after school, Mia got to play with her friends Noelle, Ellahrose, and  Katelyn. Perfect weather for a post-school hangout outside. Later, the weather changed and things got a bit chillier. Mia and I had dinner together since Jill had to unfortunately work late so I had to get the diva to bed. Not an easy task. Mostly because while I was trying to calm her down, a storm rolled through. Plenty of obnoxious lightning. Mia struggled to sleep, along with that she totally missed Jill. Jill made it through the rough storm and Mia reunited with her. A quick hug and goodnight kiss and she was back in bed. Luckily by then, the storm passed through and Mia was able to calm down.

Friday was the coveted High Interest Day at Mia's school. Basically, the parents at Orchard Lane volunteer as either presenters or helpers with different projects, classes and sessions. Wood making, jump rope making, surgeon and floor hockey were just a a few of the activities the kids could do. I helped with Mindfulness Rock Painting. It was a lot of fun. We had 5 sessions total. I helped with 3 of them before having to split. Basically, we had one parent relax the kids with some breathing exercises into a very zen state of mind. It was pretty amazing because it totally chilled them before we began rock paintings. The groups of kids were great and had a lot of fun patenting mandala rocks, inspirational words and galactic scenes. Later, I went off to work.

Saturday was a busy one. I drove down to Hart Park for Vendor Day to hang out with some Torrent fans and crew. Later, went home, met up with Jill's family and hung out before heading back to the stadium for the Torrent vs AFC Ann Arbor match. Our Flood crew grew in numbers and it was fantastic to reunite with old member and meet new ones. The match started out pretty even with both teams looking good trying desperately to control the match. First half ended 0-0. 2nd half things got rough. Ann Arbor picked up a goal early in the 2nd half and took control. The visitors would pick up 3 more finishing us off 0-4. Not a good start to the season. We could point out we that we were short 7 players and a coach that could have had its effect on the match, but ultimately it was just not our night. Some mistakes and questionable calls through off the Blues so hopefully they can bounce back next match. We'll have some key players return. One highlight of the evening was the brand new Torrent Ale. Really good German beer MobCraft beer designed. One of the players that wasn't playing for the evening strolled down to The Flood supporters section to join us in chanting for a goal on our side of the pitch. Hector Portillo was super nice and reassured me after the match "next game will be better, promise".

Later voice-less, I had dinner with Jill and Mia and we watched a movie till we crashed for the night. Sunday, I watched Chelsea beat Liverpool in a thrilling match. Giro's goal was fantastic and we're inching closer and closer to a Champions League spot for the 2018-2019 season. Jill and Mia later went to our friend Christina's baby Penelope's baptism. Jill texted me later that Mia had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave.

This week, plenty of photo editing to do along with Footy ads and a Torrent game on Friday. I'm going to count laps with the kids at recess for their running thing they do. Hopefully we can continue the great weather.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Legos! Legos! Legos!

Good evening everyone!  Just about complete with our wild April full of warm days, freezing ice storms and snow. Luckily, I think we are finally in the clear, so that's great :) This week was pretty normal. I photographed at a school on Tuesday, which went really well. Kids were great, most of the teachers were good. Overall, fun time.

Wednesday, Mia played with Noelle after school. Weather was good, just pretty chilly. Thursday was Spaghetti Night/Basket Night. I had drawn a BB-8 sketch and donated some time to draw with a class of whom won. The woman that built the basket really wanted to win the session and ended up the winner. Now I just have to figure out what as a class, we'll be drawing. I always look forward to working with kids so it'll be a great time.

Saturday, I watched Chelsea scrape 3 points from the Swansea vs CFC match. Good game, but need to win the rest of the games to possibly stay in the Champions League. If Spurs blow it, we can top them and finish in the top 4. Later, Jill and I went to a long time buddy of mine's wedding. It was really enjoyable catching up with old friends at the reception and after the wedding. Sunday, we got up early and drove down to Legoland in Schaumburg to meet up with some friends Jacqui, Rick, Leanne, Caleb and Leanne's little niece Lucy. The kids LOVED Legoland and had a blast running around exploring the exhibits. I was pretty impressed with the Chicago display and Star Wars. The kids really enjoyed the Lego jungle and the rides. 

Afterwards, we grabbed a bite at Rainforest Cafe, and walked around a bit before heading home. Really nice having a full weekend off after an intense week. 

Friday is the always intense High Interest Day. I'll be leading a rock painting session with classes of 10 kids each. Should be a great time. The Torrent start their NPSL season against Ann Arbor on Saturday. They've drawn, won and lost the three games so far in the pre-season with one more match to go before Saturdays match. It's a tough one so we hope they can pull of the massive win.

That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

So Long Snow

Good evening everyone. I'm pretty exhausted after a busy weekend, so I'll make this one quick. We had some weird weather this week with some lousy snow. Not a fan whatsoever, but luckily after just one more day of snow (which added up to be about 5 inches or so) the warmth and sun reunited  and we've had some more enjoyable temps. Mia and I walked home in some nasty sleet on Wednesday, which luckily, was the last of the snow we would see.

Saturday, She hung out with friends Cecilia and Hayden at the Princeton Club swimming for a few hours. Those girls love to swim and had a blast. After lunch at Subway (which Mia thought was really cool that it was in the massive gym) the girls wanted to go to PetCo to check out all the animals. Cecilia apparently is in the market for some lizards and planned out the next 4 Birthdays. That kid is all talk :P Mia and I went back home so I could walk Remi while Jill did some work and after a quick bite, I took Mia back to Cecilia's so that the girls could play some more. They played outside for a while while Jill and I made a pie. Super tasty. I talked to Cecilia's Dad about possibly helping me coach in the Fall and he seems stoked about the challenge.

Later I went to the 2018 Milwaukee Torrent Kickoff party in Milwaukee. Met my fellow Flood members as well as some of the new and returning players for the men's side. I met a bunch of the new players for the Women's team as well. All great people and excited for the season to start. Today was the first pre-season match that I sadly missed. They drew 2-2. When I got home from the event, I did some video-editing till it was time to crash for the night

This morning while working on the starting XL, I watched the semi final FA cup match between the saints and Chelsea. We won 2-0 and will face Man U in the final. Easily can defeat these guys on a "good day". Hopefully. Later, I went to work till 10.

This week, plenty of photo editing for the Torrent, photographing at a school Tuesday morning and have a plethora of work to do at the ol KT. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Skate Party

Good evening everyone! What a lousy way to end the week. At least 3-4 inches of snow in New Berlin! Ugh. So the return to school this week was pretty good after a mostly chill Spring Break. Wednesday, I was supposed to photograph at Hillcrest Elementary but it got cancelled due to the staff not being "ready yet". Great. That's fine. After Mia got out of school, we had to head to a Journey to the Arts meeting. Jill and I got involved in running this massive project at Orchard Lane.  I'll get into that more later throughout the months as things develop.

Mia sat so incredibly quiet on my lap as I chatted with her art teacher, her gym teacher, Jill on the phone and another Journey board member. As soon as we left, she went back on talking about how her day was, etc etc Very typical. Later, Jill and I went to the NBSD  budget meeting. With the possible threat of Mia's school closing, which would dump about 400 kids into others schools that already are at capacity, there was a pretty good turnout. Plenty of concerned parents wondering where their kid(s) will end up. Felt weird for us to be at something so serious, but when it comes to Mia's upcoming future, we're invested. Plenty of her teachers and administration attended the first of 3 meetings. Jill's parents luckily watched Mia so we could go. Hopefully things work out and the NBSD can figure out the best way to fix their budget issues. I'd hate for anything to happen, Mia split up from her friends and stuck into a classroom packed to capacity with kids.

Saturday, I got up nice and early to watch the Chelsea vs Southampton match. Like they have blown games since January, they gave up two goals they really shouldn't have due to some lousy defending. Pathetic. Somehow after the 2nd goal, subs Giroud and Pedro jumped into the mix and things immediately turned around. Giroud picked up one goal (which was his first EPL goal of the season since he transferred to CFC from Arsenal) and shortly after that, Hazard EQUALIZED and we were back in this! Amazing. Two goals in 5 minutes! THEN, Giroud got another goal! 3 goals in 8 minutes! The Saints blew a much-needed win to keep them out of relegation giving us a even more important win. Spurs are only 6 points ( I believe) ahead of us. Not too bad. West Brom beat Man U today (shocking) to officially give the title to City. Back to Saturday. Jill had to work a dance academy, so it was primarily Mia and I throughout the day.

So later, Mia went to her friend Easton's birthday party at Skateland. She hasn't roller skated since she was maybe 3 or 4 on some Fischer Price wheels. I don't think I've rollerbladed since I was maybe 13 or 14. I had Noelle and Mia on each hand as we skated around the place. Noelle bailed a bit and I did my best to keep Mia from falling. She bailed a few times as well due to some kids running right into her. She claims ice skating is way easier. Roller skates are pretty heavy but she did pretty well. Easton held Mia's hand to help her from time to time move faster. Mia claims "Easton makes me a better skater" which is pretty cute. I wish she would have given him full trust and she could have skated with just him, so I could help Noelle a bit more. Ryan was also there, and it was her very first time on the wheels so it was a bit of a struggle. I'd find her grasping for my arm as well.  Her classmate Kostadinia struggled too, so I would try and help her as well. Throughout the party, I was lacing and re-lacing skates as, Noelle, Mia, Kostadinia and Ryan would remove them, put them back on, take them off again, put them back on again etc etc. They had a jump house, so of course all of them had to try it out. Overall, Mia had an absolute blast and looks forward to skating again. We took Noelle back to her house, and Mia hung out with her, her sister and adorable, yet insane cousins for a few hours.

She was supposed hang out with Cecilia later (actually it was originally planned to be a sleep over, but Mia wanted to just hang out instead) but unfortunately due to the crappy weather, Cecilia's house was out of power. Mia was devastated. Her familia was staying at their uncle's house so there was no way it was happening. We made the most of it and watched a movie till Mia crashed for the night.

Today, we got a bunch of snow, leaving me to snow blow for a few hours before I went to work.

This weekend is the Torrent kickoff party. Hopefully the snow melts because they have a friendly on Sunday :O That's all for now, thanks for reading!