Snow Job

It's snowing like crazy here tonight. Brandi got stuck with the baby. I called my friend Paul with his sweet set o'wheels and we went and got her. Then I spent an hour or so helping people push their cars and put on chains. My neighbor and I actually managed to clear most of a huge traffic snow jam all by ourselves. No doubt if I go out there it will be a mess again.

A Hard Day at the Office

Earlier this week Sully spent the day at the office with me. He got dressed up, packed his briefcase with a power ranger, hand full of cars and a bag of gold fish. After showing him off a bit he watched some cartoons on the TV in my office and asked me a few questions. He was glowing the entire day. We had a fantastic day together.

Bad Dude

I did this sketch tonight.

Drawing is creating, and when you create something it has to come from somewhere. If you are honest with yourself, you can look at one of your drawings and it will tell you a story. It's a story about where it comes from. It comes from somewhere inside you. What does it say? This sketch makes me uncomfortable because of where it came from. It came from a place I don't share with many people. I think we all have a place like that inside of us.

This drawing spoke to me. It told me a story. It was dark, depressing and oppressive but it was honest. That's why it's good. It's good because it spoke to me and if it spoke to me maybe it will speak to someone else. If I'm honest, that's really what every creator wants.

So, what's the story? Honestly...it's none of your business.

Reading with Hellboy

Someday I would really like to do a graphic novel. The first step toward doing anything is learning how it's done. That means reading lot's of them.

First, I read them just to take it in as it was intended. Then I go back and pay close attention to the art and how the story is told with the art. The angles, composition and all that good stuff. Then I go back one more time and try to break down the the story. What is the theme? How are the characters developed? How does the creator keep the plot moving?

I'm reading two different authors right now that I really like. Doug Tennapel and Mike Mignola. Both do fantastic work.

A Sunny Day in Gray Seattle

My good friend Heidi called yesterday to see if we wanted to go to the zoo with her and her kids. Since Sully's favorite place is the zoo and we all needed the fresh air and time with friends I excepted. We had a wonderful time! The sun was shining it was semi-warm and we were with friends. What more could we ask for?

We saw as many of the animals as we could see. Here is the Gorilla we witnessed eating his own poo. The kids all thought it was hillarious.




The Hippos that made me feel good about my body.



The Grizzlies napping like I wish I could.



Last but not least, the reason we were there.




It was a great day and I look foward to many more like it! Thanks Heidi.

My Sister, My Friend

Today my older sister Chrissta turns 35. There is nothing more I want then to be there with her to celebrate, but it just isn't gonna happen.

So here are the Top 5 things I'd do if I was with her today:

1. Sing Happy Birthday to her in a way that would make Whitney Houston and Celine Dion proud.
2. Eat as much good food as we could without losing consciousness.
3. Watch White Christmas and sing "Sisters"
4. Eat chocolate
5. Stay up all night chatting

It been almost 6 years since we've seen each other and it's killing me! At this point I don't know what would be worse seeing her and having to say good bye at the end of the visit or just never seeing her again. Long distance relationships suck!

Happy Birthday my Friend! I love you more than I can say!

Happy Birthday Freak!!

Happy birthday Shauna! Oh and Hello AJ. (See below)

Got Milk?

We thought this picture was too cute not to share! Eric was drinking out of the milk jug and holding Finn. The little Mr. just could not resist what was right in front of him.

The Savages are Restless

I have the day off today. Most of the day we've spent doing absolutely nothing, which makes the savages restless.

Last night Amara and I were watching a show called Man vs. Wild on the Discovery channel. The show is exactly as the title suggests. Some guy goes out in some remote wilderness and survives with nothing but a knife for however long it take to find his way out. One of the shows last night he was on a uninhabited island eating and drinking coconuts, catching fish and avoiding sharks. When he was catching fish he made this really cool spear out of bamboo and it just so happens that a bunch of bamboo grows near our driveway. The kids and I were bored and the rest is history.

Don't worry I won't be leaving this toy around for the kids to play with.

Sittin Up and Eating Food

So, as much as I beg and plead Finnigan will not stop growing up. He has decided that laying on his back is no longer fun. Sitting up and reaching for things is alot more fun, especially if it's something he's not suppose to have like a dirty shoe or important piece of paper. Amara was nice enough to set up these toys for him to destroy. Ahhh.. boys and distruction, it's never too early!






He's also decided that sitting at the table with us at dinner and watching is no longer good enough, he needs to eat too. So far he has had rice cereal, pears, peaches, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potato, prunes and avocado. The only one he really didn't love was squash. (He is my son!) In these pictures Amara is feeding him avocado.



There are a few days I wish I could fast forward to get through without losing my mind, but there are so many I wish I could rewind and do all over again just for fun. But most often I wish I could just pause for a little while so they could just stay little longer.

Our Very Own Piston Cup

So we've decided as a family to start collecting the diecast cars from the movie CARS. They are really good quality and we all love to play with them. Thanks to Auntie Lisa and Grandma and Grandpa we started our collection awhile ago. We've started to have our own Piston Cup races. For any of you who don't know what that is, you need to rent CARS. These are the pictures of our most recent race.


We had a great time racing all of the cars against each other. By the end of the night we'd had lots of races and lots of laughs. We are so thankful for the small things.

Best Superbowl Ad

We had a great time watching the superbowl. More on that later. I had to share this ad because I love it. Hilarious!

One Night at the Museum of Flight

This last Thursday night we made a trip down to south Seattle for a fun family evening out. I was told by one of my friends up here that the Seattle Museum of Flight is free on the first Thursday of the month from 5pm to 9pm. Free is a very good price for a family of 5 in Seattle.

It is really an amazing place as you can see from the pictures. We walked around, not really stopping to read anything, for about an hour and a half. We luckily ran into some friends, and that made it even more fun for the kids.

Sully really liked sitting in the jet plane!



Both kids were lucky enough to be able to ride in a small replaca of a Blue Angel jet that they actually got to control. Amara loved it, Sully was not so sure. He hasn't ever really loved things like that. I think it makes his tummy feel funny.



We will be going back next month for sure! We had a great time! The kids can't wait to take their Grandpa's there (hint hint)!

Mr. Finnigan

Since Finnigan hasn't made an appearance on the blog yet, I got him to sit still for a minute so I could get some good pictures of him. It took some work but I finally got him to play with the camera's wrist strap while I snapped these pictures.

Tibbileah

The kids and I have been having a great time playing an online game together for the past couple months. It's called World of Warcraft. Basically, you create a character and then take it out into an entire online world full of other players and complete quests. For completing the quests you get experience points which make you more powerful and capable of doing more things in the world.

Amara's character is named Tibbileah. She is an 18th level gnome mage (magic user). She throws giant fireballs, frostbolts and can turn her enemies into sheep. She may only be two feet tall but if you mess with her, you might find yourself frozen to the ground, engulfed in flames and eating a fireball. With Tibbileah, Amara and Sullivan could take on a gang of troggs, battle the evil defias brotherhood or destroy murloc sea creatures. She has the ability to save the day. Instead, they run rampant across the land incinerating the local wildlife. Hundreds of small rabbits, squirrels and other helpless creatures fallen victim to Amara, Sullivan and Tibbileah's gnomish magic.

I guess someone has to control the wildlife.

Artist In Training

Amara did some drawing tonight, then we scanned them in on the new scanner and spent some time coloring. Sully doesn't have the attention span to participate for very long yet but he likes to watch for a minute or two. I work hard to find things we can do together that we both enjoy. In the end though, all they really want is for you to spend time with them and pay attention to them. It's time well spent.