Morning kind of sneaks past, doesn't it?

Last strip of 2013! Thanks for sticking with us over this crazy year as I tried desperately to keep up with family, shows, work, deadlines, more work, and comics. I succeeded in varying degrees, but mostly it was pretty much a train wreck, as I forgot things, over extended myself, and ultimately spent the last month kind of sick and hoping for it all to end, so I could start over in the new year. ha-ha-ha-ha!

We had a great break with Mrs Handmade on winter break from teaching the Saint Louis Kindergarteners all the things, visiting family and cleaning out the studio. We also had a couple of simply beautiful warm days here in Saint Louis this past weekend, so we got some yard work done and took a trip to the City Museum.

2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year for us, and I'm really looking forward to it. One of the biggest changes is the new website which is mostly complete now. Check it out over at www.LifeWithGirls.com. In addition to the comic, we have an online store, the blog, lots of great artwork and we're working on some really cool extras like downloadable goodies, tutorials and demo videos.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter for show announcements, coupons, and specials in the sidebar of the website or under the Email signup tab on our Facebook fan page.

One Two Three...Not It!

Babies seem to have a sixth sense that tells them whey you're taking a breather. Remember the days when you could just sit on the couch for hours at a time? Ha-ha-ha! After a while though, the whole family gets into a sort of rhythm that's pretty much only disturbed on special occasions...Like when the kitchen is torn apart and rebuilt.

Just two more strips until the end of this first story arc. Talk about timing, right? If all goes as planned, we'll be starting off the new year with the second episode of Life With Girls, season one. Pretty exciting stuff!

Saying Goodbye to Grammie

It's always amazing how fast a weekend goes by, especially when you're busy. No matter how much you get done, it's never as much as you'd wanted or meant to. Weekends where family is visiting and helping with projects are even more so, as we try to cram as much into the visit as we can.

Christmas is next week, and we're looking forward to a bit of a break. I'm not sure yet if I'll be posting any strips, because the schedule is pretty full and wacky, but I'll definitely get something up for you. In the mean time, shipping is still free in the online store, and we're updating with new items most days. Thanks for looking!

The Hole in the Wall

This seems to be the fate of every DIY home project. Start on something you think will be fairly straightforward, and discover that whoever was there before you left a complicated present. This is the beginning of an ongoing storyline that just goes on forever it seems.

There's definitely an element of teaching yourself stuff in the DIY community though. It's like we never left school, and that's one of the things that I love about my job. It always feels like I'm learning something new. Speaking of learning new things, have you seen the Webcomics Handbook by Brad Guigar yet? It's really fantastic, and covers a lot of ground that's useful to comicers, crafters, and small business people. And it's great to see that we're not alone out here working for ourselves. There are so many other people sorking and striving to be better at what they do. It seems like there's always something to do, and lately for me that something has been working on my lettering. Slowly but surely, it's getting better.

Don't forget that through Christmas, you can get FREE SHIPPING from my online shop. That's almost as good as seeing me at a show, or stopping into Fusion in Chesterfield Mall.

Guest Comic By James Hornesby

Today, I'm taking a little break and doing a guest post by my friend James Hornesby from Botched Spot, the pro-wrestling webcomic! He was my table mate at Wizard World Saint Louis, and is also a regular artist for Hex Games. This is his comic of me at conventions hassling passers by.

Most of my comic time this week was taken up working on the new website and client work. I've been scrabbling to get the shop up and running before the new year so that I can close my etsy shop as their new policies take effect. We talked it over, and feel like they just represent too much of a shift from the local, sustainable, handmade model that we value. If we're going to be forced to compete with factories anyway, than we want to do it from our own site, and not pay etsy for the privilege of the fight. So where does that put us? The shop is about a third complete, and I have some things to tweak on the back end. All of our urls now point there, so if you want to see some really great handmade gifts, games, accessories and illustrations check us out at www.LifeWithGirls.com or www.HandmadeFamily.com

How To Remove a Tile Back Splash

Sometimes, jobs are easier than you expected them to be. Sometimes they are harder. Sometimes they are just...different. One of the joys and curses of buying a home is discovering what was done to it before you got there, and every job that you do often creates two more.

I stumbled across this trailer today, from the folks who made Coraline, and Paranorman. There's another one of behind the scenes footage on their site. I LOVE seeing miniatures and models behind the scenes, and it always makes me itchy to make little figures and models of my own. Speaking of little figures, I made a whole bunch of Peg People for the shop a couple of weeks ago, including this one that I think looks a lot like Luke Wilson.

He'll be at Fusion this weekend, and if you sign up for my mailing list either on the Life With Girls website, or on the Life With Girls facebook page, you can get a coupon for ten percent off Handmade Family products which is good through December.

Kids Can Be Terrible Helpers

It's a lot of work, training willing helpers. We always let them help when we're cooking or doing projects, but kind of hate it when they do.

If you're looking for a cool gift for the holidays (or birthday, or whatever)we have super hero capes, baby blankets, games, and original art, as well as the Life With Girls Fairy Tale book and Calendar in stock in our online store at HandmadeFamily.com. Not only that, but we have a special going on right now through Christmas. Free shipping on your entire order with offer code SAINTNICK.

We're also giving away a calendar on both the Life With Girls and the Handmade Family facebook pages. Check it out if you like free stuff! 

Ready To Work, Ready To Play

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful this year, like a fantastic community of crafters filled with wonderful people for the girls to look up to. Food on the table, and work for our hands to do. I'm thankful for my family every day, even when they try to make me work when I want to play.

I really wanted to do three strips a week with the new story lines, but apparently my work load is going to make that impossible, so I'm going to settle for a two strip a week schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll try to get some extras out there too in the blog to fill in some of the gaps between strips, as well as starting Watercolor Wednesdays as soon as I get the shop on the new site in order.

Speaking of shops, the Life With Girls Fairy Tale calendar is available in out Handmade Family store at http://www.handmadefamily.com, along with a ton of other cool things from super hero capes, to baby blankets, games, comics, prints and original art. We're offering free shipping through Christmas with offer code SAINTNICK.

Coming home from work to playtime

You know how sometimes you get home and just want to sit and stare off into space for a bit? There are always people who are excited to see you, when there are little people in the house. It's kind of like in "Cheers" when Norm walks into the bar, except there isn't a beer, and there's usually something that needs to be done. That first moment though, in between the sigh of what's ahead of you, and having to move forward, when you're the only person in the world that matters to them, is sort of magical.

Just a reminder, sometime in the month of December, the LifeWithGirls.com address will start redirecting there. I'm really excited about this change, and hope you all like it too. If you'd like to get a jump on the change, you can check it out at www.LifeWithGirls.net

ALSO, the Life With Girls Fairy Tales calendar is now available in our web store along with a lot of other cool artwork, games, pins and books. www.handmadefamily.com

Driving

A couple of quick housekeeping notes while I've got you here. A couple of months ago, I decided to build a new website in order to consolidate our online presence into one place. I've nearly got all the blog posts from Penny Candy and Shady Characters, Handmade Family, and Life With Girls migrated over to the new space and most of the rest is at least built if not fully fleshed out. Sometime in the month of December, the LifeWithGirls.com address will start redirecting there. I'm really excited about this change, and hope you all like it too. If you'd like to get a jump on the new site, you can find it at www.LifeWithGirls.net

ALSO, the Life With Girls Fairy Tales calendar is now available in our web store along with a lot of other cool artwork, games, pins and books. www.handmadefamily.com

End of the Work Week

I'd been building up to this day for literally six months, as we waited for our second daughter to be born. Leaving the 9-5 in order to leap into the world of full time freelancing and being a stay-at-home dad. Ultimately, it ended up being rather anticlimactic as the day ended pretty much like any other. There were the usual "Keep in touches", of course...maybe it was because it was something that we'd all been moving toward for so long, that it was just another part of the day. So, this is the beginning of our adventure. :)
 
A couple of quick housekeeping notes while I've got you here. A couple of months ago, I decided to build a new website in order to consolidate our online presence into one place. I've nearly got all the blog posts from Penny Candy and Shady Characters, Handmade Family, and Life With Girls migrated over to the new space and most of the rest is at least built if not fully fleshed out. Sometime in the month of December, the LifeWithGirls.com address will start redirecting there. I'm really excited about this change, and hope you all like it too. If you'd like to get a jump on the change, you can check it out at www.LifeWithGirls.net

ALSO, the Life With Girls Fairy Tales calendar is now available in our web store along with a lot of other cool artwork, games, pins and books. www.handmadefamily.com

Coworkers

New Strips at last! Starting from the beginning, we get a nice introduction from my friend Hannah, who I worked with before becoming a full-time freelancer and stay-at-home dad.

A couple of quick housekeeping notes while I've got you here. A couple of months ago, I decided to build a new website in order to consolidate our online presence into one place. I've nearly got all the blog posts from Penny Candy and Shady Characters, Handmade Family, and Life With Girls migrated over to the new space and most of the rest is at least built if not fully fleshed out. Sometime in the month of December, the LifeWithGirls.com address will start redirecting there. I'm really excited about this change, and hope you all like it too.

ALSO, the Life With Girls Fairy Tales calendar is now available in our web store along with a lot of other cool artwork, games, pins and books. www.handmadefamily.com

Life With Girls Fairy Tales Calendar

2014 Handmade Family - Life With Girls Calendar is available in our web store!

Originally concieved as a "Poor Man's Portfolio", the Life With Girls calender is a way that we're able to offer 12 high quality, full color prints for a very reasonable price.

Calendars are spiral bound, with 8x10 image sizes and have all your favorite holidays such as "talk like a pirate day" and "international self portrait day" on it. In addition to that, each calendar comes with a hand drawn sketch of us wishing you a happy birthday on your birthday.

Featuring scenes from The Brave Little Tailor, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Seven Ravens, The Fox and the Crow, Little Red Riding Hood, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Frog, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Princess and the Pea, Hansel and Gretel, and The Forest Sprites.
The concept behind this years calendar is theater, fairy tales, and dress up. I chose 12 of his favorite fairy tales, and illustrated them, designing cut paper sets and costumes for the family to act out the stories on stage.

http://handmadefamily.indiemade.com/product/2014-handmade-family-life-girls-calendar

2014 Handmade Family - Life With Girls Calendar!
Originally concieved as a "Poor Man's Portfolio", the Life With Girls calender is a way that we're able to offer 12 high quality, full color prints for a very reasonable price. Calendars are spiral bound, with 8x10 image sizes and have all your favorite holidays such as "talk like a pirate day" and "international self portrait day" on it. In addition to that, each calendar comes with a hand drawn sketch of us wishing you a happy birthday on your birthday.
Featuring scenes from The Brave Little Tailor, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Seven Ravens, The Fox and the Crow, Little Red Riding Hood, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Frog, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Princess and the Pea, Hansel and Gretel, and The Forest Sprites.
The concept behind this years calendar is theater, fairy tales, and dress up. Mr Handmade chose 12 of his favorite fairy tales, and illustrated them, designing cut paper sets and costumes for the family to act out the stories on stage.
- See more at: http://handmadefamily.indiemade.com/product/2014-handmade-family-life-girls-calendar#sthash.rBfZVtyo.dpuf

Thumbelina

The hardest part of many bad situations is just leaving them. Thumbelina is a story of both finding your place in a world that can seem so big and overwhelming, and also about escaping situations that make you feel small and worthless. The story, rewritten by Rob Lammle will be available in the Handmade Fairytales Volume 2, coming in the spring. If you'd like to check out Volume one, it's available in my web store at www.handmadefamily.com .

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

The Princess and the Pea

The Paper Bag Princess was our original jumping off point for the retelling of The Princess and the Pea. I wanted it to be the story of a girl who proves her station and then walks away from the boy who wouldn't have someone without a certain status. Leighton took that kernel and created something so much better by adding a twist that made the prince look much more foolish. The story, rewritten by Leighton Connor will be available in the Handmade Fairytales Volume 2, coming in the spring. If you'd like to check out Volume one, it's available in my web store at www.handmadefamily.com .

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Hansel and Gretel

Set in the hills of Appalachia, Hansel and Gretel takes the classic cautionary tale and updates it with a witch made of wood and spiders, a clever girl and headstrong boy.  The story, rewritten by Josh Burnett will be available in the Handmade Fairytales Volume 2, coming in the spring. If you'd like to check out Volume one, it's available in my web store.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

The Seven Ravens

When I was looking for story ideas for this project one of my friends Suggested the Seven Swans. As I worked on researching the story, I came across the Seven Ravens variation, which I thought was much more compelling than the swan version. It's a fantastic tale of compassion, determination, and sacrifice and my friend Leighton Connor did a fantastic job retelling it.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

The Princess and the Frog

I've loved the story of the princess and the frog ever since I saw Robin Williams play the part of the frog prince on "Fairy Tale Theater". I started going crazy with coloring the girls' hair on these...

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is an example of a story that came out totally different than I had originally intended it to. One of the cool things about doing these illustrations, and coming up with story concepts is that you really get to delve into the core of each character and see the possibilities of their motivation and personality.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Jack and the Beanstalk

The story of Jack and the Beanstalk is classic. I loved the idea of using oversized masks and arms to portrait a giant character. This is actually the second one of the set that I completed, and I feel like I was really getting up to speed with it.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

The Fox and The Crow

The Fox and the crow has always been one of my favorite of the Aesop's fables. I thought it'd be cool to design some paper puppets for this one. I love how the fox came out.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - The Forest Sprites

The Forest Sprites are something that I created based on a discussion on what fairies are by JRR Tolkein. He felt like fairys were more like nature spirits than little people as we see in Disney movies. So I designed a handful of them based on plant forms.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - The Emperor's New Clothes

Heart Print Boxer Shorts are hilarious.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - Brave Little Tailor

The Brave Little Tailor is a classic story of the small and meek overcoming adversity with guile and dexterity.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - Where The Wild Things Are

While the movie isn't something I'm going to watch with my kids anytime soon, it's a near perfect adaptation of Sendak's manic and marvelously subversive book, Where The Wild Things Are.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Tron

Even in a world where computer generated movies are commonplace, Tron holds up well. This is probably thanks at least in part to the wonderful designs of Syd Mead. At any rate, if I'm watching TV, and Tron is on...I'm watching it.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Star Wars

Star Wars gave me a life long love of fantasy. It introduced a generation to a universal model of the heroic journey. Plus, how cool are space ships and light sabers?

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Spiderman

I still think of Spiderman 2 as the perfect super hero movie, and I still tear up when Aunt May tell's Peter that people need heroes. That they need someone to show them to just hold on a little bit longer.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Sesame Street

I've always loved puppetry, and when I was in high school and college I wanted nothing more than to be a muppeteer and work in the Henson Creature Shop. I joke now that I settled for second best when I became an illustrator instead.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - My Neighbor Totoro

We love My Neighbor Totoro. When the girls were very young, this movie captured their attention and imagination in a way that was just amazing. One of the things that we especially loved about it was that it was just about a family going through a rough time. The loved each other and were good role models for the girls. Watching the Miazaki movies in comparison with modern American shows, I'm coming to the conclusion that needing to have a desperate struggle between good and evil is a conceit of Hollywood.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Megaman

Megaman was another favorite growing up. A big difference that I've found between modern games and the games of my youth is that now they reward you for recklessness. When I was a kid, recklessness just earned you the right to try again. Rewards were for precision.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Legend of Zelda

Every Nintendo I've ever owned, has been because of the Legend of Zelda. From the opening line "It's dangerous to go alone, take this." all the way through to defeating Gannon and saving Zelda and Hyrule, I've always been totally hooked.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Ghostbusters

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Firefly Serenity

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - The Empire Strikes Back

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Akira

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Daily Life 025: Ice Skating

April 12, 2011 - Daily Life 025: Ice Skating

The other day, we watched the movie "Ice Princess" starring Joan Cusack and Michelle Trachtenberg. The movie is about a physics student who begins a project based on ice skating for a scholarship competition, and as she learns more about skating by applying what she learns, finds that she really loves skating.

About half-way through the movie as I'm making dinner in the kitchen, I check on the girls and Abby is spinning in the living room. She say's "Look daddy! I'm ice 'kating!" Ha-ha-ha! So I help her with some more spins, and then we pretend to do some other of the other tricks (is that the right word?) from the skating portions of the movie. Now, any time she's posing with one food behind her, she tells me to "look at her ice 'kating moves."

I started keeping track of my life with the girls in 2009, in a series of illustrated status updates called "Daily Life"...As I finish up collecting some of these stories for print books, and catch up on some freelance work, I thought it would be a good time to post some of these older stories, so that everything is collected here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. :)

December 2010

December 2010

Television would have us believe that on Christmas morning all kids (after having dreamt of sugar plums and such) come tumbling down the stairs to pillage the tree. All the while, mom and dad watch the carnage while sipping cider, hot chocolate, eggnog, or whatever...

Spending Christmas morning with my parents is important, and in many ways similar to this, but it starts off in a very different way.

I wake up early, before the sun rises, put the kettle on and wake the kids. As we're getting some breakfast ready and packing up the car, mom comes shuffling down the hallway like an extra from a zombie movie.

This is where I get some measure of retributionfor our Fourth of July shenanigans...driving across the state for Christmas morning and cinnamon rolls with my folks.

I started keeping track of my life with the girls in 2009, in a series of illustrated status updates called "Daily Life"...As I finish up collecting some of these stories for print books, and catch up on some freelance work, I thought it would be a good time to post some of these older stories, so that everything is collected here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. :)

November 2010

November 2010

Baking in November is so wonderful...the house fills with the smell of fresh bread and becomes warm from the oven, while the activity warms us. Abigail is an eager helper and has become a whiz with the mixing spoon. Kneading the dough and scooping flour off the countertop are also favorite baking activities for her. The joy of time spent with this wonderful little helper outweighs the fact that she is covered in flour and her clothes usually need to be changed when we're done.

Sometimes though, her willingness to help out can be a bit much. It can be difficult at times to convince a two and a half-year-old that, in fact, you do NOT need help taking the bread out of the oven.

I started keeping track of my life with the girls in 2009, in a series of illustrated status updates called "Daily Life"...As I finish up collecting some of these stories for print books, and catch up on some freelance work, I thought it would be a good time to post some of these older stories, so that everything is collected here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. :)