Category Archives: Family

Doodles Inspired By The Movie “Dumbo”

Elephant Doodle
Over a year ago, I saw a documentary on John Lasseter.

He’s the creative genius behind Pixar.

There was a great part where he talked about Dumbo … his favourite movie.

He loved the cartoonish feel of the old film.

And back then, Disney wasn’t scared of heavy emotion.

Walt Disney used to say, “There should be a laugh for every tear.”

Around a year ago, we rented the movie and Jade absolutely loved it.

She was 2 and a half and loved the all characters.

For the next week, I drew Dumbo inspired imagery for Jade (shown below).

Dumbo Doodle

Circus Lion

CircusTiger

Jade was even motivated to try … below is her drawing of Dumbo.

Jade Draws Dumbo

Creating Nonsense Stories

Nonsense Stories

“What should we draw today?”

Often, Jade and I brainstorm funny or weird scenarios before we doodle.

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“Wouldn’t it be funny if …”

We created mom as a “cat-bicycle” chasing a mouse.

The mouse really wants some cheese.

~

“Make the drawings come to life.”

After we doodle, sometimes Jade likes to act them out.

She’s loves adding drama to life (haha).

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“You be Momma and I’ll be the mouse … the stuffy will be the cheese.”

Thank you Jade for your wonderful smiles and imagination.

We make beautiful nonsense together ;P

Waiting For Her

Waiting For Her

It’s always exciting when my wife and daughter come home!

Jade’s Home and Workspace

Jade's Workspace / 1

Our family almost always paints or draws at our kitchen table.

We’ve thought long and hard about how to best integrate our family’s art space and material.

Firstly, we wanted to incorporate Jade’s art into the work space.

We also wanted our art resources / materials to be easily accessible.

For a final touch, we envisioned Jade’s paintings in our living room.

Last month, we went to Ikea and purchased some Expedit bookshelves.

For us, it’s a perfect space solution.

Today, I put up Jade’s art in our living / working area (pics below).

Jade's Workspace / 2

Our Living Room

Sledding Full Speed Ahead !!!

Sledding Full Speed Ahead

Jade’s starting to love winter activities.

She’s especially loving her sled lately !!!

Family Sled

The Excitement of Christmas Morning

Christmas Excitement

Jade was feeling so happy Christmas morning!!!

Our festive home was decorated with our drawings and paintings.

Unfortunately, I was feeling the chills from on oncoming flu (blah).

Christmas Decorations

Christmas Kid Paintings

But most importantly, Jade opened her presents !!!


Opening Christmas Gifts

Thank you Jade for making our Christmas so special.

Love,

Mom and Dad :)

Christmas Stockings

Jade & Her Reindeer Games

Reindeer Antlers

Jade’s mom made these great reindeer antlers for Jade.

I can’t believe she made it in crochet!

Jade was really excited to wear it to her StrongStart Christmas Party.

Reindeer Games

Noises of Christmas Past

Noises Of Christmas Past

Bing! Bang! Click! Clang!

Christmas in 1974. It started as the funnest, loudest Christmas ever. I really wanted that guitar. And I also received an amazing Fisher Price family camper.

Christmas Camper

Later that day, my dad opened up the camper. He took out the cool clicking noise because it was driving him CRAZY.

When I later met my wife, I couldn’t believe she had the SAME camper … and it still made that SAME clicking noise.

Lucky!

Retro Family Camper

Almost 40 years later, my daughter Jade LOVES playing with the camper.

CLICK! click click CLICK! click click CLICK !!!

Hmmm … Where’s that screwdriver?

Drawing with Icing + Candy

Gingerbread House

I think our family has a new Christmas tradition!

Jade and I hammered on the icing and candy. Yum!!!

Our drawings have never tasted sooooo good !!!

July Christmas Tree?

Setting Up The Tree

Okay, maybe not July — but my wife was adamant about an early tree.

Making Memories
Our daughter Jade is 3 and these might be her first Christmas memories. Needless to say, we’re super excited. But there was a little issue about the tree …

Traditions
When I was young, our family had a REAL tree and it had a lifespan of around 3 weeks. Because of this, our tree would be up 2 weeks before Christmas and we’d take it down after the new year. Ever since then, December 12th just FEELS right for setting up the family tree.

Maybe November?
In Canada, some stores set up Christmas trees the day after Halloween (November 1). For me, this is WAAAAAY too early. For my wife, this sounded like a GREAT idea.

Finding Peace
All November, we wrestled about Christmas tree dates. I was holding out for December 1st. Finally, we reached a compromise with November 25th — one month before Christmas. The convincing argument was United States didn’t have Thanksgiving until November 22nd. How can we celebrate Christmas before the USA celebrates Thanksgiving ???

I still feel “wrong” setting up a tree in November … but at least there’s peace in our home.