movie night with our blabla dolls!!!

– ryan & gub

clementine loves her new my neighbor totoro finger puppets from studio ghibli!

– ryan & gub

check out clementine & grey’s cute my neighbor totoro from studio ghibli!

– ryan & gub

check out this great totoro t-shirt!

– ryan & gub

have you seen blank: a vinylmation love story? it’s this great new stop motion animation created through a partnership between disney interactive and google. it’s 38 minutes and does not have any dialogue, however it’s very creative and surprisingly entertaining for both kids and adults. blank can be watched for free on google play. i highly recommend checking it out!!

google also has a bonus website to share frames of the film. once shared, you gain access to an extra short called cranes in love.

– ryan

grey & clementine had a fun movie night with their cousins in town for the holidays! the incredibles was the cartoon of choice.

– ryan & gub

we never thought we’d be the family driving around with dvd players on the backs of our headrests, however after going on a long road trip with the kids, we’ve learned they can be a life saver. we’re not promoting using such players for everyday use, but they definitely do a great job at grabbing your child’s attention during travels.

we purchased our sylvania dual-screen dvd player from walmart before a recent road trip to virginia. it was around $70 but totally worth the money in our opinion! one of the screens has the main controls/player which then connects to the other screen. we were concerned the cords would not reach across our car, since one carseat faces the front and one faces the back, but luckily they were long enough.

so yeah, we’ve totally become that family! if you have kids and are headed on a long road trip, we highly recommend investing in one of these players and not feeling bad about it!

– ryan & gub

clementine has become a big fan of kiki’s delivery service. it’s an older animation from hayao myazaki & studio ghibli, who created my neighbor totoro and ponyo, which clementine also loves.

the main character kiki is a witch who makes deliveries by flying on her broomstick. clementine now tries to ‘fly high’ like kiki on her little broom and gets super frustrated when she can’t get off the ground!

it’s adorable to say the least.

– ryan & gub

the prince avalanche soundtrack came out today with new music from david wingo (aka ola podrida) & explosions in the sky. for those interested, you can find a limited white vinyl version of the soundtrack at your local independent record store (ie. criminal records & decatur cd). it comes in a gatefold sleeve and features a pretty sweet design from temporary residence. the LP also includes the digital download and a sticker!

– ryan

we had a lovely holiday this year with both of our families. the kids were able to spend time with their aunts, uncles & cousins, which they thoroughly enjoyed, and also received some great goodies in the process! their loot included my neighbor totoro dolls for clem & a new blabla for grey! clem also got a super cool, shiny red tricycle from her grams and gandpa.

we had an easy time picking out gifts for all of our nieces & nephews this year at treehouse kids & craft, our friend kristen’s shop in athens, ga.

happy holidays!

– ryan, gub, clementine & grey