The Hangin' Tree Lego Model

Kylen really likes "The Hangin' Tree" by Marty Robbins.  A couple months ago, he was inspired to make a lego model that tells the story in the song.  Here's the song:

LEGO Boxing Match

A year ago, I walked Kylen through a fun little photoshop lesson and never posted the picture!  Kylen built the boxing ring out of legos, I took the pictures, and he did the editing.

LEGO Grandma

When we got home from shopping yesterday, Greg and Kylen told me they purchased LEGO minifigs from the new series.  I didn't even know it was out yet!  We have a tradition of occasionally buying 6 and taking turns opening them, two a piece.  It's a lot of fun.  We decide on our favorites, lament over duplicates, and rejoice together over new ones.

Before opening our first package, we were talking about which minifigs we like best.  I noticed there was a grandma!  And she comes with a cat!  I have read many stories about people who lost loved ones and get strong, sometimes almost miraculous reminders of them.  This was my first such experience.  My grandma passed away over the summer, and she loved cats.  It gave me such a special feeling inside, being reminded of her that way.  I decided the minifig I'm most hoping for is the grandma with the cat.  I'll post a picture if we get one!

LEGO Dreadlocks

 

Kylen did this while I was reading.  I couldn't think of a more descriptive name!

LEGO Chess Set

Kylen wanted to make a LEGO chess set, including the playing pieces.  He came up with a design, figured out how many bricks he'd need, and had Greg order them.  They finished building it the same day the order arrived and even played a few games.  I think it turned out pretty cool!

 

LEGO Chain

Kylen's LEGO chain almost reached the second floor!

Micro Ship Out On the Big, Open Sea

Kylen likes inventing micro LEGO models.  We thought this one was cute on a blue base plate.

LEGO Link

Kylen wanted to try creating a LEGO "landscape" from flat pieces and ended up making a Link to go with.  It took some creativity to put something together.  The hat is from a gnome minifig, and the lower part of the tunic is a hula lady's grass skirt.  The real Link would be mortified, but hey!  It works!

Library LEGO Classes

I never pictured myself doing a big photo shoot with a LEGO model, but here you have it. In my mind, any project Greg devotes half the summer to deserves decent pictures, especially if it looks all super cool techy with wires sticking out and stuff.

He's taught five classes at local libraries, including two on this tic tac toe robot. Kylen and I don't share the same level of enthusiasm for Mindstorms, but I have to admit this one is pretty neat! Plus, it makes Hubby happy, which makes me happy! For those interested in more details, here's a link to Greg's LEGO blog.

Therapeutic Benefits of Perler Beads

After a long, hard day at work, there's nothing like . . .

sorting Perler beads! Greg plows through them so fast, it's a good thing he has a backup: LEGOs. Kylen thought it would be fun to take apart his entire collection and make a huge pile in his room. Then began the process of sorting. A typical evening at our house will find me reading aloud while the boys sort LEGOs or Perler beads.

You're wondering if we ever make anything? Yes, we created a ton of Perler bead favors for Kylen's Mario party a few years ago.  He's gone through a few prolific phases, and he still gets in the mood sometimes.  We certainly don't have a shortage of supplies!

A Nice Weekend

I enjoyed my two week break! It gave me a large amount of free time, and made me realize I need to reduce the frequency of my posts. For now, I am going to aim for about three times a week.

Our Father’s Day weekend was nice and relaxing. Some of the highlights included seeing Kung Fu Panda again at the Imax (see a review here), going to Kylen’s last baseball game, and the annual raft excursion the boys take.

We also bought Kylen a new bike at Toys R Us. He LOVES it! And . . . It’s scaring me! He’s SO much higher on this one and moving SO much faster! He enjoyed lots of Daddy time as they broke in the new bikes, practiced baseball, and watched Super Hero cartoons (not my thing). We cooked and worked a little outside in the gorgeously perfect weather. I'm talking THE perfect weather: Not too hot t-shirt temps with a cool breeze. Heavenly!

Some of you might remember a post I did about Kylen’s big LEGO purchase several months ago. It got put away…then taken back out recently. He worked hard for a few days, and with some help from Greg, completed it. He was SO excited, he actually asked me if I could take a picture and put it on my blog! LOL! Here ya go:

We're savoring summer, doing a little homeschooling, talking about a short camping trip. Life is good!

Location, location!

They say location is everything! Our Master bedroom is the spot my son picked as the prime location for construction of his latest Lego kit. Whee! I guess it’s not too strange, since that’s the room where we watch movies and play video games. Anyhow, this baby has over 1300 pieces and was $100, most of which he paid for out of his own pocket.

I’m pretty proud of him. You see, he’s always had everything he wants or needs, being an only child with two doting parents and all. I recently felt like he needed to experience working and saving. So when he asked for this Lego set, instead of buying it for the next holiday, we suggested he start saving his money. He had a great time collecting and counting all the coins from all of his piggy banks (He has accumulated several over the years.). After adding his birthday money, bribery money offered for playing better in basketball (story for another time), and money from some odd jobs around the house, he had almost enough. (Greg offered to pay 20% and the tax from the very beginning.) He’s already started to save for something else.

Incidentally, we just asked Kylen why he picked the Master bedroom to unload his kit. He answered, “Because that’s where Daddy plays Fire Emblem.” That would be the game with the guy who never gets off his horse…er, I mean woman. That’s just sad. LOL!

Random Thoughts

Our son is a speed reader, and I am tickled pink! Yesterday, hubby took him to get a book at the library while I grocery shopped. He did a very little reading between there and the store – about one block away. He did a very little in the store while we went through the checkout. He did about 10 minutes on our way to a restaurant, and we had a conversation that went something like:

Me: How far are you in the book?
Son: A little more than half way.
Me: Honey, did you read some of his book to make sure it’s OK? It looked a little creepy.
Hubby: Silence.
Son: I’m already done with that one. I’m half way through the second book.

He’s eight. These are chapter books.

Not so rosy, are the dumb arguments I’m forced to witness daily. Sometimes hourly. My two boys love to bicker over insanely unimportant details. Punishment is out of the question, since one of them is 32. The apple sure doesn’t fall far! On and on, the most recent debate was whether or not General Petrine constantly rides a horse. As in never, ever dismounts. Do you know the answer? Probably not. It’s a fictional character in a video game. How in the world there could be any question of whether a character constantly rides a horse or not is beyond me. I would think it would be pretty obvious. I sided with ds just for fun and said, “I think he rides a horse.”

“General Petrine is a woman.”

“Oh.”

Oops! Very old-fashioned of me to assume the General is male. Anyway, they finally looked it up and put the dead horse to rest. Or rather the living horse into action. It seems he...er, she does indeed ride a horse constantly. (File that away in your "Future Important Things" folder.) Hubby was wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. Shhhh! Don’t tell him I said that! *winkwink*

While I'm typing my random thoughts, I just HAVE to get out a little vent. We all know illness comes with annoyances. Here is one of mine. I take a medication by “self” injection. Yeah right! I can barely wiggle my arthritic fingers more than a few centimeters. There is NO WAY I am going to try stabbing my own thigh at a high speed with an inch long needle at a 45 degree angle and then apply constant pressure until the medicine is in. Hubby gets queasy just thinking about it. Yes, he has been known to faint while getting blood drawn. Typical flaw of tough men.

So we need someone to give me the injection. The clinic where my primary physician resides is 10 minutes away. Not bad, except that no one in the ENTIRE clinic is QUALIFIED to give me the injection. I kid you not. We must drive 30 minutes to their sister clinic where one nurse is able to do it. Well, we drove there last Thursday for my weekly dose and found out that the nurse wasn’t there that day. NO ONE ELSE in that building was qualified to give me the shot! Hello? Is this the US where we have the best health care in the world? Explain to me why she can train my own husband to do it in 30 seconds flat but not a single person in two different clinics, including doctors, can do it! Both buildings have labs with nurses who draw blood every day, but none of them is qualified to do it!! Does this make any sense at all??

No alternative solution was offered, and the lady acted like I was inconveniencing her just by standing there. I could almost hear her saying, "Scoot!" I feel like saying, "I'm sorry my illness interrupted your time to stare at the wall while sitting at the computer." (That's what she was doing the entire time Hubby and I argued over the best day to reschedule an appointment. We must have had the secretary change it three times. The other secretary, that is. The one that was actually working.) Seriously, she looked and acted like, "Deal with it."

Long story short, I had to delay my treatment and make another trip the next day! The poor nurse actually came over on her OWN time after work! Unreal!

Note: I just read this post to Hubby, and he said, "I need to just bite the bullet and learn how to do it."

I'm scared. REALLY scared. I told him so, and he said, "You'd better be scared!" Pity me.