Lego My Lego!

If you come to my house unannounced, this is what you will see.  This is what my living room floor has looked like everyday since Ben received his first Star Wars Legos for his 5th birthday last year.  Walking and vacuuming has never been the same!


It's wonderful because he gets himself up every morning...I can always tell when due to the loud dumping of the entire lego box...and he can keep himself busy until we all manage to get out of bed.


But, it's NOT wonderful, because these little things are EVERYWHERE!  My little Joshie loves the little body parts the most and is very creative in stashing his goods.  I have found Lego bodies under unfinshed door frames, in little holes in church play equipment, and in jean pockets.  One day, I was cleaning our kitchen cabinets.  We have one with a hole in the facing and upon closer inspection, I noticed Princess Leia's hair and various other tiny Legos INSIDE the cabinet door...all requiring surgical extraction.

I should be the mom that says, "You leave it out...it's gone.  If I vacuum it up, too bad, so sad!"  But, then along came this...the X wing fighter.  Thank you, Santa!  I know the frustration of building this monstracity and not having the pieces.  I have acutally picked through vacuum nastiness to save LEGOS!  The only thing I might pick out on my behalf are diamonds or rubies!  The things we do for our kids!


However, I must admit, I am a nerd and I really enjoy putting these things together.  I especially love it when I'm left alone and I do not have to search for all the pieces.



Luckily, freestyle building is where it's at.  Ben builds a few ships like this everyday and loves playing with his Star Wars guys.  His favorite Lego is his R2D2.  He builds ships for every member in our family.  One day, Joshie was crying and in an attempt to make his little brother feel better, he asked, "Joshie, do you want me to build you a ship?"  To which, Joshie replied a tearful, "Yes!" And, all was good.

One day after Disneyland, I decided to take the boys to the Lego Store.  Oh, Heaven! Thy name is LEGO.  There was something for everyone.  Joshie was just amazed at the little bins chock full of body parts!  Heads, glorious heads!

There was a "Darth Vadie" for Joshie and a R2D2 for Ben! They even moved and had sound effects. I was a bit scared by the Darth Varder myself. Awesome! Did I mention my kids are OBSESSED with Star Wars?

This is also where Ben fell in love with the Death Star.  Look at the desire in those eyes!  For those of you who might not know, the Death Star is Darth Vader's ship and it only costs a mere FOUR HUNDRED dollars!  It is a sad day in parenthood when your child's wishes for a present from Santa exceed reality.  I really thought this might happen for my teenage children, NOT my FIVE year old!  Well, it's good to have big dreams.  

Good luck with that, kiddo!

As a mother of three boys, I am resigned to my fate.  I am just more careful about my walking and vacuuming.  I am learning to love the hours of fun and creativity of those millions of darn little pieces inspire.  May the force be with me.

Joshie's 3rd Birthday Backyard Bash

My second child gets to reap the benefits (or drawbacks) of a more experienced mom when it comes to birthday parties. I am now into simplicity. With my oldest, birthday parties have either been all about the adults or way too crazy with way too much going on for adults, kids and multiple siblings. So, I sent out an evite (love it) and invited only five friends of Joshie's choice and let the parents know they could drop off their kids. We had five friends, two cousins, and five adults besides us. It was so much fun (for me!!!).

We set up a huge blow up pool, holding over 200 gallon (sorry water conservationists!) and put our slip and slide under our swing set slide. We just let the kids go at it. There were chips, grapes, cupcakes, drinks, and the occasional squirt gun or water ballon fight. Summer birthdays are the best. We, adults, enjoyed hanging out with some friends and loved watching Joshie enjoy his day and his friends.

We finished up the day with a trip to Mario's mexican food with Steve, Rebecca, Ryan and Megan. You just can 't go wrong with that! (Unless you order the tostada...) Good times were had by all and I did NO cooking that day since we had donuts for breakfast and Doritos for lunch. Happy Birthday, Joshie!