What I did yesterday...and other stuff...

So. Yesterday, I spent more than an hour playing with Lego mini-figures with the boys. We were cleaning/sorting the yellow room (also known as the Lego room) so that we can put up more shelves this weekend. Because I'm crazy, we decided to sort through all the Legos whilst we had most of the "excess" ones (those not claimed by one of the boys for some project or another...yes, this is a very large number of additional Legos) in a number of drawers. We pulled out any mini-figure pieces and set those all aside. Then, we laughed and laughed as we created as many full mini-figures as we could out of the pieces we'd just culled. We came up with this:

 
Yup, these 5 dozen or so mini-figures were the "leftovers"...the poor souls that hadn't been claimed for the boys' Lego town. Counting all of those also, we have roughly 140 mini-figures. Sad, but true.

(And, actually, we have about 20 extra heads for some reason...not sure if there are poor bodies without heads somewhere or what. Asher pointed out that at least a few of the bodies without heads are in each boys' stash because they're extra changes of clothes for their mini-figure representation of themselves, but I don't know where the rest of the bodies are, lol.)

Anyhow. It was great fun. We tried to out-do each other in creating the weirdest people.

Now. If you're wondering why I was cleaning the dreaded Lego room...let me tell you...

In short, because we're re-organizing and painting the basement, everything got moved into the front room (the "school" room). As part of the basement re-organization, we also cleared out the play area (just next to the front room) and decided to make that into the dining area it was originally intended for. The awesome new dining table that Nathan's parents got us for Christmas now sits in said dining area, awaiting a time when we've finished shuffling boxes all around the house, such that there aren't boxes filling the rest of the space (hopefully soon). The boys, in losing the play area and the front room and the rec room and the family room, where they'd generally played before, took over the new dining table as a staging ground for their Lego city. 

Before I can finish sorting the front room, though, I need more room in the dining area. Which means I needed boys and Legos back to the yellow room. In order to get them back to the yellow room, we needed a miracle. The yellow room, you see, was not passable. As in, it was unsafe to walk in. As in, I couldn't see the floor...it was covered in Lego creations that I was not supposed to touch. (The boys love to build the Lego kits as they come but them modify them as they go and add them to their "fleet"...they somehow knew where every one of these creations belonged and were able to still get to the drawers of loose Legos. Amazing really.) 

Anyhow, because my boys rock, I woke up earlier this week to find them tackling the yellow room floor all by themselves (having explained to them the day before my plan and why I needed the yellow room cleaned). So. I missed the complete devastation picture, but here's what it looked like after they'd made pretty good progress:

Yes, this is after significant progress. See? You can see the carpet. That's huge. So. We then proceeded to finish cleaning and sorting the yellow room, purging most anything that wasn't Lego, hence the time for playing with mini-figures, and are now just waiting for Nathan and Noah to get home with the shelving supplies. We're going to add big ol' shelves in the closet at boy height so that each boy will have a place to put his creations...a place that is *not* on the floor. ;) (I sectioned off spots on the floor using painters tape that are the same size as the shelves will be so that the boys knew how much they could keep. The rest got "recycled" for future building. And, yes, we took the doors off the closet long ago...just easier.)

Whew. So. After this weekend, hopefully, we'll have the yellow room in better order, such that the Legos can stay in the yellow room. (The reasoning here is that if the floor was clear enough that they could actually play in there, they'd stop bringing all the Legos to the dining table.) And. The last coat of paint on the trim in the guest room goes on later today. (For those who don't know, painting trim is not fun. At all.) Then, we can move the stuff from the guest room back into the guest room (it's currently taking up much of the space in the rec room). That will leave the rec room mostly empty, except for the toys from the former play area that will be moved down there (and the toys that were originally down there that are presently in the front room waiting). Here's what the rec room looked like once emptied:

And here's what it looks like now (or will look like once we move the stuff back into the guest room):

 
And, yes, we still plan to put a fort down there. But. We're trying to be realistic and have decided perhaps that can wait until spring. ;) Technically, we still plan to paint the doors in the basement (just a cleaner white) but think that may wait till spring, too. 

So. After all that, I'll just need to finish sorting the stuff in the front room and get that all out to where it will now live. And maybe, just maybe, we'll take next weekend off. Or, if we're feeling crazy, we'll go look for new light fixtures for the dining area and front entry and paint the half wall in the dining area and try to finish off that stuff...we'll see...LOL...I kinda feel like after all this work to get the rec room more open for the boys, we deserve to make the main level a bit prettier. ;) Then again, there's definitely something to be said for not painting anything... ;)

Micah funnies...

Because the kid just continues to crack me up...

1. A couple days ago, he was watching an episode of Mythbusters (all of the boys love that show!). The episode was about superhero myths. Adam (one of the main characters) swishes his cape and declares something like, "And now I'm off to fight crime!" Micah, totally serious, turns to me and says, "Who's Crime? I didn't see him on the show."

2. Yesterday at bedtime, Micah was rather upset (to the point of tears). The reason? The periodic table of the elements book that the boys have been having Nathan read to them for bedtime (yes, they requested it...after they finished the Rocks & Minerals book by the same author) didn't cover all the elements. Micah is convinced that they were deliberately leaving out the interesting ones (they must be interesting, Micah reasons, because he doesn't know about them). He was seriously mad. Gotta love that kid.

3. Micah's new plan of attack for soccer appears to be distraction. During his indoor soccer sessions the past couple of weeks, he's taken to alternating between "zapping" the other team using lightning from his hands (like the emperor in "Return of the Jedi") and slicing them down with pretend light sabers. Sound effects are, of course, in evidence as he's been chasing the other team around the field while the rest of his team goes after the ball. I tried to take a picture tonight, but his scrimmage was on the far side. Seemed like the only logical thing to do. ;)

Bah humbug.

Okay. It may be the wrong holiday for that. But that's how I feel about the groundhog's prediction. So there. ;) I'm trying to be thankful that at least here in Colorado we also get sunshine with our winter. Still. I'm ready to be warm and, perhaps more importantly, I'm ready to be able to send the boys outside to run around without having to worry about the blanket of icy snow still covering our yard. Bleh.

In other news, a new challenge went up over at the Good Grief Blog yesterday. Check it out!

And, for those who scrapbook digitally or mostly just like to collect digital goodies like myself, lol...be sure you see this month's kit over at Songbird Avenue! As always, all proceeds go to a charity and this month's recipient is Doctors Without Borders, in honor of Haiti. Such an easy and rewarding way to make a contribution.

So. That's really all I had at the moment. Hope your February's off to a fantastic (and warm) start!

The Lego people stories...

As promised...to start, here are my boys...or the Lego representations they've created of themselves:

 
Things to note. Asher has no hair because (he tells me) he traded his hair to Noah for two purple cones. (You may recall from this post that purple cones are the most powerful.) Micah informs me that he likes to dress up, hence the bow tie. And Noah's wearing his second best outfit (his business outfit, he says) because he can't find his favorite outfit right now (it's brown I'm told). 

On to the rest of the people. First, here are Micah's folks:

 
I forgot to include that the two that are sitting are Micah's sons. The "Grade" is the level of worker, as apparently they all work together in Micah's car company (but not so closely that they deserve names??). He has these Grade A and Grade C assistants who help him out. I'm told the Grade B folk are in production.

 (Since I took this picture yesterday, Micah's been scavenging the yellow/Lego room for more people. I'm actually curious how many mini figures we have altogether. I'm guessing it would be considerably easier (and doable) to count those than to just count all the pieces. The boys assure me there are MANY more in the Lego room but refuse to find them all for me because "that would take too long.")  

Here are Asher's people:

 
You can see where Micah got his "Grade" idea, right? I find it hilarious that Asher only has one head of hair for all his people. (He generously opted to give it to his son, lol!) Not quite sure how Noah managed to get the monopoly on hair...maybe he had the most purple cones to trade? In any case, these people all work in Asher's car company, though I think they may actually be planning to expand to design and production of planes soon. (Btw, Asher finally started giving his people names just before I started writing this.)

And now Noah's people:  

Yes, Noah somehow managed to acquire the only two female mini figures (pretty sure they came with one of his Agents sets or something) and most of the hair in the house. With the exception of his wife and sons, the rest of the people in the picture work for his car company (you see the trend here, right?). I love that Noah also has a personal chef...and that Megan is his personal assistant (which is different than the other boys' Assistants and Grades, as there's only one of her and she works directly with Noah...note the headset she's wearing, too, lol). 

Now. Did anyone else notice that my boys seem to believe that they're all going to have only sons? This isn't only because we have no girl mini figures either. ;) I've at least convinced them that they may have to give way on their name choices (they're pretty attached) because their wives might want to have something to say about that, lol. In response, Micah's got a list of back-up names. 

So. That's the story behind the Lego people in our dining room. We had to rearrange the "city" to take these photos...will try to capture that soon. It's complete with runways and hot dog stands. There are even a few dogs running around, but not near any of Noah's places because he's allergic. (Really, I asked where his dog was and that's what he told me, lol!) Oh, and tonight, Asher's people found a couple of meteorites and now Micah's people are jealous. 

Bet you didn't know any of that, eh? ;) 

More tales from Lego central...

So. The boys have been playing with Legos on the new dining room table. They have a whole little "world" set up that I don't completely understand. What I do understand is that they've been really using the mini-figures more lately and coming up with relationships and stories and all...basically (and they'll deny this if you say it, lol), they're playing "house" with Legos. 

Because they crack me up, and because I just like to document things, I decided to take some pictures today. I jokingly told the boys to round up their "folks" to take some group pictures. When I got there, this is what I found:

 
Noah, funny boy that he is, had arranged "his" people, complete with photographer already taking the group picture. ;)

Need to get ready for indoor soccer now, but will be back to share the stories behind the people soon!