A Lego story...and a little contest...
Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 10:00AM People often don't believe me when I tell them we have a room in our home called "the Lego room." It's true, though. Honest. It used to just be called "the yellow room." It's basically the boys' toy room. And, of late, most of the boys' toys are Legos. Sigh. ;) In any case, once upon a time, the boys inherited Nathan's Lego collection from when he was a kid. It fit in a box. All was good. (To clarify, we'd had Duplo sized Legos already, but now we're talking about the "regular" sized ones.) We gradually added a set here and there. Roughly six months after introducing the "regular" sized Legos, here's what our collection looked like:
;)
Yes, it fit on top of the boys' workbenches and we naively attempted to store it in an organized fashion in these boxes (had three of them, I think). Most of the inventions on the workbench tops were just things Noah had put together.
Now. Fast forward about 4.5 years. We'd given up on the organized storage and would have settled for simply not having them on the floor. ;) All three boys were, by now, fully involved in all of the creating. Here's kinda what it looked like back in February after our very Lego Christmas:
;)
If you'll recall, this was after significant picking up. ;) The yellow room had basically become a dumping ground, though the boys insisted that they could play in there just fine. Legos were everywhere. If you look carefully in that picture on the right, you can see the dark brown box on the floor in front of the workbench...that's the box the original collection of Legos arrived in. Really.
Then, in March of this year, we went to Legoland in California. We're gluttons for punishment like that. ;) Thanks to much saving of allowances and generous grandparents, the boys managed to bring home 23 additional Lego sets. (Yes, it was a bit more crowded in the van on that drive home, lol.) We decided we needed to do something about the Lego room.
So, we purged and got rid of almost all of the toys that had been in the yellow room. The boys weren't playing with them anyhow. ;) Here's what we're now left with:
;)
That top picture shows the three sets of big tub drawers (about as tall as Micah, if you were wondering). Four of the drawers are full of Duplo Legos. Don't ask. (Okay, I thought about getting rid of them but the boys actually use them still...they build buildings and hangars and garages for their smaller Lego inventions.) Three are designated as the boys' drawers (each boy has one for whatever he wants...easier to have them just dump stuff in drawers like this, lol). One is full of Ramagons. One is miscellaneous. :)
The middle picture is the tubs of Legos that aren't currently "in use" as part of inventions. They're *packed*...and this doesn't take into account the three more (larger) boxes of Legos in the next room (with Lego train pieces and Lego Mindstorm stuff).
And that last picture shows the closet with the new shelves we put up. One for each boy. They're overflowing with the inventions the boys have made and refuse to take apart. I say overflowing because I didn't show you the floor along the wall where more Lego vehicles are all lined up. And Asher's shelf is literally just piled in there. ;) Here's another look:
;)
But, look! You can see the floor! Isn't that nice? :) Yay! Of course, within an hour of me taking this picture the boys moved a big folding table (one of those standard rectangular ones) into the middle of the room so they could spread their inventions out a bit more. Sigh.
Yup. Once the older two were obsessed with trains. The Lego obsession is worse, has already lasted longer and doesn't look like it'll end any time soon. Oy. But, now you know, we really do have a Lego room, LOL!
So, that's my story. Take it as a warning if you will. ;)
Now, for a little giveaway. Remember all those Lego sets we brought home from Legoland? Guess how many pieces that involved. Closest person (without going over) to the correct number will win a $10 e-giftcard to Lego.com ...because I shouldn't be the only one wading in Legos. ;) Post your guess in the comments before Monday, June 21 at midnight (MST) and I'll let you know who won on Tuesday morning. (Be sure to check back or leave your email in your comment so I can contact you.)
Reader Comments (10)
My son too is a lego aficionado, so I had him give me an educated guess and he says that our guess should be 4,600 new lego pieces. Cross my fingers and hope we win! Happy Father's Day to Nathan too!
i NEED to do this w/ our legos.. NEED.
as for a guess... i'm going to say 5800.
Hey! I love how you "tried" to keep tabs on the legos in the beginning. :D Love it! Lita just started collecting lego playsets and she loves them. So, I'll guess ... 5125. :D
Bren loves LEGOs, too. He is constantly asking for new sets. I cannot imagine that TIMES THREE! You amaze me, girlie. Anyway, I am going to guess 7,364.
Amanda, we are knee deep in playmobil so I feel your pain :) my girls guess that you now have 4000 new pieces to your collection..enjoy!
3200
Jacob keeps looking at the pictures and saying "my toys"......he's not happy that he can't play there!
It seems to me that you never get enough Legos for your moneys worth so my guess is lower. 2000 pieces?
And I complain about ours. It is "confined" to one corner of the basement. Richard has his sets still boxed up because I refuse to let them be out as well. 4500
We are overflowing in Legos here too. Guess we'll need to start buying for my middle son now. Luckily on our last trip to Legoland last week we only came home with one set and it was $10 so very few new pieces for us. I'm going to guess 3127.
Wow Amanda - I had no idea it was that bad.... I feel your pain! Ha! It just keeps getting worse around here. Even though the Legos are supposed to stay confined to their oversized bin and the Lego table, I still find them in EVERY room in the house. Mostly due to Owen. Owen's thing right now is to stick the small tires into his ears. Jordan will be very impressed to see these photos. He is not here to help me guess, so I am going to have to wing it. I know those larger kits can be outrageous, like 500+ pieces, but I am going to assume that most of the sets were smaller... I will guess 6,080. Fun idea BTW!