Lego

Advent 2024–Day Four

I decided we’d just keep going with instruction book one, so today Chickadee built the first two chess pieces…both pawns. They’re quick little builds, but at least they’re fun!

Advent 2024–Day Three

Today Ladybug finished the first half of the Lego chess board. It has that distinctive checkerboard appearance now, plus some fancy details around the edge:

I haven’t decided yet if we’re going to move straight on to the second book of instructions and build the rest of the chess board next, or if we’ll finish the first book with some of the pieces…stay tuned to see what we do!

Advent 2024–Day One

It’s finally Advent, my favorite season of the church year! For our family Advent Lego project, we’re doing something a bit different this time around. Instead of building a massive set over the season, we’re building a chess set, which we will be able to actually use once it’s complete. Today, Turkey started on the board itself:

I’m still not entirely sure how we’re going to split up the building…I think the chess board will be built over four days, which leaves 20 days to build the 32 pieces…they’ll be pretty short builds, but since everyone is so busy, that’s probably for the best anyway!

Thanksgiving 2024

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone far too quickly!

Our annual celebration started with Pie Day(s). Like I did last year, I split the work of the pie baking up over two days…we made 10 pies plus the cranberries and stuffing.

I love that our table looks a little bit different every year!

I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have later, so I checked in with Franklin to see how his dinner preparations were coming along:

Bunny wasn’t able to join us until Thanksgiving Day, and had to leave again this morning already, so we did things a little different. We ended up watching the Macy’s Parade twice on Thanksgiving Day (only one game of Parade Bingo, though), along with the dog show and a few of our favorite Thanksgiving shows (Mad About You‘s “Giblets for Murray,” Gilmore Girls‘ “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “Talking Turkey,” Scrubs’ “My Day Off,” A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and M*A*S*H‘s “The Yalu Brick Road.”).

We had our traditional dinner…turkey and gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and green beans with almonds, cranberries, and rolls:

It’s always a pretty plate!

And so many pies to choose from!

I went with pecan, Nutella, and pumpkin:

I had enough time to pop back into Animal Crossing to help Franklin procure the final ingredients for dinner on the island:

This morning started with pie for breakfast…this time, Nutella and Biscoff cookie butter:

Chickadee and I went to the town Santa parade:

I love a turkey sandwich on rye the day after Thanksgiving!

For lunch dessert, I tried the caramel apple pie:

The Lego Winter Village set was built over the course of two days…I have mixed feelings about this year’s model (I really wish it was just a post office, not Santa’s post office), but I do think the mail sorting system is really cool, and I love the hot air ballon. We got a bonus set of a delivery truck, and it’s really cool, too!

Dinner was turkey soup (of course):

And then Moose, Chickadee, and I went to the town tree lighting:

We also enjoyed checking out the gingerbread house contest…here are some of my favorites:

And one more piece of pie for dessert!

We get to have another leftovers dinner tomorrow (and more pie of course!), but that pretty much wraps up this year’s Markel Family Thanksgiving…on to Advent and Christmas!

First Day of School 2024

Today we kicked off the 2024-25 school year, Ladybug’s last year in our little homeschool. I organized the school room as best as I could so we could start fresh, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to find room for all of the books (and Lego sets!) in our collection!

As always, there were Schultüte to open first thing:

And pictures to take. Ladybug is in 12th grade this year, and Chickadee is now a junior high student in 7th grade!

We did some work this morning, but not every subject:

I had to run out to the orthodontist with Turkey before he heads back to college, so we stopped for a first day of school treat at Scooter’s…pumpkin spice season has arrived!

And then, as we usually do, we got to work building our Lego set(s). I decided that instead of a larger set, I would get the mini Disney castles we didn’t already have, so we could complete that collection. Even I got to build this year, because I still had the Sleeping Beauty castle I picked up while we were at the Mall of America this summer!

It a lovely little collection, but I don’t know what we’ll do for space if they make more castles…and at the same time, I really hope they do a replica of the castle at Disneyland Paris!

For dinner, I made one of Ladybug’s favorites…pot roast and green beans. And we enjoyed a cinnamon roll cheesecake for dessert.

It was a great kickoff to the new school year!

2023-24 School Year–Week Thirty-Two

We finished the final chapter of the 2023-24 school year!

Ladybug wrapped up a few final things this week. She read about magnetism in physics. In history, she read about Joan of Arc, Henry VII, and the fall of Constantinople. She read some literary selections from the Restoration and Neoclassical Age, including Phillis Wheatley’s “To S.M., A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Work.”

Chickadee finished her math curriculum by learning how to calculate simple interest with i=prt. She completed her final writing assignment about African and Asian elephants and their habitats. She also completed her grammar review for the year. We read about Paul’s missionary journeys and trip to Rome.

We had one final field trip for the 2023-24 school year…we attended the final History Exploration Day for the year at the Missouri History Museum, which focused on recreation, which is both a fun and serious topic, as we looked not only at how people enjoyed recreation in the past, but also who wasn’t welcome at various locations.

And one last fun activity before the end:

On to the summer…there’s a lot we’re looking forward to, including the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games!

Advent 2023–Day Twenty-Two

Today Bunny finished the Lego Home Alone set by building the treehouse and, just like in the movie, finally Kevin’s mom at the very end!

She also added some decorations to the front of the house…here’s a look at the completed set:

This was a fun project, and I kind of wish Lego would offer an expansion set at some point…at the very least, the delivery car from Little Nero’s pizza, and since his room is included in the house, Buzz!

Advent 2023–Day Twenty-One

Today Turkey finished the kitchen/basement addition to the Lego Home Alone house (there are some really excellent details in the kitchen!)…all that’s left for tomorrow is the tree house and Kevin’s Mom!

Advent 2023–Day Twenty

Today Chickadee built the furnace for the Lego Home Alone house (which includes a cool light brick!), and also started on the kitchen, which you can see in the background: