Why I Loved The LEGO Movie and Think Your Family Should See It, Too

B doesn't have any of The LEGO Movie building sets, but he made Lord Business
(in the middle) and Emmet (on the right) from LEGOs he already owned.  He also
made a mini-figure of himself (on the left) and brought it to the movie with us.

B has loooooong anticipated The LEGO Movie being released in theaters.  Creating with LEGOs is one of his favorite things to do and his builds amaze the hubs and me.  More than not, we rent children's movies but we knew that this movie had to be seen in a theater.

I have to be honest, I've not been thrilled with at least half of the movies geared towards children in the last 5 years or so.  They're quite entertaining for the kids but I've been unhappy with plots that don't capture my interest, character behaviors or inappropriate "bad"characters for G and PG ratings (I will never get over the fact that Charles Muntz in Up tried to kill Carl and Russell, a child!).  So, although I agreed to take B to see The LEGO Movie this morning, I didn't have high expectations.  Man, was I pleasantly surprised!

Don't worry; the movie was just released yesterday and I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone.  However, this movie was much more than just entertainment for my family and I want to share that and encourage y'all to see this movie, too.

During the opening credits, I was impressed that everything was built with LEGOs, including the Warner Bros. logo.  However, once the actual movie started, I viewed it as any other CGI'd movie of late.  Then a scene took place out on the open sea and while the waves were rolling, it hit me that this movie was not CGI'd; it was stop motion.  The time, patience and meticulousness in that scene alone just blew me away!  I can't imagine how long this movie took to create but I know it had to have been made with love by people who feel the same about LEGOs as my B does.

There were a couple of characters and celebrity voices who made cameo appearances in the movie that caught us completely off guard.  I'd not seen them in any trailer nor heard anything about them in reviews and I loved it!

Like all children's movies, there is a lesson to be learned, a moral.  And although I was aware of the lesson the movie was trying to teach, I felt the characters, the action and the humor were overshadowing the lesson and kids would leave just feeling happy and entertained, not focussed on the lesson.  And then the movie did something completely unexpected that brought its important lesson not only to the forefront, but also into a perspective that every child and adult in that theater could relate to. I have to say, Warner Bros., you impressed the socks off me with that one!

What was happening on that screen is something that happens in my own house.  I never would have gotten the symbolism and made the connection to my home if the writers and producers hadn't "focused the lens so sharply" for the audience and I'm so glad they did.  If it happens in my home, it happens in other homes, too.  The creators of this movie so eloquently opened the eyes of us parents to see things, see our children and ourselves, through our children's eyes.

And if this issue exists in your home, seeing this movie together will start a dialogue about it.  We saw the movie at 11am and B and I are still talking to each other about this movie at 7pm.  We're not only laughing at funny lines or marveling at the movie sets, but we're also analyzing characters, discussing the personality traits exhibited and listening to each others perspective on the symbolism we now realize was throughout the entire movie.  It reminds me of high school English class, dissecting a Shakespeare play, only I'm doing it with my son and we are both loving the conversations!

I hope y'all go see this movie and are as impressed as I was.  Once you've seen it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it, what you and your family got out of it and if this was an issue in your home or not.  You can tell me in the comments, below, or on my Facebook page.

Taking Back The Junk Room

When we moved into this house 4 years ago, as we have done with every one of the 11 moves we've done in the last 17 years, we labeled boxes with colors to designate in which room each should go.  Our current house is 1,700 square feet but our previous house was 3,008 square feet.  Although every room in the previous house was most definitely not filled, we had plenty of room and storage, so it never looked cluttered.  When we moved into this house, the 3rd bedroom became a catch all for things that did not have a place in the the kitchen, living room, family room, bathrooms, B's bedroom, our bedroom, basement or garage.  The color assigned to this 3rd bedroom was black so it became known as "the black room".

We figured that as we settled into this house, we would be able to go through the boxes in the black room and either find a place for those things or get rid of them.  Four years later, some things have moved out of that room, but not much, and many more things that came into the house ended up there if we could not find a place for them.  I had always hoped it would be a bedroom for another child, but I need to let that go.

DIY LEGO Table

The LEGO table is currently a runway.  From left to right - the hubs plane, my plane and B's plane.
B's fabulous Lay N Go fits perfectly underneath the table.

As I stated in my last post, National Bubble Wrap Day, I wanted to make a LEGO Table for B for Christmas.  However, I went back to work outside of the home full-time on November 28th after 6 1/2 years of being a SAHM.  So I wasn't able to do everything I wanted to do for Christmas.  But last weekend, a friend of mine and I went to IKEA and I finally bought the LACK Table I needed to make B his LEGO table.  Making this table was a lesson in humility.  One I don't think I would have received and accepted had I not gone back to work.  You see, I am not happy about going back to work.  I miss being a SAHM.  I miss spending all day with my B.  I miss seeing the hubs walk through the door at 2:30pm and all 3 of us spending half of our days together.  I miss reading to B at bedtime, tucking him in as snug as a bug in a rug and kissing his sweet smelling, sleepy head goodnight.  However, all these changes helped me to accept the imperfect, yet beautiful, LEGO table I made for B.

The hubs put the LACK Table together for me Tuesday afternoon and I made it a LEGO table Thursday morning.  I put all 8 LEGO plates on top of the table, touching each other, and tried to line them up in a square.  However, it was very difficult - they kept sliding off center, just a skoonch.  I got the "brilliant" idea to use LEGO pieces to bridge each plate and keep them together.  It's a good thing I did!  I assumed that the plates should be glued to the table flush up against each other.  However, when I tried to put the LEGO pieces on top of 2 plates, flush was too close!  There actually needed to be a small space between each plate.  I'm so glad I thought of that.  Otherwise, B would not have been able to lock bricks in place across plates.  Here is a picture of the slight space between plates:

There isn't much of a space between plates, but you can still see it.  And I was unable to lock those 10 LEGO pieces onto the plates while the plates were flush against each other.

I originally thought I would put Krazy Glue on each plate, one at a time, glue it to the table and then move to the next plate.  But just as I was about to detach a plate from the rest, I decided I could do all of them at once.  (shaking my head)  So, I carefully flipped all 8 plates over, outlined each one with Krazy Glue and then flipped them back over.  Of course, I got Krazy Glue on me, all over the table surface and wasn't able to adhere the plates perfectly.  When I saw the smear of Krazy Glue all over the table, I thought I could clean it up.  Wrong!  I sprayed  some cleaner on one side of the table and wiped it up with some paper towels, leaving these permanent, white marks (they all don't show up in this picture, but I can see them in person.):

While I was quickly attempting to wipe up the excess glue, the glue actually hardened.  When I flipped the plates, I did not get them in place perfectly squared.  They were crooked, and hardened that way.  You can see that they are not perfectly aligned in this picture to the left.  I started to get upset at myself about it, but then stopped.  No one is going to stop and study this table enough to notice except for me.  And even if they do, who the heck cares?  I brought B over to see it and he started jumping up and down and screaming in excitement.  "IS IT DRY?!  CAN I START USING IT NOW?!" he asked.  He loved it.  He not only had a LEGO table, but his Mama made it for him.  I. Was. Da bomb.  And I let it go that there was not exactly 1 5/8" of red on all 4 sides of the table.  I actually think it looks great.  It isn't perfect, but it serves it's purpose, just like me.  It isn't straight, but B loves it, just like me.  I'm able to accept that and be at peace with it.  I know that would not have been true last October, before I went back to work. Just one of the surprising blessings I've discovered from going back to work and turning our world upside down.  "Let go, Let God."  :o)