Day 130

Enduring short jokes during basic training was easy enough, but McDonnell was starting to realize the obstacles he'd face during flight training. The odds of becoming a warrant officer are pretty low when you can't reach the controls.

Day 129

Mrs. O'Leary didn't feel very old, although it was true that she rarely knew what to do.

Day 128

Best. Evening. Commute. Ever.

Day 127

He's serious? You have GOT to be kidding me.

Day 126

What do you mean, the captain has a special request?

Day 125

Plenty of kids wanted to run off and join the circus, but Carson didn't know anyone else who wanted to run off and join Santa's elves.

Day 124

"Dude, I thought you were going to turn off the iron."

Day 123

Sam always felt good when he volunteered to read to younger kids. His friends, on the other hand, thought the whole idea was nuts.

Day 122

Sheriff Dan had never gotten to be the Big Man on Campus, but by golly, he was determined that he'd be the Big Man on Caboose.

Day 121

The hunt for the elusive white sphere had gone well thus far, but Indy's keen instincts sensed a trap ahead.

Day 120

Adam had just about had it with his smug older sister one-upping him yet again...

...and he decided that it was high time he got some use out of his new snow shovel.

Day 119

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my kids? My 4-year-old and 6-year-old, Levi and Aspen, went with my better half to the LEGO store to get presents for me. These are the newest additions to my collection, put together entirely by little hands and in combinations that I wouldn't quite have expected:

The kids were so sweet and so excited to see me open these that I feel bad taking them apart to use for parts! None of my minifigs stay intact, though, so I'm hoping the kids won't take it personally.

And now, on to your not-very-regularly-scheduled LEGO picture:

What good is roadside assistance if they can't help you find missing parts for a broken toy Yoda?

Day 118

Fred and Moe were small but valuable members of the Budd Van Lines moving team.

Day 117

Williams hated being bumped to coach, but Johnson didn't seem to mind at all. He always managed to get a girl; Williams figured it must be the hair.

Day 116

Marissa was happy to have finally found an escape-proof stroller; it made walking home from the park much more pleasant.

Day 115

Like many older brothers, Matt had frequently wished for a remote control that he could use on younger siblings. It'd taken some tinkering, but he'd finally made a breakthrough...

Day 114

Matt sat, waiting patiently, power tools ready to go. His new neighbor, Pierre, would be there any minute to spend the day helping him with fencing.

Day 113

So far, Heather's assumption that music could tame the savage beast was a total bust.

Day 112

It didn't take long for Levi to establish himself as King of the Playground.

OK, this isn't my picture, but...

...this set, from the new Toy Story line:




is made of win.

WANT.

Day 111

For Lori, this was the last straw. She'd have to call the caterers and tell them that black olives would be banned from all future corporate retreats.

Day 110

Natalie was sure that this was her year to win the science fair, as long as her "after" didn't decide that she looked like lunch.

Day 109

Nancy was less than impressed with her new chiropractor, even though he'd been highly recommended by a friend. Come to think of it, though, it was probably her own fault for asking, "Which doctor?"

Day 108

For Peter, pumpkin eater that he was, the pool boy was the last straw. He was going to have to do something about that wife of his.

Day 107

Melanie dutifully followed the doctor's advice, using ice on her injuries several times a day.

If you guys don't mind...

..I'd like to come back now.

:)

I can't tell you how much I've missed my LEGO people. Two weeks after my last post, my husband started a job halfway across the country. During the three months after that, I managed to finish all four of my courses at school (with 3 As and a B--look ma, no hands!), gave away a third of what we own, packed up all of our things and all six of our kids, and moved to the East Coast. We've been here for six weeks now and still most days I can't tell if my head is attached or not!

In October, I kept thinking that since I was still taking pictures, I'd be able to catch up. The longer I didn't post them, though, the harder it was to even think about opening Blogger. You know how that goes, right? At first it was just a few days, then it was "only" a couple of weeks, and suddenly it was a month and then two. I started to feel guilty, and then on the days we were moving and I didn't take any pictures at all, I felt even worse because I'd managed to fail at my 365. During all the chaos and everything that went wrong, my LEGO pictures were the one thing that I was able to be consistent on even when nothing else was working. Losing that consistency was really hard for me to deal with; even when I didn't have control over anything else, I'd still been able to post my pictures. Not only was that gone, but so is/was everything else familiar in my life.

Over the last two weeks, I've run into a few old friends, and several of them have asked me about my LEGO pictures. I'm finally thinking through the idea that this didn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition; that was pressure I was putting on myself, not something coming from other people. I've taken a lot of pictures over the last five months, and I'd hate for them to just go to waste.

I'll try to get a picture up every day, and if I don't, it will be there the day after. My wrists aren't healed yet, I'm living in a hotel, and there are a lot of things in life that aren't settled, but if I wait until things are perfect I'll be waiting a long time. I think I'm just going to jump right in anyway.