LEGO ABCs: Y is for Yellow

Up for this week in our alphabet series is the letter Y. We're blogging about things that start (or end with) the letter Y. I have some yellow LEGO builds from the past year to share, and my co-host Chareen is sharing YouTube Homeschooling. 

 

For the first yellow build I have a candy machine dispenser from Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls that I built. I made the one that dispenses the starburst. It is mostly yellow so I started by digging in the yellow box.

It was pretty fun to make. I had to substitute what pieces I couldn't find, so there are some things that are not exactly like the original directions. For example, I didn't have enough clear pieces for the front, so I had to use all solid yellow. I would have loved to see the starburst from the front though.

It didn't take long for it to get dropped and smashed. That's okay, it needed some improvements as the candy would get stuck every once in a while.

The next yellow build is a rebuild of a Technic set that had fallen apart. Alex wanted to give this one a try.

He started it, but it became a little too difficult, so I had to finish it. There were a few pieces missing too, so it took quite a while to build.

Here are the results! A really cool looking tow truck with working parts.

The last yellow build is an Easter chick that I built last Spring.

Y is for York

New York, that is! Surprisingly, Alex really likes the Architecture sets. He's 10, so it surprises me that he likes these so much. He convinced me to buy this used set at our local Bricks and Minifigs for less than half the price of the new one. It's really a good deal because these sets can be expensive. 

So, it's all taken apart and ready to build! I wish I would have gotten a picture of it before I took it apart, but forgot.

That's all for our LEGO fun this week! Thank you for reading and joining us!

Now it's your turn to share! Please join co-host Chareen and me as we blog through the alphabet and link-up below:

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: All of my current ABC posts

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: YouTube Homeschooling

To see what others shared last week, visit the Letter X blogging through the alphabet post.

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares. 
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want. 
4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love. 
5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way. Evergreen content (past posts that relate) is also welcome. 
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter. The Linky party is scheduled to go live at 2pm every Wednesday.
7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!

X is for FluXX (ABC games)

 I have a few games to share for the letter X, but they end in X rather than begin. The first is a recent favorite of the kids called Fluxx. There are many versions of this game. We have 2: Astronomy Fluxx, and Marvel Fluxx.

Fluxx is a fun card game that changes rules all the time. I found it quite confusing at first, but once I got it, it's super fun. The different versions have different requirements and things you have to do, so they can be super fun. For example, in the Marvel Fluxx, there is a card that tells you to answer "I am Groot" for everything you say while the card is in your possession. It's quite comical to have a Groot talking throughout the game, and of course there are a few kids who look forward to getting that card.

I have one other game that ends in X. It's a one-player logic game called Cat StaX. I got this one for my cat-loving kiddo, but we all enjoy trying it out.

Basically, you have a variety of cats that you have to arrange on a grid, sometimes in layers. So many puzzles to solve.

That wraps up the Letter X games for this week! Up next Y!

LEGO ABCs: X is for Xylophone

Here we are! In the home stretch with the letter X. Just 2 more letters and a wrap-up post after that and we're done. I have really enjoyed this series, but I will be glad to build whatever I want after this is all done. This week I built a xylophone, and my co-host Chareen is sharing about the X-Factor in Your Homeschool.

The letter X is hard, but I went with a classic, the xylophone. At first I really didn't want to, but after looking at so many options, any options, there weren't really any. Then I realized that a xylophone could be doable. A very basic one anyway. None of my boys was up for the challenge, so it was all me.

So, I looked up some pictures, and even searched for any LEGO ones that might have been built. There were a few nice LEGO ones that people created, but I didn't have the time to figure out how to make it look fancy. I am also limited on pieces that I have. I couldn't find any pieces long enough to make it longer, so mine ended up pretty short. But, here's my basic xylophone. It's not much, but it looks kinda cute!

That's all for our LEGO fun this week! Thank you for reading and joining us!

Now it's your turn to share! Please join co-host Chareen and me as we blog through the alphabet and link-up below:

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: All of my current ABC posts

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: X is for X-Factor in Your Homeschool

To see what others shared last week, visit the Letter W blogging through the alphabet post.

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares. 
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want. 
4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love. 
5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way. Evergreen content (past posts that relate) is also welcome. 
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter. The Linky party is scheduled to go live at 2pm every Wednesday.
7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!

W is for Wingspan--A board game about birds

It's the first day of fall, so I thought we'd spend the day doing some fall-ish things. So, we're playing some board games today, and one of them is a new one we just got for school called Wingspan. We just received it yesterday and I'm opening it up this morning to get it all prepared, so I thought I'd share it for our letter W board game series.

This game has a lot of pieces and things to put together. It's both overwhelming and exciting. I'm sure once we get to know the rules and play we'll enjoy it though. I love the little bird eggs!

There's even a bird house!

Now I want to go out and do some bird watching. That might be a perfect start to fall activity. What do you do on the first day of fall?

LEGO ABCs: W is for World

It's time for the letter W in our blogging through the alphabet series. I can't believe we are almost done with the whole alphabet! This week I have a LEGO world that we built, and my co-host Chareen is sharing about Cursive Writing.

I am sure most of you are familiar with the Disney movie Wall-E where the little robot takes it upon himself to clean up the earth after all the humans deserted it. In doing so, he finds all the people and helps to bring them back to the world they are supposed to live in. I think his story fits in very well with what we built this week, a world LEGO mosaic. 

I found the instructions for this mosaic on the blog: Childhood 101. There is a free printable to use and follow for the LEGO Mosaic world. There are even both sides of the globe, but I only made one side. That's all I had enough pieces for. It took quite a bit of my blue, and I was even worried I might not make it all the way through.

The nice thing about this pattern is you just use what you have. You can put any shape of blue in wherever there is blue, and any shape of green where there is green. It's a lot of counting, and like a puzzle.

It's really neat looking when it's done though! I have it on display in our living room next to our U.S. flag. If I had more flags that would have been fun to add. 

That's all for our LEGO fun this week! Thank you for reading and joining us!

Now it's your turn to share! Please join co-host Chareen and me as we blog through the alphabet and link-up below:

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: All of my current ABC posts

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: Writing Cursive

To see what others shared last week, visit the Letter V blogging through the alphabet post.

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares. 
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want. 
4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love. 
5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way. Evergreen content (past posts that relate) is also welcome. 
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter. The Linky party is scheduled to go live at 2pm every Wednesday.
7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!

V is for Virus -- A board game

Continuing to finish the board game alphabet from a few years ago...

This week I have the game Anti-Virus. It's like Rush Hour where you have to find a way fort he red piece to get out of the "jam." But, in this case, instead of cars and trucks it's little "virus" looking pieces. We've had this one for a few years. I pulled it out for this post and Aric has solved quite a few already. A fun twist on a familiar game!

Britfield & the Rise of the Lion, Book 2

 A Book Review!

I received a free physical copy of the book Britfield & the Rise of the Lion, by C.R. Stewart, in exchange for my review and promotion.

A few years ago (2019) I reviewed the first book in this series, Britfield & the Lost Crown, by C.R. Stewart, and loved it. So, when the Britfield team contacted me to review the 2nd one, I was happy to do so. I wanted to see how the story continued! The first book was exciting and very interesting, I couldn't put it down.

The 2nd book in the Britfield series continues the story of the 2 orphans who escaped an orphanage in England in pursuit of truth. In this book, they are continuing their journey across France trying to find help while being pursued by corrupt government leaders, and finding evidence that will restore the rightful heir to the crown. It is a fast-paced story full of mystery and adventure. 

As you read this book you will visit with the children, the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and a few famous cities. A great read for kids and adults about 10 and up. And, if you are reading for educational purposes, so many great tie-ins for lessons!

Enjoy the book!

LEGO ABCs: V is for Vacation

Welcome to the letter V this week! Boy V nearly did me in. Which is why this is so late, and finally getting posted on Thursday instead of Wednesday. I decided I just couldn't do it. I couldn't think of anything. So, I just need a vacation. Actually, I was on vacation over the long holiday weekend (Labor Day for the United States), so I guess I'll use that as my excuse as to why we built nothing. But also, the letter V was just hard. My co-host Chareen has shared her post about Value Added Learning.

I'm very sorry I have no builds to share this week, but I really needed to get this linky up, so we'll just get right to that!

That's all for our LEGO fun this week! Thank you for reading and joining us!

Now it's your turn to share! Please join co-host Chareen and me as we blog through the alphabet and link-up below:

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: All of my current ABC posts

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: Value Added Learning

To see what others shared last week, visit the Letter U blogging through the alphabet post.

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares. 
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want. 
4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love. 
5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way. Evergreen content (past posts that relate) is also welcome. 
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter. The Linky party is scheduled to go live at 2pm every Wednesday.
7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!

U is for Uno (ABC games)

How many UNO games do we own? When I asked myself this question, I thought maybe 2 or 3? Nope. In my short search I was able to round up 8. I am pretty sure there is at least one more in storage somewhere. I couldn't find that specific one I was thinking of.

Some of these different versions actually have different rules, so they are kinda fun. Not to mention the fun themes that you can have. The Toy Story version is vintage. I bought that one when April was real little. She remembers playing it when she was probably about 5 ish. 

We played Uno Dare! last night. I had forgotten how fun that one is. We had to talk like a pirate or talk to our belly button (which Alex didn't seem to care for). We had to balance cards on our shoulders. Lots of silly fun with this one.

What version of UNO would you like? (If it exists or not)

LEGO ABCs: U is for Unicorn

Welcome to the Letter U! This week I struggled to find something other than Unicorn. Because well, my boys don't really care about unicorns. But, I decided to just go with it and built the unicorns myself! My co-host Chareen has chosen Ubiquitous Homeschooler for her topic this week. These last few letters are going to be a challenge, but we're almost to the end! 

U is for Unicorn:

When I finally decided to just give in to the Unicorn, I had to build them rather quickly because I only decided yesterday to go with it. I found instructions for building a LEGO Unicorn at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. Then I got digging into my white LEGO bin for most of the unicorn body. 

Finding pieces for this was not too bad. I only had a few colors to find for the mane and tail, and some black for the hooves and nose. I found the pieces for 2 unicorns in case Alex might decide he wants to build with me. He didn't, but he thought they were fun. I built both, and it was fun.

As I was building, I realized the most obvious other letter U choice could have been Unikitty! We actually have a Unikitty set that needs to be rebuilt. This "minifig" kitty was all that I had ready for this post though. Unikitty is a fun character in the LEGO movies.

U is for Update:

I also realized that I should do an update for some of the past posts where I didn't have things finished or built at all. First update is for the S is for Sea post. I hadn't built all the sea creatures from that set yet, but now we have! We have the squid...

And the angler fish/tiny fish...

The next update is for the I is for Iron Man post. I finally finished rebuilding the set that I mentioned in that post. It had a lot of missing pieces that I had to dig through the storage bin for. It took a long time. I found all the pieces though! Even all the special minifigs.

The next update is for the N is for Ninjago post. I had gathered most of the remnants of the set, but to rebuild it I had to find many missing pieces. It took a long time to do that as well. I still can't find one of the minifigs, but I figure I'll come across him someday. He's in our storage bin somewhere, I'm sure. The set is all rebuilt now though, only a few missing pieces that I just couldn't find. This is a fun set.

That's all for our LEGO fun this week! Thank you for reading and joining us!

Now it's your turn to share! Please join co-host Chareen and me as we blog through the alphabet and link-up below:

• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook: All of my current ABC posts

• Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses: Ubiquitous Homeschooler

To see what others shared last week, visit the Letter T blogging through the alphabet post.

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares. 
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want. 
4. If you can, check out a few other posts in the link-up and leave some comment love. 
5. Please, make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way. Evergreen content (past posts that relate) is also welcome. 
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter. The Linky party is scheduled to go live at 2pm every Wednesday.
7. Last of all, have fun. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!