“Learn something new. Try something different. Convince yourself that you have no limits.”

 

It kind of felt like 2020 was going to go out in exactly the same grey and stagnant way that it has been festering the entire year. I know I shouldn't moan, we're all going through this but having a mass of other rubbish thrown in to the mix was making this year one I was desperate to put behind us. Even without the lockdown madness this time of year has been a testing time for Opeie, shrouded by a mix of emotions and upset. I tried so hard the last couple of years to make 'Christmas' fun again but with no joy, so this year we talked and said 'no more!'. If this year has taught us anything it's shown us what is actually important and also what ever we decide to do (even if it doesn't fit in with other peoples views)... its okay. 

So instead of 'Christmas' this year we have decided to have a celebration of our favourite little creatures 'Beetles', With the build up being filled with beetle related creative activities to decorate the house 'our way'. We've been busy doing all sorts but my favourite thing so far has been decorating the wall in the LEGO room with a series of hanging beetles. This really got us pumped about the upcoming festivities.

What has really made this for me is how much it has taken the strain off of Opeie and has given him the chance to see the end of the year in a different light. This morning he said 'Dad, I'm so excited about Beetlemas!'... and that is all I needed to hear to feel like we are taking control of 2020 again.

'There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family.'

 

Ive spent so much time worrying about Opeie since this whole covid fiasco started. Stressing about the impact that this situation is having in him, the fact that he's not seen some of his friends for a while and his general well being. The parent guilt is constantly banging at the door even though I know it is out of my control. As I stood in the house this week and watched him sitting on the shed outside with his besties watching the sun set I was reassured that actually, despite the confusing government guidelines and the massive change to our lives, he's actually got everything he needs. A calm, loving home, a doting dad, and the kind of friends that you could spend your whole life hoping for... (the excessive amount of LEGO is a bonus too). 

"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones."

 

                                                                       Day 1... (part 2)

With another 4 weeks of national lockdown starting now, I'm feeling like the only way through this is back to daily activities concentrating on creativity. The creative lockdown project really helped to keep us in a Calm and focused headspace while the whole world was falling apart. So for the next 4 weeks our home-ed will be focussing solely on a variety of creative activities base on a word of the day. It's been a really tough month emotionally and I think we both want to be feeling better about the path that we are on. I'm kicking off our project with our LEGO Halloween build for this year, an explosion of black and orange.

Stay safe people and keep on creating.

"Sometimes brightening up the outside of your store is just the thing to perk up business, yes?"

Day 126:

Conversation in the house recently has been heavy on the Animal Crossing. Since picking up a copy of New horizons a couple of weeks ago Opeie has been busy building his island and creating and it has been so much nicer hearing about that rather than Fortnite. While he was having a chat with his friends yesterday I decided to build him Nooks Cranny. His smile when he came off the phone and saw it was contagious and leaving the build empty means that that smile can continue tomorrow when we are building the furniture together. Another win for those amazing bricks.

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

Day 125:

I love it when Opeie shows me a picture he's found on the internet and says "Can we build this?". Mainly because it means an afternoon of sitting down with the LEGO and working something out together. Its rare that he ever wants to add Technic functions into builds but this kinetic cowboy build by Tankybrick had really got him excited. So we watched their video about 50 times to try and work out the functions. After building pretty much the entire thing no matter haw many times we watched the video we couldn't work out the final piece that got the horses moving as the video wasn't very clear. After a stressful 30 minutes or so of trying all sorts of different elements we finally cracked it. It definitely wasn't the same piece, and the horses the finitely don't run as smooth as theirs but overall it came out great and ended up being a fun afternoon building with my bestie.

"You're gonna need a bigger boat!"

Day 121:

I have been so rubbish at writing and taking pictures since my birthday and I really need to get back into the rhythm as it was doing me the world of good mentally. This week has been lush hanging out with Opeie, painting and playing LEGO. Opeie is loving his LEGO photography at the moment so we've been putting a lot of time into that. Hopefully these pictures are all going towards something amazing. Watch this space.

"Create with the heart, build with the mind"

Day 103:

Opeie has been all smiles today because he has built one of his favourite teddies. Jonathan (or pinky butthole as we like to call him) has been a mobile pillow for Opeie taken all over the house for him to lie on. As he is so loved Opeie decided to immortalise him in bricks to show his appreciation. I bloody love LEGO!!!

"The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer."

Day 91 and 92:

Opeie has really been getting into his LEGO photography for his latest comic idea. He's been in the garden with all sorts of kits and bricks creating scenes for each picture and its been so lovely to watch. As I really wasn't in the mood to write yesterday I decided to use two of his photos for today. I can't wait to see the finished piece, its starting to look really interesting.

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Day 90:

Homeschooling (in our usual way) went out the window pretty quickly when all this crazy started. For most of us the days have all just merged into one big oddity, Ive lost all track of days and time and in my foggy head I'm now stuck at 'before Corona (BC)' and During Corona (DC). It's get harder and harder to motivate Opeie in the way I would have BC because he misses his friends so much. So I now just fully focus on what makes him happy. His latest idea for a comic has been keeping us busy in the LEGO department, focusing on set designs and letting our brick creativity flow. This should be a pretty awesome project, stay tuned.

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." ... 'and LEGO'

Day 84:

Today was another one of those days that can just do one. When these days pop up you can guarantee that myself and Opeie always turn to the LEGO for a pick me up. Those magical bricks have some crazy healing power. 

Hoping for a few happy days please.

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."

Day 81:

We've been out and about taking photos of Opeie's LEGO minifigures for an upcoming project of his. I really love how we've managed to get through these bizarre months by being creative every day. I like to think that by the end of all this Opeie will come out of it a lot more confident with his creative abilities and even more open to trying new things.

"There must be something in the water"

Day 65:

You know those days that can just f#€* off? well today was one of them. I seriously need to wipe it from my memory and have a nice do-over tomorrow. Despite the day being an absolute flop Opeie and I still managed to build something colourful for our daily creative word, which was 'Rainbow'. I'm definitely looking forward to more colourful days.

"Adventure is not outside man; it is within."

Day 55:

Over on the #creativelockdownproject that we have been taking part in, the days word is adventure. At first it made me think of the adventures that we've been missing out on, the trips to the beach and all the places we like to pull up to and paint. Then I reminded myself that 'adventure' is what you make it. So we grabbed our Minifigures and went for a good stomp for a couple of hours, the perfect mini adventure for a lockdown day. 

"He travels like a lightning streak and he strikes from town to town. Then he gets you when you're weak and tares your playhouse down."

Day 53:

As an enthusiast of all things LEGO I love a good challenge and being able to only build in one colour has always been something that I have enjoyed doing. With todays #creativelockdownproject word being 'Monochrome' it gave me the chance to get in to a mini LEGO project. For some reason the first thing that came to mind was the devil minifigure so I chose to stick with red and create the build around that little guy. To see more of satan's thrown room check out our Instagram page HERE.

"We live in a rainbow of chaos."

Day 45:

My laptop desktop is always full of inspiring images for future projects that I'd like to get stuck into. Not all projects make the cut and sometimes those images just sit there collecting virtual dust. Being stuck at home though has given me the kick up the bum to tackle these little projects and they've been perfect for getting us through these strange days. A few months back I spotted a LEGO rainbow made from a mismatch of parts, so today while the sun was out and I was feeling super happy, I opened up the back doors and sat in the sun and built. It ended up coming out a lot better than I had hoped and was one of those builds that really made me smile. 

I also felt that the build was really fitting to to our current situation and a grateful nod to our NHS staff and all the amazing work they are doing during this testing time. 

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play."

Day 38:

Our style of home-ed has gone completely out of the window since all this began, It was never really structured to start with but I always had a plan in my head each morning of the work we were probably going to be doing. These days I think it's far more important to be focusing on the mental health of our kids. All this is so much for them to deal with emotionally. So with that In mind our days have been all about the creative side of learning, we do what ever makes Opeie feel happiest. Today we made a dinosaur mask for his LEGO Boost and he did some coding. It's always a fun educational activity that never disappoints. 

This whole thing is hard enough without having to worry about academic learning while the schools are closed. get playing with your kids, that's where the real magic is.

Building a better you is the first step to building a better anything.

Day 37:

This crazy lockdown kinda feels like its been sponsored by LEGO in our house because it has pretty much shaped every day of being stuck at home. Keeping our creativity alight is getting the both of us through this and in a much better headspace. Yesterday we built a tin robot for the word 'Vintage' on our #creativelockdownproject over on Instagram. 

If you fancy a bit of creative inspiration to get you through, head on over and join in HERE.

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity."

Day 36:

As expected yesterdays miserable day was long gone when we woke up this morning. Shockingly I slept from 8:30 till just before 7:30 which is really unlike me. We got straight up and went for an hours walk which was lush. The morning was filled with LEGO creating for our #creativelockdownproject which today was 'Botanical'. Before heading out again in the car to make the most of the Pokemon Go community day (with no community 😥). Everything about today was happy and we're both hoping that the coming days are much the same, I need to hold on to this sunshine feeling.

“The real world is where the monsters are.”

Day 34:

Todays picture is actually from yesterday, it was really colourful and that's how I'm feeling today. We both slept well, we were out early for a walk again and now we're eager to get some creativity pumping. Opeie started to flag yesterday afternoon and was really fed up (we're all going to have days like that) so I'm going to do what I can to hold on to this positive start to the day.

“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay."

Day 31:

Today Opeie spent the day making a LEGO comic book all about me turning into a zombie. I love that he had the whole thing planned out in his head, he just needed a little help with setting up the scenes and taking the pics. When he's in this kind of creative mood its really moorish and it put some seriously happy vibes on our day of self isolation. More days like this please!