Big and Little April Celebrations So Far

Whew!  Is it already the third full week of April?  Time to catch up with those daily celebrations.

I don't think that there were any April Fool's Day pranks played here this year.  I told our GS1 that I was thinking of sending him a potato on April 1st but didn't get around to it.  Maybe next year.

I had the best Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich on PBJ Day using a giant jar of Bonne Maman 4 fruit preserves that was nearing expiration date.  And since it's now open, PBJ has been on the lunch menu more often these last weeks.  

Find a Rainbow Day on April 4th was me using my markers to catch up with my 100DayProject.

There was some thought put into the next couple of days but plans didn't work out as we were busy finishing up our projects for GS1's Golden Birthday.  What is a Golden Birthday you might ask (as some of our family and friends around a certain age have)?  It's when you turn the age of the date of your birthday - so in this instance, GS1 turned 7 on the 7th.  I think I promised pictures of the "Dots" project which was part of our birthday gift.  He's REALLY into Legos and our DIL saw something on IG that she thought Papa might be able to make in his workshop - a Lego Sorter.  It consists of series of wooden boxes of incremental height size with holes in each base in incremental hole size nested on top of each other with casters at the bottom.  The premise is to add the mixed up Legos in the top layer and shake the box so they will fall through the holes according to size making it easier to sort them.

This is the picture from the website she saw.  You could buy a finished one (for $199) or print out the free pattern.  You already know what we did about that.   He had to adapt the project to work with the tools that he had because this is made with a CNC machine that works in decimals. This wasn't too bad with the basic box(es).  But the size and spacing of the holes proved to be a little challenging converting those decimals to fractions.  (Guess who got to do that part of it?  Not the person with the degree related to math.)  The pattern had the size of the hole but not how far between each was so I pretty much had to figure that out with a little trial and error.  Thank goodness for a good eraser.  Then he had to find the drill bit that would most closely apply.

The top and bottom pieces.  (Each box is slightly larger than 12" square.) We opted not to put a knob on the top so 1)they could stack something on top of it if need be, and 2)they could add a plate for a build if they wanted (like in the picture).  He put ball casters on the bottom of the box.

And six more levels with the holes.

Including this level with holes that are for the "dust" - 720 of them.

He does have a drill press that he was able to use on the holes with the exception of the center ones that were just out of reach of the press - so he had to use the hand drill for those. I had made a pattern for each of the layers using parchment paper and using the measurements from the plan laid out one quarter of the square.  Since the paper is see-through I then folded the paper in half to mark the other side, then in quarters, until all the holes were marked for him to transfer to the wood.  You see that there are triangles without holes at each inside corner - they are there because the bottom of each level has a triangle of wood that extends from the bottom of that box into the one below so they stay together when shaking.  

It works okay.  DIL took a video of him using it but it was too shaky to use.  It was a learning experience for HWNSNBP - as are most of his first-time woodworking projects.   He considers it a plus when he learns new techniques like most creatives. Here is the card that I made for GS1.

That 7 was done with gold glitter paper and the happy birthday had a gold paper shadow.  Those "Legos" were 4 circle punches layered on top of each other to make them stick out like the real Lego bricks.  

His birthday was on Good Friday and he was off from school and his parents off from work.  They planned an indoor scavenger hunt for him that sent him through the house reading clues that were printed on some Lego scrapbook paper that I had given DIL.  The last clue led him to his suitcase and in it were tickets for a surprise, once in a lifetime, golden birthday trip to the Official Legoland and Kennedy Space Center in Florida over Easter break.  We were invited over for a grandparents brunch the next day and he was so excited about going.  We were celebrating with his choice of pizza and ice cream cake and there was a near meltdown that was avoided by the cake not being melted down when he was allowed to bring the cake in the box from the freezer in the garage to the kitchen and missed the counter.   Had it been a cake cake it would have been a disaster but you've heard of the 10 second rule - it was applied here with some trimming off of the icing before it was sliced up.

This is where they stayed in Florida the first part of the week.  He had a blast.  Actually, they all had a great time.

Following along at a build workshop.

And his very own Golden Birthday Brick. (I think it's on a keychain.)

That Saturday was also "Draw a Bird Day" and I managed to scribble some in my sketchbook when we got home that evening.  Cardinals or bluejays? Cedar waxwings?  Without color we'll never know.

We traveled to Delaware for Easter and got to spend some time with GS2 before SIL's family arrived later in the afternoon.  It's amazing what fun you can have with dinosaur cars, empty plastic Easter eggs, and a lazy Susan.

He got to go to the aquarium with his mom and dad the next day and now he wants "tentacles".

Two more days to share before I end this very long post.  Wednesday, April 12th was Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day and I made us some delicious grilled cheese with bacon and tomato sandwiches.

And Thursday was Scrabble Day.  I remembered that I had just come across some scrapbook paper that was a Scrabble board and one of the tiles, so I made a birthday card for my stash.  (I think it comes to 104 points.)

Thanks for sticking with this so far.  I'll be back with more tomorrow.