legos

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In my home, we love Legos.

Throughout the day, I'll hear the sweet twinkling of Legos moving around in a Rubbermaid bin and then concentrated silence. It means my kids are playing Legos and I'll have a few moments of peace.

My son Cyan is a highly devoted Lego collector. Since he has the tendency to be a neat freak, he has Rubbermaid bins inside of his Rubbermaid bins filled with the stuff. My two daughters enjoy playing with them, too.

Related: What's the Difference Between Boy Toys and Girl Toys?

One day while I was cooking dinner, Maya walked up to me and asked, "Mama, will you buy me my own Legos? Cyan won't let me play with his." Bottom lip sticking out, the whole nine yards.

"Yes, of course," I answered her absentmindedly, stirring the spaghetti sauce.

"But, mama, I want girl Legos!"

That made me stop stirring.

"And what exactly are 'girl' Legos? Are they pink or something?" I questioned her.

"I don't know!" she said, shrugging her shoulders. "But I don't want boy Legos like Cyan's!"

"A Lego is a Lego, little girl!" I called after her as she ran outside to ride her bike.

Ever since my kids were little, I encouraged them to play with whatever toys they wanted to. This meant my boys played "store" and "restaurant" with fake food and my girls often played with Buzz Lightyear and a light saber.

Recently, a 13-year-old girl named McKenna Pope launched a petition on Change.org on behalf of her 4-year-old brother, who always wanted an Easy Bake Oven but felt that the toy was "for girls only." Big sis McKenna has become quite an activist, stating that pink toy ovens discourage boys from kitchen play.

I totally agree. Kids should play with whatever toy they want, not "gender assigned" toys. This explains why my daughter clearly defined Legos as "boy toys" — they weren't swathed in baby pink, just like her favorite toy aisle. The color sends a message loud and clear, these are your toys, young lady, this is what's acceptable to play with.

But what about the little boy who want an Easy Bake Oven? Or the little girl who wants to collect Iron Man and Batman action figures? They should be able to do so, without feeling like they're strange. As for my daughter Maya, she requested Lego Friends, which seems to be a happy medium for us.

Does your child stick to "boy toys" or "girl toys"? How do you feel about gender-specific toys?

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With season two of BBC and Masterpiece Theater's Sherlock complete, fans have too long to wait for new episodes of the detective and his trusty sidekick. Thankfully, the Internet always comes through for us, this time as a stop-motion animation of the season's climactic final scene with the role of Sherlock played by a cape-wearing Lego.

Watch the Lego-fied, spoiler-filled last nine minutes of the finale "The Reichenbach Fall" below. Again, spoilers ahead!

We're fans of 3D street art but had never seen it in its early stages until happening upon this artist in action at Comic-Con. Check out that perspective as characters from The Lord of the Rings are carefully plotted, drawn, and painted in their Lego video game forms.

What was one of your favorite sights from this year's Comic-Con?

Get ready to secure the ring and join the hobbit gang! A Pre-E3 announcement brings tale of Lego Lord of the Rings coming to all major gaming consoles this Fall, just in time for The Hobbit's theatrical release. The Lego series is one of our favorite game franchises, and to hear the characters actually speak this time around makes us all the more excited to walk right up to Mordor.

Play as your fellowship character of choice — from Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf(!), and Gimli to Boromir, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and, of course, Legolas — to solve puzzles while traversing the adventures of Middle Earth.

Watch the full game trailer, complete with a speaking Frodo and a Gandalf throw-down.

I'm consistently amazed with the LEGO creations I spy throughout the web. From Star Wars to Harry Potter large-scale scene re-creations it seems like there's nothing LEGO fans can't make.

For those of us that want to get in on the playful LEGO magic, designer David Cole constructed the deer LEGO taxidermy kit ($28). In 60 LEGO pieces sourced from all over the world, create your own guilt-free mounted deer bust to hang in the den with pride.

Check out the rest of David's shop for his newest bear and fox taxidermy kits, as well as pixelated tattoos. One of each, please.