After spending some time getting to know them via YouTube, I had an inkling they'd be into Bitsbox and put some projects in the mail. We've been friends with their family ever since.
Now, a year later, I hop on the phone to interview Stella and Blaise. It's a rainy morning in California and we chat before they head off to school. As I'm talking with their mom, I can hear them settling in chairs, and Blaise making sure he has his latest LEGO creation nearby.
As we start the interview, both kids take the time to ask me how I am, their incredible manners just another aspect of their inherent charm.
Emma: How old are you two?
Stella: Blaise is 6 and I'm 8!
Where do you live?
S: Huntington Beach.
You guys are models and actors, right?
Blaise: We're models, but sometimes we do commercials. We're both!
Oh wow, you do commercials?
B: Yeah! It's fun.
What's been your favorite commercial that you've done?
B: Cheerios!
S: And my favorite one was Enchantimals!
What do you like doing outside of acting in commercials?
S: Ummm… Going to basketball, going swimming, going to Disneyland, playing LEGOs, playing with my brother.
B: Definitely LEGO!
S: And drawing!
What do you like to draw?
S: We like drawing ninjas, or animals.
B: Yeah, cute little animals.
S: And we like dinosaurs!
B: And we like playing with our dinosaurs too!
What's your favorite thing you've built with LEGO?
S: My favorite thing is my Ninjago LEGO set.
B: My favorite thing is what I just finished building yesterday! It has a little tram, and it has a driver and a newsstand and a person in a wheelchair, two little kids and a dog, and a grandpa and someone that runs the newsstand and a bus stop.
That sounds—
B: And a bus.
That sounds amazing! How long did that take you to build?
B: Two days!
So we've sent you a few Bitsboxes. Do you guys remember Bitsbox?
S: Yeah! Can I tell you something about Bitsbox?
Please do!
S: At school we're going to do Bitsbox! We haven't started it yet but we're gonna do it.
Is this in your classroom or more of an after-school thing?
S: In our classroom! On Thursdays on our Chromebooks.
Have other kids in your class used Bitsbox before?
S: No.
So what do you like about Bitsbox?
S: You get to makes your own games! I made a little car one on my own!
Oh fun! What did it do?
S: It had streets and then you press go and then the [car] moves everywhere and stuff!
Blaise, do you have a favorite app that you've built?
B: Like app on my iPad or something?
S: No! On Bitsbox!
B: Ohhh. On Bitsbox there's one with a lion and a giraffe and you press a button and then the lion roars. And then the giraffe, it screams and then runs away!
I believe that's called Eat You Up!
B: Yeah! The giraffe screams like Ahhwoo and then he runs away!
So, what do you guys want to be when you grow up?
B: I wanna be a ninja!
S: … I don't know.
B: A fairy?
S: NO!!
B: You could be a person in the army?
S: No!
B: You could be a…
S: Oh, oh! I know! I wanna be a ninja too!
This is the hardest I've laughed at 8 in the morning in a long time. Stella and Blaise are creative, smart, and hilarious kids.
I'm also told they have the entire soundtrack from The Greatest Showman memorized. A scene recreation is coming soon!
