Landon's World

Landon is two years and 5 months old and this kid has got some 'tude! Actually, he's got a great personality and every day he develops it a bit more. For instance, this morning we're eating breakfast and Pixar's "A Bug's Life" is on in the background....we get to a part where a grasshopper says "Guys, order another round!"...and Landon says the whole thing at the exact same time...to which Michaela and I look at each other and I know we're both thinking the same thing....is it worse that he knows the movie by heart or the fact that he knows how to say "order another round!"???....personally, I think the latter will come in handy in a few years, but maybe that's just me.

Anyhow...with all this personality, I think it's high time we give the little man a forum to express himself...so today's post is meant to do just that...this is my attempt to show you how things would be done if he was the one in charge...so without further ado...

If Landon ruled the world...

-There would only be about 8 television channels and each one would run a Pixar movie on a continuous loop over and over and over...

-It would be socially acceptable to walk around in public with your hand fully submerged down the front (and sometimes the back) of your pants....and if you ever just wanted to rock the "underwear look"....knock yourself out!

-The job skillset for a waiter/bus boy would be far more difficult, as it would be perfectly normal to just chuck your dishes and/or food whenever you had finished with them...

-Everyone (including dogs and cats) would need to walk around with padding and a padded baseball bat, as it would be completely within another person's rights to just walk up and whack you upside the head if they felt it was in their best interest...

-The board of health would be strong-armed into endorsing a diet of popsicles, fruit snacks, and Pirate's Booty (for those of you that haven't tried it, it's like cheesy popcorn, only healthier and without the kernel...we recommend it for little ones as a snack)...

-The country would be in much better shape after mandatory "hide and go seek" hour...

-There would be splashpads installed at every shopping mall, grocery store, gas station, and office building...I mean every single one across the country...

-Everyone would take themselves much less seriously, learn that sharing is important, that we don't yell or hit to solve our problems, and that a kiss from mommy or daddy can solve any problem...

We feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful child, and we can't believe how fast he's growing up. September is almost upon us already, so I must ask...where has the year gone? The leaves are starting to change, the extreme heat is about gone (sorry to our AZ readers), and the daylight hours are noticeably less than they were a month ago....Winter will be here before we know it, and Landon will be turning 3 shortly thereafter....wow.

Before this post gets too long, I also wanted to share with you all the fun project that Michaela and I did last weekend. For those of you with Facebook access, you have probably already seen these. Anyhow, we recently found the coolest blog...http://www.knock-offwood.com/....it's a site run by a very talented lady that just likes to build things....and she shares designs for various things such as beds, tables, shelves, etc. And keep in mind, this is pretty high-quality furniture that you can do for extremely cheap, provided you're willing to put in the sweat.

So Michaela and I elected to start with a fairly easy design....a picnic table for Landon...

We started by printing out the specs and then heading over to Home Depot....we bought the lumber, had it pre-cut over there, and a few other things (stain, screws, and a sander which I'm planning to use on other projects) and headed home to get started. If we don't count the power tool, the total cost of our table was about $15...with the stain being the most expensive piece...not too shabby when you see the finished product!

We worked at it for a few hours on Saturday, with Landon even wanting to get in on the action at one point, then finished up by sanding and staining it the following day...all told, it probably took us about 3-4 hours of manual work, along with $15 and a few tools of our own...and below is the the finished product...Please don't take the look on Landon's face as one of customer dissatisfaction...we think he was taking a dump while we took this picture...

I don't know what's next on our list, but we're definitely planning to keep up with this fun (and cost-effective) way to furnish our house...not to mention, the furniture will have a story attached to it for future generations...we can just see Landon's great grandchildren playing at the table and saying, you know, this table has been in our family for 75 years! ....or not at all. Ha Ha Ha!

Hope you have a great weekend. Go out and do something fun!