Best Friends

Best friends. 

Pals. 

Buddies.

Amigos. 

Sidekicks. 

Two peas in a pod. 

 No matter how you put it, these two are best friends. One of a kind and completely connected. They share such a bond. I love how this picture captures that. Landon and Tink are often found talking to each other. They both truly believe that Tinkerbell is human. 

Stepping Out of the (Sand) Box!

Landon was recently gifted two items that I swore I would never allow in my house- a sand box and window markers. I knew Landon would love playing with a sand box, but just the thought of it gave me nightmares of sand being spread throughout the house and burying itself into the carpet. I didn't want to have to vacuum four times a day since I already have to vacuum twice a day for allergy prevention. Adding more to my work load wasn't my idea of fun so a sand box was definitely something that Landon would have to experience at a park. When I learned that Landon was given a sand box I put on a smile and went with the flow. I have to admit, it was a pretty cool looking sand box. I bit the bullet and took one for the team. The very next day we were out buying 50 pounds of sand that would eventually make its way inside my house little by little (causing a few more gray hairs to be pulled out!). The look on Landon's face once it was set up was completely worth all of the work that went into setting it up. I remember that very smile every time he's done playing in the sand and I have to strip him down on the back porch and carry him into the bath tub so that sand isn't tracked all over the place. The sand box provides him with hours of fun. He will seriously stay outside all afternoon if I allowed him to. There are times when I know it's becoming too hot and that he should come inside to cool down. He throws a fit and wants to keep playing in the sand. He has a blast with that sand box and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite things about our back yard. 

I was set against window markers for the simple fact that I didn't want to encourage drawing on anything other than paper. I knew Landon would get the idea that it was ok to write on the walls...something that he has proven to be very good at! So far I have been proven wrong and Landon hasn't used these markers for anything other than the window...fingers crossed that it stays this way! We have tons of fun with these markers. I think Landon's favorite part is spraying the glass cleaner once we are done with our drawings. What can I say? He likes to clean like his Mommy! 

These are rather impressive pictures for a three year old, but not so much for a near 30 year old! I tried. I'm definitely not artistic, but Landon doesn't seem to mind in the slightest. He tells me what to draw and somehow he can see his visions come to life in my pathetic attempt at drawing. He becomes so excited once he sees his visions come to life on the window! He even managed to recognize the little flying thing on the top left as Jenn's bird Happy. He told me to draw "Mommy holding Tinkie holding Landon" and I did just that. Then we had to add in the family along with Daddy's hat and "gobbles" (sun glasses). Landon then requested for us to get rained on and then wanted a big smiling sun with a rainbow.

These two new items taught me a little life lesson- it's ok at times to step outside of my comfort zone. I may even like the end result.

Smiling Chair

Have you ever wondered what a smiling chair looks like? Wonder no more! 

My chair now has a permanent smile thanks to Landon. I was cooking dinner when I heard Landon talking to himself saying that the chair was not smiling. I chalked it up to him just being silly and didn't give it much thought. Boy was that a mistake! As I carry our dinner plates to the table I see it...my chair cover completely covered in ink pen. I ask Landon why he drew all over the chair. He looks at me innocently and says "the chair has smile now Mommy" as if it were always meant to look that way and that he did something good. I rarely yell at Landon. In fact, I can remember the one time that I really yelled at Landon. It was when I stepped on a toy after asking him for the one millionth time to pick his toys up. This was the second time that I yelled at him. I didn't actually yell at him for the chair. He truly thought that he was doing a good thing by giving the chair a smile. I can't get mad at innocence. What I did get mad about was finding pen all over the previously spotless, white wall that was behind the chair. Landon immediately broke into hysterics, complete with lip quivering. We hugged it out and he then helped me try to clean it by spraying hair spray on the chair cover.  For the next couple of days he told everyone that Mommy was mad at him. In fact, shortly after the smiling chair incident my mom called. Landon got on the phone with her and immediately told her "Mommy bad. Mommy yell at me"- way to rat me out Landon! I couldn't get all of the smile off of the chair cover so it has now become the chair that Landon's booster seat sits on. Hopefully years from now when Landon is a pain in the butt teenager I will look at my smiling chair and smile myself at the memories of his younger years.

MyMemories Winner!

The MyMemories Giveaway has now ended! The winner is:

Commenter #16- Erin Cook from A Queen's Muse! Congratulations Erin!

Not the winner? Don't worry. You still have an opportunity to receive the MyMemories software for $10 off! Just use this coupon code at check out.: STMMMS82685

The software also contains a $10 coupon to be used on downloads. That's $20 worth of coupons! Happy Scrapbooking!

My Memories GIVEAWAY!

I love scrapbooking. The only problem is finding the time to sort through all of the boxes of pictures, cut out embellishments, and glue the masterpiece together. I just had the opportunity to review MyMemories Suite, which is a digital scrapbooking software. MyMemories makes it so easy to turn digital pictures into one of a kind scrapbook pages.  It comes with an assortment of paper backgrounds and embellishments. It even has a feature to scallop the edges of the papers and pictures without the need for those fancy schmancy scissors. Not only can you create wonderful scrapbook pages in no time, but you can also create calendars, send handmade greeting cards to friends, or even add narration to your scrapbook album pages and turn them into a video that can be viewed on an Ipod. I was able to make these pages in just a couple of minutes.             

I am in love with the MyMemories software and now you can find out for yourself why this product is so great. One lucky Landon's World reader will win this digital scrapbooking software (a $40 value!). All you have to do is visit the MyMemories website and then leave a comment back here telling me which digital paper pack or layout is your favorite.

Would you like FIVE additional entries?

Follow this blog for two additional entries, leaving separate comments telling me you did so. You can easily follow Landon's World by clicking the "join this site" link on the right hand side of this post.

Follow the MyMemories blog, follow them on Twitter, and/or like their Facebook page for up to three additional entries! Just leave separate comments on here telling me which methods you used. 

Can't wait to get your hands on this incredible software? MyMemories has offered readers of Landon's World a unique coupon code to receive $10 off the purchase price for a limited time: STMMMS82685

The contest will end on Sunday, August  21.

Change of Perspective

I have a child proof lock on the bathroom door. I had to put it on there when Landon learned how to fill the bathtub up with water all by himself. Whenever he needs to go to the bathroom he will bang his butt against the bathroom door repeatedly until I come to open the door for him. He banged the door so hard today that a picture frame and a shelf came crashing down. The shelf fell onto a glass bowl of potpourri that was on the bathroom sink. The impact caused glass to go everywhere. As I was cleaning up the glass I managed to step on a small sliver of glass that was buried in the bathroom rug. That little piece of glass made me reflect on life. It's funny how little things always do that. My first thought wasn't "oh my goodness that hurt", but rather "thank goodness that it was me and not Landon". I still find it amazing how such a little boy can impact my life so profoundly. I would step on a million pieces of glass to protect him. Every waking moment and thought that I have revolves around Landon and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Landon Sayings

This week was another filled with cute Landon sayings. The cutest thing Landon said had to do with me not feeling well so he told me to take a nap. "Mommy you take nap. I play quiet with Tinkie in my room." I knew better though. Nothing good can ever come of a toddler playing quietly! At least his heart was in the right place!

Landon gave me a good laugh while we were reading books one evening. He had a concerned look on his face and said, "Mommy I can't hear my burping. Help! I can't hear it!" I'm not sure what he thought I could do about his problem. He even opened his mouth nice and wide for me to try to see his burps so that I could help his burps make sound again....only Landon!

We have also been playing a lot of hide and seek. It's one of Landon's favorite things to do. He doesn't quite understand the concept of hide and seek. He'll often say, "We play hide and seek. You count. I hide in closet." He always tells me where his hiding spot is going to be!

Aargh!

Here are some of the pirate pictures as promised! Landon goes around dressed as a pirate almost daily. You know, when he's not dressed as a Wonder Pet or as Super Why....he sure does love to dress up! I'm just glad that Super Why consists of a blue polo shirt, khaki pants, and boat shoes- all of which are readily available in Landon's closet. A cape is the only thing needed to dress like a Wonder Pet. My quick thinking mom was able to sew him one up in two seconds flat one day. I'm hoping after Halloween this year that I will be able to pick up a bunch of costumes for cheap so that Landon can play dress up more often. His pirate one is getting kind of worn out! 

Pirates and Pooh Shirts

There hasn't been much blogging on my part lately. I'll work on getting some new posts up soon. It's just been proving difficult as of lately. Here's a quick Landon update for everyone to hold you over. Landon loves the Disney show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates". In fact, he loves pirates so much that he is often dressing in his pirate costume from last year while watching it. I know this is kind of pointless without pictures...I promise those are coming soon! When he's not going around dressed as a pirate he can be found wearing his 18 month Winnie the Pooh shirt. It's rather short as you can imagine, but otherwise fits rather well. I was going through some old clothes of his and he spotted the Pooh shirt. He became so excited and started saying, "My Pooh shirt! My Pooh shirt! Thank you Mommy for finding it! My Pooh shirt!" He even started hugging it and asked to put it on. I guess that is one shirt that won't be going anywhere anytime soon. I may have to save it to put onto a stuffed bear of some sort when he completely outgrows it. Ever since that day he has had it on many times while we are at home. I have also been able to slowly implement the rule of him having to take at least one bite of everything on his plate. It works most of the time. He put a carrot in his mouth the other day, but immediately spit it out. At least it made it to his mouth! I even ate some broccoli myself while we were out at dinner last week in hopes of Landon trying some as well. Landon has also mastered his ABC's for the most part. He still has trouble identifying the letters "N" and "K" at times, but other wise he knows all of his letters. Every now and then he will confuse "M" and "W", but I'm sure that is normal for a three year old. Now we have to work on the correct order of the ABC song. We will be starting on number recognition next week. Landon knows a few numbers when he sees them. Basically the number 1-5 he is able to point out correctly every time. He can count up to twenty, or eleventeen as Landon says, but can't identify all of the numbers on paper just yet. We're getting there though.