Living With Palms: June 2008

We had family night last Monday. We talked about modesty. We included good manners, not being crude and of course wearing clothes. Landon loves to run around in either his undies or birthday suit. Really, who doesn't. I think we'd all be runnin' around naked if it was the norm. Anyway, if Taylor sees any clothing article not on her brother, she wants to take hers off too. This is a big problem if Landon is completely naked running around. We can't have Taylor naked or I'd be cleaning up her "messes" (if you know what I mean) and that's not so fun. So, Tuesday night, we just got done with prayer time during which Taylor had run off somewhere. Almost immediately after "amen" Taylor comes running out of her room naked as can be. Oh, Landon was all over that. In less than a second he had all his clothes off eggin' her on to race with him through the house, while Erin and I watched in amusement. During this I had two thoughts: 1) Our modesty talk didn't really sink in, did it? and 2) I really wanted to join their naked escapade and see all of their reactions. Maybe I would have if we hadn't just talked about modesty and if I wasn't 8 months pregnant. Blasted kids--they have all the fun.

My little Lampchop (he hates it when I call him that)

We were driving the other day when Landon says "Hey mom, I hope I can go to space someday. Yeah, I want to fly there in a flying saucer!" And I said "Well, aren't flying saucers only for aliens?" Landon then said "Yeah, maybe. But we could dress up like aliens and sneak on the flying saucer and trick them all." Then I asked "Where will we get a flying saucer?" And he responded as if I shouldn't even be asking such a silly question "Target, of course...No, no, no. Not Target. Costco. Yeah, Costco would sell them because they sell really big things." Obviously, we shop only at two stores.
I love this kid. I wish I could hop into his brain in the middle of one of his crazy ideas. Tonight I kept hearing loud thumps coming from his room every couple of minutes. I went in and he had made a landing pad out of all his blankets and pillows and was jumping from the top of his loft bed onto them. He was having the best time. And this morning he put his work-out mat on top of his ladder to use it like a slide. It went straight down to the ground from the top of his bed.
One of my favorite things he does is sing. Especially when he's setting up his army dudes and warrior cars and he's singing "I am a Child of God." He sings this song to Taylor every night now. And now she sings it to herself or her baby. In fact, he's been so good to her lately. He gets her out of bed every morning and brings her and her blankets and doggies and baby into our room. This is a big step for our macho man. He only acts macho. He's a pretty big softy and I love him.

Tay, Tay

Our little girl is growing up. She's 20 months now! She even has some fat on her thighs. We've all pretty much figured this girl out. She will not be happy until she has eaten breakfast, so don't even try to play with her. In fact, if she's cranky, we know just to feed her. She eats more than Landon at most meals. And she's not picky-about food, that is--clothes are another issue.
She is quite the thespian. She puts on little shows to try and make us all laugh. Tonight she came out of Landon's room with his sunglasses on and started to prance around the house on her tippy toes with her face in the air singing some song she made up. And this morning she put a blanket over her head and tried walking around the house to see if she'd run into anything. She did really good until the toy shelf snuck up on her. Landon and I were laughing so hard! She ran right smack into it and fell backwards. She did that the other day too with out a blanket. She ran into a wall that was all glass. Landon and I laughed pretty hard at that one too because she was so confused. But, don't worry, she didn't really get hurt.
She's definitely a shoe girl. All she wants to wear are her white patent leather church shoes. At first I fought it. But now, I let her wear them everywhere and with everything. She is also playing better with Landon. She'll actually race with him and wrestle with him. My favorite, though, is when she randomly gives him a big hug around his waist. He absolutely loves it when she does this. She adores him (except when he punches her belly) and wants to be just like him. Oh, we love our sweet Taylor.

New Baby

Makes my back hurt. Kicks my ribs. Puts me in weird moods. Makes me feel huge. Makes it difficult to run around. But, on the positive side, increased my bra size.

Here's some updated pics:

Our trip to Bunker Hill Monument with Flat Stanley.
Landon loves towers. This one has 294 steps and we made it.
This was the view.