WE NEED A SANDBOX - OR MAYBE I SHOULD JUST PAY ATTENTION

I've been wanting a sandbox for the boys for quite some time now. One is in the works but if you know Chris, hardly anything he does is on a small scale. Please refer to the batting cage post if you don't believe me. But just because we don't have one yet doesn't mean we can't make-do. The boys can literally play in the sand for hours. They love it. The weather was absolutely beautiful Wednesday, and I knew Chris had some sand at one of his houses, so I decided to empty out a plastic bin full of toys and fill it with sand. It's not what they would prefer but beggars can't be choosers, right! Do you have any idea what it took for me to get this container of sand from the back of my van to my backyard?

Let me just fill you in. I took the container to the spec house, filled it with sand, then one of our very nice spanish-speaking brick masons helped load it in the car. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to get it out by myself at home but Grant is pretty strong so I felt sure we could tackle it together. NOT! Sand is heavy! With neither Chris nor Mondo anywhere in sight, I had to think fast. The boys had already run inside, changed clothes, gathered up their buckets and shovels and were standing around me getting more impatient by the minute because of me staring at this container full of sand stuck in the back of the van. I ran in, got a trash bag, and proceeded to fill this trash bag full of sand until the container got to the point I could lift it. I managed to get it to the back yard then needed to get the trash bag to the back as well. My thinking was that I could just slide the bag because of course it was too heavy to pick up.

Trash bags don't slide on concrete. They rip and tear. So mid-way to the back I have to stop, get another trash bag, ROLL this trash bag, which is full of holes and losing sand with any movement, into the other trash bag and hope for the best as I again drag it to the back yard. It made it, I emptied the sand from the bag into the plastic bin, and (minus a few issues with the size of the bin) they had fun! Please keep in mind that before I got the sand from the house I called Chris to make sure it was okay for me to get it. So he knew what I was going to do.


I'm so observant. I mean, NOTHING gets past me. Seriously. I pay attention to everything.


If you believe that you're gullible and you don't know me very well. Because I'm totally lying. :) Let me give you a perfect example. While we were playing in the sand, Mimi and Granddaddy stopped by for a visit. Of course, sand pales in comparison to QT with the grandparents so it was off to the swing set to show them a few new tricks. While we were swinging, flipping and talking, Mac proceeds to head to this:

That would be a big fat sand pile right next to our garden - ALREADY IN OUR BACK YARD. It's even in the background of some pictures I took of the boys playing in the "sandbox." See? Observant. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. And I'm still not sure if Chris (a) just wasn't really paying attention to me when I told him what I was doing about getting the sand; or (b) knew exactly what he was doing and just wanted to see happen what did happen. :) Probably a little of both.

Here are some snapshots of the boys playing in my wee little sandbox I worked so hard for and now need an adjustment from a chiropractor because of:

Who can have a day in the sand and sun without Kool-Aid???

All done!

Aw, heck, let's have another - the weather put me in a good mood. HA!

My sweet little Mackey picked me a "flower."

And shared his Yogos with Daddy:

I already had the talk with the boys on the way home about the fact that the pool water was absolutely too cold to get in so not to even ask. I've said before that every time we have a warmer day (although there have been few lately) they automatically think it's time to swim. Sweet as he is, Mackey's my Sly Guy. He thought he was being sneaky here:

Only he got busted:

Then tried playing it off by telling  me he was just doing push-ups by the pool.

I can't imagine what their teenage years will be like if they're already coming up with this stuff at the age of 4.


We ate blew a few bubbles:

Then Mimi and Granddaddy showed up. 

The boys have always been fascinated by the bugs and such that end up in the skimmer, and Granddaddy usually knows the name of pretty much everything in it:

Notice my mom is keeping her distance. :) Smart woman!

Grant showing off his back flip which makes my stomach flip:

Grant taught Mac how to do it just this week. He has no fear. Which makes me have much fear!

Reid has never liked to swing until now. Up until this week whenever I tried to push him on the swings the look on his face (even as hilarious as it was) was that of real, genuine fear - eyes big as saucers and acted as if it took his breath away. He just didn't like it. However, at the Sonshine Playground earlier in the week, he asked me to push him "weal, weal high" on the swings. And just like that he was over his fear. I guess he has a lot of swinging to make up for because now that's all he wants to do. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!