Backyard Fun

My kids love to be outside!  In fact, the last two days we have played outside all day.  Seriously, ALL day.  I do appreciate the tan that I am getting, but playing outside all day wears this momma out! 
I am personally not a big fan of sand.  I don't like to play in it, I don't like how it feels under my feet (unless I'm at the beach), and I most definitely don't like the mess it makes in my house (and I wonder why Kaden has sensory issues).  Grandma Sue has the mother of all sand piles at her house, and the kiddos love to play in it.  Especially Parker.  All four of them will spend hours playing in the sand, it must be the best form of entertainment for them.  Last summer we got a wooden play structure for our backyard.  When we got it, we (okay, I) decided not to put sand in the bottom of it for the above reasons.  Well, the past couple of weeks my kiddos have decided it would be fun to play in a pile of dirt in our backyard.  We have this spot in the yard that doesn't have any grass since it's where the pool always sits.  Our wonderful dog, Molly, decided she needed to dig a hole right in that spot.  The other day Lee filled the hole in and then the kids decided to play in the dirt he had just put in there.  Lee was at work, and it was one of those days where I just didn't care what they did, as long as they were happy, so I let them play to their hearts content.  A few days ago, they were pretty much out of loose dirt when Brett found the new buckets I had bought.  So, I had Lee go get 2 more buckets of dirt for them to play in, and they were four happy little people.  I figure clothes wash and so do little bodies, so why not let them play? 

You can see how small the pile of dirt is, but they played so good together!  They don't always play this nice when they are that close together, so that made it all even more worth it! 

This is their cousin Grace pointing out a worm to them.  Parker of course would have nothing to do with it, Kaden and Cooper wanted to look at it, and Brett picked up every worm he could find.  In fact, I found a couple worms in a different spot in the yard yesterday and showed them to Brett who picked them up and carried them over to the pile of dirt.  He's also the one that kills bugs and spiders for Parker and I.  LOL!

Cooper looking for worms

Brett (still wearing his coat even though it was warm out)

Kaden watching the dirt fall from his shovel to the bucket.  The kid likes to figure out how everything works!

Parker checking for worms in her shovel.  She found a couple and told Brett to "git em, Brett!"

I finally gave in and got some sand for our sandbox!  Needless to say, they were very happy!  Their smiles made it all worth it!  They spent 8 hours outside yesterday and 6 today playing, and most of that time was in the sand.  I had to MAKE them go in to eat!  I have swept my floors about 100 times in the last 2 days, but it is SO worth it!!!!

Drinking lemonade in their sandbox
Brett, Cooper, Kaden and Parker

Mmmmmm......Good!

Brett hanging out on the steps drinking his lemonade

This smile is why I am so happy I finally gave in and got them sand!

I even got sneaky enough to get a grin out of Parker!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!  Cooper has developed a huge love for basketball the last few days.  He makes about half his shots and is so proud of himself!  I am too! 

Happy Kids!

Kaden has been sporting some rockin' outfits the last couple of days!  Yesterday he went from jeans and  a t-shirt to a t-shirt, underwear and his snow boots.  I didn't get the camera out soon enough to take a picture, so I was happy when he did the same thing today.  At some point yesterday, all four kids were outside with just t-shirts and underwear/diapers.  I guess they got hot, and I didn't feel like doing any more laundry so I just let it go.  We were just in our backyard, so it didn't really matter.

Striking his best handsome man pose for the camera.  He's such a stud!

I'm sure we have many more days of playing outside and digging in the sand ahead of us.  It will be interesting to see how much sand ends up in our pool this summer!