On Saturday, we went to an beautiful outdoor nursery to buy some grasses for our front landscaping. This place is AWESOME and I wish I could just live there. They have this great big sandbox under these beautiful trees in the middle of the nursery for the kids. Logan, Aiden, Brady and I hung out there while daddy "shopped". While they played, the boys and another little girl pretended that they were searching for buried treasure in the sand. I started thinking about how cool it would be to have "real" buried treasure in our sandbox (currently it's the only thing in our backyard to play in and has been the highlight of outdoor activity for the past 3 summers). I got this idea to paint rocks and bury them in the sand. After naps, Brian was doing some work in the back yard and encouraged me to get my "little project" going with the boys. Well, some of the neighbor kids were out, saw us and all ran over to play. I told the parents what I was doing and asked if they wanted to paint rocks with us. Everyone was in...ESPECIALLY the two little girls in our group of close friends. The kids and parents, including Brian, hunted for rocks in the empty lots behind our house while I ran to the local craft store about 5 minutes away for supplies. I returned with 10 different colors of paint, brushes, and 5 new sandbox shovels to find a bunch of wet and muddy kids with a bucket full of clean rocks. (the shovels were an impulse buy based on the fact that I'm sick of neighborhood kids fighting over the 2 we currently have at our house) Upon my return, Brian said "ok...now you take over this mess of a project!" The dads all grabbed a beer and a seat around the wall of our patio. The moms all manned the painting. It was crazy. Messy kids....a messy play table and LOTS of fun. Here are some pictures from the event. Also, for those of you concerned, as our neighbor Jeff was, I bought a sealant for the rocks that I'll spray on them sometime this week so the paint won't wash off during the first rain. We'll bury them and then the kids can all play "hunt for treasure" on our backyard.



Aiden, Ryan and AJ clean the rocks. I guess it's obvious how they all got wet and muddy...never give a kid the hose!
Aiden plays with the rocks in the water. You can see the empty lots behind us. I swear they are the last lots in the subdivision that aren't built on yet. Oh how I wish for grass behind us!! (but then again, grass doesn't make for good rock hunting!)
Here's the project in full swing. Anne mans the table. Brian told me later that Anne said "with all her artsy-fartsy-ness, you would think that Renay would want a girl". Well, to that I say...boys do art projects, you just have to disguise them as something else...like painting buried treasure!!
Mackenzie shows off her painted hands before heading in to wash up. The paint comes off REALLY easily (and washes out of cloths no problem! I had to keep promising the other parents that it really wasn't a big deal!)
AJ paints more than treasure
Brady sat with the daddy bunch in his carrier. He went with me to Michael's craft store so that is why he is in his car seat on the back porch. It seemed easier than dragging out a bouncy chair or something.
The paint supplies. We finally figured out that we should not LEAVE the paint on the table with the kids. We gave them Dixie cups with a little of ONE color each at a time.

The real gold ones!! This was the only paint I wouldn't give the kids because it isn't non-toxic. I painted these ones and they turned out awesome.
The finished product. Some of them are too big to bury, but they will go in and around the sandbox.
Anne takes a break with the dads perched on the porch.
Brady hangs with daddy.

Ok, I had to post these pictures really fast. Logan HAD to get his me-maw fish for mother's day. Brian thought it was hysterical so he let Logan pick out fish today. He got three different ones...and named them Logan, Aiden and Brady. Me-maw was...um.....well....she thought it was funny!!!
The aquarium that will now grace me-maw and grandpa's house. I told Brian to buy a pretty beta fish and pretty rocks, but oh no....they had to get goldfish instead. Oh well. Maybe when these guys um....go to fishy heaven, I will get her a pretty one instead.