Sandbox Mayhem

Today was a fun day. My SIL brought her kiddos over to play. Sometimes though, messy happens when you are least expecting it. 

SIL brought me good coffee (Thank You!) and I got to snuggle "the Buddies".  And our bigs (and Bubba) played outside nicely for several hours! I know you know how nice that is. 

That brings me to today's mess. 

We have this monstrosity in our backyard:

I love it! Like really, really love it. It is probably the single best investment we have made in our kid's play. Buds will play out there, by himself, for hours and hours. Baby Girl and Bubba love it too.  It is great for developing math and science skills, and it encourages creativity and imaginative play. So many benefits!  And adding the cousins just adds to the fun! 

Exhibit A: The Cousins, RE, NI, EJ, and LE. Aren't they precious?!? I just want to squish them all when I see them! But I don't. Cuz squishing them is a bad idea. So I just hug them gently. Cuz I like them. 

Well anyway, SIL and I are just chatting away (about the Homeschool Con) and Buds comes in all serious. 

"Mommy, Sissy and RE put sand down Bubba's shirt." He didn't quite seem to just be tattling, so I probed a bit.

"On his head, or just some in his shirt?"

"In his shirt."

"Is he upset?"

"No."

"Ok, thanks for telling me. I will check in him in a minute."  And off he went to play. Bubba was not fussing or anything, so I dismissed it. With a giant sandbox in the backyard sand in clothes is par for the course. I have learned to vacuum first and ask questions later.

But then, the offending ladies come in. 

And confess. 

"Mommy, Did Buds tell you what we did?"

"Yes, let's not do it again. It probably didn't hurt him, but it's probably not very comfortable." They both nodded solemnly. Poor RE felt terrible. Baby Girl just seemed thankful she wasn't in trouble. 

It still has not occurred to me at this point that they did anything more than trickled a little sand down the back of his shirt. It happens all the time. No biggie. 

But I decide that they look a little too thankful to be off the hook, so I check on Bubba. 

I found this:

I start laughing uncontrollably. SIL comes to look, and immediately starts taking pictures. 

From the back is my favorite.

They filled his onesie. With sand. And gave him a massive muffin top!  Every time I changed perspective my laughter became more and more uncontrollable. 

There was a sand-turd in his diaper (but I won't post the picture of that, I promise.) 

So as I laughed I took off his pants, and unbuttoned his onesie. And this is what fell out: 

Poor kid! That was a lot of sand to waddle around with. He got a bath in the kitchen sink.

Sometimes the things that have the most benefits, and are the most fun, can cause the biggest messes. Don't be scared of the mess. Fear will keep you clean, but it won't benefit anyone, and it certainly won't make you belly laugh!  So laugh at the mess as you clean it up. Your kids had fun, and it will probably make your day!