Bucket of Water and a Little Boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**for some reason this photo reminds me of the movie, "The First Knight" *smile/wink*

I saw an idea on Pinterest a long while back using a wooden pallet as a mini self-contained garden. Last week I saw a small pallet discarded next to the shop our neighbor owns. He let me have it! Yesterday the weather was gorgeous, yet on the cool side. I stapled landscaping fabric to the pallet, stuffed dirt inside the pallet, planted herb seeds, and watered the ensemble. The kids had a blast playing with a bucket of water and sand. Amelia was whining on the swing about how cold it was and she did not want to be outside. While she sang her sad song, Phillip happily started to plop fistfuls of sand into a stagnant bucket of water. I used the water last week (Saturday) to clean the strollers. Amelia watched him pile dirt into his dump truck and taxi it over to the bucket. I watched her eyes narrow as she assessed the fun level in Phillip's activity. Her eyes relaxed and she yelled: "Hey Phillip, wanna play sand and water dump truck?" Brilliant! The kids made a royal mess with the water, sand, and some rogue soap. It was heaven for all of us. The kids played and played until they were stiff with sand and cold water. Before long Phillip had stripped and sunned himself in the warm(er) sunshine. Amelia followed suit. Amelia was pleased to discover that wet sand can make snow balls, but out of sand, of course. My mother heart was so happy to see them playing together having a blast. I hope we can let our kids make happy messes once in a while and enjoy the moment.

Today while Amelia was at preschool Phillip and I cleaned up the now dry sand. The patio is back in order and that memory tucked away for future enjoyment.