A sandbox, a slingshot, and some olives

Last weekend, we turned our horseshoe pit into a makeshift sandbox for Laci.  Well, actually, that statement is pretty misleading because it makes it sound like I physically did something to create a sandbox for my baby, when in reality all I did was sit her in the sand.  Wha-La!  Instant sandbox.  She was entertained for a good 30 minutes while her daddy and I shot the opposite horseshoe stake with olives flung with a sling shot.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We were shooting olives with a slingshot towards a horseshoe pit stake.  To be completely accurate, we stuck a beer can on top of the stake and attempted to hit it with olives, which, in case you are wondering, are terrible ammunition.  They aren't perfectly round so they tend to curve in the air, making it extremely frustrating to hit a very specific target.  The result is a backboard coated with green spots from smashed olives and a lot of talking smack to each other.  It was quality family time...our version.

We also gave her a rusty garden spade to dig with because we are not equipped with proper kid-friendly plastic sand toys like responsible parents.  Notice daddy giving digging instructions while simultaneously holding a sling shot - an item she currently isn't interested in, but I have a feeling will be pointed at her siblings many years from now.  And I'll have to warn them about shooting their eyes out, and I'll probably have to yell, and I'll probably have to take it away.  And then I'll blame it on Ryan because he's the one who brought the thing home in the first place.  And I'll conveniently forget how much fun it was to shoot olives at beer cans.  I might even add in an "I told you so" just for good measure.

Someone needs to do this child's hair once in a while.  If she would just leave a clippy in for more than five seconds, it probably wouldn't look like this so often.  At this point, rubber bands are the only things that stand a chance in her hair, but the effort it takes to hold her still to put them in is more than I can handle on days when we just stay home.  Pigtails are reserved for public appearances only.  Therefore, most of the time, her hair looks like this...or worse.

I find it amusing that I'm still talking about last weekend when it is already Friday night and another weekend is upon us.  Last weekend felt busy.  Ryan had a few days off work for the Veteran's Day holiday (plus an extra vacation day) so he worked around the shop.  We took Sydney to her soccer game on Saturday where I was thrown into the middle of a full blown town reunion.  Apparently, soccer is a very social sport and I saw more people I knew in that one hour than I have this entire year.  Saturday afternoon, I tried on bridesmaid dresses for Kristina's wedding and she made her final choice.  Sunday was nice weather, most of which was spent outside, doing super productive things...like shooting olives with a slingshot.

Now, it is this weekend.  And it is raining.  And we won't be shooting olives or trying on dresses or going to soccer games.  Today was Ryan's last day of work for the year.  He'll return sometime in January.  It happens like this every year.  I'll be glad to have him home with us for a while, though I'm sure I'll be ready to have him return to work by January.  I'm not sure what we'll be doing this weekend, but I have a pretty good feeling it will involve staying inside where it is warm and dry.  And hopefully, I'll find enough inspiration in this brown dungeon to take a few pictures.