yard work

been doing a little yard work around here...something we both enjoy. i particularly love to plant flowers, adam likes to arrange bricks and mow grass. march was filled with a lot of good weather for that kind of work and adam had a fairly easy month so here are some pictures of our back yard work.

when we bought our house almost two years ago now, the back yard was overgrown with kudzu. it was a daunting task to make such an out-of-control space a play area for our kids. one of our intentions in buying a house was to have a yard for our kids to enjoy.
we were naive first-time home buyers, but one thing we really loved (and still do!) is our one and only tree-a 150yr old pecan tree (we have a pear tree in the front, but technically it belongs to the city). i hope it does not die as long as we are in the house.


we are thankful for an unusually long lot for a downtown yard. after adam slaved away for a few days and cleared only a small portion of the kudzu, adam's generous late grandma offered to hire someone to clear and sod it for us. it looked like this.




headed for its third summer after the abuse of a hole-digging golden retriever, lots of heavy rains that render it a mud-pit of sorts, and two rowdy kiddos who love to run and play, the back yard needs a little love.
he is so hardcore.

we have a free supply of old bricks, thanks to neighbors and a renovation project down the street, so we are lining some of the beds with these bricks and hoping to build a brick patio of sorts.



lots of weeding

miles likes to watch

thankfully, this is something we can do with little people "helping." it takes about three-times as long, but then everything does...you just have to be faster than they are at undoing it...

adam finished lining with bricks on sunday afternoon and we were about to order a lot of mulch, but the city came to grind a stump nearly right in front of our house. i asked if we could have the mulch and they were glad to not have to haul it away...only adam was on call so i put the boys down for a nap and let marit watch angelina ballerina while i hauled with a wheelbarrow for about an hour. i then gladly hired a neighbor to finish hauling it because i knew he would be much faster than i and miles was waking up. seriously, what are the chances of that? all that mulch right there for FREE at exactly the right time.

the grass still needs a lot of rehabbing...probably need to plant some winter rye this year. we are also so thankful for all the handed down playground equipment our kids love!

we know with kids and a dog and weeds and little time, our yard will not be any kind of paradise or anything. it is the process that is satisfying after all.