hard work

what a memorial day weekend! for many years, and for many people, the three day weekend symbolizes outdoor work...and it was no different for us this weekend (even though jason had to work on saturday!)

so we got started a day early....on friday morning, this is what my front 'landscaping' looked like...


and then came the trucks, and the men...and the best entertainment the kids were going to have all weekend!!


and by saturday night, those same areas looked like THIS:


not having a tree in the middle of our driveway has made it so much more functional (go figure!) i was able to retrieve our camper from winter storage (aka my in laws property) and actually back it up into the side driveway area to get it set up and ready for the camping season...and, we no longer risk ripping off another side view mirror on one of the cars...

i bought some plants new, and transplanted some others, to give the front area a new look (as opposed to the bush stumps that have been decorating it since last september when i could no longer stand the dead bushes there!) then jason (and i - though primarily jason!) filled in the HUGE hole left by the tree with concrete. we can now add concrete to our growing list of home improvement dyi experiences! (yes, we have safely driven on this area of the driveway!)

and then we moved to the BACK yard - where we are in the process of setting up the 'mac daddy' play area...even though we live only two houses away from the school playground, having stuff nearby, particularly for molly, became a priority in this house...and now we've got just about anything their little hearts could desire. both sets of grandparents joined us on memorial day for the playstructure construction extravaganza! i likened it to how the amish work - the women did the cooking and caring for the children, and the men slaved all day with the tools (well, I did eventually get in there and build the rock climbing wall!) it was a beautiful day for construction...a little warm, but sunny with a slight breeze. the playstructure still isn't quite complete, but after a few more hours of work by grandpop and daddy yesterday, all that's left are some of the aesthetics...


so here's molly making the first trip down the slide!!