Backyard Beautifying!

So here is the cleared rock area with the Hydrangea from the front. It will get some sun, in the

morning and a little in the evening and have shade during the hottest part of the day. It looks

really small there right now, but when it's full size it'll be perfect!

Also if you look at the last picture of this area and then at this one you might see something else we did. Tuesday after we planted the Hydrangea, we decided the stepping stones needed some attention! So dug up every one of them, laid them on the pavement and after leveling the ground a bit, we replaced the stones, using only the best looking ones. We didn't use all that we dug up because we dug some up where there didn't need to be stones anymore. So now we have very visible steps from the stairs of the deck down to the backyard! (and it looks so much better!) Now, what to do with the extras???

Dance picture 2007

I also thought I'd share this sweet picture!!
Elizabeth is in Tap Dance and on photo day I took my camera. When the photographer was posing her and getting his cameral getting I took my own shots.
I just love this picture!! Isn't it the SWEETEST!!
This is the outfit they are wearing for their recital too. They look like little Daisy Dukes!

2007 Prom

Thought I'd take a break from all the yardwork pictures and share a picture of the kids.
Douglas and Jacquie went to the Junior/Senior Prom this year.

This is Douglas and his girlfriend Kayla (left side) and Jacquie and her date & friend Jae.


Don't the girls look gorgeous and those boys are sure handsome!!

Unplanned Beautifing +

To start here is the final birdhouse project. AKA 'The Bird Hotel' Life for Birds. With the directional signs to where we have family. It'll look really nice once we have the new bush browing in front of it.

So this is the unplanned project. Today we decided after looking at one of our new Hydrangeas that it needs to be moved. It's sitting in the direct sun with no shade and the leaves look like they are getting burned. So before it dies we went looking for a new spot to replant it.

Well we found the spot, but it needed cleaned up!! We dug allll those rocks out from pretty much the same place they are in now. This spot looked like [way] back in the day that it had been landscaped similar to what we have done to it today. Thats why we went with this. We'll plant the 'sick' Hydrangea in the middle of the rock circle . Then on the lower area were the dirt is we are going to regrass.

We also decided that above this area under the deck we are going to put up lattice to close off the space.

It looks soooo nice in that spot already!!

Handmade Beauty!

For this update, it's all about the accents!
I had this idea that I wanted to line the front porch with planters full of flowers. I talked to my dad about it. I spent the day with him one day last week and he helped me make these planters.
Yes, with my dads help, I made these! I LOVE them! They turned out awesome! Now I can't wait to get some flowers in them!!
We also Thompson water sealed the porch. It's a little bit darker now then it used to be, but we like how it turned out.

While at my dads Elizabeth wanted to make something too. She was going to make a birdhouse until dad remembered he had one already done. So he gave it to her. She was sooooo excited! I then remembered that we had two at home put away somewhere. So while I was painting my planters, the girls painted the three birdhouses. They are very bright and summery!
Then we thought, the birds needed somewhere to eat too. I called my dad again! Ha ha ha We went over Tuesday and I built the feeder that's on the top of the post. (with dads help of course- he works the big saws, not me!)
We have a couple things still not done that will be added here. After getting everything painted and hung, we are now Open for Business!! Welcome to the" 'Bird Motel' , Where birds come to Live!" (Elizabeth's name and quote! We'll put that up there somewhere.)


Remember from before I said right in the spot that the house is in, there will be planted a flowering shrub/bush of some kind.
So the birds will have the trees for hiding and sitting in when not using the houses and feeding!


We've also spread grass seed all over the ground we took all the rock out of and in the grass to help thicken it up.
The yard is already looking better!

More Beautifing.......

Sunday, we bought another hydrangea and 2 butterfly bushes. Yesterday we went out and planted them. The first photo is the butterfly bushes. The one closest will produce fuschia colored flowers and the other one will be yellow colored. Can't wait to see them bloomed!!

This is where we planted the hydrangea. The one closest is the new one and it's supposed to have the blueish colored flowers. The yellow one in the middle should have pink flowers and the green one farthest away will be a red pink. Lots of color just in that row!

We also did this yesterday. This was a project started by the houses previous owner - my Father-in-law. We took the railroad ties from the front yard and finished this part of his project. (the stacked RR ties on the backside) How's it look Don??

See all the rock on the ground? Thats what we've pulled out of the front yard. This area we are making our 'pit'. We will use some of the large rocks and make a fire ring and have seating around it. In the summer we do our dutch oven cooking, roasting marshmallows and sometimes just sit around the campfire.

This is what we worked on today, Tuesday. The dark colored dirt was covered with rock. It was the last area of rock we had to remove. What a pain! Under the white house is a huge hole. (years ago it was a pond) We decided we are going to plant another hydrangea there. (unless we find something else thats similar that we like better)

We also got an edger from my Dad and we went around and edged the yard at the sidewalk & driveway.

It really looks much better already, even with stuff half done.