Flower beds in progress....

Vacuuming the grass...

Why would we vacuum the grass? Well, a certain group of kids thought it was a good idea to dump several boots full of gravel in the yard. The natural consequence was that they had to pick it all back up. After working for an hour, they got quite a bit done - but there was still a lot buried down deep so Duncan got out the shop vac and we got quite a bit more out.


As they were {arguing about} picking them up, they kept saying "This is too hard - we'll never do it again!" They also kept looking at me with a look that said "can't we just have a time-out instead of having to pick all these up?"

Happy Mother's Day

We have been planning to do some raised planting beds along our back and side fence. On Friday we purchased everything we {thought} we needed and got right to work on Saturday morning.

Only 2 trips to Home Depot & one stop @ McDonald's later and we were finished with the back fence portion. Working together as a family was a great Mother's Day present.

All 3 kids were excited and willing to help out.

They had a great time assisting in clearing the 'trench' area and
they loved helping move the landscape timbers.

Roses are Red....

Duncan and the kids got me three rose bushes for Mother's Day this year. With no landscaping done in our yard yet, I haven't planted them - but I have been caring for them as well as I can considering my lack of gardening skills.

We plan to put in an arbor and the plants will go on either end. But... we haven't found the arbor for a price we're willing to pay, so they still sit near our deck in their pots.

With the rain this past week, I haven't been sitting out back and so I was pleasantly surprised to look out there tonight and find a very beautiful rose.

We decided to cut and bring it indoors so we could all enjoy it during the day.