Before & After

Back in August my husband and I did a little yard makeover. I'm just now getting around to posting the before and after pictures.

This is the front door area before. (Don't know why I took a crooked picture!)

This is after. We added dirt around the border so the grass hasn't all come it yet. This will be the case in spaces in the backyard too.

This next area is one of the main areas we did. Our backdoor is on the side of our house so we have to walk along the side to get to the backyard. There was a big slope and when it rained water would stand by the fence. We wanted to level it off and make it look a little better. Claire's window faces this part of the yard and she wanted to look at pretty flowers!

Before...

After...

We leveled it off with rocks and moved the plants from the back porch to that area. Now my back porch is not cluttered and Claire has pretty flowers to look at! We also added stepping stones so we have an easier walk to the back. We have grass planted around the stepping stones, but its not all in yet so just image green grass where you see the dirt!

At the end we added a little birdbath area. Eventually we plan to put up a bird house or bird feeder here too. Again, imagine green grass around it!

This is the back corner of the backyard.

Before...

After...

This is the other side of the house. It had pretty much become a place where old things of my husbands would go to die! The before picture was taken after he cleaned out the old grill and lawnmower and play toys and mowed all the weeds down.

Before...

After....

We added a little raised bed garden. I have onions, lettuce, squash, tomatoes and peppers planted. I'm not much of a farmer, but I hope to grow some fresh vegetables for us to enjoy. (On the other side of the house I have a planter with herbs. They are doing well...apparantly I can grow herbs!)


So, there it is, our little project that took a lot of work!

8:00 AM

At 8:00 this morning I was just about to get out of bed. (Yes, I don't get up until 8:00. That the great thing about homeschooling!) Then, I heard the neighbor dog barking and an engine. I jumped out of bed and opened the bedroom door. My daughter met me yelling the dump truck is in the driveway!!

We were expecting the truck. (Just not at 8 am!) We are giving our yard a bit of a makeover. My husband had ordered some dirt and gravel. He's taking off tomorrow to work on it. I took before pictures so I will post before and after pics when we are done.

Anyway, I threw on some clothes and stuck a headband in my hair which was falling in my face. I caught the guy before he dumped it. Good thing. My van was in the garage. He told me you better get it out the dirt will spread when I dump it. So the very nice man moved his truck and let me pull my van out. Good that I did...I would have never gotten it out with all that dirt!

So, I had to sweep up and shovel a little of it so I could pull the van onto part of the driveway when he left. I had actually worked up a sweat at 8:30 in the morning! We also had to tarp it because there is a chance of rain this afternoon. Yet another reason I like homeschooling...I had 2 extra sets of hands to help me with the tarp!

What do you get when you combine 7 cu. yards of dirt, 1 cu. yard of gravel and 2 homeschooled kids?


Recess!

Claire was helping shovel the uncovered dirt under the tarp...with her little blue shovel!!