Busy Weekend

This weekend was one of those weekends where you just need another day to get all the things done that you wanted to do. I knew that the weekend was going to bring us some nice weather and it may be the last nice weekend we get so I better get as much outside stuff done as possible. Hearing about the ice that was hitting back home in MN also made me want to get as much outside time as possible as well.

The first big thing we got done was the removal of two big pine trees in our front yard. They were big and not very good looking. We have done all of the tree trimming ourselves so far, but this one we left to the professionals. They did a great job. They also told us they could take the tree branches that we had piled in our backyard and chop them up and take them away. The only problem was that their truck would not fit through the small gate we have. I had piled all the branches all the way in the very back of the yard against the fence with the intention of burning them some time soon. The pile got so big and the amount of time it would take me to burn it was just too much for me to deal with. SOOOOO this meant that the massive pile needed to get to the front yard somehow. I was that somehow this weekend. I moved ALL of the wood to the front yard one wagon load at a time. I did have the lawn mower to help me out, but I will say, I was one tired lady. It was a big job that took me two days and I never plan to do that again. :-) With as little as the landscaper is charging me to chop it, I will be using him from now on. He came today and got about 20 minutes of chopping done before his machine broke. :-) Looks like the neighbors will have to look at the ugly pile of sticks a little longer :-)

The last job that we got done was we had dirt delivered and put in the front yard to level out the yard a bit because it was sloping toward the house which meant that every time it rained it went into the crawl space. This job provided the boys with the most enjoyment of all. There is something about little boys and dirt. I do not see this with little girls, but little boys and dirt are like magnets. You can't fight the attraction and you may as well not try to fight it. I finally had to bring Ty inside after he put handfuls of it in his mouth. REALLY? I do feed my kid. :-) Myles was my worker boy. He calls himself "little farmer Joe". Farmer Joe is the main character on his favorite movie. He had a blast on that dirt pile and was so content just raking and shoveling. I LOVE that he is so good at playing alone without needing t.v. or someone right beside him to keep him focused. My little farm boy in the city. 

Here are a few pictures of a weekend of getting projects done.

The house before we removed the trees.

The horrid trees

As the tree is coming down.

AFTER!!!

My pile of branches. SO excited to get rid of it! It is like the ultimate Spring cleaning for me!

A look at the new dirt.

Now we just need some ideas for landscaping....This is a little out of my comfort zone. I have tried to walk around the neighborhood to look at other people's landscaping. Pretty sure I will just copy someone else since I have no skills in this area. We are also trying to decided if we want to repaint the shutters. They are not our favorite, but with the brick being so light we are not quite sure what to go with.....So many projects...The list keep growing.