Busy Getting summer-y

Summertime is a comin', and we are excited! We've been so busy...

All the yardage needed pruning; both lilacs, the white magolia, the neighbors tree to the east of us (it had one really big branch overhanging our smaller tree, so our tree only "grew" out instead of up), the pine tree to our north, a rogue cottonwood tree had to be removed from WITHIN the magnolia bush, and our large tree out front got a facelift. THANK YOU AWESOME HELPERS!!!!! And it wasn't too spendy to have it all hauled away! THANK YOU MIDWEST WALLS & LANDSCAPE!!!

We dug out the flower beds by the walkway. I still need to replace the dirt there and move the day lillies (there are 31 plants in a 2ft X 3ft box!! Boy do those spread!!!) I hoping to use the space for an herb garden. It would smell great and would fill-in quickly. Plus with the economy the way it is, it never hurts to grow your own (hi dad!!!) On that same note...

We're having garden this year! We have a 10 X 10 square in the southeast corner. I plan on planting carrots, onions and jalapeno peppers plus a blackberry bush in the corner. I just finished planting 5 tomato seedlings in 5-gallon buckets and 2 hills of cucumbers in half-wooden barrels that were here when we moved in!! Lucky us! This weekend we're hoping to erect a ti pi out of cheap (but very study) babmboo stakes and jute twine. Then we can grow pole-beans up it and Lil Pooper will have a fun/shady place to play!

We've placed a sandbox for her too. SHE LOVES TO BE DIRTY!!! Crazy girl! 1 sandbox + 5 trips from the car to the backyard with a 45 lb bag of sand + 1 impatient toddler = lots of fun!!! And lots of ssnd in the yard...

We also scored a super sweet deal buy trading a new little tykes slide for an awesome (and more expensive) 3 sided play "fort". It has a platform complete with pirate wheel, slide and underneath hiding spots. Did you know climbing makes babies extra sleepy.. woOt!! Plus it makes for entertaining action between the puppy and our cat!

Lets see... We also tilled up the median out buy our mailbox. I'm going to sow a whole bed of cosmos out there. It's too hot and dry for grass and I'm tired of looking at the weeds. We're planting orange, purple and multi-pink varieties. They'll be gorgeous, and hardy (and cheap! only $3 for 3 seed packets!)

And that's just for starters ;)