Again with the Yard...

We had such a productive weekend, as far as the yard goes. Saturday morning, bright and early, Evan, his friend Paul and my father-in-law got out there and started ripping up the old, delapidated deck. The work seemed to go pretty quickly and easily for them. Probably because, as Evan says, "destroying stuff is fun." By noon, the deck was off and most of the building material that couldn't be salvaged was loaded into Evan's truck, ready to go to the dump.

So, now we are left with a bit more of a disaster back there, but within the next week or so, Evan is going to rent a machine and level out the yard. Then, we'll get a load of topsoil delivered, spread that out and plant some grass. Our current plan is to leave it like that until later in the summer when we can afford to buy the material for the new deck. Evan has decided to use Ipe
for it, which is quite a bit more expensive than we had originally budgeted for. So, we'll be deckless for a bit longer.

As an aside...Eden was completely mesmerized by the whole demolition project. She sat in front of the kitch windows, eating her crackers and watching her Daddy work, for well over an hour.


Yesterday, Eden blessed us with a three hour nap in the afternoon, and Sadie cooperated by mostly entertaining herself outside, so Evan and I got a ton done in the front. We got the bed along the front walkway tidied, and Sadie and Evan planted some flower seeds there, as well. We mowed the lawn, transplanted some hydrangeas, and tore out a very unsightly row of stragly azaleas bushes along the driveway. It is really looking pretty good out there!

Other weekend updates, bullet style:

• Had a great playdate with Sadie's friend Olivia, and her mom and baby sister
• Sadie and I had a girls afternoon, with a trip up to the Short Hills mall to meet my friend Cara
• Above trip did result in my first ever car accident. I got rear-ended (in my father-in-law's car, no less) while stopped at a light.
• Had a nice dinner with my parents last night - they brought Sadie this book, "The Kissing Hand" to help her with the crying at school in the morning issue. It worked like a charm this morning :-)