Never Ending Yardwork

I feel like we are "building" a house again except its the yard. We want to get it done so most if not all of our time is being devoted to it. The kids are great to help but its really hard for Matt and I to work on a longer project without one of the kids needing something. It can be frustrating but we are working thru it. Often times I feel guilty for not helping enough and leaving Matt to work on his own while I take care of the kids. I know we have talked about doing all of this again but Im not quite sure. Im ready for the projects to be done and to just spend the majority of our time as a family just living our lives.

Concrete Day

With the weather getting better it was giving us the opportunity to really get some of our yard stuff done. Matt was able to get all the concrete spaces prepared for concrete then Saturday was the day. 

We decided to put the girls hand prints in our mailbox concrete and it turned out so cute

They also came to finish the exterior painting...it was a very productive day

Painting the House

The weather finally cooperated to get the house painted. It was a little strange to see it a different color I think just because it has been the primer color for so long. But I really like it.

Bye Bye Dirt Pile

I was thrilled when the day finally came for the giant dirt pile in the back to go away. One of the builders down the street need back fill for their house and we were happy to let them have it. They ended up taking over 120 truckloads away! There was a lot of dirt back there.

Yard Work Begins

After a few months of getting settled and adjusting its now time to get back into project mode and get the yard done. Although Im not excited for all the work ahead Im really excited for the yard to be done and for the kids to have a place to play. Once again Im grateful for Matt's connections he was able to get us a mini-ex last to dig the main sprinkler line.

The kids were fascinated and loved watching Matt move dirt and dig the trench

A Project?

I don't know now why Matt and I thought we wanted to leave this bathroom as a project for the future and I think in the future if we build again we wont do that again. A couple weeks ago I got the bright idea that we should finish this bathroom so the whole house would be done. So we started the process of picking a tile and getting it all ordered.

We prepped everything by water proofing and adding a membrane to the bathroom floor so if the concrete cracks it wont pop the tile in the future. The girls thought this was very cool because when you paint it on its pink and dries red so you know its ready. I painted the shower while Matt did the floor.

The we(mostly Matt) put all the tile in. I was concerned about half way thru that the wall tile might be to dark but I think it turned out great in the end. I should know by now to trust Matt he really does have great taste. Then yesterday Matt grouted everything. 

Im excited to decorate another bathroom and make it ours. We will now slowly have everyone come in and do their part...cabinets, plumbing, and counter tops. It seems silly to really rush since we don't need the bathroom right now but our part is now done.

Landscaping

The end of February we were able to finalize our landscape plan and get ready to put it all in place. We took it to the sprinkle place and they were able to put them in the drawing as well. Im ready to get everything put in motion but at this point we need to wait for the snow to melt and the ground to dry out so we can get going. Im really excited to get a yard again especially for a place for the kids to play. We emailed the developer to see if they would allow us to put in a fence to keep the kids in. It probably wont be the vinyl fence I always though we would have but at this point I will take whatever kind of fence I can get....so we will see what happens