Outside!
Once E learned this word, we were done. With his big brown eyes and cute little voice, he jumps up and down and declares “Outside! Outside!” Now that it’s not freezing and a huge undertaking to get us all out, we agree more often. And we’ve been taking steps to make it easier and more fun to be in our yard too.
We recently fenced in our porch, which has become a toddler’s wonderland. There’s a play structure with a slide, and a sandbox, and even a chair for Mama. We’re working on our patio still, but this year we finally did something I’ve been wanting to do since we moved in.
Trees.
Our front yard was quite bare. And the grass isn’t really growing, but I keep saying that we’ll deal with the grass after we plant some trees. Why get the grass perfect just to dig it up? The only problem was I didn’t really know what I was doing when it came to trees.
So recently we gathered our courage and went to a nursery that we’ve been to before (where we were totally overwhelmed and just left without talking to anyone). This time we ran into the owner and he didn’t laugh when I told him I wanted pretty trees. He showed me the section I wanted, and helped me pick the best one. And then we easily scheduled installation.
And the day finally came! We are the official and proud owners of three new trees: a Cherokee princess dogwood, an Okame cherry, and a spruce tree.
Poor E missed all the fun again, but I took a few videos of the “big ucks!” that installed the trees. We’re definitely glad we outsourced this, since besides the fact we have zero time, it looked like quite the effort!
I’ll be honest, in my mind there was a more drastic before and after. I thought the trees would immediately make the front yard look completely different. Instead it’s the same yard with 3 small trees in it. It’s going to take time, but over the years, I’ll get the after I’ve been picturing in my mind.
But I’ll still post pictures so you can see for yourself. I’m realizing they might have been more dramatic in the winter, but with so many trees blooming and greenery filling in right now, the trees get a little lost.
The biggest change is more that the rain has let up a bit and we’re finally seeing some sun!
We also got a possible answer on why our grass isn’t growing! Apparently we have a pretty big grub infestation! (Do yourself a favor and don’t google them!) We were told we’ll never really grow grass as long as that’s true, since they eat the grass roots. So we’ll need to try and figure that out before wasting any money on grass seed. Hopefully that saved us some wasted time and effort!