Sunday, April 8, 2012

EGGSELLENT!

Well spring is here, the birds are chirping, and It's Egg Hunting Time. But - where can the Mosley munchkins hunt for eggs?!?!?! Well, let's start from the beginning...

For the past 2 weeks I have been slaving away at our backyard so the munchkins can enjoy it this summer. I didn't have a real plan or a timeline. I just knew I wanted an area they could go explore, while I lounged in my pajamas if need be :-)

Let me give a little background info here... my backyard was DA FOOL. No for real. I have not gone back there since 2009. Yup 2.0.0.9. It was literally a jungle. The weeds were up to my knees and these random little trees had started to sprout. For 3 winters we haven't even raked the leaves. Sadly, I think that people had started using my backyard as a dumping site :-( All bad. So imagine my task!

View from the couch - day 4

I wish I would have cataloged my progress from the beginning, because the few pictures I do have don't do the drastic change any justice. I don't know what motivated me to start but I just decided that I wanted to straighten up the backyard. So one day while Kielle was napping I went out to the shed and pulled out my tools - a saw, a pair of hedge clippers, regular scissors, a rake, and trowel.

Before
After
I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking so I paced myself. My first goal was to rake and clear all the way to the first big tree on the right hand side. With Khyri raking and putting leaves into the yard waste while Kielle napped and in the evenings, we accomplished our goal quickly - 7 leaf bags and 3 days later. I sawed down a few little trees and trimmed the big ones hoping that some sunlight would filter through. Some is exactly what I got hahahaha. It just isn't meant to be for the backyard to have fancy grass.



For awhile I considered doing a clover lawn, which is said to do very well in low light areas and in Georgia clay, but the white flowers tend to attract bees so that was a no go.



*sigh* The clover lawn would have been a real nice look for the backyard and easy to maintain, but it wasn't right for all the running and romping I had envisioned. I decided to pay close attention to hidden 'jewels' like this ivy that I planted back in 2001. I had totally forgotten about the ivy so it was a nice surprise. I decided to plant some more to create a border for the back fence.

 


I also knew that in addition to sprucing up the yard, we needed to do something about the part of the fence that had gotten damaged a few years ago in one of the storms. Before we couldn't really see it because it was covered by trees and debris but now it is in plain view. I got quotes for the fence and let's just say... it's going to be janky a little while longer. ahhahahaha
So I focused on what I could accomplish in the near future. I packed up the munchkins and headed to The Home Depot. I grabbed a bunch of plants that said they would survive in low light and a big ole bag of garden soil. I also got some of our favorites - the ivy and daylillies. Daylillies are some hardy plants because they've survived being neglected in the front of the house for about 6 years; so I thought I'd give them a try in the back. hahahahaha. I was seriously motivated now! I had even brought along a simple sketch of how I was gonna get some bushes and plants to add to the back. I noted the 3 large trees and tried to think of how what I needed to pseudo landscape back there.


When we got back, I got to work. Please take note - the hubby is taking photos of ME doing the work. hahahaha I think he thought I was going through some sort of midlife crisis. I was seriously on a mission! Must clear play area NOW! ahhaha


Nas enjoys the fruits of my labor

The bushes I planted are so small, but with time they are supposed to grow to 3 feet wide. I feel really good about clearing out the backyard. I still have some more plants to put out back, but we'll see if I get around to them. If not, they are gonna go right back to Home Depot  - I am the return queen! The other day Khyri asked if he could go out back and I psyched that he wanted to go back there. He put his shoes on and went right outside while I sat inside on the couch and read my magazine. My vision was coming true!

The inaugural event for the backyard was fittingly an Easter Egg Hunt! I hid the eggs and Khyri and Kielle searched. Daddy was in charge of making sure nobody peeked while I hid the eggs! *that didn't work* We did 7 rounds of hiding the eggs.



 













While we were egg hunting our backside neighbor yelled over the fence to introduce himself. He asked us if we had just moved in. Nope we've been here 12 years... and just decided to use our backyard. *hanging my head in shame* But, you have to start a makeover somewhere and I started ours 2 weeks ago. We still have some work to do, but today's hunt gave me renewed spirit to keep on digging, weeding, sawing, and cutting - The smiles from backyard fun are SO eggsellent :-)

As many celebrate Easter Sunday I'll share a video of Khyri who was moved to sing a little diddy while focused on his puzzle and a video of Khyri spreading the happiness :-)




HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE :-)