The Backyard Project Part 1

 When we first moved into our house, we had freshly laid sod that was beautiful and thick and everything Matthew had always wanted. But then it was constantly soppy between the clay it was laid on not draining and the fact that it is more shaded than not thanks to the beautiful trees in our backyard. So to "help" it not be so wet I stopped watering it so often but that just killed the grass and then the weeds took over. It's been a steady weedy decline ever since. 

Matthew has hated and talked about getting rid of it all for the last couple of years but because he was home so much more often this summer his irritation grew four-fold. The kids agreed to sell their little-used climbing dome and then there was nothing stopping us from tearing it all out. 

About three weeks ago Matthew started ripping up the sod and a couple of days ago we got a bunch of sand, dirt, and gravel delivered so we can change up our backyard. Patio (with fire pit) on one side with ground cover and bushes on the other.

We started hauling everything into the backyard and the kids quickly fell in love with playing in the dirt. But then it got wet thanks to our neighbors overzealous watering schedule that washes its excess into our yard. But even that proved to be tons of fun for the babes.