Rain, Rain, Go Away

It rained all day yesterday. :(  Therefore, we were not able to finish the patio, but the boys were able to get some of the work done.  They were able to tamp the stones down (although that was dramatic because in the process some of the pavers broke and they ended up having to replace about 8 of them).  I unfortunately did not get any pictures of the tamping process, but maybe that's a good thing because they wouldn't have been happy pictures.  :)  They also filled the dirt back in around the edge of the patio.  So the only thing left to be done once it dries is the sand on top and putting on the step.  

Brent's face sums up the morning

Todd did not want to be photographed

The current state of affairs.  Looking good!

Our Yard Crashers work crew.  Thanks for the help!

I forgot to mention they also had to add some pvc pipe to our AC unit drainage to route the water away from the patio.  Another trip to Lowes!  Now if they would only put some outdoor tables on clearance, we might have some furniture out there. ;)

On that note, summer is over and it's back to reality (kind of) today with the first of 5 teacher workdays.  Cross your fingers that Hope decides a bottle will be ok today!

I'll be looking forward to seeing this silly girl all day!

Busy Bees!

I apologize now for the boatload of photos in this post.  I got a little camera-happy today :)

While Baby H prevented me from helping much with the manual labor, the boys were hard at work!  We started bright and early with the digging:

Nice tire tracks in the yard

Thankfully the guy we had dig out the area was willing to spread the gravel in the space as well.

The next step was to tamp down the gravel.

Todd manning the tamper

After some debate over the process (the laptop had to be brought out at one point to get everyone "back on the same page" ;) ), the sand eventually was spread on top of the gravel using pvc pipes as a guide.

Sandy sat at the back door ALL day.

Finally, they started laying the pavers in the modified herringbone/K/I pattern.

Started in one corner and worked out

We borrowed the neighbor's wheelbarrow, luckily it survived the process.

The final pavers were cut and laid as the sun went down.

And here's the current state of affairs:

left/octagon

right

Tomorrow we have to tamper it and put the sand over the top.  I think we are also going to use some of the extra pavers to build a step down out of the back door.  It's sure to be another exciting day in our backyard!

Never a dull moment

Baby H loved the Vera Bradley store!

She had LOTS to say while we were in there and was jumping in my arms.  She's going to be a Vera Bradley girl!

When we got home, we found this in our backyard:

They weren't supposed to deliver this stuff until after lunch (kinda like the gravel...hmmm...), but we found it when we got home at 11:30.  Luckily it was in the correct spot and NOT on the neighbors' property, I was worried about their grass.

There was a possibility that the area might have been dug out this evening, so I ran out to get the spray paint and had grand plans of roping off the area while the hubby went back to work.  Unfortunately, I instead spent the afternoon fighting Baby H over a bottle (she's NOT a fan and could care less that school is starting and I have to go back to work next week).  The area did get roped off when the hubby got home, but will get dug bright and early tomorrow morning!  Here's the current state of the backyard:

The supervisor.  She's going to go NUTS during the digging tomorrow.

Ready for an exciting day tomorrow!  Still doing a no rain dance ;)

And so it begins...

We have gravel! Good thing I was there as Baby H and I are going to the new Vera Bradley store to celebrate the last day of summer! :)

A solution

Remember the problem of how to pick up the rented tools? You can have them delivered and picked up for $70 each way, or you can rent a trailer for $30. We'll take the trailer, thanks. :) I'm a little nervous (ok, a lot nervous) about how the boys are going to get the 3 foot slab off the back of the house. "Just pop it up will the bobcat." Oh good, that should be fun. It makes me nervous because we just have a concrete slab foundation and I obviously don't want anything to happen to that. I'll be glad when this is all done. Now everyone do a "no rain" dance for Friday through Sunday please...Grandpop, we need your help again! ;)

If you build it, they will come

Our exciting backyard project is...a patio! We had planned on taking on this endeavor in two weeks, but yesterday it got pushed up a week so we will be hard at work next weekend! The pavers, gravel and sand are ordered, the tools are reserved for rental (now we just have to figure out how to get them since we only have a compact and mid-size car and they require at least an SUV if not a truck), and family is coming down to help.  Everything is being delivered/picked up on Friday.  We have someone coming to dig out the area early Saturday morning and that's when the real fun begins! 

Here's what the backyard looked like when we moved in almost 2 years ago:

Nice pile of dirt!

The builder only sodded 20 or so feet from the house.  Nice.  They hydro-seeded all that dirt, but it obviously did nothing. :) Instead of doing the patio last summer and ripping up most of the actual grass we had, we decided to put that money into sod for the rest of the yard.

Now here's a look at our current backyard: 

Our 3 square-foot "step-out"

Looking to the right

Looking to the left

Now completely covered with grass.  And we're about to rip up a lot of it!  Excellent! :)

I can't find any good pictures online of the pattern we're planning on, so that will be a surprise. :) The patio will be a rectangle with two corners "cut off" and an octagon attached. The pavers are all rectangles and squares with skinny rectangles for the edging.

It's sure to be an exciting weekend! As long as I don't look at the credit card bill... :-P

Back in the Kitchen

It was a baking weekend at our house!  First up, FINALLY using the blueberries that were picked a week ago to make these yummy crumble bars.

Pre-baking

They were delicious!  The hubby added ice cream on top of his, I prefer them plain. :)

The biggest hit, however, were these delicious oreo balls!  My guess is they'll be gone before the end of the week.  Very dangerous :)

Still waiting on details for the exciting project in the backyard.  My OCD mind will be happy when all the plans are set :)