In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle

We always say that we wish we'd taken "before" pictures of the back yard when we first moved in. I swear the last people must have never stepped foot back there during the 2 years they lived here. Anyway we managed to chop down quite a lot and got the yard looking pretty good. After we got Grace though we've let our attention fade to other places around the house and the back yard was starting to look...well jungle-ish again, and we were spending less and less time out there.

This past weekend my goal was to make the back yard somewhere we wanted to be again. I cleaned out my garden (which had simply become a place where plants go to die) and planted some new flowers since I hadn't had much luck with the vegetables.


(The cute "M" flag was outside the church at our wedding and I thought it'd look really cute in there)

After the flower bed I trimmed trees and cut down all the ivy my neighbor has let take over the side fence. Then I busted out the big guns and power-washed the porch after I used the leaf sucker-thingy to get all the leaves and dirt up. And for the record those landscaping guys make that look easy. Once the porch was dry I laid down the pretty new outdoor rug I bought at Target with a gift card from my students for teacher appreciation week. (Thanks kiddos!)



I feel like the backyard is someplace I actually want to spend time at now so I guess that's "mission accomplished". I'm still looking for just the right furniture to replace the mismatched chairs and table but that's a project for another weekend.