extreme yard makeover.

Ok, so maybe “extreme” is a bit of an exaggeration. But over the weekend, we did make some minor improvements of the landscaping variety. Before we moved in to the duplex, our landlord dumped a huge pile of bark on our property, promising to have a crew come in a spread it out. Well, that was 7 weeks ago, and up until last Sunday the pile o’ bark remained untouched.

Since last weekend may have been one of the nicest we’ll see for awhile, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Armed with a wheelbarrow, two rakes, and a shovel, we got down to business.

Here are some pictures from different angles before we did anything. This one is the area on the side of the house:

And here is the little corner by the front steps:

Many, many hours later, here’s how the side of the house looked:

Here is that same little corner:

And here are some more views from the front of the house and of the backyard:

It was definitely a group effort!

Chloe may have found her calling in life, because she said "this is the most fun thing I ever did except for the fair". Hmmm, I wonder if she will think chores are fun too?

The changes may look subtle, but to us it’s a huge improvement. We actually have a functional area outside where Chloe can play, which she couldn’t wait to test out last night.

Success!