Our weekend warrior project

When we (I) saw that this weekend's weather was supposed to be nice, we (I) decided it was time to shape up the backyard. Our backyard is my nemesis. We back up to woods and see lots of critters, which is fun, until they help themselves to everything you just put in the ground. There has been a long-running deck/patio argument that isn't being solved anytime soon, plus we lost a tree in the yard last fall that changed the entire yard- where we had spent years growing shade plants under our tree, that is now full sun and completely fried.
This is the before, that I am truly embarrassed to show. It still has that sad post winter look- no plants, bare grass...

Started with a loooooooooooooot of wood chips.

Then came the flagstone. I *heart* flagstone and I was so happy to finally use it in the yard.

Almost done! We put a stone border around it and it is now affectionately known as the Hidden Mickey patio. I told you we love Disney World!
We also laid the wood chips around the playset and bordered it with more stone.

Oh my gosh! He's smiling! Imagine that.

We only ran into one snag in the project. Lucas didn't want to give us the chair back and he wasn't kidding.


Ta-da! The results! When we're clear of frost, we will be adding boxwoods and some color in the 'Mickey ears'. I think the plan is also going to make a path to the swing set and another path to where our tree used to be, and put in a fountain now that the kids are old enough to trust around water.
I can't believe we got it all done in a weekend! And that included buying all the supplies, which took all morning yesterday. Like it? I'm REALLY pleased- it's exactly what I wanted. I really wanted a more informal, free flowing plan, I really didn't want any major hardscaping. Every time I look through pictures, I gravitate towards this look so it turned out just as planned... which is NOT often around here!