The Backyard!

 So in our backyard, we had two drowning hazards when we moved in!  Plus White carpet...whose house never had children in it?  Yea. Hi. Our house.  Anywhoo... This beautiful pond was in the corner of our backyard.  So peaceful, and beautiful, and wonderful lilies, and WATER and a DEATH TRAP.  AND OHEMGEE I will not have this.

As this summer approached thoughts ran through my mind.  Pregnant.  Hot.  24-7 hangout time with 2 wild and crazy boys.  THIS momma needed a backyard.  AND yes we have a pool, but we seriously have 2 wild and crazy boys.  I feel most comfortable when we have 2 adults to manage the mayhem.  With my best game face, I approached my dear husband and batted my eyes and spoke so softly and sweet, "Hunny, sweet sugar, we are MAKING a PLAY YARD for these BOYS and YOU WILL help me."  Not really like that at all.  But you get the point.  I basically was a broken record to Russ about why we needed this area and why we needed to do it NOW!  It all started with building a fence to keep the dogs from going in and pooping.  That was done a few weeks earlier...and then the real fun began.

Within a week we had basically 1. destroyed the area by taking out all of the pond, which included nasty CEMENT chunks that were EVERYWHERE!  WET nasty sludge from the pond.  It was just hard manual labor. YUCK.  2. Then we created an area for wood-chips.  3. And then we moved the sand box (aka sand pool) from the top of the porch into the kid area.  4. Followed by creating a retaining wall.  5. Dumping more sand in the sand box.  6.  Moving rocks to create a container for the sand.  7.  Attaching a slide from Lowes to the upper deck area. 

 8. Going for a spin on the new equipment.  WHICH was all fun and games until the 5th time down (shortly after this fun picture) when AJ catapulted himself off the slide into the ROCK that waiting nearby.  PARENT PLAY YARD FAIL.

9.  Going back to the drawing board a bit, we took out the rocks and moved them FURTHER back (MUCH FURTHER) and just created a WAY bigger sandbox with a piece of carpet lining the rocks to prevent above injuries.  (I still look at his face and feel guilty-poor Bubba).  
10.  Trial run #3.  AND can I say how proud I am of AJ who could have exhibited PTSD symptoms and instead went down the slide, because (gasp) he trusted his parents despite what happened a few days earlier?  SUCCESS.

So here are the final pictures taken the day of AJ's birthday party.  The final piece of the puzzle was a water table that we surprised AJ with on the day of his party!  OH yea and we also added a sail shade to help provide some coolness on those hot,hot days!

The chalkboard painted with truck bed paint.  It works surprisingly well!

 Huge PROPS goes to my hubby for lifting all the heavy stuff that I couldn't and for the countless hours spent moving dirt/cement/sand/woodchips/rocks/retaining wall and everything else! Thanks for the help from Julia and Brett for helping to lift some of the heavy stuff and move dirt too!

LOVE IT! AND it was a HIT and still continues to be with the boys!
MOMMA