Tons of photos comin’ attcha! Prepare yourselves!

Sunday:

I banished all the shoes to the back porch to try and get some of the patio dirt out of the house.

I made E go through my summer cookbooks & mark recipes he'd like to try

Bitey McBiterson

Monday:

I bought Little Evan a balloon as a "Thanks for behaving well even thought mommy is a freaking idiot" present. I lost my wallet (AGAIN) and dragged both kids all over creation looking for it. I found it.

Sad baby tears - don't worry, this was after I put a boob in her mouth & she stopped crying.

I own stretchy headbands to match any possible outfit.

We drove through downtown where some film company was making a zombie movie. I was disappointed we didn't see any zombies.

Tuesday:

Washing hands is the best part of using the potty.

I declared this the time out chair and used it. A lot.

Beautiful day for a walk. My favorite house in my neighborhood.

I'm so happy summer is here.

At Town Farm Organic to pick up our CSA share

Wednesday:

I acted fancy for a playdate at my house and made a fruit plate. My kid was STOKED.

Fat baby loves her blankie, even though it was 96 degrees.

As soon as Little Evan sees a cart like this at the store it is ALL OVER. He starts screaming for the "SEAT! SEAT!!!!"

This was the first time I've ever grilled anything myself. These brats were delicious.

Thursday:

I put her down next to the blanket on the left. WHO MOVED MY BABY?

Reading "Caps For Sale" to himself. "Red hat, blue hat, no no no, monkey AHAHA!"

I've been a spray painting fool when it comes to stuff for the patio.

AND NOW SHE'S SITTING UP TOO. STOP IT WITH THE GROWING UP.

Friday:

I am using the boppy the EXACT SAME WAY as I type this caption right now.

"Stop sitting on Caroline! That's your sister, not the dog!" - things I did not know I had to say to my child

BIKE BIKE BIKE BIKE. We're still working on the fine art of pedaling.

One last trip to the local nursery for a few more plants.

The name of that wine is "Relax". Enough said.

Saturday:

When you get up at 5:45, sometimes laying on the floor is necessary.

Despite the threat of rain we took advantage of Connecticut's Open House day & checked out Gillette Castle.

Happy baby is happy.

It’s been a week of ups and downs (and I don’t just mean the temperature) but it’s definitely ending on a high note with the castle visit – despite E’s job making him go in today. Boo. But it’s kind of cold and drizzling so at least we aren’t missing perfect boating weather. I would definitely call it excellent napping weather, so as soon as I can convince this baby to just STOP TRYING TO CRAWL for a few minutes I will be catching a few zzzz’s. Hope your weekend is full of fun and naps too!

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

Here’s today’s free tip: THERE IS A REASON IT COSTS A LOT OF MONEY TO HAVE A PATIO PROFESSIONALLY INSTALLED. It is not a nice, easy weekend project. It is a ton of work. Actually several totally literal tons. Tons of brick and sand and gravel and dirt. “More dirt!” was our mantra of the week – even the toddler says is now. Constantly. There is dirt under my fingernails I may never get out. Every surface on the first floor of the house is coated in grime. Even the carpet in my bedroom THREE FLOORS UP is dirty. It’s going to take me another week just to get the house clean.

Ok, it’s going to take me a MONTH to get the house clean – because I’m going to be too busy relaxing on my patio to bother with vacuuming. Who can be bothered when there’s s’mores to be made and wine to be sipped from my classy new plastic wine glasses?

This is not the dramatic before and after picture post (that one is coming as soon as my dining table gets here)(and after E builds me a shelf)(unless he takes a month to build the shelf because I am not waiting that long) that’s going to BLOW YOUR MIND. This is the “look at all the work we did to get to the “after” post” so the after post doesn’t end up being a bazillionty pages long. Now it will only be half a bazillionty pages long.

This is the yard in March, before the lawn guys raked up the leaves and before most of the green stuff came up:

Here’s the yard just last week:

The grill was totally neglected in that dirt spot behind the big tree, the flagstone paths were always full of weeds and impossible to shovel in the winter, the grass never grew next to the garage, the back steps were a MESS and the slope of the yard meant there was a huge mud puddle right in front of the steps when it rains.

It was not a good space, not for me, not for E, not for the kids.

Here’s how we started the project:

E and I tore up all the walkways, but saved the stone to reuse in the project later.

E built a planter bed out of 4×4’s behind the tree so we had somewhere to put all the dirt – and so I had someplace to put all the hostas I dug up when we took out the walkways.

Dad and E spent TWO FULL DAYS just digging. I helped (truly, I did help) but I am just not strong enough to do much good. That tiiiiiny hill to the left of the garage ended up being full of roots and concrete. They worked so hard they both deserve medals. And several cases of beer.

Mom did a GREAT job watching the kids, especially since Caroline has been a crazy teething monster for days and needed CONSTANT attention. I seriously don’t know what I would have done without Mom.

These are the pavers I chose for the patio – they’re just brick that’s gray instead of red. It was a budget choice as much as an aesthetic one (they were about $2.o4 per square foot), but in the end I LOVE them. E and I did all the design stuff ourselves with some practical and/or math help from my Dad. We ordered 2250 of these…and have about 14 left over. GOOD ESTIMATING.

These are the stone we chose for the retaining wall. I was very excited to find that these only cost $2.15 a piece, which was LESS than the ugly cheap looking ones. We went back for more twice to get the height/length of the wall exactly right but since we only bought a dozen at a time we didn’t need them delivered.

So in total, we had to dig down 6 inches from where the top of the pavers were supposed to go to lay down 3 inches of gravel and then an inch of sand (the pavers were 2 inches high). And when we finished digging out each of those layers we had to make sure the top was totally level. E leveled dirt AND gravel AND sand with just some 2×4’s and PVC pipe.

We ordered the gravel and sand from a local family place (actually the same family who we buy our Christmas tree from) and they delivered it all in big giant trucks that dumped it in our driveway. It was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper (close to 70% less) to order it in bulk than to buy it in bags from the hardware store. They also helped us figure out how many cubic feet to order to cover 500 square feet of ground.

After the gravel was all down, we rented a stamping machine from Home Depot. It took just a few minutes but was TOTALLY WORTH IT. The special gravel is made of lots of different sized pieces so when it gets pounded by the machine it locks itself together and becomes almost like cement. There is NO CHANCE any weeds are growing up through this patio (also because we laid down landscaping fabric).

My dad’s mantra when he does projects is “We have to do it RIGHT.” That included getting the yard almost totally level – I say “almost” because we intentionally sloped it a little so the water would drain away into the flower beds. We also added a drainage pipe to the downspout that runs under those steps made from 6×6’s so water from the gutters won’t wash anything away.

We might have broken our own rule and worked in the dark a few times once we realized we weren’t going to be done with our “easy project” by Wednesday.

The pattern for the pavers is called a basketweave, and that line of bricks around the edge is called a soldier’s course. Doing a curve along that wall and another along the back meant a lot of brick cutting, but Dad had a diamond blade for his saw so it wasn’t too hard. We added black edging to the sections that didn’t abut something solid so the pavers won’t move over time.

Little Evan was an expert shoveler by the end of the week and helped with spreading out the sand. We put sand over the pavers and then rented the stamper machine again. It leveled all the pavers and forced the loose sand into the cracks so now it’s all one extremely solid surface.

After it was stamped and swept again and wetted down we did all the clean-up work – cutting landscape fabric, planting things, putting together furniture, hanging lights. By the time my parents left our driveway on Sunday morning the only thing that wasn’t 100% done is reseeding parts of our lawn.

And here is a sneak peak at my “hanging out on the awesome patio” after photos. Also, my husband’s butt. He was grilling, which makes it even better.

More pictures coming soon – and finished, final, awesome, magazine-worthy makeover pictures coming hopefully before the weekend. Also coming: your invitation to a barbeque. Seriously, who wants to come over?

P.S. Before you ask, the answer to “will you come do mine next?” is NOT FOR ALL THE WINE IN THE WORLD.

PATIO OVERLOAD!!!!!

Sunday:

All our bricks sitting in the driveway

By the end of the week the toddler was doing stuff like this ALMOST BY HIMSELF.

This is the face of someone who still thinks it is funny to work wicked hard all day. SHE IS GONE NOW.

Monday:

Whole wheat banana pancakes for engery

You have a little something on your face.

Leaf! Mormor! Patio! So happy!!!!

Tuesday:

Three inches of gravel, completely level.

Stuffing his face with mee-yah. Mee-yah! = Banana

You can't tell, but she was the Queen of the Fussypantses this week.

Wednesday:

Caroline did this on purpose and found it HYSTERICAL.

That's a lot of miles on my parent's minivan.

You call it poor food choices - I call it ENERGY FOR PATIO BUILDING

Thursday:

8 am and the start of our work day

Caroline & E enjoy my rock wall, which I built ALL BY MYSELF

Shopping date at Target to look at patio furniture. Spoiler alert: we bought this stuff.

Friday:

BOOM.

Finishing the final construction steps

No mama! Don't make me shovel anymore!

Saturday:

Caroline & I took an early a.m. trip to Lowe's for some new plants

My dad decided he HAD NOT DONE ENOUGH this week so he cleaned and organized our garage. The man simply cannot be idle for even 10 minutes.

Safety first.

We went to the Irish pub in town to celebrate the end of a project (it's a tradition with my parents).

And I started looking at bathroom tiles for our NEXT major renovation. Maybe in the spring.

OMG I’m exhausted. Tomorrow is Little Evan’s monthday and then Monday I’ll have try to get back to blogging but it’s going to take me at least a month to talk about anything that isn’t “HAVE YOU SEEN MY PATIO IT IS SO AWESOME”. I’m going to sit on my hands as far as real finished patio pictures go until I get all the furniture I ordered for out here (I say “out here” because I am writing this RIGHT NOW from my patio, since the house wireless reaches our lounging fire pit area) but I won’t be able to resist bragging a little a lot before then. But I’ve missed my real life and my friends and Stroller Strides and not being covered in layers of dirt all day.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

Still deep in the middle of Patiopalooza, but the end is officially in sight.

So far during our project, Little Evan has:

– Decided he LOVES bananas, a food he hated last week, and demands them constantly.

– Learned the following words: Hershey (“hiiirsh!!” – my parent’s dog), banana (“meee-nyaaaaaah! meee-nynyaaaaa!”), lemonade (“meh-mah-myaaaah”), and the phrase “More dirt!! MORE DIRT!!!”

– Peed in the potty seven times.

– Become an expert at shoveling gravel.

– Fallen down a zillion times.

– Worn an average of four different outfits a day.

– Filled and emptied his water table more times than I can count.

– Whined until I’ve almost lost my mind.

– Been totally freaking adorable (see above).

E goes back to work today so it’s just me and Dad working in the yard while Mom watches both kids. Unless Caroline is as COMPLETELY MISERABLE as she was yesterday and I spend 12 hours with her attached to my boob until I’m bleeding from the nipples. Again. But I’ve already ordered an outdoor dining table so this thing is getting DONE.

This is what we looked like for the FIRST half of Saturday:

On Caroline:

Dress – hand me down, tag says Circo from Target
Leggings – Splendid Little for Target

On Mama:

Shirt – Calypso for Target
Skirt – Target
Nursing tank – Target (wow I’m boring)
Flip Flops – old and unnamed
Felt poppy headband – Uff Da Designs

Super pale and sort of squishy, but at least decent for human eyes.

And this is what we looked like for the SECOND half of Saturday:

On Evan:
Shirt – Hand me down, untagged
Shorts – Carter’s
Boots – Target
Tiny Shovel – Target

On Mama:
Nursing Tank – Target
Blank Tank – Hanes men’s undershirt
Shorts – Target
Bandana – Stolen from someone in college
Big person shovel – Ace Hardware

Still super pale and squish but now also saggy and dirt covered. As Little Evan would say: MESS!!!!

The digging continues. Anyone want to come over and help? I can promise lots of beer and burgers on an awesome new patio, but you don’t get paid until Friday. What, no takers? I’m shocked.