A Yard Worth Playing In

As some of you know, our house used to have a screened-in back porch. The Spring before the babies were born, Jim and some very helpful friends and family turned that porch into an additional room which is now our playroom, and we don't know how we would live without it! However, with the addition of the room, we lost our porch and no longer had a good place to sit outside or a solid foundation for Jim's grill and our outdoor furniture. We also understand that eventually we're going to need a fence to keep the kids from toddling off into the creek that runs the length of our yard. So Jim's newest project was taking care of these two yard issues. He managed to plan the bulk of the work for the week my parents would be visiting which worked out well as my dad was a huge help!

The porch we used to have


Clay, Jim, Ken, and Bryon working on the new room

This is not a very good picture of the new room, but it's the only one I could find quickly. Sorry!

First we had some men come in and build a retention wall along the bank of the creek. Jim backfilled dirt to extend the usable surface of our yard. Plus, the wall gives us a nice solid straight foundation for putting up a fence later on.

The retention wall

Daddy Bud tamps down the dirt

All filled in except for topsoil

Jonathan watches his daddy drive the tractor

Jim uses the tractor to move dirt into place (much quicker than the day he moved it by shovel!)

Then we had some men come in and pour a patio outside the back door. It's just concrete, but they stamped, colored, and sealed it, so it looks just gorgeous!

Forming up the patio

Stamping in the pattern

The finished product--the straw is covering up the new grass seed

When all the grass grows in, we'll have a nice big yard for the kids to play in as they get bigger, as well as a lovely patio for cook-outs with family and friends, something we've always enjoyed!