Truly a Labor of Love

That would be our yard. It's not just a matter of starting over, it's first taking out the old before we can start on the new.

Much raking, weeding, hauling of rock, etc. The visual progress is slow but every bit is worth it.

Each and every available hand has pitched in so far. Including Baby Doll. As we put rocks in buckets to haul from one area to the other, she tosses them out of the bucket right back to where we took them from. So helpful. ;)Saturday morning, Hubby started setting up the "bribe" to keep all little workers working. I suppose this would fall under the category of teaching the kids "nothing comes for free" and "hard workers will be rewarded in some way, shape or form". It kept them weeding all morning long.

When the Littles went down for their naps, I found a way to keep cool by continuing to wash a huge pile of rocks sitting in our front yard. Washing rocks, you say? Get a life! It's a labor of love, alright.The rocks were taken from the beds along the sidewalk and stairs. Here is it before. Can you see the rocks? It's like looking at a Where's Waldo book.and after. Retaining wall done and straight, rocks sparkly clean. Looks so much better! Washing rocks is the perfect "belly proof" job for me. I perch on a little stool and spray most of the gunk off the rocks. It doesn't take very long and it's actually quite relaxing to go out most evenings and work on them for an hour or so.

A little story for you non-Facebookers...

I am married to a prankster. I try and try to always get him back but ultimately I end of receiving paybacks at least 10 times worse than I dished out. Still, I keep trying. As I was washing rocks on Saturday, I heard Hubby coming around the corner. I readied the hose, aimed and fired. He was quite a ways off so he only got hit with a few droplets. He still squealed in surprise and threatened to toss me into the pool. I just sat there grinning from ear to ear, knowing he would do nothing. First of all he still has a weight lifting restriction of 30 lbs on his knee (I think I weigh a bit more than that) and he knew being tossed into the pool, even fully clothed, would have been heavenly at that moment!! He went back to his work without doing anything...yet....I gloated in my glory for a few moments. Go me!! It's not too often I don't get an immediate payback. We'll see what's in store for me later though. Gulp. (it was worth it)

As I went back to my rock washing, I heard some kids squealing with delight. I assumed it was the neighbor kids. My kids? Squeal with delight? Hardly. ;) (just kidding) When I went to refill my water bottle, I was surprised to see it was my own kids....already swimming. They didn't care the pool was only half full at that moment.

So far the pool has been a hit! When Hubby has suggested purchasing it, I wasn't sure I wanted one more thing to take care of. However, the more I thought about it and the summer dulldrums that are sure to hit, I realized it would be the perfect way to keep the kids entertained most of the summer. (Keeping my fingers crossed.) It would also mean less trips to the beach for me. Who knows, maybe I'll get a wild hair and jump in at some point! I think I may wait until it warms up a tad.