Farewell Thee Lollipop Tree

Finally!!! We have started to tame the jungle!!!

We worked hard this weekend on raking leaves (yes, we waited until now), chopping down trees, manicuring Grandmother Willow, and making big plans for our little half acre!

Here are a couple "before" pictures so you can see the jungle in all its' glory...

To the left side of the porch, you can see the lollipop tree and the rest of the jungle

There are also some random trees, shrubs, and a holly bush

And here are the afters- after a perilous afternoon involving a chainsaw and a trip to the dump when we had to pull over no less than three times to keep wayward branches from flying out of the bed of the truck...

Hooray! The jungle is GONE!

No more holly tree!

So now what are we going to do?  You are probably wondering why we kept those two random little fir trees.  Well don't worry, since I have skillz I can show you what my plans are.  First we're going to re-plant the fir trees on either side of the stairs.  Then we'll get some hanging plants for the porch.  I'll have to weed and clean up the flower beds before we put down fresh mulch, and of course, some more flowers.  These are my plans for next weekend.  Let's see if I can do it!

I know you are impressed with my paint skills. Just admit it!!  I'll be sure to check in on our progress.  Promise!

Moving on-

We also worked in the backyard by raking and raking and raking and trying to avoid all the creepy crawlies and then shoving leaves into trashbags.  The backyard isn't really done yet so I'll just show you a picture of the aftermath...

Oh! While I'm at it I also wanted to tell you about this awesome game we are playing lately.  We bought the house in August, so we've never been here during the Spring season.  So lately we've been playing the game called "Guess What Kind of Tree/Flower/Plant This Is!".  It's actually been kind of fun to see what's blooming in our yard.  Here's a little peek :-)

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start, and that your thumb is feeling at least a little bit green after reading this post!

~SG