our beautiful backyard.

 have i ever told all of you that james has a slightly unhealthy relationship with our backyard? i'm not kidding. this place was a mess when we moved here more than five years ago. the grass in the backyard was so high and unkept that james couldn't even use a mower to cut it down. he had to use a machete in certain places. for two years after moving in, we would find random items that did not belong to us that would somehow float to the surface of our backyard.

for a few years, james dealt with it and did the best he could to clean it up on his own. then, when i was pregnant with lane, he went crazy with the nesting and took a bulldozer to the backyard. it has only gotten worse since then. he's planted grass. he's watered. he's laid sod in certain spots. nothing worked.

this year, he killed all of our grass. all of it. for weeks, i was left with what you see above. dirt.

dirt in my backyard. dirt in my house. dirt on my dogs. dirt on my boys. dirt on my furniture.

i cleaned on and remained calm. (or at least tried to remain calm.)

then, the landscapers came. they leveled. they raked up rocks. they laid sod and placed pinestraw.

they made my backyard a lovely little space where our dogs run and our boys play all day long.

 and, i get to spend my afternoons lounged on our back deck reading books, eating yummy food and watching the boys throw balls, play cars and run through the sprinkler.