What a weekend!

We have had a busy and productive weekend. On Friday afternoon we made a trip to Hanna's Nursery to check out some shrubs and flowers in person to try to determine exactly what we wanted in our front yard. We have had plans for a long time to pull up the yucky shrubs left by the previous owners and start fresh but neither Chris or myself has a green thumb so we have put it off until I couldn't stand it anymore. Here is a picture of the house with the shrubs it came with.

So Friday we paid a visit to our local nursery but learned very quickly that we did not know exactly what we were looking for. We did pick out some shrubs but changed our minds quickly when we saw that they were $300 each! My champagne taste strikes again...

So we ended that trip with more questions than answers but I know what I like when I see it so we planned to visit some other places the next day. Saturday came and we made a trip to Lowe's to get the paint for Walker's toddler room (more on that in the next week or so). Then we headed to Home Depot to get more bark for Walker's outside play area we built a few weeks ago. We started the outdoor play area project a couple of weekends ago and we bought 14 bags of bark to fill the play area. After several trips to Home Depot, we finally completed our project this weekend with a grand total of 53 bags of bark. Below is a picture of his new play area. That huge tree provides so much shade - it is the perfect spot! We plan to get a big wooden swingset for Christmas (from Santa, of course!) and add a full size picnic table to the area. I think we're off to a great start so far and Walker loves it!

While we were getting the bark at Home Depot, we took a peek at their shrubs and flowers and I found exactly what I was looking for, partly. I am going to plant mums in the front and I think Hawthorne's behind the mums. The mums are perfect because they are colorful and compact. The Hawthorne's are great because they are evergreens and will not lose their leaves in the fall and winter. Plus, they will bloom once a year and will add even more color.

Sunday was spent cutting down the yucky bushes outside and painting Walker's toddler room. We had planned to get our new plants this weekend but that will have to wait until next weekend. Here is a picture of what the house looks like now, without the yucky bushes and waiting for it's new accessories.


I think it really opens up the look of the house and makes it look bigger. I can't wait for the pops of color and to get everything in and looking pretty! Slowly but surely we are crossing items off our to-do list.