More progress!

It's been a while since I last posted, but man have we been busy. Kris and I just haven't stopped with the front yard project. It was looking for a while like it'd be never-ending, but I'm so excited to say it's (almost) DONE!! Yay! This has been our longest going project ever in our history. It's been such a long process, but I'm so glad we did it because it has just changed our house so drastically. We have neighbors stopping by telling us how wonderful they think the front yard looks now. That makes us so happy! Anyway, for the pics.

We FINALLY got those stupid white library columns out. There were only 3 and it bothered me they weren't even centered. So we put 4 4x4's in instead and they are now spaced evenly with the porch railings we put up. Even without it painted yet, it looks so much better. I'm so glad we did that.

We finished the seeding (as much as the weather would allow, we can't do more until the fall now) and grass grew! We officially have a LAWN! Yay. Our walkway is now looking like it always belonged there. I love it. And we leveled out the front boxes for the future gardens. That was a project in itself. It was crazy. Kris and I were out there for hours leveling the brick. But it looks awesome now!

Then onto the task of choosing flowers for the gardens. That was WAY harder than I thought. I was expecting it to be a quick process and it was anything but. I just couldn't decide what I wanted, and what would work. It's really shady up front. Only gets like 4-6 hours of good sun a day, so we had to choose accordingly. I chose lilies. LOVE them!

It finally has that finished look we were looking for. The front is finally together. It's not 100% but it doesn't look like an ongoing project right now either. I'm loving it! 

And just for fun, here's the real before. This was almost exactly 1 year ago. 

And the after. Excuse my mom and Grace playing, and Kris and Luke over on the side. Yes, Luke's in the wheelbarrow. That's what happens when a very rowdy (almost) 2 year old wants to "help." I seriously just can't get over the difference! The kids and I run around and play baseball and soccer now, and it's just so weird to think that was driveway less than 1 year ago! 

And for fun, here are the kiddos! We got a few new things in the last few months for them. 1st, new bikes! They loved them. And don't worry, they wear helmets outside. 

And we got them a new swingset too! Yay! The old one was just that... old. It was mine from when I was a kid, and frankly it was just crap. I took it because it was free but this new one was just too good of a price to pass up. $200... SCORE! 

The old one. This is the only picture I could find of it. That was last summer. Putting up the fence. 

And the new one. LOVE IT! 

And the kids love it too! Kris and I just put it up for them today, and they just couldn't get enough. 

And this picture I'm just putting in there because I love it. It's my kids to a "T." They just love each other so much, and this picture just melts my heart. 

We've been busy, busy. Just trying to enjoy family, while finishing up projects. It's been a little insane.