Time for Dirt and Leaves

It finally happened! The weekend with no obligations...and my husband home! The stars magically aligned, so that the leaves in my backyard could be raked!

No, my husband didn't rake them all himself, but he's much better at leading the family work party than I am. (...not to mention, he's a much faster raker.) I tend to get tired and then let all of the kids whimp out too.

It always ends in a half-raked yard and everyone playing in the leaves.

I know. You aren't that impressed.

...but check our yard out compared to our neighbor's yard.

Leafy.....not leafy. See? It was a lot of work.

And we have a giant pile of leaves on our curb to show for it. They're just waiting to sucked up by the giant leaf truck!

If only we could pile them into the shape of our van...that would be impressive.

Since Tony and co. were working hard on the leaf problem, I got to do fun stuff.

I filled the bird feeder for the first time in months.

(Our poor squirrels were wasting away to nothing.)

...and Annika helped me plant a ton of grape hyacinthe bulbs.

(The clock was ticking on those. We've already been having freezing weather for weeks.)

There isn't a lot of immediate gratification with bulbs.

Right now all of my bulb patches look like this:

(Dirt and grass seed covered up with straw...to keep weeds and birdies away.)

But, if the squirrels don't dig them up and eat them, I'm expecting our backyard to be somewhat meadowy, scattered with blue and white flowers in the Spring!

Also, thrill of thrills, I had time to mow the front yard.....half of which is almost recovered from a summer of total neglect. Next summer, Yard, I promise not to abandon you.

How about you? Have any fun this weekend?