Springtime for Aaron means a lot of hole digging....

Yet he enjoys it too!  This October will be four years in this house!  I remember so clearly Aaron's excitement at visiting our local Home Depot to buy the things these previous Southern California renters didn't have;  a lawn mower, weed eater,  ladder....  he had a wonderful time!  While we moved into a newer home that had completed landscaping we've made a lot of changes to yard.  I think we're taking a low maintenance yard and morphing it into a high maintenance....  oh well!  I'm thankful that Aaron enjoys yard work and is very efficient at making my ideas happen while letting the kids "help."    He's also good at cleaning up the planting mess that I've left behind.  

This was our backyard when we bought this house.  We removed a bunch of those basalt boulders for more lawn space and a rock garden with remaining boulders and plants.

Aaron and the boys in '09 adding plants.  No Rachel yet!

Spring of '12 with lots of plants coming back.  I picture a bench at the top of the yard under that tree....

Opie is a year now and has wreaked a bit of havoc on our backyard this winter.  Our first projects were repairs on holes he's made and the sandbox that he thought was his. 

We're trying some tomatoes and herbs from seed this year. 

Daddy and his helper (we didn't give her a coke,  she snitched it, don't judge)  getting ready to move a lilac bush to a sunnier spot.

Two yards of topsoil for some garden boxes. 

Tommy loves to work outside with Daddy.

Ben playing in his newly reinforced and refilled sandbox.  Notice the fencing behind him.  No springer spaniels allowed!