Let the Yard Cleanup Commence!

We finally had the opportunity to get started on cleaning up our yard. I've been itching to get out there to work on it but I also knew I needed help because there is a lot to do. I warned the family on Friday night that we were going to do yard work Saturday morning and I wanted them to at least give an hour's worth of work. The boys were hoping to have a D&D game session again, so I told them we needed to do it before then. Curtis and I cooked them a good breakfast to help them get the day started off right. 

I actually got started on trimming our berry tree in the back yard on Friday. I finished up Saturday morning. Then we raked up all of the branches I cut and a bunch of leaves. There were also some big tumble weeds on the side of our house. We loaded all of that onto the truck and hauled it away to the dump. Curtis drove the truck to the back yard but then let the boys take turns driving in our yard. They both loved that. I have to say I was so impressed with how well the kids worked, especially Garrett. I think it helped him to have some earbuds on listening to music he had just recorded to his phone. I didn't hear him complain once and he was working so hard. 

What's work without a little play first? Alice had a long branch I had cut and was getting Milo to jump for it while she sat on our little dead tree. 

Garrett backing up.

Climbing in the tree that I trimmed. It looks so much better. Honestly, I would like to replace this tree because of the berry mess. The berries aren't a type we eat and so they just make a mess and Milo wants to eat them even though he shouldn't. Berries and grapes are not good for dogs...two things we have in our back yard. He's a lot better at leaving them though than when he was a little puppy.

I love when we all work together.

She loves climbing the little dead tree.

Alice working hard on cleaning this area.

Here's our loaded: branches, bags of leaves, and tumble weeds.

After we cleaned up. There are still leaves to rake up but we got a lot of them.

This is the corner that had the tumbleweeds and leaves. It looks all nice and clean now.

Curtis and Garrett tore down the old wooden picnic table that was in this corner and tossed it in the truck as well. The boards were starting to rot. We're hoping to get a shed put in that corner eventually. I also want to get rid of that little bush on the right. The branches are twisty and look cool but it's not a pretty bush in the summer. Curtis tried to pull it out with the truck but it wasn't working. His tow rope kept slipping off. He also didn't dig any of it up and it's not dead so he probably needs to loosen it up.

Trimmed some of the branches on the vines and raked out leaves. It looks so much better!

This is the area next to the bush I trimmed a couple weeks ago. I just couldn't end the day without cleaning this spot out. This is before.

And this is after. There were some thorny vines growing and I do not want those so I dug them out. I want to get rid of all our thorny plants, like the rose bush and the red bush you see to the right in this picture. It doesn't have thorns but the leaves still poke you. We don't want to lose any more pool inflatables, ha ha.

We spent a good couple of hours working out there. I worked longer than everyone else though because I wanted to clean out that one area. Poor Charlotte was helping in that back corner but then she had a little asthma attack and had to go inside and get a breathing treatment. She's had to use that a lot lately and more than she usually does. Hopefully the more she gets outside the better it will get with the weather warming up. We're expecting to get up to 75 by next Tuesday! I love that kind of weather! Jack also had to take an allergy pill but came back out later to help finish up. It was a good productive day and we're glad to get in working mode again.