Monday, April 26, 2010

Long suffering and long toiling

Tyler is a hard worker. Having watched him go through 4 years of school, I knew this, but I haven't really seen him work so hard on one project since then, so I think I forgot a little. On Saturday, he was out in our backyard working for probably about 10 hours. I'd bet he's put in about 30 hours total: digging, shoveling, hauling, raking, more shoveling, leveling, measuring, measuring again, staking, mortaring, and the like.

I probably complained somewhere along the way that he was spending a lot of time in the backyard and not enough time waiting on me hand and foot, but it's going to be soooooo nice to have a place where the kids can go outside and spend some energy without getting incredibly dirty and/or attacked by ants.


Don't mind Lillian's crazy hair. I put it in Chun-Li buns for church which she promptly took out when we got home. Also, she dressed herself.


I think he's going to mortar in the backside just for aesthetics, finish laying the bricks (which is the easy part), and then sweep sand over all the cracks. (And then we have to actually buy patio furniture... but first things first.)


Lillian was fascinated and a little upset that a pigeon walked over daddy's sand, especially after I'd been telling her for a week not to do it. The little footprints are Nora's. In Lillian's words, she's a stinker who doesn't listen.

Tyler thought this picture looked like those vinyl decals people put on the back of their cars. Check out that belly... yeah, I still have 2.5 more months.

To finish the backyard, Tyler has to dig for and install a sprinkler system, I think he's decided to lay sod instead of seed, and do something about maybe making me a planter to have my garden that I will probably kill.

9 comments:

The Clark's said...

Its lookin good Tyler! Want to come do our yard next?

The Clark's said...

P.S. I LOVE that shadow picture!

Allison said...

Re: the shadow picture... I quote you, "I don't get very big when I'm pregnant." hmm.... Third times the charm.
The backyard will be lovely.

Usandthings said...

Allison, maybe I meant I don't get as big as my sisters (I mean that in the nicest way possible), because I don't ever remember saying that.

Carrie G said...

1. That's a great family portrait.
2. Wowee Tyler. That looks great. And really difficult.
3. Who is Chun-Li?

Jen said...

i like this guy.

Belle of the Blues said...

Your yard is going to be so awesome! Hooray Tyler! I love the bricks. Your shadow photo is great. I love your pregnant silhouette. Have you landed on a name yet?

Tyler Ball said...

I assume Amanda is referring to Chun-Li of Street Fighter. If so, here's a picture:

http://www.luminousether.com/mockholly/images/games/SF2/chun-li.jpg

You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a picture of her that isn't obscene in some way.

neil said...

Sprinklers! I love sprinklers! It was the best year of my life putting sprinklers in our backyard.

You probably already know what you're doing but if you want help, give me a call.

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