The Finished Project

The unveiling of our first phase brough satisfaction and dissappointment. We were very pleased with the look of the walkway, but quickly were saddened to find out that the edges were not very sturdy. My mom was very upset because she had told the man at Lowes what we were doing and he had told us the type of mortar/concret mix we needed to use. She then approached another man on a different occassion and was indeed told that the first man was not correct. Well, given that the project was close to completion, we couldn't turn back, so we improvised. For the next phase, we used a different, stronger mixture. We turned the corners and then had to build up the circle around the crepe myrtle. We leveled and started the circle enough to continue the walkway. We completed the project as much as we could and then we were out of time, money and energy! We added monkey grass around the outer edge to deter walking on the edges and then I purchased more hedges for the other edge to deter walking off that edge. I still have a ways to go by finishing up the bed around the crepe myrtle and continuing the project to the swing. The yard looks completely different and I am so proud of our work(mom and I).

My mom... So, after 1 week, the project we started has come to an end. I have to tell you though that it was not without much sweat and labor. Mom and I worked all day on the walkway and Vicki stayed very busy making sure that mom and I had water and food(a necessity) and she spent the majority of her time tending to my girls. None of this would have been possible without her help and of course my moms. Thanks Mom and Vicki. I love my new walkway.

Walkway

After we decided on our pathway, it was time to start getting dirt. Mom got the first load of dirt and had it emptied before I knew it. She filled in holes here and there and then was off for the second load. Steffie, Katie and Ashlyn got in on the fun this time and decided to play atop the mound of dirt. They had a great time. Next, we proceded to fill our walkway with dirt and sand. We had to add dirt because we figured since the ground was so hard we would not be able to dig it out. Therefore, we added dirt to give us our foundation. Next, we filled in with sand and then we were ready for the stones. We estimated that that the stones were about 35lbs a piece. So, one by one we laid the stones down. We laid the pattern and then would level each stone with the ones beside, above and below it. If it wasn't right then we would pick it up and add more sand or take away until we had the right level. As we got tired, we would pray that the next ones would be level on the first try!! God did hear us because there were a few desparate times that it did actually work the first time. Going all the way to the swing...one day! It starts to take form. Katie likes it already!

After we laid the stones we had to fill with cement. We had a type of cement that was like sand. We filled all the cracks with the concret mixture and then swept the stones clean and leveled the mixture. Then you very gently soak the mixture with water and wait for it to harden. Sounds easy, but definitely it was not.

Me spreading and leveling the conrete mixture. This was the end of phase one of the walkway. After phase one, we had to stop because we were out of forms to hold the conrete in. So, it was time to wait and hope that all turned out okay.

The Walkway Begins

Okay, so here is how this began...my mom tells me earlier in the spring that she and Vicki are coming to my house to stay for a week over the summer and they want to do something 'big' for me. My responsibility is to come up with the project and the money to do it. So the brainstorming begins. The first thing that I say is that I would really like better stepping stones/steps in my backyard coming off of my deck(we were in a money crunch during the project and so we just used some stones that we had and I never really liked it) My moms exact words to this are 'this is what I envision' and so the project evolved. I had given it some thought and really wanted the walkway to extend down to my existing swing. That was as far as I had thought about it though. So, my mom arrived on July 4th and we enjoyed a wonderful meal of ribs(completely down from marinade to grilling, by Chris) and corn on the cob and just a leisurely evening. After the kids go to bed, mom and I go outside with the light on to start the brain storming. That night we rake away the mulch and get our pathway semi-etched out. There is a crepe myrtle tree that is directly centered with the bottom of the deck steps and so we decided that this would be the focal point. The idea was to start the walkway at the end of the deck steps, and have it branch off in front of the tree extending to the swing and then a short distance on the other side to give a path to walk between the flowers and down to the rest of the backyard.

Making Stepping Stones

Since mom and I were were fixing to start on our 'major backyard project', (more of that later)it was very important that I get the girls to make some stepping stones. Well, being me, I try to cram as much in as I possible can. On this particular Sunday, we went to lunch after church, then off to the mall, then to lowes to buy stuff for our project, then back to the mall to get Chris and the girls...then home...So, as I said, I cram lots in.

Me preparing the 'work space'!

We got home from the mall and it was time to make the stepping stones. It was pooring down rain outside, which is where we should have been to do this, but we couldn't wait on the rain to stop because we HAD to get these done so they would be dry in time for their addition to the 'backyard project'.

I mixed the concrete(and got it all inside my sore thumb which I had previously sliced open on July 4th) and finally we were ready to get started. So, we headed out to the sunroom with newspaper and all our tools. The girls were too excited and bugged me from the time I said we were going to do it until I finally had all the supplies together(it sounded something like --'when are we going to make our stones? Are you ready yet?') We convinced Chris to come out with us too so that he could take the pictures, and just to be a part of this great 'family event' First up was Katie... I took her hand and laid it on the mold and she just kept pushing it down. When she pulled it out, we had a great print, but it was just a deep. Next we did her foot. She didn't quite understand the concept of spreading her toes out so her foot print didnt' turn out quite as good as I would have liked, but cute nonetheless. Then it was out the door onto the deck to rinse off her hand and foot--thankfully it was only sprinkling by this time.

Next up was Stephanie. She is such a big girl and understood exactly what she was to do. Her hand and footprint turned out perfect. So, off she went to rinse off too before we embarked on the decorating.

The fun part was now. I let the girls decorate their own stones with various mosaic and garden shapes. They really enjoyed this and were very insistant on filling up every little space, with the exception of the space I had told them their name had to go.

Finally, I crammed Katie's name and the year('08 was all that would fit) onto her stone and we had one completed stone. I then gave Stephanie and popsicle stick and tried to teach her the art of writing with it. After smoothing and resmoothing many times, I finally decided to try a pencil...MUCH BETTER. After much work trying to get a long name in an already small space, the name was finally there...and I crammed in '08 again.

At last, we are done. I think they turned out pretty good and just wait until you see where they are going!!!!