Weekend Project

This is what our front porch looked like back in April. Well, after some seriously hot weather and some seriously bad watering habits, it did not look so good. There were a few impatiens holding on to life, but mostly it was a mound of yuckiness. There were some mushrooms on steriods, a colonly or two of ants, and a plethora of weeds. We tossed the ferns some time ago. One thing I've been wanting to do with this area was to turn it in to a porch, nix the flower bed. Nothing grows there, and I'd like the space for Joanna to ride on her little toys (if we ever make it outside) or for Matt to sit and drink his coffee, or whatever. I decided that I really wanted the grody bed dug out THIS WEEKEND. I told Matt he could wait until it was cooler to lay pave stones, but I at least wanted a hole, ready and waiting. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here it is after a little bit of digging. You can see a few impatiens hanging on for dear life.
Matt's sister Mindy came over to help Saturday afternoon. That girl can work, let me tell you. Digging. After all the junk was dug out: This is what my goal was for the weekend. Well, before we even got started, Matt's mom and dad came over, and Matt's dad was like, "We can get this WHOLE PROJECT done today." Yea! I'm sure that's not exactly how everybody had planned to spend their weekend, but... Thank you!
So Mamma and Aunt Mindy stayed to entertain Joanna while Matt, Pop, and I headed to Lowe's for some pavers. The very nice guys at Lowe's had to get the fork-lift out to get us what we needed. Thank you, Fork-lift guys!

They even put the stones we needed on a flat and into the back of the truck.
Back at the house, Aunt Mindy was teaching Joanna how to rake. Apparently, she loved it!

Look at her shadow:

Tamping down the dirt and leveling it out.
Queen of the pavers!
"Okay, guys, let's get to work now."
Our basic pattern:
Guess what? Matt's dad has a wet saw:

This was actually day two. Can you believe all these people came back? Mindy even brought Steve, her husband. MORE workers!

Leveling out the sand for under the pavers.
Joanna was outside for a bit, but I brought her in to try and "wind down" for a nap. She was pretty content to watch everybody work out the window. I'm sure she was a little distracting, but she's so cute!
Mostly layed out -- beautiful!
Pop cutting lots of stones.

This is what the inside looks like:
I don't look very sweaty, do I? I think Joanna was working harder than I was. I took on more of a supervisory role on this project.
The stones are all in -- almost done!
Mindy and Steve filling sand in all the cracks.
Joanna likes brooms as much as she likes rakes.

Tuckered out. This is what your face looks like after a couple of hours of using a wet saw to cut stone. Just FYI. :)
The finished product! Obviously we need a cute little table and chairs, maybe a little self-maintaining potted plant...
A close-up view.
Taking a little break on the porch after all her hard work!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you family for helping!!! I'm so impressed with everybody's work, and I think it looks FABULOUS. All I was expecting was a hole this weekend -- this is SO MUCH BETTER!