Outdoor Oasis in the Making

I.am.so.excited.

We've been in our house for just over 3 years and I've been dreaming of the day that we could have a wonderful outdoor space. An outdoor oasis if you will. Lush green grass for the kiddos to run around barefoot. Nice comfy furniture for us to entertain guests. A garden to teach my girls about mother nature. Flowers and plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

My dream is on the verge of coming true.

Our patio furniture should be arriving this week and I couldn't be more thrilled! However, there is still plenty of work back there before it's picture perfect. We need to clear the patio of all the current junk to make room for the furniture. We've even talked about staining the concrete.... has anybody else ever done this? I want to add some extra touches to the patio, potted plants and a clock come to mind... but maybe I'll come up with some more ideas as garage sale season is almost here. (YAY!) Our yard needs to be leveled out a bit and we have a ton of mulch that is going to be getting moved to the front flower beds (another current project of mine). We need to finalize our list of plants for the garden. I want to add a trellis with honeysuckle and some more plants around the yard. And last but not least, I want to do some work on the girl's playset. Underneath the clubhouse part is an empty area. I think it was made to be a sandbox... but eww.. I don't want any stray cats getting in to that. So my plan is to turn it into a playhouse. Not quite sure what I'm going to do yet, but Ella has seen those plastic playhouses and tells me that she would "really really like one." Hopefully my version will be even better!

So, we have a long list ahead of us, but I'm so excited about it! My plan though is for it to all be done in less than a month. But once all the work is done, I know it'll be so worth it to see my two girls having the best time out there this summer!