More yard stuff

If there is one thing that there is no shortage of in Illinois, it is trees. And because there is such an abundance, Kendall has been able to find a lot of free firewood lately. I've been introduced to the world of splitting wood. Here is what the mess in the back yard looked like for a long time.Here is what it looks like now that it is all split and stacked. The big stumps are going to be little seats for our fire pit that we are going to put in right there.One night, Kendall even took over making dinner and watching kids while I went out and split wood. It was a total role reversal that I really enjoyed. I was particularly frustrated with the kids and it was a really good outlet for frustration! I was kind of surprised how much I enjoyed it and what hard work it was.

We are also involved in our next big project: putting in a retaining wall in the back yard. Kendall has started the trench that will become the wall. This project will most likely take us until winter to finish with the amount of dirt that we have to move and the amount of money that the bricks cost. But it should look fabulous when it is finished!
On a totally different note, we found this recently under our back deck. Kendall was going to take the nest down until we looked inside and found this.
Looks like we have some little babies to look forward to soon. :)