Japanese Maple!

For years Michael and I have wanted a Japanese Maple for our yard. It's funny because almost every other yard in our neighborhood has one so I thought it was funny we didn't. We had always heard that Japanese Maples were quite expensive so we were surprised when we visited Carpinito Brothers last week and they were on sale for $45! The normal price was only $55 which was wasn't bad either. We also picked up a few other plants and seeds for the yard/garden. It seems like every time we go there we end up staying until they are closing the doors. 

They had Japanese Maples that were all different sizes and were the same price, but we wanted a smaller one. We didn't really think about the fact that we'd had to get it home in the van. It was a tight squeeze and Ella ended up having to sit in the back with the boys in Logan's car seat....but we did get it to fit. 

Here's the view Michael had of Zeke. The last little push to get the tree in the van resulted in a branch flinging into the van, splashing water all over my face and freaking Zeke out. He was screaming his head off. Poor guy! 

Here was my view of the kids. I couldn't even see Owen! 

The next morning Michael got out and started digging where we wanted it to go. This garden bed hasn't looked very nice for years....ever since a bad ice storm we had broke the three trees that were there. Then finally last year we got around to ripping the tree trunks out with the help of our neighbor Lance and his truck. 

We had planted a few bulbs so those have looked night, but it wasn't substantial enough for that big of a bed. 

I think the Japanese Maple looks so nice! A couple days after I took this picture Michael planted some more bulbs and an azalea in the front closer to the street. We also planted a bunch of bulbs in the front yard inside the gate. Of course there are no pictures of those yet! I can't wait to see how pretty all the colors will be in the yard.

In the back yard we planted two more azaleas and Michael split one of the yukas (sp) we have. 

We also moved a blueberry bush we had up in the garden on the easement to this bed. It was just too hot up against the siding on that side of the house. The berries would just dry up! I'm hoping it will do better here, but it is a bit shady so we'll see. I also put one of my zucchini plants under here since they came in a pack of 3. I only wanted two anyway so I figure if this one doesn't produce a lot that's fine. 

In my big garden bed in the yard we planted the two big blueberry bushes I bought at Costco. I LOVE blueberries! Next to them we planted our two tomato plants and then the other two zucchini plants. 

When it came time to plant the seeds Owen couldn't wait to help me. We planted two kinds of lettuce in front of the blueberry bushes and the at the end of the garden bed we planted 4 rows of carrots and then 2 rows of beets. I've never grown beets so I hope they turn out good. I'm hoping to pickle them like my grandma used to. They were the best! I really want to get into canning things more so our garden will actually provide for us all throughout the year. I'm going to look up some tomato sauce recipes and I'm going to freeze some of our berries if I can keep the kids from eating them all first. The only other thing I really want for our yard is an apricot tree...yummy! When we get that we are going to plant it down by the fence in the backyard so the fruit that does drop won't fall on the yard and make it all yucky. I would like a plum tree to make jam, but our neighbor has one and he usually gives us a big bag at least once during the year.