Croton, Begonias and 4 o'clock

Last Wednesday I ended up being sick.  I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for that day.  I was going to drop Aiden off and go into work in the morning, then leave for my appointment before lunch.  Instead, I laid on the couch feeling like I was going to die while my dad took care of everything for me.  I am SO lucky he was around this past week.  He brought Aiden down to daycare for me.  Then he came back, picked me up and drove me to my appointment.  I was feeling really achy, so the thought of having to wield a steering wheel was highly unappealing. 

After my appointment (weight is good, nothing important to speak up), my dad bought me lunch and then I passed out on the couch for the afternoon.  I had set my alarm so I could wake up in time to get Aiden.  But a few minutes before it went off, my dad walked through the living room saying he was going to pick up Aiden.  He had spent the entire day working in my yard, taken care of Aiden and then came home to make me dinner.  The dinner part is even more fortunate because Travis ended up not getting home from work until 11:30.  I would have had to take care of everything by myself that evening had my dad not been around.  THANK YOU DAD.

I was super busy Thursday and Friday.  I actually can't even remember what we did.  I need to pull out the camera and see if it gives me any clues.  I do know that my dad built a new plant bed between the patio and the chain link fence next to the driveway.  He and Travis are looking for soil they can remove from around the yard to build up the area around the raised walkway that now leads to our front door. 

Having that plant bed already makes the area seem more finished.  I'm planning to move some bamboo out from under the awning of our house and planting it there.  I found out in the past few weeks that it is a full sun plant, which explains why it hasn't grown very much back in that dark corner of the house.  The bamboo will double as a barricade between our play area and the busy concrete driveway. 

My dad bought four croton plants to plant in front of the wall in that new plant bed.  I bought some red wax begonias to plant in there as well.  My dad planted a bunch of seeds for me a week or so ago.  They're all sprouting and we were able to plant the 4 o'clock seedlings already.  I still need to plant the poppies and hopefully we'll be able to afford purchasing a plant here and there so we can fill in the rest of the bed.  My dad sat down with me and we prepared a landscaping blueprint so I know exactly what I need and how much of each.  I'm so excited I can't stand it!

It's been raining a bunch here, which was a huge bummer because we had planned on working in the yard a lot this weekend.  There was a break in the rain Saturday morning, during which time my dad and Travis put together a new gate for the wall that we never got up.  I think they did a really good job!  It's not a heavy duty gate, but it will be better than the two chairs I had setting there to deter Aiden from leaving through there.

I took this photo while under protection of an umbrella. The lakes were forming.