We decided we needed a nice, straight route to the grass from the deck, so Rob and his dad spent an afternoon building a new set of stairs. We placed a few paving stones at the bottom with thyme growing between them. We also ripped/yanked/dug out the long perennial grasses that had been growing around the base of the deck. They were just too agressive and we wanted room for a few vegetables. So out they came and we replaced them with tomatoes, carrots, rosemary, and lavender. Only THEN did we decide to build raised vegetable beds...
I had seen this great layout for raised beds in Sunset magazine, and Rob said we could easily copy the idea. "Define 'easy'" I should have said. We had a big circle of pine-needle encrusted dead grass where we had cut down a spruce tree. So we measured and measured and measured some more and finally came up with a plan for the four, four-foot square beds. After many debates about what best to use for the sides, we wound up with recycled railroad ties. They smell pretty strongly of creosote and weigh a ton, but are big and strong and the smell has faded over the summer. With the ties in place we filled them with soil, mixed in some peat moss, and our "simple weekend project" was ready for planting - after a month and half of weekends. The idea was that each of us would have one planter, and we could plant whatever we wanted in it. Haley chose her pizza garden, I planted a cutting garden, Rob planted bright, showy plants and vidalia onions, and Jake got stuck with a bunch of saplings and leftover onions. We've already been talking about what we'll each plant in our beds next spring.
The raised beds felt like a huge project, and then we turned around and started an even bigger one. We've been saying for years that our house could really use some curb appeal - scrubby evergreen shrubs and nondescript foundation plants lined up against the house, with landscaping rock underneath. Blah. We wanted something low-maintenance, attractive, and welcoming. So one time when my mom was out to visit she painted a picture of our house with a new landscape. I told her which plants I liked and she painted them right in. It looked great! When we finally decided to go for it, we followed her plan exactly and I think it's the most peaceful home project we've ever done together because all the decisions were already made. Rob spent a couple of weekends hauling out load after load of rocks, and soon we were ready to plant. It's still gowing in, but we're happy with the results and the neighbors can't stop telling us how great it looks. Maybe next year we'll get the brick path in...and the woodland garden under the evergreen trees in the back...and a gate on the side of the house...
The bathroom is still in the early stages. We pried out the old cast-iron tub last weekend and got the new, jetted tub installed. I love it! The kids are both scared of the jets, but I'm in heaven. We've been so busy that the tiling is still in progress (not to mention Rob DRILLING THROUGH HIS FINGER - he's fine), but it'll get there. There's no shortage of help from the kids... 
The old tub - with its dark scratches, clear caulk, and side panels - it had to go!
