We moved to our house about 4 and a half years ago, and back in 2017 I wrote a post about our plans to do a complete garden makeover. Well this summer those plans finally became reality and I want to share with you what we did and how the garden looks now.
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**This is a collaborative post
Around this time last year I wrote about our garden makeover plans… and if I’m honest we’ve done absolutely nothing to the garden since. Until this week! But more about that in a minute. Last summer we did hire a gardener to come and cut the grass every couple of weeks – we have so much of it that we could never keep on top of it. Read more
**This is a collaborative post
If you’ve read and/or watched my house tour I mentioned that I hadn’t seen our new house until the day we got the keys. I had seen lots of photographs and when we finally came to see our new house it was all pretty much like I expected. The only thing that hadn’t come across on the pictures was just how steep the garden is. It’s really not very safe for the boys to play in at the moment and we are desperately in need of a garden makeover. We’re not going to be able to do all the work ourselves though and will probably need a landscape gardener and a tree surgeon too. Read more
It would seem spring has finally sprung up here in Scotland, or at least it has for a few days, no doubt it won’t be long before the rain is back! But yesterday the sun was shining, and it was actually warm so seeing as it was Wednesday and we didn’t have to rush through lunch to get Toby out to nursery on time I decided we would eat in the garden.
I think this was probably only the second time Toby has ever had a picnic in our garden, and it was definitely the first time Gabe had. I got Gabe’s Snug seat out, and put the parasol up for a bit of shade (it really was quite hot in the sun) and we had our lunch off our fab Munchkin apple plates.
As it happened Toby was much more interested in chasing bubbles and playing on the slide than eating his lunch but he did manage some apple and his ‘present cheese’. Toby didn’t eat cheese for ages, then one day we realised he would eat grated cheese, and then when I gave Gabe a stick of cheese one day Toby decided he wanted one too, and he’s eaten pretty much any cheese since. And for the last few weeks he’s really been loving his Babybel – he loves unwrapping his present!
I think Gabe enjoyed it though, once he’d got used to the novelty of being outside.
He really wasn’t convinced to begin with…
I just hope we get some more sunny days now so we can get out in the garden even more.
We’ve actually had a couple of days of nice weather this week (although as I write this it’s raining again) and on Wednesday we managed to get out in the garden to take March’s Me & Mine photos. When we were done with the family pictures Toby had a good run around. He’s just discovered shadows so was having a lot of fun chasing his round the garden!
In the second half of this week Gabe has been ill again – another cold, another temperature, gunky eyes again. I feel so sorry for him, but for us too because there have been quite a lot of sleepless nights lately. Anyway, I did take this photo last weekend of Gabe enjoying some homemade pancake for the first time. I know this is a very similar picture to last week’s Living Arrows but when he’s in his high chair enjoying some food Gabe is often at his happiest, and easiest to photograph as he can’t go anywhere!
It seems like summer has already been and gone here in Scotland; we had some lovely weather in June but July so far has mostly been grey, wet and windy. I’m hoping we get some nicer weather a bit later in the summer, we do sometimes get quite a nice September so here’s hoping.
Despite the not that inspiring weather we have been trying to let Toby play in the garden more this year. We don’t have the most child-friendly garden – that’s definitely something we need to think about when it comes to moving house in the not too distant future. There is a bit of space to play though and this year we’re hoping to get a bit more use out of it. Toby likes to just run around and look at the flowers (while his dad tries to stop him pulling them all up!) He likes to help with watering the plants too with his trusty watering can.
We didn’t really have any toys for the garden until recently though. As you might have seen from Toby’s birthday post his Grandma and Grandad bought him a slide this year which we’ve already managed to get out a few times. We were also lucky enough to be sent some other things from the Asda Outdoors range for Toby to enjoy this summer too.
A couple of weeks ago we had a warm enough day to get the sand and water table out (although for the moment I am being mean mummy and we’re only having water because it doesn’t make as much mess as sand!). Toby really enjoyed playing in the water and once he’d figured out what to do with the water mill section in the middle he stood there for ages pouring water in the top and saying ‘oh wow!’ This table is a great size for him and I like that it comes with lids for each section so you can cover it and and leave it outside if you want. With our very unpredictable weather though we’ve been keeping it in the garage when it’s not being used so we don’t end up with it blowing away!
The other thing we got from Asda was this 2 in 1 balance bike and scooter. I really liked that you could lower the handle bar, add a seat and you had a balance bike but that it could also be used as a scooter when Toby gets a bit bigger. When we first got it out Toby wasn’t too sure about it but with his dad holding on to the seat at the back he started to get a bit more confident. I don’t think it’ll take him too much practice before he’s happily wheeling himself around the place!
I really hope we do get some more better weather as the summer goes on so we can all make the most of the garden. I know Toby definitely feels better after some fresh air and a run around so fingers crossed for some more sun before the summer is out!
**Disclaimer: We were sent the sand and water table and scooter in return for this post. All opinions are my own.