A few weeks ago, I sent an email to our family, asking if anyone could help us with edging, mulching, and a few other things around our yard and house on Memorial Day.

Of our children, Jeff, Jere, and Deb were able to help and our grandchildren, Nate, Lauree, Donovan, Diana, Gloria, and Lydia were available. Some live too far away, others were on vacation, and a few said they could make it work if we still needed help. We felt that the original 9 adults who responded would be plenty of help.

We rented an edger from a local hardware store because the spreading grass was causing a lot of uneven areas around our flowerbeds and areas we mulch.

Jere came early, because he only had one hour to help due to other plans for the day. It was nice that job was finished before the others arrived. He also helped by going with Cerwin to get the mulch on Saturday afternoon, and it was his truck and trailer we used for mulch.

Jeff came about the time Jere was leaving. Jeff’s first job was to cut down a tall dead, ugly, tree trunk at the back part of our property. It was probably 30 ft tall and an eyesore to me. I took this picture about the time it hit the ground. I was about 10 seconds late in capturing a picture of it still standing. He also cut up a nearby large branch that came down during the winter.

Waylon wanted to help his PopPop load the wood on his truck. Jeff gave him the wedge he cut out so the tree would fall in the right direction.

Deb’s first job was to spread 10 bags of lava rock along the north side of our house. After buying it we realized it was not the small stones we wanted for another area of our yard. We didn’t feel like returning it so put it here.

Most of our helpers began their morning by using a grub hoe to remove grass from the inside of the edger line. This is Gloria working on the flower bed in the middle of our driveway.

Diana did the same thing in the area of the spreading juniper bank next to the patio. Gloria’s daughter Aleah was supervising.

Donovan and Bennett worked in the dogwood tree and rock area on the north side of our driveway.

I put our Pack N Play in the driveway to keep an eye on Aleah and Sierra. Sierra is Donovan and Diana’s youngest. This is about the time we discovered that Sierra had somehow gotten Aleah’s pacifier. Aleah wasn’t happy about that. We were all kind of smiling about it because Sierra doesn’t even use a pacifier. 🙂

Deb soon had her first job done and helped Diana by picking up the grass.

Lainey loved to be anywhere there was dirt. She is Nate and Lauree’s youngest.

Waylon was looking for something to do.

Emmy, Lauree, Waylon, Nate, Donovan, Gloria, Lydia and Lainey being busy.

Bennett found a small shovel and wanted someplace to dig.

Ready for mulching.

I tried to keep an eye on these four so their parents could work.

There was a lot going on in this photo (taken by Diana). In the background, Lydia was talking to Jeff (hidden) about what to do with a large rock she uncovered, Cerwin and I were placing the black plastic guard between the area where we were going to put small red stones and the yard, it looks like Deb is sending a message, and Lauree is heading to the tea garden to work on the edging.

It was about this time that Jeff came with this steppingstone from the memory garden. Hannah is our granddaughter who died suddenly from a blood clot about 2 years ago.

After a few tears, I asked Jeff to take it to Hannah’s Weeping Pussy Willow tree rather than place it back in the memory garden with the other grandchildren’s steppingstones.

Back to the large stone that Lydia uncovered. We decided that Jeff would put it in the wheelbarrow and place it toward the back of our property. In the background, Lauree and Diana are working at the edging around the tea bed.

Lainey found more dirt.

It was about time for coffee break and Diana still had the camera and took a picture of Bennett on a stack of chairs in the back part of our garage.

Emmy joined him.

Now there are three cousins: Aleah (Zack and Gloria), Emmy (Nate and Lauree), and Bennett (Donovan and Diana).

Because we still had time, Nate did the edging on the north side of the house and used a grub hoe to remove the extra grass. In the background Donovan is trimming the honeysuckle and periwinkle bank along the road.

This was a job that Cerwin did not expect to get done. We had a few things on the end of our list that could be done if we had time.

Another thing that was on the end of the list was making an effort to remove two very old tree stumps. They were here when we build our house in 1967. They were locust trees, so the stumps barely rot. Jeff tied both to his truck. The first one came out of the ground easily, but this one was a bit tougher. It tore his rope, so he used a chain. That worked. Notice the wood in the bed of his truck. They came from the tree and large branches he cut up first thing in the morning.

Now there are two smooth areas in our yard that have already been seeded with grass. Cerwin will appreciate this when he mows yard.

This area took the most work as we prepared it to fit around our new red bud tree. We ran out of red stones and will need another 12 or more bags.

I am still surprised at how quickly our great grandchildren are growing. It doesn’t seem long ago that Aleah was the youngest.

Now there are four younger than her (Lainey, Sierra, Henley, and Garth) and two more on the way.

Coffee break was a welcome time for our hard workers.

One thing extra they finished for me was removing about a dozen items from the attic – which is above the garage. The folding ladder comes down out of the ceiling on the right. (No photos because I was the one in the attic.)

One of my goals is to do a continual downsizing of things in our house. I was pleased that Deb took a banker box of flower vases for the Amish lady near her who sells cut flowers; Gloria was glad for an old basket; and Elizabeth will be getting my stainless-steel roasting pan.

After we sorted garden tools (some were ours, some were Jeff’s and others were Jere’s) it was time to say goodby. Bennett is hugging great grandpa Cerwin – just after hugging his PopPop Jeff. Waylon had his hugging finished, his bottle of root beer in hand, and was heading toward the house.

Cerwin and I are beyond happy at all the work that got done.

This morning Cerwin and our great grandson Anthony took some junk items to Lancaster recycling with Jere’s truck. Cerwin treated him by stopping at Burger King.

After taking Anthony home, and returning Jere’s truck, we got 12 more bags of red stones and finished that area. It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow. We are ready!

THANK YOU, EVERYONE.

WE ARE BEYOND BLESSED TO HAVE YOU IN OUR FAMILY.