Week 7: Memorial Day Party – Not your typical party to-do list

So I always stress about having a party at my house.  It’s a good thing.  Everybody should have a party at their house every once in a while to help keep them on their toes.  It gives me a reason to finish up projects and get stuff done.  Our Memorial Day party was no different.  We never make it to the beach on Memorial Day weekend because I use all 3 days to run myself, husband and Smart Jr ragged getting stuff done in the backyard.  Most of the stuff has nothing to do with the party itself…

I made my girls clean out the toy boxes.  Gross!I cleaned out the sandbox and added 4 bags of new sand.I patched up some landscape fabric that was starting to peek out from under the gravel patio.  Nothing a few landscape staples and more gravel can’t fix.And I pulled out some of this dead grass I had planted between the flagstone last year.  Bad idea.  Oops.  And added more rock here too.

One of the funniest things, I think anyway, is that I insisted on adding these pavers around the AC unit before the party.  Of course nobody was going to see them, but it had been on my list for such a long time I just had to get it done. The rest of the pavers had been there for years already, it was just the area behind the AC that never had any.I also decided it was the perfect time to widen the path on the right side of my shed.  A place people were even less likely to go than the garbage can area.  Before I could widen the path I had to add soil to make a mini berm in an attempt to keep my property from flooding.  I didn’t finish in time for the party.But I did “build” this nice pallet storage area behind the shed, adjacent to my compost bins.Hubby mowed the grass, which has been doing well since I over seeded it.  We set the alcohol up in this area for the first time.  People never go up here during a party, so I figured if I put the alcohol up here, they’d have to go up there.  Sneaky, sneaky!I made a last-minute run to Lowe’s with my favorite little helper to buy 2x3s in hopes that I’d have time to make a Giant Jenga game, but the game didn’t happen.I did manage to get up 3 of the 4 shade sails.  But they still need work.  It drives me bananas that they’re not pulled tight.  I should have picked up materials for that instead.  Oh well.  There was shade for the party and that’s what’s important.The plastic Adirondack chairs were supposed to get power washed and that never happened either, but they were still one of the most popular places to sit.No party is complete without a nice fire!  The fire pit (which I totally want to re-do) is used at every party and we always have s’mores.But this year I busted out with our all new S’mores Tree.  It’s really the stand we use to store our fruit in the kitchen, which the kids call our fruit tree.  Smart Jr just decorated it out with a little ribbon, and then I filled it with marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate for load s of s’mores fun!!  And there you have it!  I am ready to take a break from the yard this week for sure!!  Happy Memorial Day.