A long overdue patio update

Hello, long weekend! We're having a small family party for Hannah's first birthday on Monday, so we have the weekend to get ready. It's supposed to be a nice day weather-wise (knock on wood), so we're planning to have the party outside on our new patio. After we finish building it, of course ;)

I took a vacation day on Wednesday and my mom came over to watch Hannah so that Adam and I could put in a solid day's work outside. We finished digging (thanks goodness!) and were able to start spreading the gravel base. I must remember to take a picture of our new rock pile - it's less than half of what we dug up (the rest is still mixed in with the dirt), but it must be seen to be believed.

Adam improvised a tamper out of scrap wood last night and managed to spread several more wheelbarrow loads of gravel. He'll finish spreading and levelling gravel today, then he's off to pick up the patio stones. Our plan is to lay those tomorrow, then fill it in with pea stone (you can check out my inspiration for the patio here).

We'll do our best to clean up the area before Hannah's party, but I've planned a few decorations to hide the more unsightly areas (dirt and rock piles, ahem) until we can deal with them properly. My mom has been a HUGE help watching Hannah, so we've promised her first drinks when the patio is up and running. 

Happy weekend! xo