Spring fever!

Yesterday was gorgeous! The weather was a delightful 68 degrees. It was so nice and sunny out I kept trying to convince My Little Helper that we should go outside and play in the back yard. He didn't want to get out of his pajamas as usual. He didn't want to go on a walk either. After several hours I was able to convince him to get dressed and we made our first post winter trip into the backyard. Oh do we have some cleaning up to do!
Mr. W had left a giant pile of leaves, branches and needles in the middle which I assume was because he had run out of room in the yard debris receptacle when he was last back there in the fall. The pile was so big that I filled the container to capacity. My main goal for going back there was to relocate the two compost bins. Now that the laurels are gone I planned to place them out of sight behind the potting shed. The spot which they had occupied would be set up for the boys to dig and play trucks. I knew I could move the bins myself because Mr. W had emptied them earlier this year spreading compost around the yard.
Once I moved them, with help from My Little Helper, I sat back to nurse the baby and my mind started spinning with all the projects I need to do this year to get the yard looking nice and to make progress toward becoming a Back Yard Bird Habitat. I'm hoping that the nice weather wasn't a fluke or some April Fool's Day joke. I'm so motivated right now! If we get another day of nice weather I'm going to pull up the fabric that is in the bed by the deck. The previous owners had a sandbox there and when I dismantled it my mom and I thought it would be a good idea to mix that sand in with soil and compost. The Habitat woman suggested I take that all out. That's going to be a lot of work; I'm going to need an empty yard debris bin when I start that!
I'd love to go right out and buy some plants to fill in the bed at the rear property line, but the poison isn't working fast enough on killing the laurels, there are still shoots of new growth. I think will apply more chemicals, but we may have to grind out the stumps in the end. And I think after we return from our vacation I'll start hunting around for a door to the potting shed and have my uncle return to enclose that little out building.
For now, My Little Helper is enjoying all the dirt and playing with his gigantic sand and water table that my mother-in-law sent. How fun it will be when both boys can play in the mud together!