a tribute to our yard

my mom recently complained about our lack of having landscaping in the front yard...it's not that it didn't exist--it only half existed. remember that picture of our front yard i took a couple of months ago that showcased the two weed-filled flower beds with dying bushes and a burnt tree trunk?
at the time, our quest to makeover the yard was only half completed because we decided to focus on other projects around the house.
so we spent mother's day at lowe's and purchased a trunk full of supplies and landscaping and off to work we went! we even tried to bring out the "green thumb" in our little isabelle, but she lucked out...too sleepy to handle the job! =)
we bought things to help the grass and plants grow and kill the weeds...
...and even bought a bag of insect killer to treat our yard--our house is surrounded by ground crawling bugs, ants, spiders--you name it and we probably have it.
the first major task was to pull out the dying bushes and soften up the flower bed as best we could...
mario even recruited help...
...and a showcase of the plants and flowers we bought...
ewww!!! a squirmy worm of some sort...
...and our finished product...i can't wait to see everything in full bloom!