School Beautification!

My friend Courtney took a look at the outside of our girls' school and noticed that it didn't look as welcoming as it should. She talked to the school's secretary and principal, and asked if a few parents could work to make it look a little better. They said yes, so Courtney went to work. She called the nearby landscaping places and greenhouses and asked for donations. They were all very generous! Then, she enlisted Elise and I to help. I was pretty excited about it.

On Wednesday, Courtney and I went to pick up lots of plants from Lowes- they donated two weeping cherry trees, ornamental grasses, azalea bushes, and two other species of bushes. They all looked really nice and filled the back of our truck. Courtney's trunk was packed with flowers and ground cover from B and M greenhouse and Farmer's Daughter. Another company, I think Yardscapes, delivered mulch right to the school.

On Thursday we went to work! My friend Liz was super great to watch the boys while I planted for a few hours. Thanks again!

Here are just a few pics of the day.

Before:



Not too, welcoming, huh?

Planting:

Courtney filled the pots with color! Purple and yellow are the school colors.


Elise added more flowers!

After:(I should have taken more afters. Maybe another day)




It was a lot of work digging the holes for the trees and bushes, but we did it!

Not surprisingly, the project didn't go without a hitch. Some men came over and, to put it nicely, were not very appreciative of the project. I guess the line of communication didn't go the way it should have. The guy in charge of the ground keeping hadn't been asked or notified and was understandably pretty angry. He didn't handle it as nicely as he could have seeing that we were parents trying to do a service for the community. He and Courtney and the principal talked it out. It turned out to be alright in the end. We needed to plant a few things in different spots than we had planned, but it still looked great. Plus, we will be able to help in the future because Courtney handled it so well. We felt proud of the work we did. I know that some faculty and staff and other parents appreciated it and noticed right away. While we were working, people were saying, "Ooh, color, how nice!" We had a PTA meeting that night and I overheard appreciative comments then too. It was a good project for the day and I am glad that I was able to help.

Oh, and to prove that I was there and working hard- and to gross you out- here is a close up of my foot after I took off my crocs!

Dirty Dirty feet! Happy feet though.