Head Supervisor of Fence Construction & Hardware Giver Outer

All of the cross rails are up! Stephen and I spent most of Friday and a small part of Saturday leveling everything & screwing them into place. The two person team really sped up the process since we could screw in the rails on either side simultaneously.

Fortunately, the weather has been gorgeous all week, so fence construction was a very productive way to spend the weekend.

Joseph supervised and handed us the screws & tools when we needed them.

When my brother was little, about 3 or 4, he decided he wanted to be the "Donut Giver Outer" when he grew up. He figured if he was the man with all the donuts, then he could probably eat all the donuts. He wasn't so much concerned with actually giving them out. Those were minor details.

So, when Joseph started handing Stephen screws, I started chuckling to myself and referring to Joseph as the "hardware giver outer".

Then I got all mushy inside because my little boy was carrying around his plastic tools and passing screws to his daddy with dried smoothie on his face.

Stephen would say, "Thanks! Ok, go get me another one!" And off a very serious little Joseph would go to retrieve yet another screw. This lasted for about a half an hour before Joseph got bored & decided to go off and play in the semi-fenced in yard.

Then it was up to the pregnant lady wearing the tool belt with pockets full of screws. Sorry... No pictures of maternity tool belt fashion... I know. I'm disappointed too. ;)

We picked up our first load of pickets Saturday and Stephen put them all up Sunday. With the nail gun, it didn't take more than a couple of hours.

So, the fence is about a 1/4 of the way finished. It's looking pretty good too!

We had a $1000 budget for the whole project - made possible by Stephen's grandparents. Thank you SO VERY MUCH Grandmom & Pop! We are extremely grateful! Since fencing in a yard our size can get really, really expensive, we went with the cheapest option we could find for a 6 foot privacy fence.

The posts, rails, and pickets are all pressure treated wood and we're using "dog ear" pickets.

The style actually matches the existing fence next to the front of the house. You can just see it past the big tree.

The only difference is that there's a little space between the pickets and that fence has been painted white. I haven't decided if I want to eventually paint the whole thing white or not. The part of me that wants it to be pretty says "YES!" The part of me that is practical says, "What are you crazy?! You'd have to constantly repaint it!" Once you start, the fun don't stop. Must do research on quality outdoor paint.

After all that work, we ended the weekend on a happy note. Stephen and Joseph filled up the bird feeder that Joseph's great grandfather made for him for Christmas and hung it on one of the new fence posts. 

Since we don't have any trees in our back yard, we weren't really able to do this before. Joseph was very excited. He really likes his bird feeder, Pop! Thank you!

Now we just have to wait for the birds to become accustomed to it and we can start bird watching--which Joseph is all about!

I bought 125 pickets at Lowes today. I had loaded 15 pickets onto my cart when one of the garden center employees came over and shooed me away from the picket pile. He handed me a picket tag with bar code, told me to go pay at the register, and then pull my van around to the back gate. I guess he didn't want to deliver a baby amidst the azaleas? ;)

Anyways, I'm going to nail them in place tomorrow morning after Joseph and I have breakfast. And since I like using the nail gun, it should be fun!