We need a patio! We have a tile floor and a really small concrete slab outside to enter the house…4 very active boys…in & out all day long…equals a messy floor!

We really wanted a screened in patio. We love to sit outside and have dinner’s as a family. Keeping out the bugs, and having a clean area to eat with nature is our number one goal. However after just purchasing the house the extra cash required to install this patio isn’t an option at this point.

So comprise #1…Krystal purchased a large canopy and some outdoor furniture for us to sit on, with a rug to bring it all together. This worked… however…the boys like to dig, did I mention that? Well yes, they are diggers! Eventually our nice clean covered sitting area, turned into an area that the boys played in the dirt with their trucks. Dumping dirt everywhere! Our little sitting area was no longer sit-a-able!

So comprise #2…After doing a little research we decided on paver, however the cost of brick pavers was pretty high and we had no idea how to achieve it. Since this option would require for us to complete it ourselves, and it looked like a lot of work…removing the grass, leveling the ground, making sure was perfect…that was a little scary.

So comprise #3…We decided on using a form using concrete to create our patio. Putting down a patio this way is easier because we don’t have to make sure the ground is level it will just level itself. And we can take our time purchasing and laying the concreate. We still had to remove the grass, however most of the grass was dead under the rug so that wasn’t too hard. We purchased the concrete bags in multiply trips. Just enough to fit in the back of the van, usually about 12 bags at a time.

We bought a mixer, the kind that fits onto a drill. We poured the cement into a bucket and added the water, in goes the drill mixer and…here we go two women and 4 boys are going to make this patio like pro’s!! Ok…not like pro’s…The first turn of the drill almost broke Krystal’s hand, it didn’t want to turn. So my turn, holding with two hands the drill turned the mixer however it started to strip the end of the mixer. We tighten the mixer handle but no luck, the concrete mix was not moving. What a bummer, we thought we had this all figured out…NOT!

Now what? All we could see was the concrete getting harder in the bucket! So here come’s this determined look on Krystal’s face. She grabbed the trowel and started mixing up the cement in the bucket by hand. Well that sucked! We were able to finish 3 forms that night, with Krystal mixing the concrete in the bucket with her trowel by hand. This however wasn’t going to work to create the patio we wanted. So back to the drawing board!

We thought about getting a big mixer that mixes two bags of cement at one time. However the cost and this would more than likely be the only time we would use it. So we decided on a big cement mixing tub, this looked like it still required a lot to work, however it seemed like the best option.

So armed with a hoe, and the cement mixing tub, we were ready to try again. Krystal emptied the cement bag into the tub with water and started pushing and pulling the cement with her hoe until she got it all mixed up. Yea! This is going to work…with a little effort…we were able to fill 12 forms that day. The more we did the easier it was. At the end of the day the hardest part, beyond the sore muscles and he heat of the day, was keeping little foot prints out of the wet cement.

It took us a few months to complete “Phase one” as I call it. We competed four rows wide and fourteen rows long. We decided to not add the color, it was hard to make sure each batch was the same color. I think this decision was the best for us. Pluse the boys can draw on the white ones with chalk, anything to keep them busy!

We are now able to enjoy our outside seating area. Krystal decided we needed plants to enhance our backyard area. So off to the store “unsupervised” she went. I’ll have to tell you later why we don’t let her go to the stores unsupervised much. However now look at our oasis. WONDERFUL! We are really happy! We are planning on adding more concrete forms where the little pool is and adding a fire pit. “Phase Two” Stay Tuned!!