A couple of weeks ago I decided I'd had it and that our balcony needed to be made into a useful space instead of an extra junk drawer. Craig told me that I could plan a Family Night around the Balcony Makeover and I was very excited.  Here is 'before':

I: 

moved the scooters to a new storage place

got rid of the white chairs (they smelled funny)

tossed that huge box

organized the flowers

planted a bunch of herbs

and got some cute patio furniture (half off!!) (THANK YOU AMY! - she saw me at JoAnns and made it possible for me to check out and get said furniture into my car without completely losing it)

my ficus tree is sad. I don't know how to make it all pretty and bushy again. 

the boys have eaten almost every meal outside since we re-did the balcony. It's just too cute. I really really love having the extra useful space. Hopefully our plants will grow. I don't have a lot of luck with that. 

Craig was more than a little surprised with the results (he had to stay at work super late that night and so Family Night ended up being Craig-less) - apparently he imagined my plans to include reorganization but not shopping. heh. whoops.

Here's looking forward to summer!