"between a rock and a hard...wall"

Four courses later.. I think I may have a course of larger flagstone (from the garden divider wall) as the top and final course.
The least fun part was trying to fit and level the larger pieces for the stairs. Trial and error meant lifting and replacing those monsters 4 or 5 times each.. It was nice to have it finished though! Still need one or two stepping stones at the top of the stairs, but I'm waiting to fill the dirt in first and let it rain/settle.
You can see the drainage ditch* in the background. Hopefully this will divert a lot of the water that comes down the hill and relieve pressure/erosion for the wall itself.
*Runner-up for least fun part :)

Yes, I've been living under a rock... wall.

So the Powell parents visited last weekend, and somehow Dad and I got started on a huge yard-transformation project. (Remember how we transplanted 4 or 5 trees the very first day we moved in? Multiply that times about 50.) The two issues were 1) a slight slope towards the back corner of the house. Our basement isn't there, it's just a crawlspace, but Dad was concerned. My concern was 2) that quadrant of the property was patchy and in shambles - and I wanted to make better use of it. Below are a few pics.

Dad started to adjust the grade, and pile up the dirt in a 'berm' fashion where we'd start the rock wall:
Below: You can see two or three courses of the old rock 'wall' in the background. Four days of rain recently had made it even worse. A larger view of the place behind the kitchen/patio we're talking about (below). I plan on taking down a divider wall in the garden to use as stepping stones on the left -- as a path around that curve to the stairs that weren't built yet :) The middle might remain grass, but we have to reseed it with a shade mix.
Corrie loved the action. She played with the little garden spade - mostly just dumping dirt wherever she wanted. Here she is doing something with the file we used to sharpen the shovel (some roots from that corner tree were almost 4" thick!). Dad is taking down the rest of the old wall and staging the rocks for the new one.
A few Corrie quotes:

[grandpa coming close with the hose] "Don't water me, I'm not a plant.."

[wanting to go back outside] "I have to go water my plaaaants! See? They're all saying 'I'm thirsty', 'Me too', 'Me too, me too!' See?"

Stay tuned! I'll post pics from what I got done on Monday and Tuesday -- the wall is mostly done and the stairs are pretty nice. Less aesthetic? - digging a drainage ditch behind the whole thing.