If you've got young children I would keep it simple to start with as you won't have a lot of spare time for gardening. You could think of turning the lawn into an oval, so you could plant your acer (on the shady side) in one corner and perhaps your grasses (stipa gigantica is gorgeous and low maintenance or miscanthus ) in another corner. I wouldn't do anything on the patio yet, as the children might use it to play on when the lawn is wet.
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