Fall Leaves!!!

The Leaves Are Falling Down....The Leaves Are Falling Down (come on, sing with me!)...Autumn is in the air, The Leaves Are Falling Down!

Last year was the first year we had to rake all of our leaves in this house....and I believe we filled around 20 black garbage bags of leaves...we had leaves coming out of our ears. We had piles to jump in, Andy mowed them up to mulch them smaller....the kids LOVED them....and Andy and I had a bit of anxiety about them last year--would we get them raked before it got cold? How would we tackle the job? Etc etc. It was all the unknown and in the end, it wasn't so bad.
This year, we did get leaves....

But, something strange happened.....we didn't have as many leaves to rake. It was odd.
Andy mowed A LOT, mulching them down often....and there were many nights where THIS
was the sight/sound to be heard in our yard. Anyway...we took care of our leaves and waited for the cold weather. Sadly, the mower has been put away and winterized....and yet, as of this writing (December 30, 2011), we have no snow and we could use another mowing thanks to the neighbors who did not care for their leaves like Andy did. Oh well. Fun for the spring!

BUT...back to the leaves that actually fell down...
We had a Friday afternoon where the weather was perfect--mild, yet warm, but not hot...and Andy took full advantage of capturing the kids playing in the leaves.
In fact, I don't think we had another perfect day in which kids could wear summer clothes and enjoy the crunch of the fresh leaves!

As you can see, Colin took his role of "class clown" seriously....and took every opportunity to turn a chore into a Wiggles dance fest. Ava joined in, happily! :)

And while we love the leaves....there is something just wonderful about the leaves being raked up...something fresh and clean...and knowing that the wonders of fall are just around the corner!