The Last of the Leaves

Midwestern autumns are beautiful, aren't they?  All those leaves changing colors and covering the ground.  And there they are, so pretty, on the ground and the roof and the driveway, and I love to look at them, and then I remember that all those leaves are the responsibility of the person whose lawn they have landed on, and then I remember that that means us.  And then I get depressed.

This year, however, was awesome for two reasons:

1) We just caved and paid for that leaf service to vacuum up the leaves.  This meant no more leaf bagging, just raking them into an enormous pile at the front of the lawn.  Yay!

2) By "we", I mostly meant John and the big girls.  I supervised from inside.  Double yay!

The last time we had beautiful weather, they looked like they were having so much fun, I just had to go out and take some pictures.

 We had FOUR piles this size when it was all over.  Mimi could actually stand full height where the leaves met the house and be completely covered.

 Don't these guys just look like they have been working their hearts out?

 Bella kept messing up the piles.  When John would say, "Bella, that's not helpful", she would repeat, cheerfully, over and over, "Not helpful!  Not helpful!" and mess up more piles.  Gotta love her!

 Disappearing into a big pile of leaves is one of the best parts of being a kid, no?  And then you grow up.  All I can think about now is all the itchy bits of leaves and stems that would be stuck between the various layers of my clothing.

 The best part was when John took the leaf blower (thank you, Kelly!) to the roof.  The girls were delightedly dancing in the "leaf rain."  That look on Mimi's face is one of my favorite things about her.