Pile o' Leaves

We have this tree in our yard.  It's a maple that stands on top of a slope, shading our cars in the summer.  In the autumn, though, it goes out in a blaze of butter-yellow and copper.  Our favorite place to be in the fall is sitting underneath this maple.

Two years ago, I took some pictures of the little folks playing in the leaves.  At 9- or 10-months-old, this was Will's first encounter with leaf piles.  (I wish I could post some of the video of Will vs. the leaves, but, alas, our bloggy-storage is running out of space.)

Why didn't I dress him in overalls more often?!

Hey!

Fast-forward two years, and piles of leaves have proven to be more fun than a swimming pool.  No lie: the kids have come home from school and jumped, rolled, and crawled around in the leaves. 

Every. Single. Day.

Yesterday, they buried themselves in the leaves over and over again.

Today, they pretended to be shipwrecked and tossed overboard and also climbing out of a swamp.  Oh, and they were dogs.  I think.  

Sarah even enjoys raking (or "making piles"), so there's the whole child-labor component that we advocate around here.

Does this remind anyone else of Peeta in the Hunger Games?

They are going to be soooooo mad when we bag up all these leaves this weekend.  Let's all pray for a lot of snow this winter to help these guys get through this rough patch.