Fall Leaves

I have an obsession with soft and adorable sweaters.

I adore orange leaves dancing through the wind.

I crave hot apple cider and pumpkin bread.

And I dream of warm socks with pretty boots. 

Needless to say I love fall...

Unfortunately I live in Texas, a state infamous for its moody weather swings. Every year we get teased with crisp cool days at some point in October - only to have them swept away with more heat. This year was no exception and made even more annoying because I had plans that were waiting on the weather.  Raz is walking and jumping now and I had one thing on my mind....

BIG piles of fall leaves being strewn all across my yard!

What is it about leaves that makes us want to rake them in lovely piles only to jump in them in order to make the mess all over again? To me it just screams childhood. Finally our weather has cooled off and we were met with the amazing site of big orange leaves dancing through the breeze and drifting onto the ground of our back yard. Sweaters with hoods in hand we ran out into the back yard as I introduced Raz to the glory of big piles of crunchy leaves.  

Plain and simple...he went nuts! 

We spent the afternoon pushing leaves into piles as I showed him how to jump in them. He was delighted with the process of sweeping and messing. He rolled, threw, burrowed, and jumped. Toddlers have such a mind of their own that it is a great treat when they are 100% into an activity that you planned. And wow was that treat amazing! We had a blast and he was so dirt and wore out by the time we went in. Personally I think dirty and wore out is a sign of  successful outdoor time.

Tribble Cat, forever following Raz around, was not to enthused with having leaves put on her. Raz wanted to lay leaves on her and berry her...kitty did not want any of that and retreated to clean herself. Naturally it took some coaxing and distracting to bring him back into the game of burrowing in the leaves like prairie dogs instead of torturing the kitty. But finally I won him over by making up a silly song about fall leaves complete with silly dance moves. We were soon tossing leaves about again.

Sometimes as adults I think we forget about the simple pleasures that nature gives us. We spend so much time and money searching for ways for our children to experience life that we forget to do the classics. Playing in fall leaves is one of those classics that you need to do...now...or first thing in the morning. Hurry up before fall turns into Winter! Our leaves are already all soggy and gross from today's drizzle. They go fast...at-least here in Texas (grrrr)!