1 - 2 - 3 - leaf jump!

we recently moved, and our new street is fronted by gorgeous big'ol trees – i don't know what kind, other than the kind that dump mountains of leaves on our yard! at our old place, i don't think we used our rake more than once or twice. i've already beat that pace in the past week with this place. i filled our yard-waste bin to capacity – and that was just the grassy strip between the road and the sidewalk. and those trees? they're still packed with deciduous time-bombs. yowzas. this Pacific Northwest gal is starting to feel her Midwest DNA kick in.

so after naptime today, which was a dry day, the girls and i logged a first for us: a leaf pile!

now, i know a lot of you are like me (why else would you be here?), and so you'll forgive my first thought: "oh crap, now i'm going to have to rake it all up again." followed soon thereafter by, "gasp! she's kicking them everywhere!" and "oops, is that a rotting plum?"

but i did good. this is a rite of passage for any kid – even an Evergreen State kid, goldurn it – and so help me i bit my tongue and dove right in (literally). ... and then got a bunch of leaves in my face and hair from Sweet One there.

it was fun. we had dirty knees, sticky hands, dusty cheeks and were plucking pine needles out of our hair. we're going to do it again on the next relatively dry day. since the yard-waste bin was already full, the pile is still there (for now, anyway). and you know what? after our rain walk a few days ago, maybe we'll do it even if it rains.

life's too short to stay clean!