Leaves

There is nothing more iconic to the fall season than fall leaves. And nothing speaks to my childhood memories of fall more than playing in them.

And now, since I'm a mom, there is nothing that make me happier than seeing my beautiful boys making some of the same memories that I have.

Roman

Blaise

Being apartment dwellers (yuck), we don't technically have a yard. There is a shared common area of between the buildings, which works great for a little bubble blowing, ball kicking, and parachute man throwing. (Well, that is, until the other apartment dwelling children come out and take my kids toys away.)

However, we are "lucky" enough to live next to a church that has a huge parking lot that is empty 6 1/2 days out of the week. There is also a small area of grass. This area is perfect for bike riding. Very few cars ever come through the parking lot, so there is no yelling at the boys to "get out of the way."

The boys on their bikes

Roman riding his bike

Blaise on his "bike"

Blaise loves the sound of the leaves crunching under the wheels

Just look at that tongue!

Yes, Blaise has a tricycle, not just the riding toy that he is using in the pictures above. But his feet don't reach the tricycle pedals (after all, he is two, and riding a tricycle is a skill developed at three years of age. So no pressure.) Roman has gotten very good at riding his bike, and through the whole learning process got away with much fewer scrapes than I remember getting. I can wait until I have a bike to ride with Roman down the Jordan River Walkway (sigh).

since, like I mentioned before, the church is being abandoned most of the time, it is also perfect for playing in large piles of neglected leaves.

Jumping in the leaves together

More jumping

Now that looks like fun!

When Dad gets home, he joins us in playing in the leaves. Well, that is until the boys gang up, and use their huge leaf pile as arsenal. And I joined in too.











Unfortunately, a lawn maintenance company came by the next day, and now the leaves are gone. But at least we enjoyed them while we could.