I Love Fall

 I love fall.  We have a wooded lot (1.25 acres) and that means there's a lot of leaves to rake.  And, as luck would have it, we spend our anniversary (11 years on October 6) raking them every.single.year.  Well, last year we got married again but that was a special occasion.  Because 'tis the season, I'll let you in on how we do it.  Mr. MOTH takes the riding mower and rides in circles around the yard, essentially blowing all of the leaves into nice lines.  Then the kids and I rake them into humongous piles.  Then the kids jump in said piles until one of us yells at them.  Once all of the piles are formed (and reformed.  And then formed again.  And probably at least once more), we rake them onto those classy blue tarps - you know the ones that are usually covering some unpleasantness in a redneck's yard - and dump them into the fully wooded area.  It takes about 1.5 hours.  It used to take us about 4-5 until we figured this out.

Also at this time of year, Cross Country season comes to an end.  The boys had their championship race on Saturday - a 1.8 mile trail with a big hill and a wooden castle at the end.  Oldest Boy's time was 22:14 and Youngest Boy's was 17:51.  They did fine.  It's really an experience and there are HUNDREDS of kids.  In case you need a visual, here's what 300 of them look like (this is only one of the 6 races - the JV open):

They had their end-of-year party on Sunday night.  Monday night basketball started.  {SIGH}  And it's time to start looking for a house closer to the school again...