Piles of Leaves!

So I finally got around to raking up all of the leaves in the backyard today. (I know, it's December and I am just raking the leaves. . .) When I was a kid and I was forced to do yard work, I remember fantasizing that the only reason my parents ever had children was so that they wouldn't have to do any work around the house, they pretty much just wanted free labor. I am finally realizing just how off the mark I really was with that idea. I made my kids come out and help me today, and by the look and sound of things out there you would think that I had specifically designed a torture session for them. I included all of the very worst things imaginable to my children like boredom, manual labor, crisp (not cold!) weather, (they would have complained if it was hot too, cleaning (putting all the backyard toys up for the winter), getting dirty. . . (heaven forbid you ever have to touch a wet, dirty leaf that has been on the ground! -- this would have been good if it had involved playing)and the worst of all is that I didn't let them take any breaks at all!!! (you actually have to start working in the first place so that you CAN take a break!)

At any rate, 4 hours, 3 tantrums, 2 garbage cans full and 1 grounding later. . . we are done with the backyard. I did have to ground Emmy from the computer to put a stop to her whining, but I also allowed the kids to jump in a pile of leaves for a little while and I got some fun pictures of them. ENJOY!