Raining rain … and leaves

So after suffering through another obscenely hot and ridiculously long summer, I was doing cart wheels when Fall finally decided to show up.  But it’s been a weird fall with temperatures all over the place.

For starters, October marched out the sleet, hail, rain, wind and even snow. Gah. A few weekends ago, a massive rain storm blew through and I knew what was coming: 

Requests to Rain Dance.

And while I love—LOVE—a good storm and some serious puddle jumping, we were having an off day with crabby kids and a more crabby mom.

By the time the third or fourth delegation of kids came up from the playroom to beg for a trip down to the local car wash, I put aside my grumpiness and actually remembered my promise to myself and the kids to get the hell out of Dodge whenever a funk strikes and rain calls.

And so we dug around for shoes (because it was cold outside and bare feet wouldn’t cut it) … and we scrounged for jackets (because t-shirts weren’t going to cut it, even if the boys were in shorts) … and by the time we finally rolled out and made it to the corner drive-thru / carwash, the rain had stopped completely.

But quitters my kids are not.  Especially when there’s a chance to get soaked and messy and freezing on the line.

And so we all piled out … and braced against the wind …

… and waited for a few minutes until I heard Savannah squeal against the grey sky, “MOM! It’s baaaaaccccckkkk!”

And our temperamental Fall did not disappoint.

     

Thankfully I had once again procrastinated  unloading the truck and had an overcrowded front seat full of blankets from the it’s-time-to-take-all-the-big-bedding-to-the-laundromat run.

And while the kids dried off and emptied out soaked shoes onto the carpet, I once again affirmed that it’s always a good idea to dance in the rain …

… especially when the biting wind makes that 63 degrees feel more like 43 degrees.

And just when I was ready to curse the sky for yanking the Fall rug out from under me and racing straight for Winter, the weather decided to behave.

And to apologize for October, the Fall muses paraded out warm days and crisp mornings this first week of November.  Just the perfect weather to enjoy the last of the dropping leaves that have lingered and dried out enough to make them blissfully, wonderfully crunchy.

My only slight complaint was that our neighbors’ leaves were all yellow and brown with not enough of the crimson oak leaves that I’m such a sucker for.

But hey … beggars can’t be choosers.  And five out of six mostly smiling kids ain’t bad either.

Besides, kids don’t care about the perfect fall picture to overcompensate for the coming Christmas pictures at Walmart.

There are much, much more important things to do … like get buried in leaves …

… and make Human-Leaf-Volcano-Thingys where the kids get buried with leaves … and count to three …

… and watch an eruption in grand style …

… and squeal as the leaves scatter to the far ends of the earth.

And in the midst of the laughter and the leaf tosses and the kid checks and the stay-away-from-the-streets and Mom-watch-this! moments, I found these two beautiful girls smiling back at me …

… and drank in the cuteness of these tough guys.

And watching my crew make Leaf Angels …

… and collect leaves …

… and watch out for Sean and Ash every time they got too close to the street …

… was the perfect I-have-so-much-to-be-thankful-for moment to kick off the slide towards Thanksgiving.

And I think that’s why I love dancing in the rain and play playing in the leaves so much:

It reminds me that even when the sky really is falling …

… I’m still surrounded by these.

~ Nike