"Really???"

Fall is in the air and while the colors are beautiful the change in season presents one challenge here at the Morgans:

This tree is ENORMOUS!  And while it is beautiful this is what happens to our yard:

So for the next few weeks it will be an endless battle to try to stay on top of these falling leaves.  I think last year we managed to rake up over 50 giant bags!  

This is a picture I took several years ago after one of our near daily raking sessions--and of course I have a story to go with it.  Just thinking about it is riling me up...

It was a really rainy day and our yard was (again) filled with leaves.  You can go out and spend two hours raking, go in the house to warm up and come back 20 minutes later to a yard full of more leaves. It's sort of maddening.  So that rainy Saturday morning I got all 6 kids up and we set out to rake the yard.  (This is a mothering feat in and of itself).  I was feeling pretty proud of the fact that all six kids were out there being pretty industrious and not complaining (too much) when our old lady neighbor pulled up in front of our house.  "How nice," I thought.  "She's coming to commend the kids on what hard workers they are being."  Uhhh..not so much.

Cranky neighbor rolls down her window, leans out with a look of disdain and says to me (I am not making this up), "I'm glad to see you finally raking your leaves up--they blow into my yard."

Seriously????  THAT'S what you're going to say to the mother of six who has like a thousand things to do on any given day and who is out nearly every day raking up piles and piles of leaves?  And you're going to say that in front of my children?  Needless to say this did not go over well with me but of course I was too stunned to think of a snappy comeback.  (I know, I know--my instinct should be to turn the other cheek, but dang it crazy lady, you try keeping up with a zillion leaves from a 50 foot tree!) Luckily, I have those boys with the Morgan wit gene so after we finished cleaning up I came back inside as one of them stayed out to "finish something up."  What was it, you ask?  Well, his own witty response to that mean old lady:  a sign staked in our yard that read"

"LEAF ME ALONE."

Hilarious right?  Man, sometimes I love these kids...And it seems like it might be time to resurrect that sign because today was windy and I came home to a yard full of leaves and guess who stopped by?  Yep--cranky neighbor pulled up to the house as McKay and Davis were leaving to rehearsal and instructed them to "clean up your yard--those leaves are blowing down to mine."  And McKay's response:

  "Yep--I'll get right on controlling nature for you lady."

So here's the dilemma--I was going to go out and rake but right now that is about the last thing I want to do.  What I want to do is take out my leaf blower and blow them straight down into her yard but of course, I need to be the bigger person.  So I'll rake...after a long windy nap...