Remember when we came home from the hospital with Elijah and there were so many leaves we couldn't see the driveway?  Well, the weather was good and I had this crazy Dad-idea.  What if I made the world's largest leaf pile?  I thought the kids would love it.  Plus I really just wanted to see how big of a pile I could make.

So I went out and spent a good 2 hours with the leaf blower and rake.  If I would have had more time I could have gathered leaves from the entire front yard (which is what I was hoping to do).  At any rate, I made the largest leaf pile I've ever seen.  It was also amusing to see cars go by and kids in the back seat turn there heads in amazement.  They probably laid in bed that night dreaming about jumping in that leaf pile at the house they drove by that day.



I had to have Emma stand in front of it to capture the true height on camera.  I had to all but tie the kids down to keep them from jumping in it before I got a proper picture.



Play time! With such a huge pile I felt ok about tossing Emma up as high as I could to land feet first in the pile.  After a few throws she insisted she go put on her bike helmet - probably a good precaution because Dad was getting a little crazy with the throwing!  Of course, Elliot wouldn't have anything to do with me.  I don't blame him. 

The kids did great.  I was able to wait at the road while they went up the driveway and got their candy all by themselves.  At one scary house Elliot was shooting all the scary things by pointing his chest at them and making lightning shooting noises with his mouth.

Of course, it wouldn't be an outing without a classic kid moment.  We were down one long street about to make our way back on the next street over (in other words, as far as we could possibly be from home) Elliot subtly lets me know. "I have to pee reeealllly badly!!"  Of course.  Then Emma said she has to go, too.  But it was obvious that Elliot was in a state of emergency.  Luckily Dads are super heros in and of themselves.  I ran a lot of the way back passing other families and kids on the way.  Well, we didn't make it.  Luckily Elliot's lightning suit handled the wetness without any short circuiting.  After a 10 minute bathroom break, we went back out for another 30 minutes.  We ended just before the kids arms fell off dragging around their heavy candy buckets.

Oh, and Elijah?  The little cub stayed home with the candy passer-outers.  Maybe next year!  

With Elijah just born and having visitors in and out, we crammed our traditional pumpkin carving into a busy day. Of course, Dad did most of the work!

I was able to capture a rare moment where Emma and (mostly) Elliot were actually willing to cooperate and answer some questions. Check out this video. Kids say the darndest things!



If the video doesn't load up, CLICK HERE.