The Autumn Leaves

The trees in our front yard decided this week to drop all of their leaves.  It was practically over night.  I woke up one morning and my car was covered in a blanket of yellow leaves.  I woke up the next morning, and the yard looked like this.

Is there a sidewalk under there?

 It's been unseasonably warm in Iowa this week...it was over 80 degrees yesterday, which is the hottest it's been on this date since the late 1800's!  I was going to go outside the other day in the early evening, set Laurel on a blanket, and rake for a while until Scott got home.  But then, that was the one day he got home earlier than planned!  Instead we decided to just hang out on the front porch for a while...which transitioned into sitting in the leaves and taking pictures of the baby.

My favorite thing about this picture is the little fat rolls on her legs.

Some children don't like being outside and are freaked out by grass.  Not Laurel!  She loves sitting outside in the grass or in the leaves and just checking out the world around her.  She spent some time grabbing the leaves, then clapping them together to see what sounds they made.  She also tasted them a little bit, of course, but didn't appear to think they were all the delicious.  I'm glad we have a little explorer, and I'm looking forward to some future hiking adventures.