It's Monday...

While I rake leaves for little ones to flop in....

 or jump in...

or do tricks like this...

Someone else is making headway on the yard upkeep. 

 You see we have a neighbor who has all the time and tools in the world to make his yard look like this...

And yes after he finished I walked outside (possibly with a glass of wine in my hand) and hollered, 

"I hope the wind doesn't blow."  He laughed. 

But this weekend we kept up with the Jones's (how do you even type that correctly).

And we did our part to help the leaf situation. 

Hey, I know of neighborhoods where if one person has a cabin then everyone has a cabin.  If one person gets a boat...then everyone gets a boat.  I LOVE our street...I don't feel that way ...except with mowing and leaves.  

After a bunch of yard work we went and enjoyed dinner at a friends. 

Thanks for the yummy pizza Kim and Cory and so glad you thought to do the spur of the moment dinner.  Those are my favorite. 

Do Henry and Charley look in pure heaven with this table of boy energy?

There may have been grunting...but for sure there was laughter and pizza on the head fun. 

I told him I would show his mama this since she couldn't make it.  

We have lucked out with some pretty free and easy fall weekends. 

Charley's football season came to an end and so this weekend we didn't have to rush out of the house anywhere. 

Ed felt like he wasted his Saturday because he didn't get much done but I reassured him that he probably needed the morning to hang out with the kids and the afternoon to lay around and watch the Badger game.  

I on the other hand tackled two good runs.

One with a good friend...so glad we have been squeezing in a time to catch up and burn some of that crabby mama energy.  And the other run was on my own while my family hiked through the woods nearby.  

Next weekend I will conquer my first running race where my goal is to not walk (too much).  I did the dirty girl race and the color run but not with the focus on running.  So I am excited to see if I can conquer it.  4 miles..I have no idea the course.  But I have a friend to tackle it with so it will be fun.  And it takes place right after Charley's birthday party so I am sure I will enjoy the escape. 

This week our eldest child will tack on another year and call himself an eight year old. 

Today at the grocery store I ran into three parents of children I had my first years of teaching third grade here in MN.  They spoke of visiting colleges because their littles were now juniors in high school.  They looked at my Sydney and said with such heartfelt confidence..."Enjoy every minute of it Sarah.  It goes so fast."  I was just thinking, "Boy am I glad I showered and didn't wear my PJ's today."  HA!

Happy Monday folks.

What's going on in your neck of the woods?