Don't you love this time of the year? The leaves have mostly fallen and now is the time for playing. We have huge Maple trees in our yard along with a Lombard poplar so you can imagine the leaves we have. Along with that, we have a park across the street with Maple trees and Oak trees. When the winds blow, we get most of the leaves.

Outside right now, the kids are playing in those leaves, covering each other up, throwing leaves at their dad and overall having fun.

Do they need raking up those leaves, of course they do. But for now, will wait while the kids have fun during the next week or so. Then the job will be for them to rake them up and they then become mulch for my perennial flowerbeds.

Pretty cheap entertainment and great insulation, all because of those wonderful leaves.

Do you enjoy playing in the leaves in the fall?

We have no leaves. :(

We have tons of pine needles in the yard though and sometimes pinecones (sometimes they fall over on the other side of the fence). I love, love, love the pinecones. Other than that we have cabbage palms, Christmas palms, a cedar, and several live oaks (I think they are live oaks - they might be laurel oaks) so no leaves or leaf piles sadly.

Aussie mamma, what do you do with the pinecones. Do you use them for crafts.

I love pinecones as well, but have never used them in any craft items. Maybe I need to try doing something with them. This year, the pinecones are in great abundance because of the weather we had.

Last year I took some and painted the tips with glue and then sprinkled on glitter. After they dried I shook off the extra glitter (and re-used it of course!) and then dh sprayed them with a sealer for me. They look nice displayed in a bowl for the holidays.