Perfect Fall Day

What a beautiful fall day!!  The wind was blowing hard and the trees and leaves were being blown all about. The temperature was perfect for being outside.

This afternoon Christopher and his two friends were jumping on the tramp and Nicholas and his friend were throwing the football. I went outside to start picking up chestnuts. A job I don't really mind when the weather is so nice and I'm wearing thick gloves to protect my hands from the spikes.

Then Christopher said he'd pick up chestnuts if I'd teach his friends how to do a back flip on the tramp. So I did. And when I demonstrated, one of the boys said,

"Wow! I wish my mom could do a Backflip!"

I felt about as proud as the time I did a double-flip. (Oh, yes I did -- when I was 10!)

And after working with them for 30 minutes, I taught both Matt and Zach how to do backflips by themselves. And then I taught Lucy and finally Nick. But Nick isn't ready to do it on his own yet.

The boys were actually excited when their moms said it was time to go home because they could go home and show their families how they learned how to do backflips!

Then I helped Chris learn how to use my camera on the tripod so he could light off firecrackers many times over and try to take a photo for his Reflections Entry, "The Magic of the Moment."

All this while dinner was cooking.  So today I was a pretty amazing mom.

Tonight for Family Home Evening we picked up more chestnuts and filled two curbside garbage cans. But then had to stop because we were out of room in the trash cans.  Everyone worked hard and happily because it felt so good to be outside -- even if it was work. 

Weather is forecasting a whole week like this.  Yay!