Week 1 - Getting ready for winter

This week, I decided that the leaves should probably be raked and bagged so that I could mow the lawn one more time before it snows.  Normally, I would not consider lawn mowing this late in the season a priority, but since my mower broke and spent 2 months out of commission this summer, the lawn is in desperate need of mowing. 

Unfortunately, my lawn is very large and has numerous mature trees.  Fortunately, I have two children who are willing to bag up/play in leaves for next to no compensation.  Although many of you who are reading this may find me ridiculous for not thinking of this sooner, but I realized that if I broke this task into several days, no one gets too tired, too bored or too overwhelmed to give up on one long, arduous day.  So, the girls and I decided to bag up 4 bags a day for 2 days (which will not even begin to uncover the long grass) in exchange for lunch at the sushi restaurant and seeing "Where the Wild Things Are" on Saturday.  Any completed bags over 8 will be worth $.50 per kid.  On our first evening, we completed 5 bags in less than an hour and enjoyed ourselves immensely.