Why didn't I think of that?

In the fall we gathered up *most* of the leaves. A small bit, however, congregated in the corner of our backyard between the house and the fence next to the gate. The majority of this leaf mass covered a section of our shade garden - something that was completely dormant waiting for the sun to warm it back to life. I didn't worry much about clearing the leaves away.

But recently there has been green springing up all over the place. Tiny bits of young and tender leaves peeking through the soil. It was time to move those leaves.

I pulled the piles off the flower bed and made one big inviting pile just outside it -- blocking the gate. Clearly this wasn't going to work for long. The kids both leapt into the center of the mess, giggling with delight. I stood, hands on hips, and pondered how I'd clear these leaves without having to head to the garage to get the big contractor garbage bags or the rake.

Logan must have known what I was thinking. He made the face he makes when he's analyzing a situation hard. Then he held up an index finger and yelled "I KNOW!"

"Know what?" I asked. I was still pondering deeply myself and was only half focused on what he was leaping about doing.

"I know what we can do to move the leaves. I have a winter toy we can use!" he disappeared around the corner of the house.

A winter toy? What sort of winter toy did we have to move leaves? A shovel? In the garage. He wasn't going there, he can't open the door to the basement to get downstairs and into the garage. I couldn't imagine and I didn't have to. He quickly reappeared with his stroke of genius trailing behind him -- the sled. The brightly colored plastic sled was going to move our leaves.

He steered the sled into the center of the leaf pile. He pulled armfuls up and dropped them in the sled center. When it was full he instructed me to take it away. We pulled it over to a spot behind some tall bushes were we often let the leaves hang out and break down. The emptied sled was pulled back to the leaf pile so we could begin again.

Most of the leaves were removed before they got bored of the task. It was time for snowless sled rides. And darn if those two hard workers of mine didn't deserve the reward.