King of Autumn

I needed to stay home today to get some rest, but it was so beautiful outside that Mattimeo and I couldn't resist going for a walk together. We took his wagon filled with water, snacks, my camera, and a collecting back to the trail at the end of our road. The leaves are just starting to change colors here, and I was excited to see how the forest was transforming. Most of the leaves are still green, but we were able to catch glimpses of brilliant color as we peered up into the canopy.

Mattimeo and I busied ourselves with collecting colorful leaves and other fallen treasure. We pretended he was the "King of Autumn" and we were going to use the things we collected to make him a crown.

We had fun on our walk, and stopped occasionally to rest on the soft moss, or to photograph frogs we spotted, or so Meo could kiss his baby brother (now 33 weeks along).

On the way home we found piles of fallen leaves, and Meo was really excited to pick them up and toss them into the air as I took some more pictures of the foliage changing in our yard.

While Meo was taking his nap (I took a little one too of course), I busied myself with making his Autumn crown. Here are the materials we gathered:

First I used twine to form the sweet fern we collected into a base. The stems were flexible because they were still full of life, and the leaves smelled deliciously pleasant.

Then I wound some of the yellow, dying fern around the crown, securing the ends with hot glue.

Next I glued a whole bunch of our colorful, autumn leaves all over the crown.

Finally, I finished the crown by gluing on tiny little pine cones.

Then I crowned Mattimeo the King of Autumn, and set him loose into the yard to frolic and play.

When he was finished wearing his crown, we decided to hang it on our front door as a wreath, to go along with the giant pumpkin on the steps.

What a perfect, autumn day!