a piece of fall

Fall is by far my favorite season.
When we moved to Texas I realized how much I really love fall
because we don't really get to experience a "true" fall down here.
The weather does change...it just takes longer to do so,
but the leaves don't really change colors much,
especially not right where I live.
I'd have to drive an hour or so to go see some colors
like my parents see in their front yard.

I've got two fall babies but really missed the opportunity
to take some great fall photographs with both those little girls.

I noticed that Greg's cousin Rachel (who is a photographer in St. Louis)
had some great photos of a baby lying in a basket surrounded by fall leaves.
We had a "conversation" on facebook about the leaves and I asked
if it would be okay to take photos of Hannah in a basket of acorns
(because we've got plenty of those) ...
she told me it might look okay but could be painful for Hannah.
Then on Friday the mail came and Hannah had a big box sent from Rachel.
Inside the box was a bag filled with beautiful fall leaves.
There were red ones, orange ones, yellow, green and multi-colored leaves.
Small ones, giant ones (bigger than Hannah's head) and medium sized ones.
It made me smile...still makes me smile
to consider this great, thoughtful, kind gift.
Rachel probably just thought she was sending some leaves for a little photo shoot...
which we did use them for.
But it was more than that.
She sent me a piece of home.
A piece of fall that I truly miss.
She sent me a gift that was more than just leaves in a box.
So, THANK YOU Rachel, for the truly thoughtful gift.
It means more to me than you think.

And here are a few of the photos from our "fall" photo session.