THOUSANDS of maple seedlings

They are verywhere right now.......the neighbors have them......I have them......they are in the street..stuck in our bushes..all over the driveway and grass......everywhere. BUT out of the thousands that have fallen.....only a few will ever make it to become an actual tree. A bit sad actually.....Noah and I found one ...a few in fact.....popping up in our yard. While I like Maple trees......I really don't want to plant any in our yard and have to trim them all the time and have to deal with these seedlings that get stuck in eavespouts..etc. BUT ....we did save one........planted it in a pot for now....and it has lived for the past couple of years...I keep putting him in a larger pot. Once large enough I will plant maybe in the yard. I hesitate only now because our mowers tend to mow things like this over ...they just recently mowed over my 2-year old Korean lilac bush.....not sure how.....but they did.....and it was about the same size as our little Maple tree.  These can actually be eaten I guess.....or used in crafts as fairy wings......bug wings....as a kid we used to play with them like helicopters....because that is how they come falling to the ground......