Look what I made: Fall display

Last weekend I was in Palm Springs. It was 107 the first day I got there. Today, I woke up and looked at the thermometer and it was 36. Thirty six. Like, a couple degrees above freezing. So, I guess that, and the fact that it literally is now fall, make me think more about picking pumpkins and eating apple pie than hitting the pool.

I gathered up a bunch of things the kids and I have been collecting around the house and neighborhood and threw them on a cute little tray I had stashed away. It took me about 6 minutes, and I think it turned out cute, right?

 (pictured here: a sunflower from our garden, a bird's nest that fell out of the tree, some cattails from down at our park, pinecones, a Delicata squash, and a mini pumpkin all on a cute vintage tray)

That's my idea of good decorating. It takes under 10 minutes, costs nothing, and looks like Martha Stewart lives here.

Got any other good fall decorating ideas?

Saying goodbye to summer

I've been in denial. It can't really be the end of summer, can it? It seems like it just started. I only went to 43 garage sales. I only went swimming 3 times (!!!). I only took the kids to one amusement park. Only went mini golfing twice. It can't possibly be over. Oh, but it is. Luckily, I do love fall, cuz here it comes.

The icy water of Lake Michigan

 

Flip flop tan

Digging it

Looking for shells

Our "fort"

Happy end of summer everyone!

Collecting from the natural world

In case it isn't readily apparent, I'm a near-hoarder. A collector. One foot in the "that's neat" world and one foot in the "she might have a borderline illness" world. No disrespect to those who actually suffer from this affliction -- I think I'm safely within my boundaries as I can still shower, find clean clothes to wear, and I know where both children and dogs are at most times.

However, I do pick things up. On the side of the road (awesome kid's play kitchen), out of a ditch (toy plane), out of someone's dumpster (okay, that was my husband and that was good stuff he found), and out in nature.

Kids love to collect stuff. I got each of my kids a flat, plastic bait box from Cabella's with the little compartments. We pick up shells, acorns, feathers, pretty much whatever neat little doo-dads we find. I also ran across this image from the Australian website HomeLife.com and loved the idea of collecting pictures or creating a scrapbook with drawings and pictures of nature.


Photo from HomeLife

Do you and your kids collect anything? Have you done any fun "nature projects" with the wee ones?