What I did with those gourds

At the beginning of each new season I have a burst of decorating energy and decorate the mantel above our fireplace and a few other areas around the house. I have three bins for this purpose. One is labeled "Christmas", one is labeled "Fall", and the other is labeled "Spring/Summer". When I pulled out our bin of fall decorations a few weeks ago, the kids gathered around and wanted to help. In order to keep things simple and let them help (and truthfully, so that it wouldn't look like a hodgepodge of decorating clutter), I told them they could each choose one item from the box in which to place on the mantel. Here are their selections:







When Mark got home, he wanted to play, too:


(No, the Pittsburgh Steelers Bobblehead was not in the fall-decorating bin. And yes, it's still sitting on top of our mantel. Because I love my man that much.)


As for the gourds, they went in a pot on our front porch:


And here, in my window "box":


This was my mom's brilliant idea. Several years ago she thought of this and we've each been doing it ever since. When our window box flowers are done, we buy some gourds and/or pumpkins (or grow them, as was the case this year). Then we scour the town-- clippers in hand-- to find the prettiest leaves, and then we come home to our window boxes and create!