Apples and shoes

Nate harvested the rest of our apples in the back yard. There are still a lot more in the higher branches, but it's just too high to reach. As you can see we really need to prune back these monster trees. They make great tasting apples though!

Charlotte likes to sit in her booster seat at the table now. She colors and plays with her little people while I do dishes or cook.

Today I found all of Charlotte's shoes on the toilet seat. I'm glad the lid was down!

Happy Mothers

I don't usually write about a book until I've read it, which honestly isn't very often. But I did just hear an interview with the author of this book: The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers by Meg Meeker and it sounded great!
She mentioned that the concept of her book was inspired by one of my favorite books, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.
That definitely perked my interest in reading further.

From the interview it sounded like she is speaking mostly to mothers who feel pressure to be perfect, to raise successful kids, to give your kids every opportunity to be successful, to manage life perfectly etc...
One point that I thought was very convicting and so true...she said most mothers (most people) when they meet other mothers usually size each other up to see how you may compare as a mother/wife/healthy person etc.. "how smart are her kids? what programs do they get involved in? How fit is she? does she seem to have it all together?" etc... you get that picture. Anyway, she stressed in her interview that her book focuses on the core purpose of why we choose to be mothers to begin with. She emphasized the importance of using your time to be in relationship with your family members.

Like I said, I haven't read the book yet, but I'm intrigued to pick it up and give it a try. Those are the initial thoughts based on her radio interview. I hope the book is just as good if not better.

IKEA hackers website

I was browsing a local artists blog today and discovered an IKEA hackers website that was so inspiring! Basically people buy IKEA products and try to re-purpose them into functional products that fit their specific needs. Some of the ideas were no-brainers while others were pure genius!

It's fun to browse anyway: Ikea hackers website

Finding the perfect pumpkin

Of course it wouldn't be fall without going to a local pumpkin patch. And there are several in the area. Fortunately for us, last weekend had one sunny day open to enjoy the outdoor fall experience. We took advantage!

Here are some pictures of the Great Pumpkin Hunt of 2011.