Thanksgave.

I hope you all had a fun and food filled Thanksgiving! We woke up early yesterday morning to make a huge batch of crescent rolls. For whatever reason, the dough didn't rise as quickly as it was supposed to and the whole process ended up taking 5ish hours.

 Charlotte waiting for the dough to rise.

We also prepared the potatoes before heading to the dinner, so we had a full trunk of goods to deliver to Mari and Holly's. Some of the cream from the potatoes leaked into the bottom of our oven (even with the tray in place), and thankfully we avoided a fire since, according to Thomas, "cream doesn't have a flash point. The house and our hair ended up smelling good and smokey, but overall our preparations were a success.

Here are the desserts I made: Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Squares, and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake.

Once we got to Mari and Holly's, we milled around and nibbled feasted on appetizers. I'm a HUGE appetizer fan, and we hadn't eaten all day in preparation for the evening's events. My absolute favorite appetizer (and maybe food in general) was the Charlston Cheese, which I hadn't had before. HOLY HELL. It is amazing, and I have no idea why no one has ever made it or even mentioned it to me over the last 21 years of my life. It's literally comprised of some of the earth's best ingredients: Mayo, cream cheese, onion, cheddar cheese, and bacon. I mean come on.

While I lounged around stuffing myself with various cheeses, Thomas, Mari, and Holly gathered around the stove to move the Turducken [a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey] to a serving platter. It was a process, but the results were worth it.

The Turducken in all its glory.

There was even a small oven fire during the preparation process--turns out french fried onions do have a flash point--but sadly I didn't get pictures because it was put out so quickly. Darn!

After appetizers, we all gathered on the patio for dinner. The weather was perfect and we all fit at the same table (everyone was at the kids table at this party)! Here's Thomas' plate--his was cuter than mine because I was already pretty full from appetizers and just got a sampler.

Aren't those crescent rolls georgeous?!

 I'm a proud crescent roll parent.

It got a little chilly out, so we moved inside after dinner. Everyone gathered in a living room, and we played a spirited game of Apples to Apples. Team Gladys (Mari and Wayne) ended up winning, but Team  Holly came in at a close second. I didn't get pictures of the game, but I did get some pictures of Thomas and I being ridiculous.

My double chin is obviously temporary and due to the Charlston Cheese. Right...?

Here are some of the normal ones, for our moms and stuff.

When I said 'normal,' I meant 'as normal as it gets.'

If you're braving the Black Friday waters today, I wish you good luck. There is no discount in the world that would force me out into Atlanta traffic today--and that's saying a lot. 

-T, K, J, & C

Atlanta Pet Expo

Since I've been slacking on posts this week, I'm back for another Saturday blog!

Last night, Thomas and I went out for dinner and drinks with one of my work friends. She's been great about introducing me to her friends, and it's been really nice to finally get back into the groove of hanging out with people after work. We all met up at Pure Taqueria after work. The food was good (and reasonably priced) and the decor was fun and interesting. I even experienced my first valet park job! It was also free, which was a nice added bonus.

 The tables at the restaurant were tree printed! Impressive.

 Thomas had the Torta Cubana.

 And I had my favorite, taquitos!

This morning, Thomas and I were woken up by Jack and Charlotte at 8:00 a.m. They were playing on our bodies as we continued to sleep, because I guess animals' body clocks are based on how light it is outside so the time change janks them up. Regardless, all they care about is that it's breakfast time and they want foooood!

After a solid half hour of being used as jungle gyms/scratching posts, we got up, started making coffee, and toasted some banana bread Thomas' mom sent (thanks Andrea!) We talked about what we want to get done this weekend, the priority items being:

1) Cleaning

2) Finishing the laundry

3) Relaxing

4) Taking Jack to the park

5) Planning our contributions to Thanksgiving dinner

We took Jack outside for his morning play, and 'three legs' (the crazy 3 legged dog from next door) traipsed onto the lawn. Jack was having none of that, so he chased her back to her place. She responded by chasing him back to ours, all while we and the neighbor yelled at them to come back. Funnily enough, they don't touch each other at all during this traipsing--they just chase the other through the huge pile of leaves that is our yard. Here's our view:

Earlier this week, I read about an event about 20 minutes away called the Atlanta Pet Expo. We've wanted to get Jack microchipped for a while now, and it was only $25 there so we decided to make the trip. Here is some Fall foliage we saw on the drive:

The expo attracts thousands of people and dogs every year and features over 100 vendors. Shorty from Pit Boss was there this time (we totally saw him!) and there are dogs and cats for adoption. Jack was really nervous at first, but eventually warmed up. Being around hundreds of other dogs of all sizes--from Teacup Poodles to HUGE Great Danes--would put anyone in sensory overload. 

We made our way to the back of the huge room where the microchiping area was, and filled out the forms/waited in line. Once it started, the procedure was over with pretty quickly. Jack did cry out super loud at the initial stick, but it was done within a few seconds and now he won't get lost! If you're trying to decide about microchipping your pet, I would definitely suggest it. Most shelters and humane societies offer the service for $25 or less, and sometimes it's even free.

After the 'chipping, we walked around and let Jack meet some dogs. We even saw a ferret on a leash, which we thought was kind of crazy. The ferret was really brave and even ran up to big dogs, but Thomas kept talking about how dangerous it was since lots of animals have a huge prey drive and love to go after bite-sized animals like ferrets. Either way, he/she was cute. After around half an hour, Jack was pretty over the whole expo situation so we decided to head home to rest for the afternoon. Here is in his 'sick bed'.

Charlotte isn't one for resting, so she stalked this really brave squirrel through the window:

Enjoy your weekend, everyone:]

-T, K, J, & C

Humpkin Fest 2011

Happy Halloween everyone!

We had an exciting weekend in preparation for today's festivities. It started on Friday with a pumpkin carving contest at work. My teammate Greg and I placed first with our pumpkin (which will be referred to as a Humpkin from here on out). 

 My desk during the carving. I never envisioned that I'd be taking a hot glue gun to work, but I'm cool with it.

The process of carving a Humpkin is a secretive one. Greg built this fort to keep our plan safe.

 Here's what went in to our Humpkin: A brown washcloth wrapped around a small plate for meat, tissue paper and green scrapbooking flowers for lettuce, yellow post-its for cheese, and coasters wrapped in tissue paper with a picture of a tomato glued on for tomatoes.

The fun continued Sunday when Thomas and I carved some pumpkins of our own...

I started by putting on my glow glasses.

I have to admit, I've never fully carved my own pumpkin before. My dad always helped me, but it's kind of tough to slice into a pumpkin in Atlanta when you're in Texas. So, I was going it alone (with Thomas). Let me also just say that those little saws in the pumpkin carving kits are really helpful. And we didn't have any.

Things started out with some hacking, and soon we'd moved on to cannibalism (pumpkinabilism?)

Check out the fierce concentration going on in the background.

My pumpkin idea came from my favorite blog, Young House Love. I started by photoshopping and printing out a T&K monogram. I then shaded the back of the monogram and traced it onto my pumpkin using a pencil and lots of pressure.

Thomas' pumpkin was inspired by Fall leaves, which he collected from around our yard. He started by taping them onto his pumpkin, then he traced around them and cut them out. At the end, he used toothpicks to stick the cut out leaves back on. Quite the creative one, he is.

 Here are the finished pumpkins in the dark:

I did sustain an injury during the carving (mostly due to my famously bad knife skills), but so far I think it was worth it.

And finally, the big costume reveal! This year we dressed as Bob Ross and a 'happy' little tree.

And it turns out our animals aren't super comfortable with me having a beard...

We're always looking for a unique couple's costume, and we love B. Ross so much that we couldn't pass it up. We even had a picture already painted that was modeled after his style for me to pose with! 

I hope you all have a great Halloween (and that you're picturing  me answering the phone at work in the costume above. Because that is happening). Tomorrow I'll be posting a recipe for peanut butter eyeballs, so I'll hope you'll be back then!

I'll leave you with this spooky picture of a ghost dog in the night...

-T, K, J, & C

Fall Leaf Garland

Hey all!

Can I just say that literally ALL my Fall decor ideas this year came from Pinterest? This particular craft is super quick, easy, and pretty. Sarah at Clover Lane posted about the idea, and I've been excited to collect leaves for a few weeks now.

The perfect leaf collecting opportunity presented itself this last weekend when we visited Kinsey Family Farm, and we couldn't be happier with how easy the project was or how well it turned out! The whole project cost less than $5. Note: Be super careful while doing this project. You could easily maim yourself with the melted wax, and I won't be held responsible for that.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Wax (we used Crafty Candles because we couldn't find Gulf wax)

2. A Disposable Pie Plate

3. Fall Leaves of all shapes sizes, and colors. Like these.

4. Thread or fishing line 

5. Wax paper

Here's what you do:

Once you've collected your leaves, set them all out to make sure they're dry.

In the meantime, melt your wax in a disposable pan. CAREFULLY, on low heat.

And lay out some wax paper.

Once the wax is melted, turn the burner off. Then, carefully dip the leaves into the melted wax (I obviously got a little impatient since the wax isn't completely melted in the picture below).

 

Coat them well, then gently shake off the excess. Finally, lay them on the wax paper to dry.

We let ours set up for around an hour. Once the wax hardens, the leaves peel right off.

Finally, tie the leaves together with some thread or fishing line. Be really careful not to tangle the thread. (Tangle it anyway. Cry in shame.)

Finally, hang the leaf garland wherever you like.

As a complete aside, while we were on the way home from KFF on Sunday, we saw a park with some beautiful trees and decided to stop.

 

Pretty, yes?

As we pulled into the park, I noticed some older teenagers with fake swords and cardboard shields battling in the grass. That's when I realized they were LARPing. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term (probably everyone), LARPing stands for live action role playing. It's synonymous with nerdery--I can say that because I am a nerd--and it's pretty entertaining to watch. 

While we walked Jack around the park picking up pretty leaves on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, these kids kicked up a cloud of dust while fighting a medieval battle, complete with costumes and lingo. It was awesome, to say the least.

Even Jack got in on the action by bowing down to signal his readiness for battle.

Now that you know about LARPing, I hope you'll go join in a medieval battle or something. Happy Tuesday!

-T, K, J & C

Kinsey Family Farms

This weekend, we headed up to North Georgia to see the beautiful fall leaves at Kinsey Family Farm. That's right--KINSEY Family Farm. I read about the place a while back while researching pumpkin patches, and I immediately knew we had to go there. (Note: This is a very picture heavy post. Mostly pictures of Jack).

KFF has pumpkins, Christmas trees, honey, apples, hayrides, picnic spots, a fish pond, and petting zoo. They don't charge admission and you're allowed to take pictures. Sounds awesome right? Especially once we found out that Jack was welcome!

Thomas and I knew we wanted to wait until the weather cooled off a little before spending the day outside. It's been in the 40s for the last week or so, and we decided that this weekend would be perfect for a trip up north.

When we first got to the farm, we stopped on a shady hill for a picnic lunch...

And Jack surveyed the territory while we decided what to do next.

After lunch, we walked around to check out the Christmas trees on our way to the fish pond. It was super full of fish (lots of jumpers), which Thomas was pretty impressed with. 

Next to the pond was this beautiful berry plant. I thought Jack would like it, so I asked if he'd be willing to pose for a picture.

Nope. He decided to pee on it. To each his own, I guess.

The entire farm is completely picturesque. So of course, I forced the boys to strike poses everywhere. [Jack's ability to blink during the majority of photos is pretty awesome].

Side note--this flower is called a Caliente. Pretty schnazzy.

My absolute favorite part of the day was when we stopped to take family photos (we're sad Charlotte couldn't be there, but cats & farms don't mix). At this point, we'd explored the whole place and decided on the perfect spot. We brought our tripod along--because, believe it or not, Jack hasn't mastered taking photos yet--and we were all set to take some great pictures.

Today we learned that it's really hard to get your dog to look at the camera when there isn't someone standing behind it to make noises. We ended up getting ONE great shot (out of around 50), but the outtakes are hilarious. The best picture will be saved for a future event...I'm keeping that one secret ;]

Here are the fails:

 Awkward Jack handhold.

 Weird gap/Jack's eyes are closed.

 Then we came up with the idea of taking one without Jack. Jack's butt crept in.

 Oops...I bumped the tripod and cut off our heads.

 Scratching.

 This is probably the best/worst one. He was over taking pictures.

 Just as the boys started to get frustrated...

 I begged for one last try. Aaaand, Jack made a completely ridiculous face.

He then refused to move out of picture pose.

To wrap up the day, we decided to go check out the pumpkins. KFF has some special pumpkins and some 'regular' ones. Here are some of our favorites:

Poke-e-mon pumpkins.

 Jardales.

My favorite, the Baby Boo! We took two of these cuties home. 

 Jack was pretty impressed with these bright orange pumpkins...

 And even posed for ONE last good picture.

But when I put him in this little red wagon, he was done.

We had an excellent day at Kinsey Family Farm! We'll definitely be back, and tomorrow I'll show you a craft we made with the fall leaves we collected. I hope you'll be back!

-T, K, J & C