These are a few of my favorite things: Charlotte Edition

Hey guys!

I've decided to do a series of posts about our family's favorite things. I'm starting with the pets, since their life passions were my inspiration for the posts. 

For those of you who don't know, we adopted Charlotte in July after we had been in Atlanta for about a month. She was already 7 months old, and we (mostly me) were a little hesitant about bringing a young adult cat into our home. Jack is super high energy and we were nervous about introducing him to a sweet, timid cat.

The night we took her home, Jack and Charlotte met for the first time. From day one they've been best buds (BFFLS, if you will), and Charlotte fits perfectly into our lives. Even though we've only had her for around 3.5 months, it's like she's been here forever! Thomas and I fully believe that shelter pets know you've rescued them, and Charlotte is no exception. She trusts us implicitly--a very un cat-like trait--and loves spending time with us. 
Bottom line: If you ever get the chance, I very much hope you'll consider adopting a shelter animal. If not, make sure you get the one you bought fixed ;]

Without further ado, Charlotte's favorite things.

10. The pillow in the guest room.

9. Looking out the window.

8. Shoes--of all sizes, shapes, and colors.

7. Technology.

6. Sitting in places only a cat could fit.

 

5. Hiding under things.

4. Laying in the sunshine.

3. Having her ears cleaned.

2. Food. Mostly breakfast.

1. Snuggling with her brother.

Next up: Jack's favorite things. I hope you'll be back:]

-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