Thursday, October 29, 2015

Fridayyyyyy!!!

The last week of October!  Can you believe it!?  Christmas is less than two months away.  Crazy. 

Anyhoo, it's Friday, y'all!!
[One]
 
If you follow my blog or, especially my instagram feed, you'll know that I looooove my daily dose of Kombucha.  Love, love, love it.  Well, I recently had the opportunity to be a guest poster on an awesome blog called What is Kombucha?  I wrote up a post about how I got started drinking this magical stuff.  Read my post here.


 [Two]

It's almost a new month - time for a new edition of The Monthly Meet Up!



Join myself and my girl Marie over at Family and the Lakehouse and be a part of our goal-oriented linky party on November 1st!  Share any and all goals you have for the month of November.  We'd love for you to party with us!!

[Three]
 
Fall always sends my love for cooking into overdrive.  My poor food blog (The Carnitarian Family) had been neglected so it was nice to get some new stuff on there.  Here are a few of the new recipes I've posted recently - check them out!
 
 
 
[Four]
 
The weather.
 
Oh, the weather.  It has been such a lovely, warm (for Michigan, at least!) October.  We've spent so much time outside this fall and it's been marvelous.  We've gone to a couple of different farms/pumpkin patches this year - I love this age and how excited the kids are to do this stuff!
 



 
 Oh, Fall....
 
 [Five]
 
Costumes!
Redmond got to trick-or-treat at his school and Ashlyn got to tag along as well.  It was so cute.  I mean, is there anything cuter than preschoolers in costumes?  Ashlyn couldn't wait to dress up as Elsa....until she woke up that morning.  Then she wanted to be a doctor.  Ok!
 
 
Then, we hit up our local Home Depot for a little more Halloween fun.  The kids are loving all their candy!
 

 We have some more fun Halloween activities planned for the next couple of days.  The kids are really into it this year!
 
Until next time,
 
~ Sara :)
 
 I'm linking up with, Darci, AprilNatasha, and Christina for the Five on Friday link-up Party!
I'm linking up with A Little Bit of EverythingMomfessionals, and Grace and Love for my Friday Favorites!
I'm linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for the Oh Hey Friday linky party!
I'm also linking up with The Diary of a Real Housewife for Friday Favorites!
Also, I'm linking with Caitlin, Della, Tif and Katie for High Five for Friday!

Monday, October 26, 2015

Pumpkin Carving!

We were on Fall overdrive here at the Hayes Homestead this weekend.  Lots of leaf pick up, lots of playing outside, a trip to a corn maze, playing at a park, and.....carving pumpkins!



 
The kids somehow ended up with two pumpkins each, and, of course, want nothing to do with all the goop inside!  Jason and I did the dirty work, then gave them markers to draw the 'faces' (I use this term very loosely - you'll see why) on their pumpkins.


Redmond started out wanting a scary face.  His first pumpkin was super thick and hard to cut through, so Jason went and got the drill.  Redmond decided that two circle eyes, a smaller circle nose, eyebrows and a straight mouth would do.  Perfect!


Ashlyn created quite the masterpiece which I was then responsible for carving.  I did my best, but there were a lot of lines to follow!  Girlfriend had a vision and I did my best to make it come alive.  Ha!

 
The kids were very happy with the end results!
 
 
Round two carving went a lot like the first....

Redmond decided that he just wanted holes drilled.  I mean, can you blame him?  I have to say, Jason definitely had the easier child for this task!


Ashlyn's vision for her second pumpkin was a bit more......interesting.  Thankfully, she wasn't a harsh judge and was happy with my carving skills.

 
Ta-Da!!


We took them out to the front porch, put some candles in them and lit them up.  The kids were so excited and can't wait to light them every night.





Happy Fall!
 

 
 
~ Sara :)

Sunday, October 25, 2015

A Dog and His Chickens

I know I've mentioned Oliver's love for our chickens before, but really, it deserves its own post.
 
 
Seriously.  Oliver loves these chickens.  If they're in their Mobile Chicken Shelter, he lies next to it and just watches them. 
 
 


If they're out in the yard, he follows them around, tail wagging (watch the video below!).

 
 
 
If they're in their enclosed area, we often will find him standing in front of the door or just laying down, staring in there.  It's so.damn.adorable.


I honestly do not think that anything makes this dog happier these days than being outside with the chickens. 
 
  
 
 
The chickens have gotten quite used to him too.  They used to scatter when he would come near them, but now.....it's like....he's one of them....
 
 
 
Just check out this little video.  If this isn't doggy bliss, then I don't know what it is.  At one point, Libby Mae just walks right underneath him!


 
Now that is one happy puppy!
 
~ Sara :)

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Mobile Chicken Shelter

We knew that we needed something for our chickens.  Something that could keep them protected when they're out in our yard.  Our yard seems to be the neighborhood dog park, which we have no problem with (we love puppies!), but once we got chickens it became a concern.
 
So, my handy (and very hunky!) hubby came up with a plan.  A mobile chicken shelter built on skis that we can pull around the yard.  Perfect!
 
 
He used two cross country skis that we got for free from my uncle.  So, all we needed was some lumber, chicken wire and a couple of hinges.  This cost us approximately $15 to make.  And we get so much use out of it!
 
First, he built the base, attaching the bottom of it to the skis.
 
 
Then, the measuring, cutting and hammering began!
 
 
 
It didn't take long until the frame was complete.
 
 
 Next, he attached chicken wire to the back and the sides.  He had to do two layers of chicken wire on the back, so we twisted the wire together to tighten up the seal.
 
 
Then, he built the door and attached it with some hinges.  He attached a rope to the door for easy open/closing. 

 
The last step was creating a system for pulling it through the yard.  He drilled a hole in a wooden dowel and threaded more rope through that, securing it with a knot.  Then, he drilled a piece of wood to the chicken shelter and attached the rope with an eye screw.
 
 


And that's it!  Now we have a safe way to let the chickens enjoy all the bugs, grass and leaves that our yard has to offer, but we don't have to worry about their safety.  And, Oliver is never far away when they're in it.  (He's obsessed with them! :)

 
 
Plus, this will double as a separate coop when we decide to add to our flock with baby chicks.  We'll be able to keep the chicks in this coop until they are big enough to join our current flock.
 
Until next time,
 
~ Sara :)