Oscar Stew

…Mr. Grinch…

…You really are a…beautiful girl! Hi Binnie. Whatcha doin’? Waiting in line to see a celebrity? Who is it? It better not be that chump Justin Bieber! His name’s Nick Claus? Sounds OK to me!

Ah, that awkward moment where you’ve already told Santa what you want. Now just smile and try not to say anything naughty!!!

Its ok Rowan, you can come out of your angelic daze anytime now…did I mention that you’re sitting on a bear?

Look, it’s a moose on a moose! Sorry Ellie, you earned that nickname the day you were born weighing 1.5lbs more than any of your siblings. You are the cutest cannonball ever!

Brinley is a professional Reindeer Rodeo rider. She held on for the whole 5 minute ride!

Keep holding on to that left antler Drew! Hey, just like NASCAR! He’s making another left turn…

So, are you kids still being nice even though you’ve already talked to Santa? Looking good!

Sharing is caring Roastie! Thanks for letting Drew have a sip of your refillable Costco drink. Another nice point for you!

Nice points are earned easily when you make faces like this:

This face I’m not so sure about. Are you suffering from VGSA Drew? (Video Game Separation Anxiety…HA!)

All aboard Santa’s sleigh! At least that’s what Eleanor thinks is going on…

Let’s check Santa’s cargo…Pineapple, crackers, milk, broccoli, raisin bran…yup, Santa’s on a short crash diet before dia de los too much cookies and milk all-nighter begins.

Remember that guy we met? He looks just like this:

Dun dun dunnnnn…Uh oh, has somebody run out of nice juice?

Nice Santa head Brinley. Mrs. Claus would be proud.

It appears as though Santa has gone down through one too many chimneys…do they have chiropractor elves at the North Pole?

Here’s Ellie, refilling her nice tank. Good work!

Oh blessed day!

We’ve skipped over Santa’s gift. We’ll blog about that soon. Check out Rowan’s face as she realizes that this princess dress has been made just for her!

Drew was feeling as though his heart might burst with excitement, so Dr. Rowan gave him a check-up.

Custom-made Rapunzel dress & hair just for you Binnie…what say ye to Grandma F? THANK YOU!!!

So what was Drew so excited about? Well, anything that involves helmets and danger gets a boys blood pumping!

You are a beautiful bride Brinley! Daddy is now suffering high blood pressure at the very thought!

Tinker-Ellie rubbin’ her candy-filled bellie.

Pssst…Hey you! Got any pixie dust? Oh yeah!

“Honest, Officer Drew, that pixie dust isn’t mine!”

Drew got Brinley a nice book as a wedding…er…I mean Christmas gift.

I dunno Drew, do you think Brinley likes it? Maybe you should have gone with the tattoo parlor gift certificate…

Grandma J hooked the kids up with a giant box of Wii stuff. Yoga mat, boxing gloves, dance pad, y’know…typical video game equipment?

There’s a Wii Fit+ in there somewhere…Meanwhile Rowan is trying to figure out where to plug in HD cables on our old school TV…good luck! 

Alright kids, glad you enjoyed your presents. Now pack’em up, you’re singing in church in a ½ hour!

AKA the super halloween/all things pumpkin post. Just clearing the archives…and my conscience.

Some days you’re the shoe. Some days you’re the rotten pumpkin. And some days you’re the ugly socks that only get worn once a year!

At least he could show them off! The day we chose to go pumpkin picking was a warm, sunny, and beautiful. Is that pumpkin big enough Rowan? When you don’t have to pay per pound, you go BIG or go home!

Hey Ellie, did you get a tasty treat as a reward for playing along? Not a bad deal, eh? I really should have cleaned her face, but this is real life people!

Ryan made an attempt to convince the kids that pumpkins contain anti-gravity powers. The pumpkin made him jump that high…

Looks like Daddy might be right. Or that pumpkin is doomed…

This is Drew’s best impression of a flying chicken. Not bad!

You’ve got to be careful getting in to the Halloween spirit; too much and it can go to your head…

…Or to your butt. Can you say badonkadonk Ellie?

There goes another squash-head. This was all just a plot to show off your 3.5 year old abs!

Ah the family picture, minus Cheddar. Ha! Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Orange Gourd that balanced the camera so we could take a timer shot!

We’ve found the pumpkins we want to carve, so now what? Time for silly human tricks! Ellie seems to like it:

C’mon you weakling! Ellie doesn’t seem to be as confident about this idea anymore…

Now that’s more like it! Look at those bulging biceps!

Oooh nice form! I think she’s holding those pumpkins up with her nose!

Those pumpkins don’t look so confident in your strength either Rowan…As a matter of fact, they look a little green! Cheeeeeeeese.

Girls are made of sugar & spice & everything…hey what the?! Put him in your pocket Binnie we gotta take him home and put him in the garden! Do you think the pumpkin patch will miss him?

If pumpkins do have anti-gravity power, Ellie doesn’t want to end up in outer space.

Brinley dear, it’s a maze…the hay bales are the walls of the maze…you’re supposed to…have fun!

You cowpokes look pretty sharp, but I don’t think you’ve got your heads in the right holes!

HAHAHA! Drew’s going to kill me for this, but I had kids purely for entertainment purposes…

This little truck driver wasn’t fooled by the tricks her parents were playing…

She made sure to check what kind of humiliating outfit she was been photographed in. Guess what you guys? We’re gonna put this on the internet for all the world to see! Nooooooooooooooo!!!

License, registration, and proof of insurance please. Why? Because you look under-age, and those are illegal pumpkins you are trying to smuggle off this farm!

You can run, but you can’t hide!

Dispatch copy…I’m in hot pursuit of a blonde female, age 3, wearing Dora boots and her fly is down, over?

Roger that. Keep an eye out for the striped-leg candy bandit!

Don’t forget the mastermind of the operation…yeah the blonde with the horns! That’s her! Quick, yell “Ice Cream!” really loud!

That’s all it takes to reel ’em in. Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh.

Excellent work rookie! You have been well-trained to ignore the stringy, sticky gooey-ness in pursuit of fun.

Speaking of things that stick…

She doesn’t even know I took that picture. It may have to stay that way for a while!

Hey, BuckerDrew…you all done diggin’ the brains out?

I knew I’d find one kid who wasn’t into it. That’s ok, I think Daddy likes this part of the job anyway…

Looks like we have some repairs to do…there are cracks popping up everywhere!

I think Ellie knows I took that pic…look how she’s threatening me with that spoon!

Finally, the hour has arrived! Who are you supposed to be, the Cavity Fairy?

Hmm, I may have gone too far with that tease. Hand on hip…clenched teeth…tread lightly my friend!

Wow, this fairy is quite beautiful…So do I get a wish or somethin?

So flying is the common theme right? Hey Captain Drew, are you old enough to fly this airplane?

That’s a nice candy box…I mean flight bag. Be sure to fill it to the tippy top! Mommy loves you!

Oooh, now he’s got swagger! I like this pilot a lot!

And just when I thought I had it figured out, an octopus landed on the sidewalk:

She was a cute little thing, even with the tentacles. What’s that? Watch out behind me?

Aaaahh! Jellyfish! I dunno, she looks pretty cute…does she really sting?

No, but she does point out that the goods are now being distributed! Attagirl-fish…jelly! Huh?

Alright! These fantastic, flying, fishy four are sure to impress. Now go get (me) some candy!

When our garden harvest started to get heavy, we knew it was time to fire up the stove and get to work on making a delicious storage of goodies for winter. We buckled down this summer, and were able to make a boatload of goodies. Nothing’s better than heading to the basement for food, and avoiding the store as much as possible!

Cucumbers were aplenty in our garden, but we didn’t get quite enough to satisfy our pickle craving. Luckily the farmers market could help us out.  

Lookin’ good. So are we done then? Only 60 more jars to go!

How long is this going to take?! Rowan is trying to convey that canning is a season for us…it goes on for several weeks! I think you’ve crystallized it for us Ro-dog!

People who are caught standing around at our house are put to work immediately. Consider yourself warned!

Drew was kind enough to take a break from basement finishing  to wash a batch of jars for us. Way to be safety-conscious Scoobie!

Peeled tomatoes might look weird up close…

…But they sure taste great when infused with all kinds of herbs:

And they go really well with chips when chopped into salsa! Our salsa garden payed off big time…we got 16 jars of this garden goodness!

More pickles?  We needed chips and spears. Duh!

Ginger, limes, & homegrown tomatoes are the 3 basic ingredients for tasty tomato jam. I didn’t know what tomato jam was until this summer, but it’s changed my life. Okay, not really. But it has changed turkey burgers and gourmet sandwiches!

Keep an eye on those pots Ellie! Hey, can you even see in the pots?

This was the beginnings of our new all-time favorite: Peach vanilla bean jam.

Buttered biscuits never tasted so good! It tastes pretty good on a spoon too. Just sayin’…

I suppose that if we got bored with the peach jam, we might be able to get by with the pear vanilla bean jam…I guess…

Rowan decided she could help out by adding the “best by” date.

Come late January, a couple of these pills ought to bring all kinds of sunshine to our souls.

Looks like 2011 is going to be remembered as the year of the scribble. It’s ok, those peaches will be devoured before this time next year anyway…

When you start a trend, others want to join in on the fun. Drew is making tomato jam and Brinley is working on pear vanilla bean jam. Dig the aprons!

Speaking of dig, I don’t think any of us are going to be interested in preserving what you’re digging Rowan!

We got some darn fresh corn from our awesome neighbors and froze most of it so we could enjoy fresh corn in February.

The kids (especially Brinley) enjoyed showing off their brute strength by breaking up the cobs before hucking them into the composter.

When supplies ran low, we had to go on a quest to find some specific items to continue our canning/preserving odyssey. Rowan insisted that she ride in the chariot wearing the latest in high fashion:

Just when we thought our work was winding down (AS IF!), a nice lady in Arvada decided to share her bounty of apples. What are we getting ourselves into now?!

Hey Rowan, what does a free backyard apple taste like? C’mon, get your game face on! Grrrrr!

Ellie’s not too sure about this. Are these Jonagold or Granny Smith? Maybe Liberty? Macintosh?

Your analysis is being processed, please wait…6

This stuff is gooooooooood!

Cheers, mate!

Looks like they’re going for another round…and around…

Those apples must’ve been dipped in a love potion! The girls are getting frisky!

The apples were doomed, really. First they got really hot and then had the snot literally squeezed out of them:

mmmm…applesnot.

How many apples does it take to make a jar of applesnot? We don’t actually know. We made like 27 and still had this many left over…apple pie it is!

Don’t worry slaves…err..I mean kids! There’s plenty more things we can make out of raw applesnot! Heave!!!

Ho!!! Wipe that smile off your face!

If you think this kinda looks like ketchup…

…Then you’re on the right track. Oh yes we did! Homemade ketchup is TO DIE FOR. It tastes nothing like the store-bought stuff at all. What does it taste like? Tangier, spicier and get this – it tastes like real tomatoes! I know!!  We made sure to make a year’s supply; I’m never eating Heinz again!

When you have tomatoes coming out your ears you have to get kind of creative on what to do with them. This is how homemade barbeque sauce starts out:

Even the discard looks tasty! Tasty enough for the compost bin!

We had to purchase some of the fruit we preserved, but I didn’t feel too bad about it because it all came from local farms. We canned applesauce, pears, pear sauce, peach salsa, pineapple jalapeño jam, peach & pear vanilla bean jam, and finally ginger peach jam. Yeah, we like jam a lot, and it makes an awesome (cheap) gift.

Look, it’s a tomato family reunion! BBQ sauce, ketchup, tomato jam, taco sauce, garden salsa and herb-infused tomatoes that are ready to be turned into pizza sauce, or spaghetti sauce. Sky’s the limit!

Take this photo and multiply it by…a lot, and that’s our food storage. I have to say that it feels good to know where most of our food came from and how it was prepared! Makes it worth all the blood, sweat and tears (those darn onions!).