Oscar Stew

No doubt about it, turning 8 has not only been an exciting time for Drew, but for all of us. There have been a lot of fun and new experiences that Drew has been able to share with us, and we’re super-proud and happy for him. Hit the lights, crank the music, it’s time to celebrate!

If your lunch items are wrapped up like presents, does that mean they taste better?

Mama was out of commission, so Ryan whipped up some mathematical cupcakes for Drew & his class. Each one was frosted with an equation that adds up to eight (except for one that only added up to 7…oops). What a nice “house-husband”. That sounds kinda weird, but so is Ryan…

After school Drew got to put his own dang candles on his own dang (cup)cake…a firefighter’s nightmare!

Lookin’ mightier than an olympic torch! Happy Berfday Scoob! Let’s tear open some presents!

The most special part of turning 8 was a very important decision Drew made. Drew decided to follow the Savior’s example and get baptized. Ryan baptized and comfirmed him a member of the church. It was a decision that Drew thought long & hard about. 

We’re all so proud of you Drew! Thanks for being a great example to all your little sisters, and to us! (Wanna know more about baptism and what we believe? Click here.)

We’re also grateful for all the wonderful support Drew got from our extended family. The baptism “after-party” got a little rowdy…a total of 30 relatives in our house at the same time! Thanks everybody! Sadly this is the only shot I got of the fam all weekend.

Turning 8 also means that Drew is now an official Cub Scout. Drew aged-in at the perfect time: 10 days before the Pinewood Derby! He didn’t seem very interested in making a car, though. He created the design he wanted for his car only a month in advance. Sand away son!

Looking real good Drew!  The weigh-in is in 24 hours, so you better hurry up!

Ah, finally getting down to the finishing touches. Drew decided he wanted a hot-rod look which required whitewall tires. Of course! Abraham Lincoln’s copper profile helped us avoid getting paint on the wheels. Thanks Abe!

And now…for the reveal! Nice tires!

Looks like a real air-slicer. Is this thing ready to race?

Well if it’s not, somebody better call 911, cuz this ride is hot!

Speaking of hot, a couple of cute skinny blondes showed up to the race to cheer Drew on. Meow!

Gentleman, start your…graphite tubes! Let’s race!

Check out the rookie scout! That shirt is so new it still has creases! Lookin’ sharp!

Drew won some, he lost some. Perfecto! If it weren’t for that laser finish line thingy, some races would’ve been too close to call!

Drew was pretty worried about how his car was performing, can’t you tell?

Way to go Drew!

Hi there! Hope you are having a good holiday season. Me? I’m just chillin’ here next to the tree with Mary, ready to boogie.

Tonight is the night! For one night only, Elfis and the Sleigh-riders will be performing at the school. Drew was a wee bit nervous, and really excited to show us what he had been working on for weeks.

We paid a premium for stage-level seating and then had to wait 15 grueling minutes for the show to start.

C’mon Drew, belt it out!!

This colorful critic rates the performance at 5 stars!

Brinley made sure to get festive for her class party, and went equipped with (annoying) bells in her hair.

Sugar, sugar, sugar! I was surprised to see that she actually ate the cheese & apples first – way to go Brinley!

Eleanor has a frequent visitor punch card at the kids’ school. She is pretty well known there.

 

 

Gingerbread cookies are not known for healthy nutritional value. Sorry Rowan, sucking in your cheeks will not make you any less of a chub! 

We tried to keep the kids busy during the first week of Christmas break. Dipped marshmallows were almost as cheap as Brinley’s fake smile.

Step 1: Dip and twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl and twiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrlllll!!!

 

 

Step 2: Sprinkles!

Step 3: Devour. Hey Ellie, you’re not supposed to be eating those! Ahh, the benefits of being a 4th child.

Who me? Do I look guilty in any way? Any way at all?

Judge Rowan cleared Eleanor of all charges because the chocolate was warm and the marshmallows were plentiful.

Just so you get it right, let’s rinse & repeat: Dip…

…Twirl…

…Sprinkle…open wide!

Now that’s a mouthful!

Despite our continuous grazing during the event we ended up with a whole sheet of these fine delicacies.

What is the deal? Why do you keep making funny faces? Are you hiding something?

Somethin’ fishy is going on around here. Alright E, spill it! What’s up?

Ah ha. I see we are not letting anything go to waste. sigh…

Alright missy, we’ve got a mess to clean up. You stay here and try to look innocent. And stop sniffing out stray candy canes!

Rowan, think about what you’ve done. Are you sorry? Didn’t think so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another stray candy cane episode. This one at the hands of her distracted father. It’s near impossible to keep candy canes from falling within her reach.

To prove we learned the lesson about sticky sweets and small children, we decided to do it all over again. But we’re no longer just culinary artists; we’re into real estate now!

Step one: Get this chick a desk job!

Drew became the General Contractor and started dolling out advice while working on a warehouse roof.

This craftsman was determined to create a scale replica of our home-sweet-home.

Sister Rowan was hard at work ornamenting the chapel with the finest of all the materials available.

Brinley aimed high, building a three-story for maximum exposure and visibility.

This work is grueling! Time to throw back a “rein-beer.” Watch out for those antlers!

Looks like Drew got his second wind and moved on to landscaping…

 

Brinley is almost done, putting the finishing touches on her Palace of Poultry…

 

I know this is supposed to be a church, so what’s with the pile of pink gravel on the roof?

And now…the reveal! Behold, the Mecca of Merchandise!

 

 

 

 

 

The Barn of Buh-kawk!

The Parish of Peppermint!

 

Oh yeah, and our humble abode. Complete with cars in the garage and our feeble attempt at Christmas lights.

Nice detail Ryan. You even nailed the archway & the porch!

Oh yes, and what would a village be without a fabric store? Not a village I live in, that’s for sure!

Looks like the secretary made it through all that monkey business we pushed her way. Although that mole is looking pretty weird…

 

Drew realized that what Eleanor really needed was a new sugar deflector 3000. Just in time for Christmas.

Butt it wasn’t in time to prevent graham cracker gravel from finding its way into the deepest, darkest of cracks…

Good thing the jacuzzi is close by to soak away all the stresses of the day.

Our spa salon package also includes a fashion consultant!

How do you feel? Fresh? Revived? Colorful? Let’s ride!

 

It’s been a busy and productive summer. In two days we officially welcome autumn. Sad, is an understatement. But we are looking forward to a change of pace; hoping things will slow down a little so we can enjoy being home a little more. The last few weeks have been spent in the kitchen. Painting, cooking, jamming, pureeing, preserving, pickling…sweating. And more…

We’ve been trying to cut down on our electricity bill…84 isn’t even the record. It was 87 in the house one day…that’s enough to make anyone go postal!

On hot days like that we leave the house and do something productive….hoping that somehow the house might be cooler when we return.

We knew our home garden wasn’t big enough to produce enough for our growing family, so we joined a community garden to satisfy our overwhelming desire for fresh food… 

No matter the location Brinley is all smiles while raking in the bounty from a hot summer’s work.

And when the food looks this good, who can resist smiling?

We also hit up farmer’s markets and prowled around for anything that could be mashed or pureed into a masterpiece for Eleanor.

Are carrots and green beans not what makes your heart pound?

Maybe we should get a scantily-clad supermodel to spice things up…still not working for ya?

Ole Moose Tooth found his own unique way to enjoy the fresh corn from the farmer’s market… Darn those missing teeth!

Mmmmm…those green beans are mighty tasty!! If her mouth was open any bigger daddy might fall in!

This whole solid foods thing is pretty sweet eh Ella-toot? That is in no way a reference to the happenings in her digestive tract…

We dropped the bigs off at school one morning and took the littles to the patch for some worry-free picking.

Ro-dog caught on quickly and only picked the juiciest berries.

By the time we hit the raspberry bushes it was an old hat for this little picker.

You can’t. You just can’t walk through the Berry Patch without giving in to the temptation to taste at least one. Or 12. Or…

Nothing beats Berry Patch berries. We made plenty of ice cream, jam, and even enjoyed them in our salad…

 

Grandma & Grandpa J visited a few weeks ago. We paused our painting projects and enjoyed having them with us for a few days.

I begged my mom to come out and teach me the (lost) art of bottling fresh produce.  Thanks Ellie for sanitizing those jar lids for us! Who needs a dishwasher! Num num!

 

Welcome to the Canning Show. The younger audience members made sure to fill their popcorn bowls before taking their seats.

The ingredients are coming together now. These pickles are going to be gooooood!…in 6-8 weeks.

I can still smell the fresh dill on my hands. I’m dying to crack open a bottle…

Canning was a bit of a challenge with 7 kids underfoot. And that’s not counting pesky husbands. Hey Rowan you got a little dill stuck in your teeth…uh, hold up!!  Are you really using the cleaning toothbrush?!

Well, I guess we wouldn’t want to discourage her from learning how to brush her own teeth, but her friend Kyrie doesn’t seem too impressed… At least we only use that toothbrush for cleaning grout.

Behold: Yummy! But don’t touch that remote! We haven’t even gotten to the fruit yet!

 

Ok, short commercial break. This 3 hour period of undisturbed canning has been brought to you by Moen faucets and Great Value ice cream sandwiches…

Seems everybody is working up an appetite. We had to delegate some tasks to other capable members of the cast. Notice also that the crazy blue wall is gone. Now it’s the crazy green wall which is Nuclear Granny Smith in the late afternoon/evening. At any other time of the day it’s a tame-ish creamy apple green.

Remember when you got this excited about applesauce?

Or oatmeal?

Canning 2010 has been a colorful and tasty success! Thanks to Grandma J and Staci for all of your help & support.

Time to get cleaned up and get moving on the next project. Hey Rowan, you still look like a table surfer!

Because of the busy-ness in the kitchen, meal time has gotten a little…uh…interesting. We’ve been picnicking on the floor or in the yard a few times a week. At least the kids think it’s great.

Eleanor and I have been working on this quilt for months. We make a pretty good team. I sew, she makes sure the fabric tastes just right.

Imagine that any hobby you choose to pursue, that your children would pursue it also. Drew’s working on his “quilt sandwich” so he can quilt and bind.

 

Brinley got tired of taking alien and rocket ship napkins in her school lunch and decided to take matters into her own hands. And if there were to be a dispute over the ownership of these napkins (yeah right!), Binnie made sure that she would win.

Now it’s quiet, the kids are in bed, and I can whip out the sharp tools and get down to business.

The most important project is still in the works. Eleanor is ready to size up to mediums, so that means game on! Developing my own pattern is the mission…

 

The learning curve is steep here. Way to master the pincer grasp Ella-munch!

Ok, now you’re just showing off. We already know how well you can blow that horn.

Speaking of showing off, Brinley The Scholar’s first homework assignment was creating a scrapbook page that explained all about her. Nice writing Binnie!

What better way to cap off Household Engineering Month than taking a ride in Dinosaur Grandpa & Grandma’s RV? (dinosaur because they found dinosaur tracks, not because they are prehistoric in age) Brinley certainly didn’t think it was very exciting…

Maybe it was the RV that was exciting. Maybe it was that they were taking us out to Chick-Fil-A. Maybe it was being close to family we hadn’t seen in a while. Maybe it was all of the above…

Maybe it was the candy! Well, Eleanor is the only one not smiling! Thanks Dino-Grandpa & Grandma! You guys are tops!