Oscar Stew

If an overweight guy with reindeer and an egg-obsessed rabbit can bring gifts to children all around the world, why can’t a bunch of mischievious irish elves get in on the fun?

The leprechauns seemed to invade from all directions. First there was the little green footprints that led from D&B’s bedroom down to the fridge where their little milk jugs had been irish-a-fied, idea courtesy of the brilliant St. Kari.

Drew set up a leprechaun trap to see if this mythological character could be tamed. He managed to break loose of the trap, but not without leaving some of his “gold” behind.

Those persnickety pixies also left an all time favorite – sugar cookie dough. Shamrock shaped cookie cutters were the weapon of choice, of course! 

Did the kids enjoy the plain old sugar cookies? Nope! With the help of some St. Paddy’s inspired frosting from Grandma F the kids got right to work embellishing those behavior-altering flour chunks into masterpieces of mischief!

Critical sugar content level acquired, ready for the rush!

No this isn’t leprechaun genocide. I wanted to take a page out of Bakerella’s book and try some cake balls. Since my sister Kelsey is here, we thought with twice the luck we could pull it off, but alas… Bakerella we are not. They were still fun to make (and eat!).

O’Drew went off to kindergarten armed with yet another handmade leprechaun trap. If they doesn’t fall for the paper rainbow and the gold painted bottle caps, I don’t know what else the boy can try.

Alas, neither of the traps worked. Drew decided to take a more diplomatic approach and wrote a letter. “Leprechaun how come you didn’t let me catch you in my jail and my office one. Can I catch you today your leprechaun letters are silly man on the box. My name Drew.”

Drew wasn’t sure of the address to send it to. Just Ireland oughtta do right?On the envelope Drew is trying to appeal to the sprites’ softer side. I don’t know how that’s gonna work; they call them the Fighting Irish for a reason!

Drew’s birthday was last Monday. It’s hard to believe that 10 years from now Drew will be terrorizing the streets in his hovercar…

The birthday festivities started the day before as we wrapped presents to add to the anticipation (and self dicipline!). Why use fancy yet meaningless wrapping paper when you can outsource the decorating to the temp agency? The kids don’t have to know that this is one of the ways we pinch our pennies. Would they care? Nah.

Maybe it was just a thinly disguised opportunity to cop a feel? And, there’s nothing like writing yourself a little birthday message…

While Drew was at school Brinley wrapped her secret gift for Drew. It was temperature sensitive, and needed to be kept under tight surveillance.

True to tradition, the birthday fairy came and trashed, er…decorated Drew’s room.

We didn’t even have to ask Drew to pretend how he felt that morning. He did it all over again because he wanted to!

Drew requested pizza for his birthday dinner. It was a momentous occasion for our family…8 months in the making. Rowan can finally handle dairy! Free at last!

After Drew was done decorating pizza he informed his agent that he was ready to take calls from all his fans. By the way, that isn’t pizza sauce on his knuckles. Drew hasn’t been cage-fighting either. He’s just suffering from the driest winter in Colorado in the last 100 years!  

Drew’s cake was inspired by Family Fun magazine. You didn’t think we thought this up all on our own, did you?

Everything appears to be on the up and up. Drew, go ahead and make a wish!

And yeah, if those sparkler candles re-light, just keep on wishing!

Hey Drew, I’m slobbering all over this one, so you should unwrap it before it’s soggy slop…

Thanks Rowan! Now all my secret treasures will remain secret! This safe even comes with an alarm, so even Rowan’s metal-melting slobber won’t go undetected.

Grandma & Grandpa J sent gifts that entertain no matter the weather.

Hmmm, sunglasses from a Dilly Bar box? They are pretty cool…

Drew appears to have been fooled. But for how long? Only Brinley knows…

So what ‘s in the big green bag? I dunno, it says “rage” on it, I hope Drew doesn’t have a fit!

He was doing wheelies in the kitchen on his second pass!

Brinley’s mystery gift has finally been revealed…what kind of shoes need to be frozen? Dilly Bars! What the?!

As an artist, Drew uses a lot of paper. Construction paper gets expensive, and I’m tired of watching the computer paper supply dwindle. So the best gift? A roll of paper 36 feet long! Drew can also run Concourse B in Denver all by himself, courtesy of Grandpa & Grandma F.

Even Edgar got in on the gift-giving, with a gift that keeps on giving…back to himself! You follow? Edgar has high guinea-garden expectations. Better get digging Drew!

G&G F sent the kids a box of valentine makin’ fixins. The kids have been itching to dig in, but we waited until yesterday and went hog wild.

The kids are no strangers to glue & glitter so they jumped right in with both feet.

Drew said he ask Edgar if he wanted to help, and Edgar said yes. UmmmmHmmm…  Looks like Edgar’s intentions may have been different than Drew thought. Great, now we have a glue-sniffing pig on our hands.

(and yes, I know what you are thinking. There is a rodent on my kitchen table, but mind you – his is on his designated rug and the lysol was nearby just in case. Can we still be friends? Please?) 

Of course the gooey pink sparkly stuff was Brinley’s favorite.

This could either be really good or totally nasty. He’s just pig enough to find out. Curious little creature…

We eventually had to bribe Edgar away from the craft table. He was being way too helpful.

Who would have thought the first person to write Drew’s name in sparkly pink would be Drew himself? For what it’s worth, this was quite a challenge for him. Those glue bottles are pretty hard to squeeze and be precise at the same time.

Miss Binnie beaming with pride of her custom made creation. Her valentines were more like sandwiches. All the fun ribbons, hearts and sparkles are hidden beneath layers and layers of doilys. It’s a “surprise” she said.

Happy Heart Day!