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!

Enough of all this growing, canning, fruity self-sufficiency! You kids go do something lame and counter-productive, that’s an order!

You know boys, they love video games. But I’ve never heard of Wii Cub Scout Pack Meeting before… 

Looks like Eleanor’s following orders with exactness. First she horked down some Oreos, and then she went for some artificially flavored ice cream. Yum!

Apparently Brinley can’t hold her liquor…or her water. Silly kids and their drinking games!

Rowan can top that: She’s joined the Bloodhound Bones gang! I’ve heard that hazing involves freezing your tongue until it’s numb! Diabolical!

Drew is on page 8 of “How To Take Over The World Without Really Trying”. Isn’t there a TV show that you could watch instead?

Deep in enemy territory, this little soldier is planting land mines to wreak havoc and horror on this country: 

Don’t be swayed by this girl’s bewitching good looks, or she’ll hand you that form and steal all you got while you’re examining the fine print!

Graffiti in a state park? Shameful!

Excuse me young man, but what are you doing climbing that tree?! You better not be trying to be a Peeping Tom!

Don’t you shake your fist at me!

“Look Mommy, I found a half pint.” These rascals still have canning on the brain!

Have you heard? They’re remaking “The Dark Knight”, with evil Two-Face being played by this scary character:

Are you ever frustrated on a nature walk when you don’t see any wildlife? We weren’t disappointed during this hike:

Careful Brinley, scratching your back on that mossy tree can turn you into a grouchy drooling bear…

…into a psychotic, grouchy, drooling bear! Drew, nooooo! Too late…

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!).