Old Fashioned Cranberry Relish

Clint's Mom was reminiscing about a cranberry relish that she remembered making as a girl. It had a whole orange with the peel and everything. Magical Google found it for us. It is wonderful. 

Cranberry Relish Recipe

Prep time: 15 min.

Ingredients:

            2 cups washed raw cranberries

            2 skinned and cored tart apples

            1 large, whole (peel ON) seedless orange, cut into sections—remove green stem.

            ½ to 2 cups sugar

Grind it all up in the food processor (or an old-fashioned grinder, if you have one). Be careful not to over-process, or you will have mush.  Mix in the sugar. Let sit at room temperature until the sugar dissolves—about 45 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

We did one cup of sugar. Next time I'll only do 1/2 cup. 

One day I'll get some good skiing shots

But until then... here are the boys skiing this Thanksgiving weekend. They are using poles for the first time.

Jack

Tal

Happy Birthday Haley

It was Haley's 13th birthday on November 13th. We celebrated with cake and invited the Pulsiphers over to share it with us. Then we had our annual watching of the Haley video. The boy's favorite part is when she is hunting for eggs in the playground behind our house in Maryland. Trace has been talking about Haley a lot lately. He tells his friends, "Don't do that or my big sister Haley will beat you up!"

Jack Has His Two Minutes of Fame

It was Jack's big day in his homeroom and he got to read a book he created all about himself. Afterwards he asked if there were any comments or questions. About seven kids raised their hands and said, "I've been to Jack's house and held Jack's rat." The teacher finally said, no more comments like that. But there were at least four other kids who could have said the same thing. Someone said, "Man, you have a lot of playdates!" Jack is a very friendly boy.

Why We Had Kids

A little higher, Trace.

Halloween

Trace chose to be a skeleton! Luckily I'd made this for Cole years ago.

Talmage is Aries, the God of War. You know he loves Greek Mythology, right?

  

Cole was a ghoul, because his Mom was too cheap to make him a new skeleton costume.

Jack is an Irish Warrior. We had to google reenactors for this one. They wore animal skins and plaid, or went naked with blue face paint. We chose the clothed version. He's wearing a "coonskin" hat under his helmet with the tail tucked in!

Here are the boys at their school parade.

Tal's best friend, Isabella, went as Demeter. They share a love of mythology.  Her mother is a clothing designer.

I talked to the mom who made this from scratch. It's paper mache on the head, an elaborate cage and strap system to attach it to the head, all covered in feather boas!