We are the Champions!

Quincy and Dandee, with their championship ribbon.

Quincy and Dandee competed in their first show of the 2008 season. The day was pretty much perfect all around. The weather was great, the horses were great, we didn't forget to bring anything, and Quincy and Dandee were awesome!



Julia was our photographer today. She took some pretty great pictures outside, but the indoor ones were a little tougher to get. To be honest, I couldn't have done any better if I had tried. Even though some were blurry, we are sharing them because we think that they give a good sense of what Quincy was doing.




It was a long day, but super fun.

Great job, Quincy!

Quacker's Adventures Part 1

One time, on my adventure, I met a man named Beethoven. He frowned a whole lot, but I liked him anyways.

In this very rose field (with some blue flowers too), I found this big, huge rose. It was really pretty and it had this nice red color.

I hope you enjoyed Quackers adventure.

Julia

Grant's 11th Birthday

Grant's 11th Birthday was this past Tuesday.

The Friday before his birthday he had a friend over for an all night

Halo playing extravaganza and ice cream cake.

Grant had originally asked for a red wagon so that he could sit in it and roll down the hill,

but I just couldn't see buying that for him, so we bought this green machine instead.

Turns out, we were right and he is very happy with it.

Good thing Grant doesn't play the trumpet... he only managed to blow five of his candles out.

Happy Appy Pie for a Happy Appy Birthday.

(Yeah, I know that's lame, but I was in a mood.)

Happy Birthday to me? Awww shucks.

Air Guitar Queen!

This wasn't on my list!

51 Degrees and Sunny!!

51 degrees and sunny is a practically perfect day in the PNW. So we (and everyone else) decided to take advantage of it and enjoy one of the best views from the top of the Space Needle.

The Space Needle (obviously)
Julia and Dan

A perfect view of the Olympic Mountains

Grant

Mt. Ranier rising out of the clouds

Quincy

The Cascades with Mt Baker(on the far left) making a rare appearance. It only shows up about 50 days out of the year!

Here are a few pics of the kids (all but Kevin.) Julia was digging under the bathroom sink and found this Audrey Hepburn-ish look.

Quincy just looking cute.

Grant working on his math homework.

Look What I Found!!

I was looking for something sweet to eat and pulled out this bag of mini-marshmallows. When I turned it over I found this recipe for 24 Hour Salad. I've never seen this recipe anywhere besides our family recipe cards. I know Gramma got this recipe 50 some years ago out of a cookbook, so it had to be out there somewhere, but I was pretty surprised to see it here!

Just thought I'd say happy valentines day!
Love,
Quincy

Grant's new haircut

Grant got a haircut today. It's a little shorter than we planned, but hair grows fast!

Our Valentine Craft

The girls and I spent some time this afternoon melting crayon shavings and making valentine hearts.

Today's Super Kid is... GRANT!

Grant won the title of super kid by being such a big help around the house today and choosing to do chores that I didn't even ask him to do! I walked into the kitchen and found him emptying the dishwasher, a chore that isn't specifically his, without having been asked! I made sure he knew how pleased I was and gave him a big hug. He wasn't overly enthusiastic about the hug, but he suffered through it. He also chose to empty the recycling bin, again without being asked. Yay! Grant! Thank you!

Potato Mushroom and Leek Soup

One of the things I hate to do is find my refrigerator full of old, expired, rotten food, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself for using the leeks and mushrooms (two things I'm not very familiar with) in one really yummy recipe. I'm not overly fond of mushrooms, but will eat them if I don't have to look at them too closely. As I cooked up the very finely chopped mushrooms and transfered them into the soup pot, I worried that I was ruining what had been looking like a really great dinner, but I was wrong and all was well. I served it with some bread and a bit of shredded parmesan. I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about the soup, but none of them complained. (Probably because they know better.) Quincy ate a full bowl and didn't suffer any ill effects.

Here's the recipe:Potato Mushroom Leek Soup

2 leeks, finely chopped (white part only) 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 potatoes (Yukon Gold), chopped 2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil 1 1/2 teaspoons ground mustard
2 tablespoons flour 1/2 cup water
3 cups chicken broth salt, pepper, and celery salt,
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
3 ounces chopped Crimini mushrooms 1 cup milk

In a skillet, cook leek, garlic, and potato in 1 tablespoon of butter and the olive oil over medium low heat, stirring often. Do not allow potato to brown.
Place mustard, salt, pepper, celery salt, and flour together in a bowl. Gradually whisk in water and chicken broth until well blended. Stir into potato mixture, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour.
Mash softened potatoes by hand so they remain lumpy. Stir in Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses until melted, then add milk but do not boil. Cook mushrooms over medium high heat in remaining 1 tablespoon of butter until soft. Add to the soup, and stir. Serve immediately with croutons, if desired.

Leslie... the food processor was a huge help in getting all this food chopped and grated. It even helped me chop my favorite spatula! I decided that I would try to shove some of the leeks in a little further while the blades were still going. Even as I was doing it, I knew that it was a dumb idea, but I was certain that I would be able to push the leeks down without touching the blades and I was only going to do it for a second. Well, that was dumb. Good thing I didn't decide to poke it with my finger!

The food processor was not harmed in the making of this soup.

Monday is Veggie Day!

That's my picture of the vegetable/fruit box that came today. I think I got everything in the picture, although the tomato is hiding behind the lettuce. A local farm delivers boxes of organic veggies to your house once a week. You don't get to pick what you get, but they post the weeks "menu" on the Friday before your delivery, so you know what to expect. This "grab bag" of veggies has forced us to try things we've never had before and also keeps us eating more fruit and vegetables than we ever did. Most of the fruit/veg is pretty seasonal. In the winter we tend to get more oranges than we can eat. Summer brings peaches, apricots, cherries and lots of other wonderful things. Based on what we got last year, I expect to see some asparagus and kale in the near future. Honestly, until we started this delivery, I would never have even thought of eating kale. Occasionally we get something that I either don't want or just don't get around to eating before it goes bad. I'm trying not to let that happen too often. I've learned to make stir fry when I'm getting overwhelmed by veggies. Last year, my neighbor and I would trade each other for the things that we wanted, she hates zuchinni and I am not fond of asparagus. With each box that they deliver, they include a newsletter that tells a little about what is going on at the farm, gives some info about some of the more unusual items, and a recipe that uses these items. This weeks recipe is for Potato Mushroom Leek Soup. Tomorrow's dinner! I've made leek and potato soup, but never included mushrooms, so we'll se how it goes. Hopefully the kids will eat it and I won't get too many complaints.
Leslie... That smaller orange is a minneola. Mom... I don't mind not picking out my own produce because, for the most part, everything I get looks pretty good. Occasionally, I do have to go out and buy something that wasn't included in the box. This week I bought an onion and some carrots at the store.

As for price... I've never tried to compare, but in this week's newsletter they say that they went out and checked prices at two of the local grocery stores and found that the home delivery prices were about $.30-.35 less per item. I'll take their word for it. Besides, it comes to my door. How cool is that?!

Julia's projects

Just wanted to add a couple of pictures of Julia's latest projects. She found the pattern for the scotty dog in a project book based on the American Girl doll Kit. I helped her cut the pieces, but she did all the sewing. The other project was a shirt for her Webkinz bear. She created the pattern, cut it and sewed it all on her own. I was really amazed to see how well it fit.

Horses at the Barn

This is Quincy! To the right you'll see-in this order- Dandee, Ashlee and Demira. Since there are no photos of me without googly eyes on this blog, I decided I'd add one (left) that's me riding Dandee at a show. =) I have two shows coming up, ones just a fun show and the other is the Spring Nationals in April, the Spring Nationals is an A-rated show which is the highest rated show next to regionals. And, of course, I'm going with my trusty steed, Dandee.

Julia's first post

Julia says: I made a horse collage and I wanted to show you it. I went online and copied the pictures to paint. I had so much fun doing it that I am making a dog collage too.

For nearly a year now, I've been getting a box of organic fruits and vegetables delivered to my door. It's been a wonderful experience and has definitely forced us to eat more healthy foods. This weeks delivery is:

Box Menu for the Week of February 4-8, 2008

Item	Unit	Family	Fruit	Small	Veg
Gala Apples*	Ea.	4	6	3
Navel Oranges	Ea.	4	5	3
Asian Pears	Ea.	3	4	3
Minneolas	Lb.	1	2
Bananas	Lb.		3
Mangos	Ea.		2
Red Romaine Lettuce	Ea.	1		1	1
Tomatoes	Ea.	1		1	1
Potatoes	Lb.	2		2	2
Broccoli	Bn.	1		1	1
Sugar Snap Peas	Lb.	0.75		0.66	0.75
Leeks	Ea.	2		2	2
Crimini Mushrooms	Pkg.	1			1
Yellow Peppers	Ea.				1

I get the family sized box. Before we started this delivery service, I would never in a million years have bought leeks. It just wouldn't have occurred to me. Now, I'm looking forward to making leek and potato soup. Yum. But even better than that, we're getting our first delivery of sugar snap peas since last summer!! Even Quincy, who isn't all that thrilled by veggies, will eat these like candy.

Quincy

This is Quincy's latest piece of artwork.

googly eyes

The kids and I were having some fun recently. Here are a few silly pics to share.