Real dough, play dough, and my flower girls.

Homeschool playgroup, after making mini-pizzas from biscuit dough, and having their faces painted! Sweet kids!

I made the kids some homemade play dough out of flour, salt, and water! Very fun! Mal is showing off her "Frosty the snowman"

Bri's famous head tilt. I think she knows it's cute.

Frosty and a beautiful smile.

She couldn't stay as still. Bri's blurred face and her Frosty ;)

Famous head tilt again, and Mal picking flowers.

I thought they were so cute out there picking flowers together, I had to run in and get the camera!

I have no idea...looks like the cover of someone's album, I can see it now, band name: Raising Dandelions.

Maybe I'm biased....

....but these girls seem photogenic to me; even if they weren't!...but they are. ;0)

"I'm gonna getcha!"



*sigh* A picture says a thousand words. Priceless.

 Can I just say that I love staying home with my girls. I am getting to know them now more than ever. They are such sweet kids. Mallorie can read most of the words in the scriptures when we read together. And she surprised me yesterday, having remembered stories and meanings behind them, and where the pictures were and in what order in the book before we turned to them. Wow. It was a learning moment for me. And the other homeschool moms have taught me an important lesson, just by their examples: Just breathe. Don't overload children with things, just teach by the spirit; things both spiritual AND TEMPORAL. Love it. It is building a mutual respect between the girls and I. Who could ask for more.

Turning 6

This year we had Mallorie's birthday party at Michael's craft store. You could pick out what you wanted the kids to do, so we picked bracelet making and face painting. The bracelets turned out to be a little more intracate than some of the kids, including Mallorie, could stay interested in:) I think they all liked having their faces painted and enjoyed themselves for the most part. Here are some pictures:


Mallorie and friends starting their bracelets.



Still workin'....

Mal with her face painted!

"Yummy!"

Everyone was excited to help!

Had to show this one...Bri, with her cupcake mustache and trying to get in the middle of present heaven!



Here's how the cupcake cake turned out! I was happy with it. *And as you can see, I broke down and got pink for the edge and black for her hair*

 All in all, Mallorie had a great birthday thanks to new friends, grandparents, and{hopefully} her "wonderful" parents who put alot of time and effort into it!!! For real though, she had a great time thanks to all who helped celebrate her birthday.

Hope being 6 is great Mal! I still owe you your birthday spankings, though!



Gettin' crafty!

We have been watching way too much T.V. around here! When I need to fill in down time, that is what bonds the time together...the boob tube. I try to keep these kids, and myself, going all day with something constructive, but alas we succumb to iCarly, The Berenstain Bears, or some other DVD that screams "I'll capture your attention and pass the time!"

I was thinking the other day about that. Why do I try to pass the time?! I want time to slow down, really. I need to find, for myself and my entire family, something that helps us enjoy the time we have and not be bored or on the contrary overly extended. The internet and fb capture alot of my time, too. Limiting myself to checking up on fb to once a day is plenty, I'm sure; I digress. I wondered, do I really know my kids, I mean really know them? I want to.

T-I-M-E. Not passing time, but spending time. It's weird how you can live with people, and get so used to it that you forget how special the are, and what they hold inside that you have no idea about because you've become complacent.

Yesterday, we did a craft together, and it's what started me thinking of this. I really had all intentions of just blogging about the craft, but it meant so much more to me than that.

We thought it turned out pretty cute *thanks G-ma Stansel*. I hope I can learn how to relax more and spend quality time with them while they are young, especially. Maybe they will think I know something when they become teenagers. That may be wishful thinking though. Mallorie already thinks she knows more so who knows.

Mallorie also received a birthday package today! She and Bri were pretty excited!

After taking all the clothes out, she decides to try them on!

And, the gummy bears must have melted somewhere along the way.

"Look, mama, they're one big gummy glob!"

"That won't stop me!"



If Mal likes it, that's all that counts!

Mallorie said she really liked the trial cake we did, so I guess we will stick with the concept. I made Carly's head too round, but you can't erase... so here's how it turned out with the random colors:


Mallorie did balloons and an "M" on the bottom right.

I think I will make the iCarly logo bigger, try to make her face more oval, and my mom is sending a package with some candles that spell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and the number 6, so all I should have to write is Mallorie. I ended up using 20 cupcakes, and Mal, Bri and I ate the remaining 4! Fun project! It has sprinkles on there, too, but the camera didn't pick them up. Just imagine a little added sparkle:)

Here is the mock drawing I did and the DVD cover I used for the logo:



Have you ever made....

....a Cupcake Cake??

Yeah, me either.

But, I will try! I just realized that last year for Brianna's birthday I made a cake that looked like a cupcake, and this year for Mal's birthday I am making cupcakes that look like a cake. Weird. Anywho, I thought it would be fun and kids always love cupcakes so hopefully I won't totally bomb at making it. I thought about even drawing Carly Shay from iCarly on it, but I may give up on that after the test run....
Example of a very nicely done cupcake cake:


Whoever did this one, said they baked cookies and painted them to make the iCarly logo.

The following is the picture I'm going to use, with step by step instructions, to draw Carly:

I'm on a limited budget, so the cake is going to have random colors (ones that were on sale!), so we shall see! I plan on updating this with pictures, unless I fail miserably.

Any suggestions from anyone who has made one before? I'm all ears.

Easter at Temple Square

Just us girls...and a cookie.

We decided saturday night, that Easter Sunday we would go to Salt Lake and have a picnic at the temple. This was Joe's and the girls' first time seeing the Salt Lake Temple. I have only seen it once before. It was even more beautiful than the first time. How can that be? I think I was able to take in more of my surroundings this time. It was a little cold, but we still enjoyed our lunchables and we decorated the cookies my mom sent to us. We got some really good pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses. We couldn't believe there was a theme park open, though..boo. We could see all the rides going like it was just any day. I hope they lost money that day. Anywho, we had a great time. Can't wait to go back.



Grateful for the man who offered to take our picture *but did he know he cut out Moroni?*



 The kids loved their Easter basket, and the Easter bunny even brought them scripture markers and a church video! Must have been easier for him to find out here...When we first brought up that we needed to get an Easter basket to set out so the Easter bunny could come, Mal responded, "I know the Easter bunny is not real. I know it's just y'all." So, I was actually fully ready to accept that she had moved on. Later that day, her neighbor/church friend was so excited about the Easter bunny that I think Mal got convinced again, so I just rolled with the punches. I just keep talking about and asking her why we really celebrate Easter. As long as she knows that, I could really care less about the rest. And last night when we got home from the temple, Mallorie was excited to watch the DVD the Easter bunny brought her. And when it was over, she asked to watch it again. All in all, it was a good Easter. Just missing a few key people, of course.

See how Brianna has learned to open things herself.

edZOOcation

Today turned out to be very sunny, and though still cold, we decided to go to the local zoo with some friends. Wish I had taken the camera:( I will try to get some pictures from another who luckily was able to take some with her phone...Anywho, watching all the animals*namely: cranes, bobcats, coyotes, bald eagles, fish, swans, ducks, birds, deer...maybe more*was such fun for the kids, and they of course loved feeding the "fish"-->which was mostly feeding the ducks:)

GENERIC PIC A



GENERIC PIC 2

 Bri enjoyed swinging at the park after the zoo, while Mal played in the volleyball court sand! Bri fell asleep on the ride home. As a matter of fact she slept for about 3 hours! Gotta love that!

Fun -n- friends

This week the kids and I have gotten to get to know a few more people and play and hopefully create some good friendships. Play dates with new people is always fun. Everyone is so nice and the kids enjoy themselves. Also, learned a little more about a homeschool philosophy that I had heard a little about before. Ever heard of a Thomas Jefferson Education? I like the philosophy so far and look forward to reading the books. Thanks to a new friend for introducing that to us again:)

Mallorie and Brianna made paper butterflies, at one craft-date, and then afterwards they all dug up worms! Well-rounded day, I say. Today we went for a playdate/picnic at a park near where we live. It was just us and another friend with kids, then it turned into a party with about 6 or more moms and their kids! Fun times! I love how there are so many people with the same interests in our little neighborhood!

And there are peaches!! The next big city over is called "Peach City"!

And.....I just realized that I got a sunburn on my face today! C'mon SPRING!!! Silly when you get excited over a sunburn, but that means there was sun:)

Stansel School of Elementary Excellence

.........aka home school! So, I just wanted to showcase a little bit of Mal's handwriting she did yesterday that I am well pleased {hate to use the word "proud"} with:


Mallorie said, "It should have said 'Mallorie likes to eat cake'"

I think she does so well when she puts her mind to it! Come to think of it, that's the exact phrase my teachers used to use. Hmmm... Brianna is saying new words everyday, just yesterday she said "Heavy" when trying to pick up a doll that was over half her size:) I should make a list of words that she says. If you see a sidebar pop-up with all the words she says, don't be surprised.
We decided tonight we would go see a movie as a family. Looking forward to it! This will be Brianna's first time at the movie theater! Will give a re-cap of the event for sure.
It has been snowing for 24 hours! Very pretty, but kinda prevents us from playing outside:( Brianna likes to occasionally go to the window and say, "I's 'nowing" {translation-It's snowing} It looks like "The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" out there, that's what I keep thinking when I go outside!Just waiting to see a half man/half goat run out from behind a tree...HA!
Until next time...

Truly, a walk in the park.



"Alright!"as Bri would say. {sorry the resolution is crappy on the first couple, Joe had it set for taking pics of the car}




"Wee, this is fun! But wait, Mal is on a Big Girl swing! That looks like MORE fun!"




"Woo hoo, mom! Take a picture of me when I'm way high!!"




"Much better...didn't you know that was a baby swing, mama?"




"Spin us around in circles!"




"Look who's stuck in the port-hole!"-a shark tale




Then, Mal says, "Look Mom!!....

 


...there's the temple!!!!"
So, of course we had to take advantage of the scenery. Three beautiful little pieces of Heaven in one picture.

 Then, we went to McDonalds...Mallorie said she wasn't hungry and her stomach hurt. The stomach ache began after the last tire swing spinning adventure. After we get home, in the middle of this blog post, she commences to throwing up!! Poor thing, looks like she has daddy's motion sickness problem *sigh*. I think she is okay though...she said, "Now I'm starving" and is now eating her lunch. The little one was all tuckered out, and was asleep before we pulled out of the Mickey D's parking lot. All in all, just three gals having a great day; no complaints by me! 

Too Many Options

It has been a while since I have had so many {productive} options on what I could do with my day; our day. And with getting another car, even more options are opening up. I am confined to what's in walking/bus riding distance right now, but surprisingly this still provides so many options! Keeping myself and most importantly these kids entertained and educated is going to be a project in the making here for a while.

Mallorie has completed most of the Abeka kindergarten materials that we got at the end of last summer. We are working on cursive writing still(yes, Abeka starts this in kindergarten! we love it!), continuing writing her numbers to 100 for better penmanship, and re-reading all of her school books. She keeps asking for more math! She loves doing addition and subtraction and asked when we were going to learn division!! I honestly don't see it as far in the horizon as it normally should be. She really catches on to things fast!

Brianna of course, thinks the answer to every math question is "2!" It is neat that she knows when we are asking her a math question though!

Can't wait to get a school and crafts budget, and a schedule so we can get organized!!

{aren't they adorable? maybe I am a little biased}