We went to Florida!!

My dad and stepmom told Keilee that they were going to take us to Florida for her graduation but they wanted to wait till school started back.

She has said her entire life that her dream is to live on the beach. But she’s never been to Florida. When she was 3 I took her to Gulf Shores but she has no memory of it. I spent every summer of my life until about 16 at the beach. It’s where we always went on family vacations. But I could never afford to take her. And I’ve had some Mom guilt over the years that I could never afford to take her.

As I watched her in the ocean  I shed a tear at the look of pure happy on her face. 

And I sent up a “thank you” prayer to Jesus for all his beauty.

And I have no doubt we will be back.

Karen

It’s August. This summer flew by.  As they so often do.

I am just going to dump  pictures here of a few things we have done this summer.  We didn’t do many things because money is so tight. But thankfully we have pool passes and spent hours and hours at the pool.

We went to a Families Belong Together March.  This story has just devastated us both.

Kei

Keilee experimented with pink hair.  It’s not permanent but we both love it!

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We just stayed at home and watched the neighbor’s fireworks!

There has been a lot of reading both at the pool and in the backyard.

And Keilee has done some photoshoots as characters in modern settings.  This is hippy Alice in Wonderland.

And there have been Princess events. MANY Princess events.  To see more of those follow her on Facebook or Instagram @MagicalMemoriesAL

So it’s almost ‘back to school’. But we aren’t doing ‘back to school’. It’s a very strange place to be.

Hope your summer has been awesome!

Homeschooling STILL rocks!
Karen

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” -Henry James

It’s over. It’s done. My sweet girl has graduated.

It was an amazing night. After crying for the last four years about this night I did not cry one drop. I was just so proud of her.  She was chosen to give the graduation speech and it was incredible.  It made me want to start all over again and homeschool!

She found the perfect dress at the thrift store and wore her Elsa shoes!

She spent weeks on her hat adding rhinestones with tweezers.  It was most fitting that it was a Gilmore Girls quote.

Bathroom Selfie

Her table.

Cap and gown.

Giving the speech.

About to receive her diploma.

From ME!! (love her foot kick)

Keilee and my Daddy

Keilee and Seth

Keilee and Katherine

Keilee and Aunt Judy

Keilee and my cousin Teresa and her daughter Zoe.

Afterwards we all went out to eat.

Here is her speech.

I can not believe this part of her journey is over.  But I truly believe the best is yet to come.

Like her hat said, “Ready for Anything!”

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

    As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.  – MICHAEL DELL

Everyone keeps asking us her plans. What d[NoCache]oes she plan to do after graduation

Ever since she was 13 she wanted to take a gap year. At that time she didn’t really know why.

Now she does. She wants to work on her company. This beautiful wonderful adventure that she has worked so hard on for two years. She would never go off to school and leave it. She has done over 250 events since she started it when she was 16. She also doesn’t want to leave our church. She adores leading kids church and her small group of 4th and 5th grade girls.

She has always told me that she didn’t want to go to college just because that’s what she was supposed to do. Several people have tried to get her to let them make an appointment for her at various colleges to talk to them about possible scholarships. She just was never interested. She wants to have a plan for what she wants to do in her life before she enters college. She has lots of plans. The only one that actually involves a degree is a child psychologist. She told me that at 24 if she decides she wants to do it she would go to college then.

She plans on working on her educational Instagram and Facebook and YouTube channel. She’s going to teach three classes at a homeschool co-op. She wants to take a couple of classes because she always wants to learn. She is tossing around the idea of writing curriculum for homeschoolers. We want to do some traveling. Not huge traveling because we can’t afford it but just a few trips to places we wanted to go. And she wants to invest more time in making Magical Memories even better.
I have no fear for her future. She has always been the person who gives 150%.

All I have ever wanted her to do was be happy. And she is one of the happiest people I know. And I firmly believe that’s because she loves so many things.
Homeschooling has given her the confidence to do things her way. I hope she never loses that.

Homeschooling Rocks,

Karen

We went on a wonderful field trip to 1818 Farms. 

Keilee was by far the oldest kid there. But I think she loved it the most

Feeding one of the many chickens

Her face!! The chicken walked away.

Feed me.

Cute Chickens

Baby lambs!!

She was in heaven!

Her faces always crack me up.  This is her ‘there’s a cute animal near me’ face.

More lamb cuteness!

Mama lambs

These pigs were so adorable. They could do tricks!

The Great Pyrenees dog of the farm!

She wanted to take him home!!

It was such a beautiful place!

1818 Farms!

We had the most wonderful time.  Keilee was in her happy place.  And today, April 24th, is 30 days away from her graduating.

Homeschool Rocks!
Karen

“Animals are way cuter than people”  ~ Keilee 18

This has been such a cold April.  My Instagram is filled with snow pictures from all over the country.  It hasn’t snowed here but its been cold!

She had a Moana party a few days ago.  See aforementioned paragraph.  It was cold.  And Moana isn’t warmly clothed.  And she is barefoot! (it was in a park with a cool waterfall for pictures though!)

Leading kid’s church.  This August it has been 3 years since she started doing this!  It is my favorite of all the ‘stages’ she’s ever been on.

Walking around downtown.

Happy Easter!

Serving at our soup kitchen.  She’s been doing this since she was 15.

Dorothy was always “hers”. Her favorite . It was the one she watched over and over ad nauseam. I thought I would lose my mind if I had to hear those munchkins sing one more time.

She was 2 and knew it word for word. I taught her how to rewind the VHS to replay it. She honestly watched it for months and months over and over . Up until she was about 4 it’s almost all she watched.

Tuesday she was Dorothy for the library and I’m not gonna lie. It made me a little sad. I can still see her sitting on her little red rocking chair watching it and singing every song. And getting up to skip down the yellow brick road. And tiptoeing through the forest with Dorothy. And clicking her heels together 3 times.

Time is such a funny thing. It goes by slowly until it doesn’t.

Reading at the library.

She still crochets almost every night.  But she decided to try making a bunting with felt.  I love how it turned out.

So April is marching by.  It seems like I write an awfully lot about how quickly time goes by.  Because it does.

Hug your babies, play with your kids.  Because you will blink and they will be a senior!

Homeschooling rocks!
Karen

“I love being busy”. -Dolly Parton

So March is half over. The weather is warming up.  We so love spring.

Keilee had her first set of Senior portraits done. She has researched graduation invitations.  She is working on her graduation cap.  Things are getting very real.

She couldn’t walk out but she could support them.

She has been wanting Mal from Disney Descendants for awhile and finally got the costume. I think it’s going to be a favorite.

Days tick by. They become weeks. Weeks become months and soon I’m not a “homeschool Mom” anymore.

Enjoy the moments

Karen

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. -Ferris Bueller

February is winding down.  Keilee graduates in 3 months.

Please. Time. Go. Slowly.

Have you seen the Hobby Lobby photo shoots? Yup  we did one

A Mom asked Keilee if she could get a Unicorn costume together.  So of course she did.

Isn’t the horn awesome? She ordered it handmade from Spain.

She read at the library as Rosie the Robot. This was her Halloween costume.  I loved the way she started.  She was talking very robotic. (AKA annoying 😉 and then she said “Reading Mode On” and started talking normally.

Rosie reading.

She got another sloth for Valentine’s Day.  She is strangely obsessed by sloths.  It’s weird.  She almost hyperventilates.  She wants to go to the zoo to see one but I’m seriously afraid she will pass out.

She was asked to do an interview for a homeschool Mom and she was answering the questions here.  She said to me, “Mom I have had so much fun being homeschooled. I have gotten to do the coolest things and had the best childhood”.  And THAT was the goal.

In the car waiting to go in to her first Unicorn party.

Slaying it at kid’s church.  She LOVES doing this.  She loves sharing Jesus’s word with kids every week.

As we say goodbye to February (and didimention she graduates in 3 months?) we are so looking forward to spring.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

So as Fe

We have heard of Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine for years but never really understood how huge it was.

Keilee was asked to attend as Elsa and it was the most unforgettable night.

Years ago I worked with Special Education high school kids and it was the most wonderful job.  I fell in love with these kids who were always so full of joy.

This is Travis.  Travis refused to leave Elsa’s side.  Even when she was taking pictures with other people.  Finally someone came to get Travis so others could enjoy Elsa.

I love the people outside the window watching.

This is Woody. He loved Elsa too.  He drew her a picture for her to take back to Arendelle.

See Travis in the background? 😉

Woody giving her the picture.

She has never been hugged so much and I have never seen so many smiles. (and tears a few time from me)

Adults and children loved meeting Elsa.

More Elsa love (and Elsa LOVED them back. She said it was the best night)

These two little girls followed her everywhere.  They were so precious.

There were 500 proms going on simultaneously across America.  I hope they all were as full of special memories and love and joy as the one we attended.  If you ever have a chance to help or attend this event it will bless you beyond belief.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched- They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller

I have loved Sean Dietrich AKA Sean of the South for years.

If you aren’t familiar with his work go find him.  He is very active on Facebook (under Sean Dietrich and Sean of the South), Twitter and Instagram.  He also has a podcast and several books.

His writing evokes a simpler time.  He is 35 with an old soul.  I know way too much about his life, his lovely wife Jamie and his dog Ellie Mae.

For the Carnegie Carnival he came to our town. I seriously almost lost  my mind when I saw it on Facebook at 11:00 PM.  Keilee thought something was wrong.  It was expensive (to us) but Keilee insisted we go.  She said it would be our Valentine’s gift to each other.

We arrived and met his wife at his book table.  She was delightful.  Seriously we both fell in love with her within 3 minutes.  She had us rolling laughing with stories she told.  The show itself was wonderful.  He is a magnificent storyteller and also singer.  He is funny and poignant and heartbreaking at times.  His father committed suicide when he was 12 and it is a huge part of who he is. He see the absolute good in everyone.  He notices small details. He sees beauty.  He appreciates all the small details.

He comes from humble beginnings.  He doesn’t like fancy people or fancy events.

Us with Jamie Dietrich.

Sean on stage.

Afterwards we met him. Twice.  The first time we were the first in line.  We assured him we were ‘his biggest fans’.  (but not in a creepy way) and I bought a book even though I have them all on Kindle.  He offers them for free occasionally on his Facebook page.

Then we went back to talk to Jamie and in the course of the conversation it came up that Keilee owned a princess company.  She told us that Sean’s younger sister did that years ago so of course we had to stand in line again to tell him.  He thought it was very cool and asked Keilee is she played Elsa.  (he has a niece) and asked her to sing Let it Go.  She told him he had to sing it with her.

All in all it was an incredible night.  Please find him and read some of this stories.  I PROMISE you won’t be disappointed.  In fact they may change the way you see the world.  I know they have changed the way WE see it.

Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen

“We all lose in the end. The fight in between is all that counts.”
―Sean Dietrich