Yep its official, the rumors are true...

Warning:  Before you begin reading this, please get a cup of coffee...this could take a while.

As my mom would always say, "The cat is out of the bag."  And for today, yes it is.  I have decided that today would be the day that I would officially let the cat out of the bag and pour my heart out to you.  As some of you may have already figured out we have made the decision to begin homeschooling our girls in the fall.   This is something that I have always wanted to do (I think that for whatever reason homeschooling is on my bucket list of things to do before I die) and as a sorta kinda teacher myself it is something that I think will really work for our family.  After much prayer on my end (and I mean MUCH), my big daddy boy, out of nowhere, asked me what I thought about the possibility around Thanksgiving.  Now to back track a little bit I have been really praying and desiring this since my oldest was in Kindergarten when I was so super jealous over all of the time her precious teacher had with her and how I just got the sloppy seconds of her very tired and worn out self every evening.  Not to mention that after around 3:00 I tend to give sloppy seconds...or at least that is what I have been told.   As I continued to just block the feelings out the Lord really began to impress the idea on my heart  around this time last year.  I began researching as much as I could, reading everything I could get my hands on, and joining various homeschool groups in my area just to get their newsletters to see what they were doing...even though my kids were at school (I told y'all Im a stalker).  But, time seemed to creep up on me and out of fear and uncertainty we registered the girls for school this year.  And not that I regret that.  We go to a wonderful school with wonderful families and wonderful teachers.  It is like our second home and saying goodbye will be so difficult that I will probably be sedated for much of the month of May.  But, it has just not felt right all year.  

So after much more prayer than you can really imagine, many many long talks, and Wootie kicking and screaming that she just wants to be at home with her family we have made the decision.  There, I said it out loud.  I have had such a desire to go public with this decision that I have been holding in since Thanksgiving, and it feels so good to get it out there.  Here is what I know so far about what next school year will look like for us...

• I will be using the "Kellye method" of homeschooling.  Im sorry there are just some things I feel that every teacher must have (even if she is in her pajamas and only has two students) and that is a desk, an apple, and a class pet.  I am a little quirky and OCD so I don't really fit any one mold, but for the most part I am classical meets Charlotte Mason meets Montessori (kind of but not really) with a little traditional thrown it just to keep it "school-ish".  For all of you non-stalker, non- homeschool folks out there this is called eclectic...or as I like to call it the Kellye Method.    I am very into nature studies, classical literature, Im not a fan of text books and want my kids to be reading every waking second of the day...that is my classical meets Charlotte Mason side.  But I am a realist and I know that there is no way my kids will ever learn to do math outside of horrendous, tedious, completely ridiculous very necessary worksheets so we will be sticking with Abeka for that, at least for now.  That would be my traditional side.
• We will follow a four day curriculum and use Fridays for Home-Ec (aka...get the house cleaned) and outings.  Friday will be our field trip day, library day, etc...you get the point.  Also, Thursday afternoons will be the day that we meet up with my 3 bestest friends in the whole wide world and their children for our own little co-op that I am sure would make any veteran homeschooler just cringe.  Here we will focus on some kind of specific academic something and will do a little P.E.  First on the P.E. list is me teaching all 12 of our kids to jump rope...and I mean seriously jump rope.  Double dutch y'all okay (Cinderella dressed in yell-a, went upstairs to kiss her fell-a).
• Our history and geography will be Exploring Countries and Cultures and we will be taking a trip around the world (from the comfort of our own home) learning about how everyone else lives so that when we start history from the beginning of the world the following year, they will know what in Sam Hill I am talking about.  Im most excited about this part of our school for sure!!
• Our science will be Apologia Astronomy so look out folks you just may find us on the moon.  
• I have read more books than you could ever imagine and have become BFF's with folks that have been dead for hundreds of years...I think I am crossing over.
• As of now I am not wearing denim jumpers or a bun and am currently not pregnant...but you never know what is to come!!!  Im just kidding, my wardrobe will continue to be pj's and ponytails!!!
• Finally, our school room will be our current playroom.  Im not sure yet how that will work out but I do know that every school room has massive bookshelves, bulletin boards, and lots of bean bags and oh yeah that class pet..LETS GO SHOPPING!!!  I will be posting pictures of our progress as soon as it all begins!  

Im very excited to begin this journey, wish I would have had the courage to start from the beginning because goodbyes are not my strong suit, and hope that I will have the support of my friends and family who really don't know yet!!  Oh boy, here we go!!

Simple Mom...You Must Go There Now!!!

Isn't it the best feeling in the world when you come across a new blogger that could really be your BFF in real life??  I think so and believe me I tend to be a little bit "stalker-ish" when I find my new BFF's.  So, in advance please let me just say to Tsh and all of the contributors...I am your new BFF and please love me in spite of my stalker ways...I truly mean no harm...really you can ask Edie and Nester and Christy and Sally...Im truly harmless I promise!!

Aaaah...now that that is out of the way and I have confessed my celebrity stricken state, let me introduce you to a new network of writers that have teamed up with Simple Mom to inspire us in the world of kids, eating, homeschooling, and motherhood...It is Simple Living Media and they have launched this new site and it is chock full of goodies...like awesome giveaways this week that you won't even believe.  Now go forth and enjoy!!

In a Funk...In a Rut...Forget about it!!

Do you ever feel like you are "in a funk" or "in a rut" in your life? Just a bad place that you really can't explain and that you really don't want to explain. Just a time that nothing seems to go right and nobody seems to understand?? I think that we all feel like that sometimes...for me it has been where I am for the last few days. I have had a big ole pity party right here for me all week long it seems!!   It really has been ridiculous. But, after talking to my 3 bestest girlfriends in the whole wide world it has become very in your face evident that a "rut" or a "funk" is really just code for an attack by Satan.

Maybe we don't realize it at first, maybe it takes some of us a little bit longer than others to catch on to (uhh hmmm...that would be me), and maybe just maybe we are very exposed to Satan's attacks and we don't even know it. Have you ever gotten that email that says...

When you get out of bed in the morning does Satan say, "Oh no, she's awake??"

I have always loved that email and have true desires of being that person, but in reality its more like

"Oh boy, she's up...I wonder how I can torture her today?  She's so fun and easy!!"

I want Satan to know that he cannot sway me and that he will not get to me so he really should find someone else to torture.  How can I do that though, when it seems that I am constantly feeling sorry for myself and feeling that I am so short changed?  I mean really there are people still under the rubble in Haiti and I have the odassity to get annoyed that my husband has worked every night since Christmas  without a day off???  Come on!!  What on earth is wrong with me?

I desperately want to get my act together so that Satan will leave me alone, but really when I think about it, he isn't going to stop torturing me as long as my feet are not grounded in the Word of God.  When I veer from God's wisdom, I leave the door open for Satan to come in.  That is where the rubber meets the road for me.  Its a matter of knowing whom we believe and being persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed to Him.  WOW!!  How is that for drop you to your knees.  

I will not sit around and claim to be in a "rut" or a "funk" anymore because that is really just an excuse to wallow in my own pity and confused understanding of this life.  No, instead I will plant my feet firmly in the Word of God and seek His will not my own, so that Satan knows when I rise out of my bed in the morning he better get back!!!

How bout you??  Do you find yourself in a funk sometimes and if so, how do you find your way out??

Welcome 2010...I have big plans for you

I am not a big resolution kind a gal.  Actually, I never make them because I know that I won't keep them.  But I do love fresh starts and new beginnings.  I love to see that blank calendar before me all ready to be filled in with goodness.  And I've got big plans for 2010.  2009 has left me in a funk.  Have you ever felt like you are just not you any more?  That is so where I am.  What happened to the me that had spunk, energy, motivation.   For the last several years I have just been feeling blah...like I am on the hamster wheel in Zhu Zhu land (which by the way are cheap junk...but don't tell my kids I said that).  I am naturally a creative person.  I am a scrap-a-holic, a craft junkie, and am completely obsessed with all things houses and decorating.  But somehow over the course of life I have lost my way.  I have turned in to someone I don't even recognize.  Someone who is stuck in the mundane routines of life, running on the hamster wheel, going nowhere fast. 

3 years ago I left my full time stay at home mom gig to pursue something for me...don't you love those statements that always bite ya in the rump?  I began a real estate career and was extremely successful.  I pounded the pavement, had a blackberry, great clothes, a date book (that I desperately needed to help me keep my head attached to my body), went to important sales meetings, and had many lunch dates.  To most people in the world...I had it all.  A successful career, a great family, a great home, everything.  


To me I was slipping away...some people say that women can have it all. I can't.  I was stuck in the moment and not being able to see the big picture at all.  Losing sight of who I was and what was important to me by the second.  The Kellye that was a full time stay at home, lounge pant wearing, car seat toting, wet wipe fanatic, schedule nazi...well she was all but gone.  


I didn't realize at the time how sacred the time raising my girls truly was.  How precious the opportunity was to be at home with them.  How priceless the bonding would be between us.  As they grew older, I began to wish the time away.  "Oh, I can't wait until she crawls, until she walks, is potty trained...sleeping through the night...not sucking a pacifier...front facing carseat...booster seat...kindergarten. And on and on.  Now my girls are 7 and 9 and I have hit all of the major milestones of childhood...we have permanent teeth, wear D.O. for our B.O. (when she remembers Lord help her), and can operate a microwave.  Now all there is to look forward to is BOYS, dating, cell phones, chat rooms, prom, cheerleading, driving a car and moving out.  Oh goodie!  I say all of that very sarcastically to make this point.  My life must go back to that place of priority.  God has put me on this planet as a wife to a wonderful man that I love more and more each day and to 2 precious girls that are on loan to me only for a very short time.  I must treasure these times, love to live in the moments and not resent the mundane routines, because those routines are what our families are based on.  They are what set the tone in our homes.  Those mundane routines are sacred and should be treated as such.  I must love my children where they are, not miss where they were or await where they are going.  There is so much to be done in so little time.
So far me in 2010 big changes are coming.  I have already retired from my real estate career and back home taking care of my family full time.  And I am determined 

that I am going to find myself again.  I'm going to prioritize, be intentional with my time, live with purpose, and find my creativity again.  I am very excited to get back to the me that I used to know...I really liked her. 

what brought all of this on?

Because during the holidays we did alot of this and it was wonderful...

and this...

...because its always fun to get together with old friends for no good reason.

And because family is the most important thing and 
by this time next year this picture will seem so far away.

And because I have the best friends in the whole world and 
I want to make time to enjoy them.

And because when you take time for life, you get to see this...

...and this

and even this...

...and you may catch a glimpse of the tetherball tournament going on
between daughter and dog.  The dog won...daughter says.


so how will i 
get it together again in 2010
 you ask?


I will purpose each and every day to make life beautiful...
the mundane, everyday boring routines are what make up life...
so lets make those beautiful too.


I will remember that "kids spell love...T-I-M-E."


I will give each and every day to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 
to do with me what He will.  I will allow Him to lead my path and stop trying to do this 
thing by myself.  And to rely on the Lord for his never ending grace and His 
absolute dedication to continue to meet me where I am.  To fill in the gaps for me
 when I fail.  To help me up when I fall.


And to get back to my creative ways...well, I had a little help with that....mmmkkkay!

You see my hubby took this $20 garage sale find...

and with this and his mad carpenter skills...

he turned this...

INTO THIS as a Christmas surprise for me!!!

And then he snuck this little darling in there too.

and this highly discounted Cricut (courtesy of Walmart day after Thanksgiving).



So I got the creativity part down.  Don't you worry about me!!


Happy New Year everyone!! And welcome 2010...I have big plans for you!!  Oh, and by the way...this is my 99th post...What can I do for my 100th!  Im so excited...any suggestions??