Catching Up...

Ashley in action on her new Soccer team. She is playing for an Academy team for First Coast Soccer Association. We wanted to see how serious she is about becoming another Mia Hamm. She scored 1 gaol this game, assisted one and had many shots. It was her third game and she is showing improvement with each one. She is fun to watch.

Team picture: 3 palyers missing...

So we have been holding school this year... it is a little rougher this time around but we are getting things done! I was way better about keeping up to date last year, I guess the honeymoon is over. We have studied Bridges, the body, resourcefulness, and we are currently studying states and regions. We just got finished with a 6 week project taken on by the majority of our homeschool group. We held a History Fair. The kids had to pick a historical figure, research, create an informational display board, write and memorize a monologue, create a background, and dress the part. The idea was to be a wax figure of their person and when a guess pressed their button they began to recite information about that person. It was so cool! Ash, Syd and Zach did awesome. Ashley was an explorer named Ann Bancroft who is still living. She was the first woman to cross Antartica on skies pulling a sled. Ashley was very hot in her ski gear!

Sydney was Sacagawea. She loves to wear wigs. Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark travel across the western United States, enabling them to speak and trade goods with the Indians.

And Zachary with his partner and good buddy Joe were none other than the Wright Brothers. The hit it out of the ballpark with their performance. They had an interactive monologue, that was informative and qite funny. They were great. The kids had to perform over and over as new guests came up to them and pushed their buttons. Then the guests could leave some change in their tip jars. Overall the night raised $512 for World Vision- a relief fund for Haiti. Job well done! And it was fun!

These are pics of the kids bowling at our Homeschool Valentine Party. So fun too! Syd was the big winner in her group bowling a 76.

Ashley says she needs more practice...

Zachary really didn't care- he just loves being around friends!

Well, at the beginning of the year I was able to be present for the birth of Malachi! Lauren and Mark Baughman our super fantastic friends welcomed their second boy into the world. It was such an honor and priviledge to be there.

Here is Zachary as one of the boys or should I say men. He was a ring bearer in the wedding of good friends Kevin and Olivia. He was so handsome! He had a blast, all the guys in the wedding party were so great to him, he just felt like he was one of them. He got to play football in the hallways of the church and have dance party at the reception. Good times! Good memories.

(He dropped the pillow)

Just before Christmas the Abel Clan headed for Atlanta to go watch our friend Joe play for the Atlanta Flacons! He was able to play the last 4 or 5 games with the team and has recently been picked up by them this season! Woohoo! We plan heading back in September for the season opener! We had such a great weekend as a family and enjoying time with great friends. Not only did the kids get to go to their first NFL game but we also got to go to the Georgia Aquarium! Way Cool! We spent hours there, it was a blast. A must see!

Think this is a cool pic.

And had to throw this in- November is the month we usually head to the mountains with our closest friends. We have gone 4 years now and I wouldn't trade it in for anything. We love the time spent with these families and look forward to our next adventure. Here we are in front of our favorite pub in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

And way back in October we made it back to our home (Dan and Kel) in Ohio. We were there for Halloween. This was the kids first experience going trick-or-treat. It brought back lots of memories. Kicking the fall leaves as we walked from house to house.

As always, so good to be with family!

There is the catch up for the last 6 months in a nutshell.

Hope everyone has a blessed Easter!

He is risen!

Love ya.

Happy Birthday Ash!

The two teams

The perfect present! A soccer pillow for all to sign- it is even the right color!

LIFE IS GOOD!

Ashley's friends

Our two refs with their special shirts made just for them.

It was not just a friendly game of soocer.

Husband and wife rivalry.

Our little cutie!

Cool seeing ABEL on the back of our shirts.

GOAL!

So we officailly started school in September. We let Labor Day go by, had some good friends, The Tomlinsons, in town, and my dad too. So, thought it best to get started after the company. Our first unit study was on Bridges. We live in the best city for that! We have 7 bridges going over the St. Johns River to downtown. The Main street bridge is pictured above- a beautiful Truss Bridge. We really could have spent longer than two weeks on bridges. We also looked a little at tunnels, canals, dams, and locks. We look forward to going on a hike we when get up north in November to see the old locks. Just learned that Summit County is named for being the highest point in the canal system ( that is where I am from) hmmm.... Last week we began our next unit on the human body. We will be here for awhile. 8 weeks! The kids have traced their bodies on parchment paper and as we study we will be adding lots of parts. We are even going to see Slim Goodbody! I know someone out there remembers him, he was on PBS. The guy that wore the spandex suit with the internal organs on it. HA! I can't wait. We will also be writing our own adventure book, about getting lost in the body.

Besides school we are busy with all kinds of things. Ashley celebrated her 10th birthday!!! Man, I tell you, turning 35 was not hard for me but Ashley turning 10 sure was!!! She is so grown up. We had the best party ever, all thought up by Ash herself. She wanted to invite her friends and their families to the park where we could have a big soccer game, eat pizza and cake. We had a blast! Everyone was so great that came- all the adults played, it was very cool. Ashley wanted everyone to have a team shirt, so we made our own jerseys, and two shirts for our specail refs. Birthday girl had a little extra on her shirt and was the only double digit, #10. It was the green team vs. the blue team and the green team kicked some booty! As it should be because that was Ash's team. We all had so much fun we may make it a monthly event!

Kids are still playing their instruments. Zach and Ash continue to do weel with guitar. Ashley even lead us in worship one night the Tomlinsons were here, with all our other friends too. Dan and I were so proud of her. She sang and played beautifully. I got it on tape but it was way to long, couldn't get it to upload to the blog, so I will tape a shoter version and put it up. Syd has been at the piano for a coulple months now and doing very well. She is so fun to watch- you can tell she enjoys it. They are all playing soccer. Dan and I are coaching, and having fun being a soccer fam.

Ash and her beautiful guitar about to lead us in worship!

Syd after playing a game at our P.E. day

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!!!If he loses one more on the bottom, he'll have a complete hole in the front of his mouth.

Ohio and the 4th of July parade...
Our niece Michaela with Ash.

Syd with the ever important candy collection bag.

2 generations of first cousins, the first 4, and the second set of 4, with a little guy in between.

Stars Wars!

Our niece Natalie.

Zach sleeping in his newly decorated music bedroom. No more plain blue walls, mom finally painted him his special pictures!




Zach and Ash have been doing great with playing guitar. Ash has a couple songs under her belt and Zach is learning his first song "from the radio". I will be adding a pic of Syd sitting at our piano here soon. She just began lessons and is loving it- she is so excited- she played her first song!!

Our Garden grows!!!

Kids Marathon- we finished up our miles with a 1.2 mile run in downtown!

Face painting- enjoying the festivities!

Our medals!

Gold Medalist Shannon Miller (gymnast- holds something like 7 medals) high fived us as we crossed the finish line!

Before the race...overlooking the St. John's river in downtown Jax.

We had to run over the Main st. bridge twice-

Happy Birthday Zach!

Congrats to our kids!!

Mini-me.

Syd - a natural cowgirl.

and our cowboy.

She really isn't mad...

I love this pic- Ash with friend Michayla

Happy birthday Syd!

Our soccer stars!

Happy Easter!

Our plants are so much bigger than this...I need to post a recent pic.

Ok, so again it has been a while. I hate for this to happen because so much happens in that time and of course I want to share it all. We have celebrated 3 birthdays- mine included. We don't need to talk of that one, Syd turned 8 in April, and Zachary turned 6 at the beginning of this month. It is crazy how fast they are growing. We are having so much fun as a family. I love each new stage of life more than the previous with them. It is so exciting watching them grow, learn, and reach new heights. I especially get to see this through schooling them. We are pretty much done with our first year of school. What a year we had- kids loved it and I did too. We will be homeschooling agin next year. Had a rocky end- for about two weeks we all had a really horrible virus (except Dan) He was working a lot so he escaped the germs I guess. I have never been that sick ever before in my life! Luckily the kids got over it fairly fast- Ash started it and I ended it. I will spare you the details but there is nothing worse than the feeling of glass on your tongue. So once we were better we had planned a trip up North which didn't happen. Thankful for that because we needed the time for school- so we will be headed that way our usual time this summer. Some grandparents came for a visit, we got to go to Tampa to visit some friends, I got to have a girl getaway, an anual trip for the last three years, and here we are. Zachary graduated kindergarten, girls promoted to the next grade and all is well. I just have to work on their portfolios and we will be set. We look forward to the summer to unwind a little, go to the beach and spend time with friends. We will try to keep up with math throughout the summer and we will read a family book together- not sure which one yet. That is probably our favorite time together. We just finished "The Secret Garden". It was great- now we ill rent it and watch the movie! Speaking of gardens- ours is out of this world!!! Our tomato plants are huge and we have so much lettuce a rabbit couldn't keep up. If you can't tell we have been studying plants. The kids have been realy into the garden, it is so fun to see their faces light up when they see a flower on the plants, and when they find a new tomato or strawberry.

Last time I wrote I was about to run my 15K. It went well. I did better than last year and that was my goal. I have just started running a bit again. Fell away from it, but still working out. My favorite class is Zumba right now, but knew it was time to have a little bit of cardio thru running. It is my best bet. The kids are getting into exercise. They will all be in a race this weekend. When they finish they will have accomplished a total of a marathon. We have been tracking miles leading up to this race and they run the last 1.2 at the race. They are super excited. Ashley has been working out with me and I even have her Zumba'in.

Dan is well- working a lot. He has been out on the road- they lost a service guy, and as the new one trains, he has been a service guy. It is taking a toll on his body! It has been a awhile since he a to dig a drywell everyday. The rain has been awful. Well, I take that back we soooo need the rain, but it has literally been raining since Sunday and it is Friday. Little to no break. So getting a little bit of cabin fever. It has been great for our gardens!!