Kings and Queens

The Royal Family

Our Burlap Flags we sewedAshley's Castle
Sydney's Castle Zachary's castle
Ashley's armor
Sydney's Armor (it's pink of course)
Zachary's Armor Our Vocabulary Words



Queen for the day! Ashley's 9th Birthday party.

10 girls...what was I thinking??? was I thinking??

Rock climbing at the Y

Zach didn't want to climb, so he played Star Wars instead.

Our Homeschool Group

"All About Me" presentations at our Homeschool Group activity

Syd playing soccer with Upward- she is scoring machine this year!

Ronald McDonald House 5K

ran with my friends Lauren and Noelle.

Well we have been very busy this past month. We started our new Unit Study on Kings and Queens, we celebrated a birthday, we have done some cool things with our homeschool group, and all the while I have been running- literally!

Our king and queens unit has been pretty good- we have made crowns, scepters, drawn castles and armor. We have been reading the "classic" - 'Door in the Wall'- the kids are struggling thru this a little :) but we are getting thru it. We have read biographies, Ash wrote her first paper on Queen Victoria- exciting stuff I tell you! The next two weeks we will be focused more on knighthood, and medival feast. We will be having our own feast, dress and all at the end of our two weeks.

One of the pictures above, of the drawings on the dry erase board, Ashley drew those after I put Vocab. words on the board for the next day. I walked in and saw the drawings and thought to myself she already knows what they mean! It was so cool. The drawing were in such detail- it was crazy.

Some of the other pictures are from our homeschool group we are involved with. Every Friday there is an activity planned we may choose to go to. The first activity was the "all about me" presentation. The kids had to make a poster about themselves then get up in front of the group and speak about it. I was so proud of all of them! They only know a handleful of kids in the group and they were all very brave and spoke very well- even Zach!

We had the most fun so far rock climbing at the Y. The girls did great- Ash made it to the top a few times and Syd kept on trying. I loved watching them trying to figure out what to do next, seeing them determined and not giving up! Zach on the other hand wanted nothing to do with climbing. That surprised me, but he still had a good time- he eventually found some boys who had enough, and ended up playing Star Wars with him.

Then, stuck in the middle of all that, Ashley celebrated her 9th birthday. She was "Queen" for the day, which went very well with our study, and had her first sleepover party here at the house. There were a total of 10 girls and 9 slept over. We thought we were a loud family- but NOTHING is louder than 9 screaming 3rd graders :) Thankyou to my friend Michelle that waded the rough water with me! She was a trooper. Ashley had her mind set on hairdos and fancy nails, and thats we did. Ashley loved every minute of it and that is what counts. The girls stayed up til about 1 am and we wide awake by 7am easily! Then we had a day full of soccer games.

Our Soccer season is almost over and all 3 kids are doing awesome. They are all scoring goals almost every week. Ashley is beginning to really understand positions and technique, Syd is beginning to even find the basics work- along with being aggressive. Zach has come a long way- last year he hardly put a foot on the ball- he just ran around it and fell because it was the cool thing to do. But now- he is a scoring machine right along with his sisters- he is making purposeful plays and man can he run! Dan and I love watching them- we get a little excited. Dan is helping in the coaching of Zach's team, and I am helping out with Syd's. It has been a lot of fun.

Well, as you know we have been consistant in our daily workouts. We go to the Y 4 to 5 times a week. So I have begun to concentrate on running again. In a matter of no time it will be time to get serious- training again for the River Run in March which is a 15k. So in doing so- trying to get ahead of the game a little I want to get some 5ks under my belt. I ran a feew weeks ago with some good friends in the Ronald McDonald House 5k. It wa great. The weather was perfect, and not only did I get to run with friends but as a family we able to serve the community. Dan got Clearwater involved and the kids were busy the whole time handing out water! It was so great to do something like that as a family. We will hopefully be doing more of it very soon.

We can't wait for the weeks to come- we have lots of things planned- we'll be visiting a corn maze, of course Halloween, so a trip to the pumpkin patch, and finding costumes, and Community Fest at our church. OH and we can not forget our friendly annual Pumpkin carving competition at the Zelenkas! We can't wait!

Abel Academy

Sydney's Rainbow
Zach's rainbow
Ashley's rainbow
Our homemade lighthouse- it really lights!


Our classroom being put to use
If you know my husband, you know that he is an awesome encourager!



Our homemade candles.
Ashley's drawing of a light bulb
Syd's drawing of a light bulb
Zach's drawing of a light bulb

So do you see a theme?? When was the light bulb invented? Who invented the light bulb?How does a light bulb work? What is the wire or metal called in a light bulb? Why did people use candles? What are the colors in the rainbow or spectrum? What is a prism? How does a lighthouse work? Why do we have lighthouses?
Get it, now?
Well all of my children can go into detail about all this and more, like who our highest authority is, and who is light, and what/who guides us through life...
We have had so much fun learning this first two weeks. We are wrapping up our first unit study on lighthouses. We are getting a routine down. We start the day off with chores, go right into school, and by lunch we are usually done with the academics- in the afternoon we try to do a fun project that goes along with what we are learning. That is what is pictured. We made candles by melting paraffin and added color by melting broken crayons. We each made one- pouring them in our empty ice cream quart molds. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. So we ate lunch by candle light the next day.
Another project we did was based on the color spectrum- so we drew rainbows- remember
ROY G BIV. Learned that rainbows have order and who saw the first rainbow...and what that means from our bible time. Learned about prisms and Isaac Newton.
We learned about lighthouses and made our own with a working light. The kids were impressed with that too. We waited for Dan to come home so he could be part of the fun. And of course the drawing of the light bulb- Ash, Syd and Zach can tell you what filament is. It is hard to see in their pictures but they really had great detail- I wasn't going to make Zach label the parts but he wanted to.
So needless to say you can see I am just as excited about what they are learning (and honestly I am learning a lot) I am being reminded what a simple, compound, and complex sentence is, what a prepositional phrase is, all that good stuff. It will help me keep my mind sharp. And Dan I know he is enjoying it- he loves to come home and see what we created and he walks through each subject with the kids. He is so great to me - with encouragement for each new day. He bought those flowers for me and had wonderful things to say, that really put my first day at ease. I think we are really gonna like this. Granted there are a few things I am working through that will just come to me as we go- and the comfort of home can lead to a laid back "working" attitude. But the flexibility of being home is great. So it is those balances we need to find.
There is so much I could go on about how amazing this way of teaching and being so involved in their learning is- but I won't do that to you. It is just great to see Syd so verbal, eager to share what she knows, and Ashley not wanting to put down her reading book, or being so willing to help the others, and Zachary how he is soaking it all in- some things on Ashley's level- he gets it, and his eagerness to read, and do math. It is crazy I say. Thanks for thinking of us and your encouragement with the things you've said and through your prayers. I will fill you in as soon as we have more projects underway!

Tropical Storm Fay

Rain, Rain, go Away!
Wind Gusts up to 50 mph
We'll have some clean up to do

Fay just will not go away! Today the storm is moving about 6mph, so it looks like she will not leave until tomorrow. We have lost power a couple of times but not for too long each time, maybe an hour or two. Kids are getting a little bit of cabin fever, but we're doing okay. City of Jax just telling everyone to stay put, stay inside, so that is what we are doing.

This is our last week before we start to homeschool. I am making final preparations. I have been working on the "classroom". Sydney helped me paint, and Dan helped hang things and Ash and Zach helped clean and clear.

Our Summer Vacation...

My new niece Natalie Grace- she is a little peanut.
Syd swimming in the lake at Papa and Grandma's Michigan house
Cousin Grace with Syd at the 4th of July parade in Ohio
Zachary snapping the ball in the boy vs. girls backyard game w/ all the cousins.
Zach on the boat in Michigan
Ashley and cousin Michaela at the parade
Ashley and Dan caught the biggest fish at the lake
The kids with best buds Jyoti and Sully in Charlotte
Dan and Kel at the lake

Girl team huddle

Well we have been home from our two and half week vacation now for about a month and I think we are still trying to get it together. It felt like we were gone for a month! As always though it was such a good time. We got to meet baby Natalie for the first time and is she a cutie. My brother and his wife Erin became proud parents on Mother's Day. Natalie in this pic is two months old (believe it or not). She is a tiny peanut but so good. She was definitely growing- She began to look so big to me by the time we left Ohio.

We wasted no time hanging out with family from the moment we pulled in on July 3rd. We had family pull in from Chicago and Nashville too, so right away our family gatherings were gathered. We went to the 4th of July parade- which is the same parade I use to watch as a kid- that is the really the only reason we still go... the parade is not all that exciting. the kids get tons of candy- I think even more than at Halloween. Our family alone I think had like 40 people there. So we made it fun. There was the first annual backyard football game- boy vs. girls- and technically it wasn't boy vs. girls the whole time. Ashley ended up being traded to the boys and I think they really knocked the girls socks off. Zachary was named MVP- he has learned a thing or two from our friend Mr. Joe. It was so fun to watch all of them- Syd was the pro when it came to what play to run- she loved to huddle. The kids swam a lot- so much that there skin had some kind of crazy reaction that stayed with us for the rest of our journey. Syd really had it the worst- poor thing- it was not fun. But they think it was worth it! We roasted marsh mellows, fired up sparklers, ate at all our favorite places and even tried some new ones, visited with old friends, and loved driving around on our old stomping ground. After Ohio we headed up to Sandusky (for the second time for Dan and I- we were able to meet our friends from Jax- the Zelenkas- at Cedar Point Amusement park for a day- we rode 13 roller coasters and Rebekah and I rode some crazy swinging thing that was probably the craziest ride I have ever rode) So we went up to Lake Erie to spend a couple nights on the boat with Dan's dad and step mom, it was cut short due to weather so we headed for Michigan. We were there for the week. We got to spend some time with friends there as well. Spent most of our time in the lake they live on and got to relax. Then from Michigan we stopped in Charlotte North Carolina to help break up our drive and to see our friends the O'Neils. It is always great to spend time with them- the kids have a blast- as if a day hasn't gone by. They really have a special friendship.

Since we have been home we have been busy. Dan is back to work, I have been able to paint, the kids have started soccer, we pretty much go to the YMCA every day, and we are getting ready for Homeschooling! Oh----it will be an interesting year! School has just started and it is funny for us not to be going back. Looking forward to getting into a routine again, but it will be our routine!

Also Syd just got her tonsils and adenoids taken out. She is recovering really well! She was a trooper. They were impressed with how mature she was about it all. She was a little nervous and scared but she handled herself great. We are really proud of her. we hope that this will make a huge difference in how she sleeps and in turn how that will affect everything else.