School, Soccer and More is in Full Swing!

Watch out everyone!  Delaney has her driving permit.  :-)  It is so hard to believe that she is old enough to learn to drive.  LOL  Now she just has to get a lot of practice and log all her hours, before the big final test.



Delaney's CP soccer team is in full swing.  Between school and soccer, she's extremely busy.  They've had 5 games so far.  They played Lake Central, 1-2 loss; Highland, a 2-1 win; Portage, a 3-0 win; Lowell, a 2-1 win; and Culver, a 3-0 win.  The team is coming together and playing well.  Delaney even got a few pics taken by Jim Karczewski for the Sun-Times.


 

 

 
And since she scored both goals at the Highland game, she was picked for the Athlete of the Week:



Also when they played Lowell, the Varsity team (who was nominated by their coach), did the Ice Bucket challenge and then subsequently challenged the Lowell varsity team as well:



We also had Danielle's dad over to celebrate his birthday.  We had a Mexican feast (yummy!), and we made him his favorite German Chocolate cupcakes.  I think we all ate too much, but it was very good. 



Kyle is doing well and adjusting to middle school.  It's a definite change from grade school, but he seems to be adapting okay.  They also give them so much time to read for AR (which is great), but Kyle reads so quickly that he's going through a book or sometimes two a day!  We've had to make sure he has a stack of books available at all times.  

Can you believe that it is almost September!  YIKES!!!

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

Where Did the Summer Go?

I can't believe that our last posting was back in June!!!  I guess we've been enjoying our summer too much to remember to put a family post up.  Delaney has been having a soccer-filled summer.  She  attended a couple of college soccer camps this summer at Valparaiso University and IUPUI.  She really enjoyed it and is hoping to attend even more next summer.



She has also been working hard with her Crown Point team already.  She even helped out one week at CP Girls Kiddie Camp, which was a soccer camp for younger girls.  This was her first year helping out, and she had 6 girls she was personally working with.  She found the combination of practices and working with a group of young girls exhausting!  She's already had several scrimmages with the team and has officially made Varsity again.

They had a picture day and Delaney made this collage:
 
Right now, they are up to Monday through Saturday practices and her first game is before school even starts (and the second is the first day of school).  So much for the rest of her summer!

Kenny had a conference to attend in Atlanta from June 26 through July 2.  The ISTE Conference had about 20,000 educators all talking about Technology.  Kenny was in Heaven!  He brought back a lot of great information for Hammond.  He also got to visit CNN Headquarters, Olympic Park, and visit the Atlanta Aquarium. 



We had a nice July 4th here at the house, spending it with Danielle's parents and grandma.  We had a cookout, played games, and enjoyed the unseasonably cool summer weather.  Kenny and the kids also enjoyed some fireworks.  Kenny filmed this finale:



And they took this selfie together:



Kenny also got to hang out with some good buddies that he's been friends with since grade school.  It was really nice for all three of them to get together and hang out a while.



Then it was time to celebrate our nephew Michael's 8th birthday!  It is hard to believe that he is already eight years old.  He is a bit of a LEGO fanatic, and this birthday didn't disappoint -- especially with the recently released LEGO movie -- he excitedly received several new sets that were played with that very same day.




Kenny and Kyle took off for a father/son weekend up in Michigan, hanging out with some friends on the beach.  They had a great time, even though the water was a wee bit chilly -- they still enjoyed their beach time.





Dee had some soccer obligations, so she and I stayed home.  We had a really nice testosterone free weekend. HA! 

The very next weekend my friend RuthAnn came up for a relaxing weekend for us!  She came up sans kids, and I had Kenny and the kids go stay elsewhere.  :-)  They spent the first evening at Danah's house, then went to Kenny's parents.  We had a very nice kids-free, craft weekend.  The only kid that had to stay was our furry baby Loki.  Not being a particular kitty person, RuthAnn tolerated him.  I even caught her and Loki exchanging an eskimo kiss on the stairs:



Really, how can you not love this adorable face?



We had to register the kids for school.  They already have their schedules and supply lists, and it is getting all too close to start time.  It is still hard to believe that we not only have a kid in high school, but we also have one in middle school now too!  Next Thursday we start back up our rigid schedules again.  UGH, definitely not looking forward to that.  However, after some sibling bickering issues, I may be a little bit less upset than they are:



Kenny's technology department at his work had a little "before school starts" Tech Party of their own.  They met at Zig-E's Funland in Saint John, IN.  Delaney and Kyle met up there with him, and they all had a blast.  There was miniature golfing, lazer tag, and more.



It's been a busy few weeks for Kenny, as he also attended the OLPH reunion and went to a Chicago Fire game with some buddies.   



I am getting ready for a CTMH Open House this Saturday, and the kids are frantically trying to enjoy the last few days before school.  Maybe that's why it has been so long since our last post, because it seems as if there is always something going on!  :-)

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle