Delaney's soccer season with Crown Point High School ended very well. They were the 2014 Sectional Champions. Dee was excited to be a part of the winning sectional team now for two years in a row.
They also made a great showing at Regionals, winning their first semi-regional game against Clark 6-0. Delaney got 2 goals and 1 assist in the game, and she was named Player of the Game on the radio broadcast. Kenny's sister Kim and her kids were listening and shared all the radio mentions of Delaney with us. Teresa and Michael were apparently quite excited every time they heard Dee's name! They then played Lake Central in the final game and only lost 2-1; it was a very close game. Delaney ended the season with 11 goals and 4 assists. Great job, Dee!!!
We also celebrated our 19th anniversary during her CP season with a quick dinner out then on to Delaney's CP game at LaPorte. They won 9-0, a good anniversary present. And Kenny also attended his 20 year homecoming at Saint Joseph's College. Geez, 19 and 20 -- look at those numbers!
Delaney has been wanting to update her room for quite a while now. With CP soccer season having practice after almost every single school day and some Saturdays, and even weekend games -- Ken and I were reluctant to start until the season ended. Now that it was officially over, we started the kids' room remodels. Kyle's room went first, much to Dee's chagrin, because he was getting a lot of her old furniture. So, we basically tore his room down to nothing and started painting.
We painted the walls, trim, shelves, closet and desk baskets. We made a valance, drapes, bedskirt, pillow cases, and pillows -- which doesn't seem like that much in a couple of sentences, but it definitely took a while to get through everything... Kyle's room is finally finished.
He loves it now. He isn't all that thrilled with change, so the updating process wasn't a happy one for him -- but at least the end result is! Delaney was impatiently waiting her turn, so she was ecstatic when it was finally her turn. Now it was her room tore down to nothing ready to paint.
She couldn't WAIT to say good-bye to her purple butterfly-covered walls. [While I, as their mother, felt like we were slowly painting away our kids' childhood in these room remodels! :-( ] She upgraded to a queen-sized bed, had her walls, trim, and some furniture painted as well as purchased a bedding set with matching valances and drapes. We also made her some pillow cases and pillows to go with her new room. It was again, quite the process, and basically seemed to suck up any extra time we had. But... Dee's room is finally finished now too.
Whew! So happy that this is behind us, as the only family member who actually enjoyed the process was Loki. He thoroughly loved the entire process, all the new things to check out and explore and the drop clothes were so much fun to play with.
During this ever-so-fun remodel process, everything else was still going on. Just because Dee's CP soccer season was over, doesn't meant that SOCCER is over. Soccer season never really ends, as she went straight into practices with her Three Lions United team. She had to get ready for two tournaments coming up soon: one on Halloween weekend and the other in the middle of November. But instead of practices almost daily, now they are down to a couple of times a week (usually). Their first tournament over Halloween was in St. Louis. Delaney got the rather dubious honor of driving there. Kenny put on a costume and away they went (poor Dee).
They played extremely well for their first time together in a while. Winning all three games, Delaney scored a goal and assist in the first, a goal in the second, and both goals in the last game. Their second tournament was in Indianapolis, and they had a rougher time. Their first game was a 1-5 loss (Dee got the only goal), then a 1-2 loss (Dee's shot hit the post, bounced around, and Miller put it in), with a victory at the end 1-0. The weather was extremely cold and snowy too; Kenny was all bundled up watching!
And that beard... ugh! I am overjoyed to report that it has been removed.
It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone!?! Seriously, where does the time go? We had celebrations with both sides of the family. We enjoyed a yummy meal the weekend before with Danielle's family, so Danah's boys could be there. Then Delaney snapped this picture on our way to yet another Thanksgiving meal for Kenny's side of the family.
It was now officially time to get ready for Christmas, believe it or not. We did a quick cleaning, then got out all the holiday decorations. The process itself is slightly painful, but the decorations all finished up helps you get in the holiday spirit.
We even found Loki's Christmas hat from last year, that was too big to fit him last season -- so we just gently laid it on his head when he was napping for a photo shoot. Look how little he was!!!
So Delaney wanted to get a picture of him in it this year. The expression of utter disdain on his face the entire time she was trying to get the hat on him was priceless. Needless to say, we never did get a good photo -- maybe we'll have to try the nap photo again later.
The kids posed for a nice picture though, all decked out in their holiday clothes. Delaney cried foul though, as Kyle's hat made him appear to be slightly taller (it is an illusion folks, although it is getting QUITE close).
And someone snapped this picture of Loki. We decided that this is the caption, "I didn't try to bite or play with it, honest! You can leave it here, we're fine."
Ta-dah! House is all ready for the holidays!!!
Unfortunately, Loki has been having a little too much fun with the ornaments. We wake up each morning to assess the carnage from the night before and put everything back. He thinks the tree is his personal playground.
We also enjoyed some fun movie time here and there during our cleaning/decorating. We watched Transformers: Age of Extinction, Maleficent, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Giver. I also just read As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes about one of my all-time favorite movies and enjoyed it so much... that we rewatched The Princess Bride for the umpteenth time too!
Unfortunately, it feels like now all our free time is sucked up by preparing for the upcoming holiday season. Usually, we have a lot more ready by now. But since we've been involved getting the house back to normal with all the remodeling, we are playing catch up. It's always something, right?
We'll leave you with an adorable picture of our fur baby.
Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
