Somehow, our baby boy is now twelve years old. (Next year will certainly be interesting, surviving in a household with two teenagers... yikes!) He decided for a repeat with a request for monkey bread for his cake again.
His grandparents got his some great birthday gifts. From Grandma Kathe and Grandpa Babe, he got an awesome leather jacket which he loves.
And from Papa and Dinah Grandma he got a hard-shell guitar case, which he has been wanting for quite a while.
We got him a couple of new songbooks, and the new LEGO Batman 3 game. Unfortunately, free weekends are few and far between -- so his video game sleepover with his buddies for his birthday will have to come later.
Let's here it for some new songs!
Delaney has been super busy with school, soccer, visiting colleges and lifting. Here is a video of her lifting for a Personal Record:
This year's LAMposium was in Chicago again and actually started on Kyle's birthday. Kenny left to help thoughout the entire event, while the kids and I didn't head up to Chicago until later.
We had to get through the remainder of the week, especially Delaney's fun midterms! Ugh! But, it was soooo nice to make it through Friday. We finally got a good night's rest that evening, then left Saturday around lunchtime to have time to help set up and attend the LAM gala that evening. Many friends and family met up with us there, here is a group shot:
Delaney's friend Sam was able to come with again and help out for the second year in a row. They do have clothes that aren't only soccer-related. But while attempting to take a picture, they got photo bombed by Uncle Ed.
They didn't let that stop them though. They dress up nice, don't they! :-)
Everyone had a great time!!!
We wanted to say thank you again for your support of our family and the LAM Foundation. At the LAMposium Conference, there were over 100 scientists, clinicians and doctors gathered together to talk about the research being done and to talk with over 150 patients and family members. At the Breath of Hope Gala over $200,000 was raised to help find better treatments and a cure. We were the top raffle sellers once again this year - due to all your support! We did have a raffle prize winner - a second place vacation package went to the Elo Family. We appreciate all you do.
Afterwards, we came home a nice week off from school for Spring Break. The kids and I definitely needed some down time. We enjoyed some sleeping in, laid back days and thoroughly reveled in not having a schedule to follow. Believe it or not, the kids actually get a long once in a while too. Here they are playing a Kinect Dance game:
Then we had a mini-vacation away at a friend's house in St. Joseph, Michigan.
Delaney has been experimenting with braiding her hair, and she even did my hair. I've been letting it grow out and the in between stages are... well, let's just say annoying.
We had a wonderful time relaxing out away from home. We played a lot of games, I read several books, and we watched some movies too. Sometimes it seems like we never have time to just chill out. Delaney has been having a great time with her photo journalism class, and she is really enjoying taking photos lately. While Kenny and the kids were out walking, she took a bunch of pictures (she even contributed several photos to the blog today).
She's doing a great job, isn't she? Maybe we can take over all the official photography duties! Woo-hoo!
I think Loki was more than a little lonely while we were gone, and he was super attentive and such a little purr-baby for a few days. At least he wasn't like this:
I wish he didn't have such an over-developed stranger-danger sense. Our neighbor was helping us out with him, and she said she he is so cute she wanted to pet him -- but he was having NONE of it. (* sigh *)
I think next time he just wants to come with us. Here he was when were packing:
He's so funny! Enjoy!
~Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
