Lady Bulldog Soccer, Senior Night, and More!

Delaney's senior soccer year schedule is now over. She is definitely a little melancholy about it. The last post was up to the away LaPorte game. Crown Point won this game 4-1; Delaney got a goal and an assist. Then they had a Saturday away game at Culver Military, which ended at a tie 1-1; Dee scored. Their next game was again away at Chesterton; a tough game, 0-1. Ending their away game streak, they had two games in Indianapolis against Hamilton Southeaster and Brebeuf. Both were a 0-2 loss, which is an improvement over previous losses against these teams! Finally a home game again vs. Valparaiso, this one was quite a nail biter. The score was 0-1 the majority of the game, with a 1-1 tie with only a few minutes left in the game. The game then went into overtime, then onto penalty kicks - which gave us a win! Another home game was next vs. Andrean, a 3-2 win with Dee having 2 goals and an assist. One more home game vs. Merrillville, a 5-0 win. Next was an away game with KV, a 1-3 loss; Dee scored.  Then they had their rescheduled game with St. Joseph, a 1-0 win -- a CP first win against that team. Then, believe it or not, it was time for Delaney's senior night; a 9-0 win, started off with a goal by Dee.




 

 

 


That was their last home game; Dee was a bit emotional about it. Next they had an away game with Munster, a 0-2 loss. Then on to Sectionals! Game 1 was vs. Merrillville, a 9-1 win.  Sectional Final was vs. KV, a 2-0 win!


 

 

 
Regional Game 1 was vs. Highland. It was a rainy, miserable start but they came out strong with a 2-0 lead at halftime. Dee got a goal and an assist. Unfortunately, it was answered very quickly in the second half, tying the game at 2-2; which went into OT, then PK's for a loss. Penalty kicks are a harsh way to lose. The Lady Bulldogs had a great season: undefeated at home, DAC Champions (a 3-way tie with Chesterton & Valpo), and Sectional Winners! It's always a great day to be a Lady Bulldog!!!

During Delaney's high school soccer season, a couple of exciting things happened. One, we got a new kitty: Thor! Loki was initially not overly fond of his new little brother, but they have come to somewhat of a tolerate understanding at this point. He is super friendly, loves to purr, and gets into everything. But he is soooo cute, he can pretty much get away with anything.


 

 
Also, Delaney went to her Senior Homecoming with Phoenix. Her Aunt Danah helped her put her hair up; it looked gorgeous. I think they had a great time.


 

 


Our nephews, Parker and Connor, are phenoms in Cross Country, and they had a great season. They qualified to run at Semi-State. And our niece's volleyball team won their 6th Grade Championship. Way to go, everyone!


 

 
Then on October 29th, we celebrated a family wedding: Kenny's godson Jason married Brooke.



For Halloween, our nephew Michael dressed up as the Millionaire Man from Monopoly. Love it!



And just because the Crown Point high school soccer season is over, it doesn't mean that soccer is -- heavens no! Delaney is already playing with her travel team Three Lions United. They've had 3 games so far.  They've played Michigan Rush, a 0-2 loss (with no subs, so a rough game). Then they won against Sporting QC 2-0, with a loss against Indy Prem 0-1.

Enjoy!
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

 

School is Back in Session!

This is pretty much how both kids felt; the summer just goes by so fast. I can't say that the rest of us were that excited either -- schedules amp up, homework starts back up, and the kids and I have to start remembering what day it is again. We thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in late occasionally, having free time to read and craft and play video games, and just having time to relax. We also read some great books; one of our favorite new authors is Brandon Sanderson. We just can't get enough of his books, thankfully he is a very prolific author. We still keep track of all our books on Goodreads, if you'd like to follow us.

It is so lovely that Delaney can drive herself -- especially to all her early morning CP soccer practices. Practice started basically right after school, and then moved up to practices Mon. - Sat. and two-a-days! Kyle had a pretty laid back summer, but he did help out at the CP library with their Summer Reading Program once a week. He was thrilled to discover that the library is a PokeStop. Both kids have really been enjoying catching Pokemon all summer; they even went out on walks together to catch more -- surreal!  The library also started a Pokemon Club that Kyle was enjoying attending with a couple of his friends; they changed the meeting dates to the weekends to accommodate school.

We celebrated July 4th at Danah's. Even though it was unseasonably cold, everyone still had fun. Definitely no swimming in the pool (but most of the teenagers took advantage of the hot tub), but we played ladder golf, bean bag toss, and Kenny even set the kids up to play Mario Kart outside.  They had the screen filling the side of the barn; it was quite impressive.



Delaney and Kenny had been doing a lot to get ready for their England trip, and it was finally time for take off. So begins their 8 hour flight...



They had a wonderful time. They visited many historical sites, exploring London and Manchester, and of course... playing soccer!









She kept a blog of their entire trip; if you'd like to see more pictures and see their daily activities -- make sure to check it out: DreamSoccerTrip.

While Delaney and Kenny were across the pond, the new Star Trek movie came out! Kyle and I decided we did NOT want to wait for them, and we saw it on the first night available -- Thursday evening, July 21st. We loved it!  Delaney finally got to see it right before school started; she talked Phoenix into going with her.



This August 7th, Kenny's dad had a milestone birthday this year -- 70! He's been doing great -- trying to eat healthy and has lost a lot of weight too. He's been participating in a Times weight-loss contest (down over 40 pounds!), and Kathe has been eating well right along with him and losing weight too. Awesome!



The weekend before school started, we got to go to a great concert! We won some tickets to see Dierks Bentley (my favorite) in Noblesville at the Klipsch Music Center (originally Deer Creek Music Center).  Kyle had a sleepover with a friend, so he didn't go with us. Delaney wasn't upset; she was able to have Phoenix go with us. We all donned our Dierks' shirts and away we went.








Cam opened up; Delaney really loves one of her songs, Burning House, so she was very excited to see her.  Then Randy Houser was next; he has such a powerful voice.  We knew more of his songs than we realized; he also sang one of his signature songs, Like a Cowboy.  Next, of course, the headliner... Dierks Bentley!  He sang plenty of his hits and quite a few from his new album Black: What the Hell Did I Say, Somewhere on a Beach, Different for Girls, Freedom and Black.  As Rusty McAllister in The Incredibles says:



Then the day the kids were dreading came: Thursday, August 18th. This is Kyle's last year in middle school, and Delaney's last year in high school. So hard to believe!!! Kyle literally won't stop growing; he is now taller than everyone in the family (Delaney peaked at 5'2" just for perspective).  And it seems like about every 6 months he needs a new pair of shoes, currently he is in size 12!



I found these pictures of when Dee was in kindergarten; it is so hard to believe they were that little!



Before school even started actually, Delaney had her first soccer game with her second game after the first day of school.  Her soccer senior year!  They've had four games so far, 3 wins and 1 tie.





Their first game was a 1-0 win; great for their season opener. Delaney had the assist. Their next game was a frustrating 0-0 tie. The third game was a final score of 9-0, with Delaney getting a powerful shot off for one goal that my dad counted as his birthday goal (since he came on his birthday to watch her game). Their last game was a close one, going back and forth, finishing with CP winning 3-2. Delaney had a goal and two assists -- what an exciting game! Their 5th game on Saturday was rained out, with their upcoming game away at LaPorte.

Check out some highlights in this VIDEO !

This past weekend, the guys took a weekend off before the weather turns and enjoyed some beach time up in Michigan.





Delaney and I had more of a girls weekend, enjoying the unusually quiet house (no video games) and giving ourselves pedicures!!!



Love,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 
 

School is Out! Hallelujah!

School is out, finally!  Sometimes it seems as if school will NEVER end.  Delaney is now officially a SENIOR in high school!  (* gasp *)  And Kyle is officially an eighth grader, his last year of middle school.  It is hard to believe that they are old enough to be in those grades.

As the school year winded down, Kyle was invited to Taft's Awards Night and received the John Millstead Award for Reading Achievement for the 7th grade.  This is his second year, maybe he can go for a three-peat in 8th grade?  :-) He still keeps track of all the books he reads on Goodreads, under Kyle Benich.  If you are on Goodreads too, add him as a friend.  In fact, Delaney and Danielle Benich are on there as well.  Join all of us!

He also was a member of the Hoosier Book Club, where he was 1 of only 2 students who read and did a project on all of the books.  Kyle ended up making a commercial for each of the Hoosier books, you can find the links on his Goodreads review for each book, or he has a YouTube channel for them set up.  He's going to do the same thing again for the upcoming Hoosier books for next year.



Delaney had a fun Six Flags trip through school with her Physics class.  Her boyfriend Phoenix was in the class too, so they had a nice day off of school.  The weather forecast was a bit stormy, but thankfully it held off most of the day -- they only had to leave a tad early when the rain/storm came into the area.



As far as her never-ending soccer schedule, Delaney's Three Lions season is over and she's going to be starting practices for Crown Point soccer for her senior year next week!  She'll also be attending some soccer camps throughout the summer.

And this past June 1st, was the 6th Worldwide LAM Awareness Day.  I was officially diagnosed in 2008 after many years of breathing issues and being misdiagnosed by a few doctors. The LAM Foundation says there are about 1,400 American women with LAM like me and an estimated 3,500 globally that have been diagnosed with LAM or Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a progressive and deadly rare lung disease which affects women during the prime of their lives.

On June 1, women with LAM, scientists and clinicians around the world who are researching the disease, along with The LAM Foundation paid tribute to these efforts on Worldwide LAM Awareness Day.  Also, we'd like to thank our local doctors Dr. Dilling at Loyola and Dr. Devanathan in Hobart who are treating women with LAM and instilling a sense of hope every day, so we can find a cure together.


 


The kids and I are so looking forward to the summer break.  Not that our time will ever be completely unstructured, it will be nice to at least have some less structured time where we can at least get more rest and some more time to chill out.  Kenny is even on his summer schedule with work, where he works 10 hour days Monday through Thursday and gets Fridays off.  He's not looking at the 10 hour days with a lot of excitement, but he's looking forward to the 3 day weekends for the summer.  So, here's to summer!



Love, Dani, Ken & Kyle
 

Stay Strong!!!

Stay Strong!!!  There are only 15-1/2 days of actual school left to go.  We can do this!



In the midst of all the never-ending schoolwork, soccer practices and travel soccer... Delaney had her Junior Prom!  She had to go to Indianapolis for a game, come back and get dressed up for prom quite swiftly, go to prom and basically get no sleep, then head back to Indianapolis super early in the morning for another game.  Not exactly the schedule that she would have liked, but she made it work with a little help.  Her Aunt Danah even came over to do her hair for her, while her dad drove her all around everywhere.

Finally... she was ready! We took a couple of pictures before she left.


 


Then they met up to have a picture taking session beforehand...

 



And the dads even got in on the fun...


 
Here they are during the march...

 

 And after prom...



Hard to believe that she is old enough to go to a prom, right?  And even better, she even scored a goal and an assist the next day.  What a weekend!!!

Also Delaney was inducted into the National Honor Society.  It was cute, Dee and Phoenix were right in line by each other -- nice to be up early in the alphabet: Benich and Bergner. 



 

It was time to think about Mother's Day.  I saw my mom before and was able to give her her gift, while Kenny invited his family over for a game night to celebrate the day before.  We had a few lively rounds of Apples to Apples.



Then on Mother's Day, Kenny took the kids and I to see Captain America: Civil War.  We were #teamcap all the way!





Love,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle