We're Still Here!

Yep, we are still here! Our last blog post ended right after Spring Break (yikes!), so I have to go back a ways. So towards the end of the school year last year, Kyle was inducted into National Honor Society. Great job, Kyle! Keep up the good work your junior year.



Believe it or not, way back on April 26th, the Avenger Endgame movie came out. We were desperately trying to not hear any spoilers, since it took us a bit to get in to see the movie. Overall, the movie was pretty good -- and it brought this current phase for the Marvel movies to a close well, but I think it also could have been so much more. I personally was really hoping to have a lot more Captain Marvel in the movie.



On May 4th, we celebrated Kenny's parents 50th Anniversary at a special mass. Their actual anniversary was August 16th. They had a lovely ceremony for all the participants.



Then on their actual anniversary, we were all able to get together to eat out and give them their gifts. Kenny had them recreate one of their wedding photos to commemorate the day.



Kenny's annual Bad Pants golf outing this year was a success. It was pretty cool this year, so he wore Kyle's Deadpool pajamas and apparently they were the winning outfit. What could be wrong with Deadpool riding a kitten unicorn? Seriously?



Kyle's last day of school was June 5th; Delaney had already been home a couple of weeks. Everyone was so looking forward to not having a set schedule and enjoying the summer break. We did a lot of sleeping in, playing video games, reading, and not doing any homework. It was glorious. Kyle's last day as a sophomore. :-)



Delaney played soccer all summer with Chicago City again, as well as helping fill out some travel games for an Indy team. She did a lot of traveling, but she had a great time playing soccer all summer. One weekend, she had to go play a couple games all the way in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kenny wasn't able to go with her, so she and I made a weekend out of it. We ate some yummy food out, did some shopping, and visited an adorable cat lounge and adoption center. And oh yeah, Delaney also played some soccer. HA!



Kyle usually keeps his summers pretty open, so it is unfortunate when everything overlaps for him. Kyle was volunteering to help process the Chromebooks for the school, which was from 7am to noon (definitely an early summer day for him). Then, he had his driver's education classes the same days from 1 to 4pm. Definitely NOT his desired carefree summer days, but he got through them all. And he now has his Driver's Permit. Watch out!



Our nephew Connor graduated high school; it seems so hard to believe. Connor is going to Ohio Northern University for college this year. Go Polar Bears! Now my parents just have one more grandchild to get through high school now. (Kyle, we are talking to you!)



Towards the end of June, Kenny and Timmy participated in a golf outing to support the LAM Foundation. I even found Kenny a feather shirt to wear in honor of the event. They had beautiful weather and a great time.



In addition to soccer and her part-time job, Delaney still found some time to hang out with Nate (of course). They had a blast at a Jimmy Buffet concert (at the exact same place that we watched him 25 years ago!), they had a great day at Chicago, and even hit a water park one day.


 



Then it was time for Delaney to go back to Parkside; I have NO idea where our summer went. Unfortunately, her apartment wasn't even ready so she had to move in some temporary housing for a bit. It was looking a bit sad.



Once her apartment was finally ready though, Kenny and I headed up with the rest of her stuff and helped her set her room up. Now she said, she finally felt like she had a home. :-)



Kyle started school back on August 20th, while Delaney's classes just started yesterday. Here are our two juniors: our daughter in college at Parkside, and Kyle in high school at CPHS.



And Kenny and I just celebrated our 24th anniversary... we got a big one coming up next year!



Enjoy!
Ken, Dani, Dee and Kyle

About Time for a New Post!

I always have really good intentions to keep posting more often, but next thing I know... it has been half a year. Ha Ha! What can you do???

Last post, Kyle just got his braces off in mid-September. So, starting from there... Delaney had her fall season of soccer at Parkside. It was a good season -- starting with their trip to Boston for pre-season and ending with a trip to the conference tournament. Delaney got some great playing time and scored six goals, 2nd on the team. The highlight goal was at Purdue Northwest with a bunch of family in attendance! Now it's time to roll into Spring Season with a few games before heading home for the summer.


 



 

 

 

 
For Halloween this year, both kids actually needed to dress up! Kyle was helping out with a Halloween Key Club event, and Delaney was going to a costume party. Here was their thought processes:

1) Kyle: I don't really care, just make it simple and find one for me.

2) Delaney: I can't find one I like, check out a myriad of make-it-yourself costumes before finally deciding on one.

So, Kyle was an Identity Thief. He wrote names on "Hello" stickers and put them all over his shirt. Ta-dah! Costume finished.


 
Delaney decided on Audrey Hepburn and borrowed from me a dress, jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and put her hair up. (And sadly, no one knew who Audrey Hepburn was...)


 
 But she did seem to like her Halloween care package. :-)


 
Kyle learned to make homemade pies for Thanksgiving. He did a pretty good job; they certainly tasted yummy!


 
Then it was time for Delaney's finals; definitely time for another care package.


 

 
Next thing you know, it was time for Christmas Break! We went to see an early showing of Aquaman. It was a lot of fun, everyone really enjoyed it (except Kyle, who was lame and decided to stay home).


 
When we decorate the house for the holidays, we have kept a lot of the kids' grade school artwork and put them up around the house. I went through and took pictures of all of them -- so cute!


 
While Delaney was home for break, Kyle still had to get through some school. He also had to go to a Regional BPA contest. He was more than ready for Christmas break to start for him as well.


 
And, of course, there was all the Christmas gifts to make before the celebrations. It is always such a relief to finally having everything done and ready to go! Here are just a few that were made:


 
Then we had Christmas celebrations with friends and family! There was a lot of eating too much, exchanging presents, and just enjoying visiting with everyone.


 

 

 
And I also had to share the AWESOME wrapping paper my parents found! Meowy Christmas!



When all the festivities were over, it was time to just relax and enjoy the remainder of the break. This included a lot of sleeping in, video games, and being as lazy as possible. Well, that is for Kyle and me... poor Delaney and Kenny had to work sometimes. :-(

Long after Kyle was done with Lego Worlds, I kept plugging away to get that one last achievement: Billionaire. And... I finally got it! We also played a lot of Overcooked 2, which is a lot of fun -- until the kids start getting snippy with each other. Then it is time for a break! There was also some Celeste, Abzu, and who knows what else.


 

 
And we also did the most difficult puzzle we have ever done before, that we gave away because we were NEVER doing it again. It was hard not having the straight edges, but even harder than that... was the fact that some of the pieces seemed to fit in more than one place. So, there was a lot of rearranging and frustration... but we FINALLY finished it!



Believe it or not, it was time for New Year's Eve! The girls got off to a rocky start, with the guys starting off with a winning streak.



But Delaney decided that was enough, and she got a win! And I finally got one, too.


 


And Delaney finally got into her groove and was unbeatable. It was also the wee hours of the morning, and we were all tired! We called it; Delaney was the champion (and, as you can see... it was not my finest time at game night).
 

 

 
Then a few days later somehow, someway... we are now the parents of a 20 year old! That just doesn't seem possible, does it?

 
For Valentine's Day, Thor was eager to help me get Dee's next care package ready. (She wondered how all that cat hair got in her room!)


 

 
Kenny and I were able to get away for a weekend. We went to a Dierks Bentley concert, and we also got to go see Captain Marvel! Thor and Loki are now Goose fans!!! Then, we met up with Delaney, Nate and a couple of her friends who were hanging out at the Galloping Ghost all day for lunch before heading home.


 

 
And... Spring Break went by way too fast. :-(

Luv, Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

 

Summertime is over! :-(

It is remarkable how fast summertime just seems to whiz on by -- it's like you blink and (* poof *), it's over. I personally love the lack of schedules, alarms, homework, and other potential drama-inducing problems. This is how I feel during summer break:



We had a great summer; it was nice to have everyone all home again. Besides returning from being away at college, it was also a little different because Delaney had her first part-time job over the summer. She was working Monday -Wednesday full days, and then Thursday a half day with Fridays off. It was a bit of an adjustment for her, but I think the paychecks helped. :-) She started pretty much as soon as she got home from her Freshman year, then didn't stop until the beginning of August right before she was heading back to college. Kyle once again took a class over the summer, this time around it was Health class. Compared to his Gym class last summer, he thought it was a breeze.

Delaney was also playing soccer this summer with the Chicago City team in the WPSL. She thoroughly enjoyed playing soccer with the team, although she definitely did not care for the drive back and forth from Chicago. It was a great way for her to keep her foot on the ball all summer and have fun at the same time.





A flashback photo: this picture is currently hanging in our soccer room. I have always loved this photo; look how little the kids' feet are! This was taken 10 years ago; time just flies.



Speaking of time flying, the ring bearer in our wedding (Kenny's cousin Tyler) got married this summer, too. Wow, how old does THAT make us feel? Look at this cute little guy.



The weekend of June 23rd, we headed up to Michigan for Tyler and Morgan's wedding. The wedding was outdoors with the reception in a nearby tent. They lucked out, the rain stayed away and the sun was shining. It made for quite a warm event, but they had a great day. Kenny snapped this picture right after the ceremony.



Morgan shared a few beautiful photos from her photographer on Facebook as well. I took four of them and had to crop them to fit in a single image. So they aren't quite as lovely as the originals, but the photographer obviously did a wonderful job.



We had Becky, our go-to kitty babysitter, take care of our fur babies while we were gone over the weekend. The kitties aren't entirely sure about her and keep their distance. In fact, Thor pretty much hides from her the entire time. She will usually send us pictures, but she only found Thor this time through the window!  :-)



We also had an uninvited guest in our house this summer, that I definitely could have done without. Look at the size of this guy! (* shudder *) I wish I could say he was the only one. :-(



Birthday Time! There were a few birthdays this month. Our nephew Michael turned 12 years old. Hard to believe!!! And Kenny's dad is now 72 years young, and my dad turned 70 years young!



It was also Babe and Kathe's 49th wedding anniversary this month. Next year will be a big one. :-)



Kenny and his buddies have started playing Dungeons & Dragons again. Usually they have been getting together online to play once in a while, but they planned a weekend this summer that they could get together in person. They met at Timmy's house and had a great time, not only just playing Dungeons & Dragons. They also went to an arcade! :-)





Kenny wasn't the only one playing video games. The kids and I have had a lot of fun playing different video games all summer too. Kyle was playing a lot of Warframe and Rainbow Six Siege among other games, but lately he has been obsessed with the recently released Destiny 2: Forsaken.



Some of the other games we've been playing are LEGO Superheroes 2, Typoman, Hue, and Overcooked 2. The second Overcooked game came out just before Delaney had to go back to school, so great timing there. Delaney was also able to use the money she got from working a soccer camp one weekend to get herself an X-Box system that she could take to school. So for a while, we had two systems to play on. Nice!



The latest one we are trying to finish up is LEGO Worlds. This game is a lot bigger than we originally anticipated. We got it a while ago during a great sale, but we didn't have time to play it then. And when we got it, it was only a single-player game. But now it is set up for 2 players, so that was a pleasant surprise too.



Before we knew it, it was time for Delaney to head back to school. She has to go in early for soccer, even though Wisconsin doesn't start school until after Labor Day. She moved in on Saturday, August 11th. It took us two vehicles to get everything up there. This is what our soccer room looked like right before it was time to leave. That is A LOT of stuff!!!



This year she is in an apartment; she is very excited about it. She is sharing with other students, the main living area, kitchen and bathroom -- but she has her own single this time.  Her room turned out really nice. I think she is happy to be back at school, but she misses the kitties a lot.



When we got back from dropping Delaney off, the fur babies were waiting for us in the window. They aren't used to be alone for so long. :-) They were so happy someone came home.



Once back at school, Delaney was right back into Parkside soccer. They are in a new conference this year with some new uniforms too. Here is a nice article about one of their games that Delaney scored in. She's also been starting and getting a lot of playing time. They even had a trip to Boston to play some games. They flew there and back, got to do some sightseeing, and played some soccer. They even toured Harvard's campus. Here's to a great season for Ranger Women's Soccer!







Then, unfortunately for Kyle, it was time for him to start thinking about school. He is also a sophomore, but in high school of course. First, we had to wean him back to a normal schedule, as he was playing into the wee hours of the morning and then sleeping in past noon. Waking up at 6am for school was quite the change for him! He volunteered a couple of days at the school helping them get chromebooks ready for everyone and with whatever else they needed done. And before we knew it, it was time for school to start! Delaney's didn't start until after Labor Day. Here are their first day of school pics.



Believe it or not, Kenny and I also just celebrated our 23rd anniversary. Can you believe we have been married 23 years? Crazy!



And to finish off this blog, Kyle just got his braces off a couple of days ago.  Yippee!



And with that, we're finished! 

Luv,  Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle