Date Night!

I was surprised with Dierks Bentley concert tickets as part of my Mother's Day gift.  Woo-hoo!!!  It was even at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend again.  We had seen Dierks there before, and it is a wonderful venue -- filled with a lot of ambiance.  The only drawback was I had to wait until Friday, June 22nd to attend.  Which came sooner than you realize, of course.  The week of the concert was extremely busy, as the kids had several and overlapping summer camps -- soccer, drama, etc.  I was so looking forward to enjoying a fun date night after all that!



I didn't know that the date night was going to have a few surprises along the way.  First, I was delivered flowers at home.  Definitely nice!  Then, I was informed that I was going to get to have a Meet and Greet with Dierks before the concert!  WOW!!!  How cool is that?  I was given a sticker that I had to wear, and I got a new Dierks' shirt at the concert that he signed for me.







(* sigh *)

And if that wasn't enough, there was still one MORE surprise to come!  After the Meet and Greet, we made our way to the auditorium and I found out we had FRONT ROW SEATS!  Literally!  We were standing up at the front of the stage the entire concert.  We had special red bands to show that we were allowed to be up way in the front.

We had so many awesome shots, that I could hardly decide which ones to share.  Here are just a few:

Can I just say BEST DATE NIGHT EVER!!!!  How can you ever top this one, honey?  :-)

Dani

 

Our Past Few Crazy Weeks!!!

We were sort of right; the next couple of weeks WERE crazy... but so were the two more after that!  HA!  It's always something, right?  We're all very happy that school is out though!  YIPPEE!!!

First in our hectic schedule was a weekend trip to Fort Wayne for the State Cup with Delaney's soccer team.  It was a rough weekend for her team, as they drew the top team in the state for their first game.  They ended up losing both their games for the weekend.  PaPa and Dinah Grandma went and spent the weekend with us too; we had a lot of fun shopping and eating out in between games.





 It was also SUPER hot.  Here's PaPa catching some shade during a halftime to cool down a bit!!!



Kyle had more than enough AR points to earn a trip to the House of Kobe for lunch from his elementary.  He got to ride in a hummer limousine for the trip, and he absolutely LOVED it!  We heard a whole lot about the awesome limousine.  :-)  There was the largest group ever who qualified for the lunch, and their picture was put in the school's newsletter.  For some reason, Kyle is all but hidden in the picture.  We told him next time to stand up where people can see you for the picture.  I put a red circle around him, so you can even find him!



He ended up having the most AR points in the entire elementary (which is 1st through 5th grade), and he was a third grader.  He had over 1000 AR points -- way to go, Kyle!  He also received an art award and a perfect attendance award.  He was psyched!



While I was at the school, I checked out the school's "Bee-ing our Best" board.  This is a new program they started this year to encourage and reward good behavior.  I helped set this board up and it was very empty and huge; it is so hard to believe that it was completely FULL of good behavior bees -- a swarm!  :-) 



It took me a while, but I finally found Kyle's bees!  He received bees for helping clean up trash, setting a good example, being helpful, volunteering, helping read and achieving over 1,000 AR points. 



And when you earn five or more bees, you earn a special bee from the principal:



We are so proud of you, Kyle!  GREAT JOB!!!

Then we were off to South Bend with Delaney's team for a game with the Indiana Invaders, and then she was helping out the other team with a tournament while we were up there.





Then it was back to Fort Wayne to play the Fort Wayne Fever.  It seemed like there was a lot of traveling this year.  UGH!








Our last game was a home game again (finally), with Carmel Premier Blue.  After some rough games and losses, they won this game.  It was nice to win the last game of the season.  We think the final score was 3-1; Delaney got a couple of the goals.











That was it; the Spring 2012 soccer season was over.  Whew!  Rough season, hopefully they've learned a lot and will come back strong next season.

This summer, Delaney is participating in the Summer Teen Volunteer Program at the Crown Point Library.  She's helping out with the Summer Reading program.  The teens only get one four hour shift a week; she's there on Monday evenings.  By request, her friend Shelby has the same shift... so basically they have a great time hanging out and reading together on Monday evenings.  :-)

Then Delaney's soccer club, Three Lions, had an End of the Season party -- complete with a game vs. the parents and awards.  Everyone had a WONDERFUL time.  Delaney's maternal grandparents were able to come too.  I had to take a picture of my husband's and dad's t-shirts they were wearing, too funny (not planned):



Not everyone on her team was able to attend, but everyone who did had a blast.  It's not often that I have pictures to share of Kenny playing soccer, but I have NEVER had pictures to share of PaPa playing soccer!  So this is a first, and we have some good ones!









Here's all the brave players:



Then it was time for refreshments and awards, after all that hard work... they needed it!  (And the adults needed some Aleve!  HA!)  

Delaney was very excited to receive the Coach's Player Award this year!  Way to go, Dee! Maybe now we can actually chill out and enjoy the rest of summer vacation.  :-)

(Probably not, as Soccer Camp and Drama Camp starts up next week... but it's nice to dream!)

Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

End-of-School Year Craziness!!!

After today, we are now down to only 9 days of school left!!! There are times where I wonder if we're going to make it. :-) It has been so busy with all the end of the year projects, events, homework, and sports that there simply isn't enough time for everything that needs done. I am precariously close to this moment:



Since it wouldn't be all that productive, I am fighting it as hard as I can.  Nine more days... we can somehow get through nine more days, right?

Delaney's soccer team finally started their league games, after many early season tournaments and games.  They are playing in the top division in the state, playing some very good teams.  Their record is 0-4 so far, which is hard for the girls; however, a couple of them were extremely close.  We've played Zionsville, Evansville Premier, Fishers and FC Pride -- so there has been a lot of traveling down south too. 











Sometimes events overlap a bit too much.  Delaney had a track meet one Friday evening.  She didn't get home until late, only to have to get up early the next morning and head down to Indianapolis for not one, but two soccer games -- and, she had a bad cold too.  It was a pretty rough weekend for her.









Here's Dee getting some pointers from coach before heading back into the game.  :-)



I liked this sequence, had to put them together.  Nice move, Dee!



The weather has been so extreme this spring too.  It seems as if we're either freezing or sweltering at games.  This picture was taken at their first blazing hot, full sun game; Delaney was miserable.  She said she felt like throwing up most of the game, simply due to the heat.  UGH!



Delaney's first year of track is now officially over.  She had a great year and really enjoyed it.  She was even selected to participate in the Track Conference, and she definitely will want to participate again next year. Thanks to both her coaches -- soccer and track -- who were willing to be a bit flexible and allow her to participate in both sports.  :-)





Kenny had his own little sports outing too, a Bad Pants Golf Outing.  It was raising money for diabetes.  He met a couple of his buddies, Terry and Shawn.  They were playing on the MicroIntegration team and simply wore some awful pants enjoying the beautiful weather out golfing for a good cause.  They even placed third!



Scary, isn't it?

Delaney's school had their Awards Ceremony just last night.  She works hard to keep her grades up, and this year she's had a few classes here and there that were quite a struggle.  We're so proud of her for achieving an award for the honor roll placement all year.  She also received an award for Perfect Attendance as well as an award for Outstanding Achievement - Exploring Music.  While she was excited about all the wonderful recognition she received, I think she was most honored to be presented with the reading award.

We all know how much she loves to read, and this year she wanted to try for the reading award.  She received the Jon Millstead Award, reading 106 books and earning over 1400 AR points.  Way to go, Dee!  Her name will go on the plaque for the 2011-2012 year, which is displayed in the library.  There are just enough spots left for Kyle to try to get his name on the same plaque when he hits sixth grade.  So once again, Delaney throws down the gauntlet.  That's okay though, because Kyle readily beat her grade school challenge -- beating her Solon Record while he's only in the third grade!  

The Jon Millstead Award for Reading Achievement was started in honor of a Taft student who loved to read and died of a brain tumor in November 1993 at the age of 15.  He loved to read as many books as possible, and his parents have been at Taft since 1994 to present the award.  When Kenny talked with Mr. Millstead last night, he mentioned that he was impressed with the fact that Delaney not only read 106 books... but a lot of BIG books as well.



Nine more days, seriously, we can make it through just nine more days of school, right?  (* sigh *)  The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy.

Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle