School, Soccer and More is in Full Swing!

Watch out everyone!  Delaney has her driving permit.  :-)  It is so hard to believe that she is old enough to learn to drive.  LOL  Now she just has to get a lot of practice and log all her hours, before the big final test.



Delaney's CP soccer team is in full swing.  Between school and soccer, she's extremely busy.  They've had 5 games so far.  They played Lake Central, 1-2 loss; Highland, a 2-1 win; Portage, a 3-0 win; Lowell, a 2-1 win; and Culver, a 3-0 win.  The team is coming together and playing well.  Delaney even got a few pics taken by Jim Karczewski for the Sun-Times.


 

 

 
And since she scored both goals at the Highland game, she was picked for the Athlete of the Week:



Also when they played Lowell, the Varsity team (who was nominated by their coach), did the Ice Bucket challenge and then subsequently challenged the Lowell varsity team as well:



We also had Danielle's dad over to celebrate his birthday.  We had a Mexican feast (yummy!), and we made him his favorite German Chocolate cupcakes.  I think we all ate too much, but it was very good. 



Kyle is doing well and adjusting to middle school.  It's a definite change from grade school, but he seems to be adapting okay.  They also give them so much time to read for AR (which is great), but Kyle reads so quickly that he's going through a book or sometimes two a day!  We've had to make sure he has a stack of books available at all times.  

Can you believe that it is almost September!  YIKES!!!

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

Where Did the Summer Go?

I can't believe that our last posting was back in June!!!  I guess we've been enjoying our summer too much to remember to put a family post up.  Delaney has been having a soccer-filled summer.  She  attended a couple of college soccer camps this summer at Valparaiso University and IUPUI.  She really enjoyed it and is hoping to attend even more next summer.



She has also been working hard with her Crown Point team already.  She even helped out one week at CP Girls Kiddie Camp, which was a soccer camp for younger girls.  This was her first year helping out, and she had 6 girls she was personally working with.  She found the combination of practices and working with a group of young girls exhausting!  She's already had several scrimmages with the team and has officially made Varsity again.

They had a picture day and Delaney made this collage:
 
Right now, they are up to Monday through Saturday practices and her first game is before school even starts (and the second is the first day of school).  So much for the rest of her summer!

Kenny had a conference to attend in Atlanta from June 26 through July 2.  The ISTE Conference had about 20,000 educators all talking about Technology.  Kenny was in Heaven!  He brought back a lot of great information for Hammond.  He also got to visit CNN Headquarters, Olympic Park, and visit the Atlanta Aquarium. 



We had a nice July 4th here at the house, spending it with Danielle's parents and grandma.  We had a cookout, played games, and enjoyed the unseasonably cool summer weather.  Kenny and the kids also enjoyed some fireworks.  Kenny filmed this finale:



And they took this selfie together:



Kenny also got to hang out with some good buddies that he's been friends with since grade school.  It was really nice for all three of them to get together and hang out a while.



Then it was time to celebrate our nephew Michael's 8th birthday!  It is hard to believe that he is already eight years old.  He is a bit of a LEGO fanatic, and this birthday didn't disappoint -- especially with the recently released LEGO movie -- he excitedly received several new sets that were played with that very same day.




Kenny and Kyle took off for a father/son weekend up in Michigan, hanging out with some friends on the beach.  They had a great time, even though the water was a wee bit chilly -- they still enjoyed their beach time.





Dee had some soccer obligations, so she and I stayed home.  We had a really nice testosterone free weekend. HA! 

The very next weekend my friend RuthAnn came up for a relaxing weekend for us!  She came up sans kids, and I had Kenny and the kids go stay elsewhere.  :-)  They spent the first evening at Danah's house, then went to Kenny's parents.  We had a very nice kids-free, craft weekend.  The only kid that had to stay was our furry baby Loki.  Not being a particular kitty person, RuthAnn tolerated him.  I even caught her and Loki exchanging an eskimo kiss on the stairs:



Really, how can you not love this adorable face?



We had to register the kids for school.  They already have their schedules and supply lists, and it is getting all too close to start time.  It is still hard to believe that we not only have a kid in high school, but we also have one in middle school now too!  Next Thursday we start back up our rigid schedules again.  UGH, definitely not looking forward to that.  However, after some sibling bickering issues, I may be a little bit less upset than they are:



Kenny's technology department at his work had a little "before school starts" Tech Party of their own.  They met at Zig-E's Funland in Saint John, IN.  Delaney and Kyle met up there with him, and they all had a blast.  There was miniature golfing, lazer tag, and more.



It's been a busy few weeks for Kenny, as he also attended the OLPH reunion and went to a Chicago Fire game with some buddies.   



I am getting ready for a CTMH Open House this Saturday, and the kids are frantically trying to enjoy the last few days before school.  Maybe that's why it has been so long since our last post, because it seems as if there is always something going on!  :-)

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

Summertime!

Summertime!  It didn't seem like it would ever get here, and it is ever so lovely now that it is here.

Our last post was before school was out, so we have some end of school stuff to go over.  Kyle had a quite enjoyable ending to his last year in grade school.  He had a lot of fun end of school year events: a lunch at House of Kobe (for all those with AR points over 300), a Hoosier party to celebrate those who read all the Hoosier books, Double Points Doughnuts Day for those who achieved double their AR points, a picnic to celebrate the end of the school year (which had to be inside due to the weather), a miniature golf fun night for the 5th grade, and a 5th grade luncheon where they dressed up and had a nice meal and received their class awards.  Kyle brought home a lot of awards, especially for his reading!  He earned 1521.8 AR points, the most ever at Solon (and the entire district apparently), and he was voted "most likely to succeed" by his classmates.  It seemed like every other day he was having a party or event or something. While Delaney's end of school year experiences consisted of lots and lots of studying for finals.

Their House of Kobe trip, they took an extended limo:



Delaney did have a positive event in the midst of all her not-so-fun studying.  She achieved the most goals for the season with her Three Lions team. Way to go, Dee!



The last day of school went all the way to Tuesday, June 10th due to all our snow days. 



After 10 years straight, we no longer have a child in grade school.  It's hard to believe that we are the parents of a child in high school and one in middle school... maybe even just a tad sad.

The last day of school was also the start of try-outs for the new Three Lions United team.  Delaney's Three Lions team combined with two other premier clubs in the area: NWI United FC and Indiana Magic.  It will be exciting to see what happens with the next season.

Immediately after the end of school, Delaney did get to have some down time.  She went to Michigan with a friend and her family and had a really nice time. I think that helped make up for all the fun events that Kyle had at the end of the school while she was studying.  :-)



We celebrated Father's Day out at my sister's house.  Unfortunately, it wasn't QUITE warm enough to go swimming (only Kyle braved the pool), but we did get to play some bean bag toss, lawn golf, and even some croquet!



The best, at least to Delaney and me (besides spending time with our dads of course), was that we got to play with Danah's five adorable black kittens!  The little buggers are exactly alike, so we never did figure out how to tell them apart.  But they are sooooo cute.  Anyone need a baby kitty?



Delaney's Crown Point soccer has already started up, she has her early morning practices and this week she is helping out with the soccer camp for the younger kids.  Kyle had his theater camp last week, and hopefully we are settling down to our routine of not really having too much of a routine in the summertime.  :-)

And this last Sunday evening, we went out to eat at Catch 22 in Merrillville and watched the World Cup game with USA vs Portugal on the big screen.  Delaney and Kenny were all decked out to support the US:



With the quick goal from Portugal in the first few minutes, the beginning could have been better, and at half-time we were still 0-1.  But we did finally answer the goal in the second half, tying it up 1-1 with a goal by Jones.  So exciting, now we have a game!  Then we got another one by Dempsey, basically bouncing off his chest into the net giving the US a 2-1 lead.  It seemed like the entire restaurant was chanting, "USA, USA" for each goal earned!  Then the game was almost over, we were in overtime and getting ready to leave the restaurant when in the overtime minutes, the US let Portugal sneak another one in giving a final score of 2-2.  Shocking!  It's definitely great to not have a loss, but so disappointing to end in a tie like that right at the very end.

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

Kyle's Recital: Mario Theme Song

We finally got the video ready.  This is Kyle's first ever recital.  He was nervous but did a great job.  :-)  Enjoy!

Luv, Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

Birthday, Easter, Soccer, Guitar and more...

Has the warmer weather come to stay?  It didn't feel like it would EVER get here!!!  It certainly has been nice the last few days.  If we can get through the last 14 days of school, we might just make it.  (* sigh *)

Delaney has been busy with her Three Lions soccer team.  They've had some tough weather to play through, this cold snap has given them some bitterly cold Spring games.  Two of their games were played in a blustery wind that really negated their foot skills; they ended up tying both those games (3-3 and 1-1).  They dominated their next game (8-2), and Delaney got a couple of goals.  They won their next two games (2-1 and 1-0), they were playing very well.  I haven't attended hardly any of her games this season due to the cold weather and the away games are so tiring, so we have taken very few pictures this season.  Then it was time for the State Cup preliminaries, Delaney and Kenny took a trip down to Indianapolis while Kyle and I stayed home again.  The girls played exceptionally well against two very good teams in the MRL 1st Division and MRL Premier Division.  The first team they kept to a tie (0-0), and the second team they lost (0-3).  Delaney and Kenny had a visit while there, walking through downtown and the canal.  Her soccer club is undergoing some changes too.  Three Lions FC is combining with NWI United and Indiana Magic to create Three Lions United. It will be exciting to see what the next season brings.

We had a 90th birthday celebration for Kenny's grandma too.  Everyone got together at his Uncle Rich's house, had fun visiting and looking at old pictures and home movies.  Grandma had a great time, unfortunately one of Delaney's games was during the party so she had to miss all the festivities.



Then this year we had not one, but two Easter meals to attend.  We went to Kenny's Aunt Annette's for lunch, and then we headed back to Danah's house for supper.  The kids and I were stuck in the back of our mini van, with the traffic on the way home, it was quite the trip home -- just a tad too much togetherness.  :-)  It was really nice visiting with our families; however, it was a very long, tiring day.  I nixed having two events like that in one day again for any future get togethers.



My friend RuthAnn and I met up and attended a CTMH event in Chicago.  We got to see the new Captain America movie, The Winter Soldier, and visit a while -- then at the event we got to make some fun projects.  It was nice, my upline was there too, and she organized a photo of everyone in the extended unit:



While RuthAnn and I were having a day, Kenny and the kids went down to Saint Joe.  Kenny played in his alumni game, and they attended Little 500.  Here is Kenny wearing his shirt he received when he arrived on campus back in August of 1990; he graduated 20 years ago!  After being tied 2-2, the alumni team won in a shoot-out.



If you can't tell from the above picture, Kenny has done a great job losing some extra weight.  He participated in a get healthy contest at his work -- and as everyone knows -- money is a good motivator for him.  He ate the same way that I have been eating and did great.  By adding some workouts in addition to eating well, he was able to win the contest by losing 14.44% of his weight (over 30 pounds).  Now, if he can just KEEP it off... :-)

Then we had a busy Sunday, with both Kim's daughter Teresa's first communion and Kyle's recital on the same day.  Teresa had a huge group of supporters there to share in her day, and everyone headed out to the KC for lunch and fellowship afterwards.



We couldn't stay too long because we had to leave to get back for Kyle's very first recital back in Crown Point.  He takes lessons at the Music of Oz, and they had a group of students give a recital: piano, guitar, voice, etc.  Kyle was a little nervous, but he did a great job.  He played the "Theme to Mario."



Kenny started feeling bad around now, starting with a cough and getting a sore throat.  He finally went to the doctor and found out he had pneumonia and bronchitis.  He really felt it too; he didn't want to watch TV, read or even have his computer on (you know that is bad!).  He even missed one of Dee's soccer games, as well as a few days of work -- but he has recovered quite well.

Kyle has had a couple of fun field trips here at the end of the school year.  He went on a Challenger Field Trip that he enjoyed very much, as well as a trip to the Taltree Arboretum & Gardens.  This is his last year for such fun outings, as in middle school and high school, there are no more field trips.

Kenny went out with his buddies to the annual Bad Pants golf outing this past Monday.  This year he found a great pair at Goodwill when he was in Indy with Delaney.



It's a bit hard to tell, but the print is a moose with a keg.  Yes, why anyone would even have that print, is beyond me.  The finalists this year had gaudy floral prints, so maybe next year he'll need to try to find something even wilder.



This Memorial Day weekend, believe it or not, there are no plans to go anywhere.  I'm hoping that we can get some much needed house projects done, as well as, maybe just have some fun and enjoy some time with the kiddos.

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

Kyle's 11th Birthday, LAMposium, and Spring Break!

Ugh, definitely not a warm spring break this year.  I am still wearing my winter coat, although the kids sometimes are sporting a heavier jacket.  I've been defying spring and wearing floral and springy dresses, unfortunately I have to wear them with tights, boots and a sweater... but still, I am wearing them!

Kyle had his birthday this month!  So hard to believe, that our little guy...



...is now eleven years old!

He had some friends over for a sleepover before his birthday (only free weekend), just three kids, so that all four of them could play video games together.  He had a blast!!!



Kyle has been diligently practicing for the Science Olympiad, and it was finally here.  He was so excited.  Parents weren't allowed to watch many of the events, so I dropped him off and got back just in time for awards.  Solon placed 2nd in the cylinder race (Kyle participated in this one), 3rd in straw structures, 1st in the egg drop, 3rd in clay boats, 1st in paper columns, and 3rd in mystery powders (Kyle participated in this one too).  He had a great time, and even more exciting, Solon placed 2nd overall.



The same weekend that Kyle had the Science Olympiad, Delaney had a soccer tournament with Three Lions.  So Dee and Kenny were down to Indy, for another round of cold games.  They won one, tied one and lost one.  She has another tournament this weekend; Kyle and I are going to stay home where it is warm.  :-(

Kyle's actual birthday is March 26th, and since our weekends were so packed... we ended up having his birthday celebration that evening.  He was a bit bummed that both sets of close cousins were away for their Spring Break, but he still had fun.



He had both sets of grandparents there to celebrate as well as Aunt Kristen.  And for some reason, he wanted monkey bread for his cake.  Not exactly sure where that hankering came from, but just in case everyone else did not want monkey bread I also made an angel food cake.



He got video games of course (including the new Rocksmith!), clothes, and lots of goodies.   Delaney and I were sitting in the back on the counter, so she took a selfie of us to show that we were there too.  :-)



Kyle is such a lucky eleven year old to have such good family and friends to celebrate his birthday with him!

Then it was time for the LAMposium; this year it was being held in Chicago for the first time.  We decided that since it was going to be so close, that it would be nice to attend.  The conference provides a unique opportunity for LAM patients, their families and friends, physicians, and scientists to get together and share information.  Kenny ended up helping out at the event the entire time, but with the kids' schedules and Delaney had midterm exams -- I stayed home to get them through the week. 

Saturday, though, we drove up to help get ready for the Breath of Hope Gala.  The kids and I, and one of Dee's friends, Sam, headed up after lunch.  Some of our friends were already there helping, and we were put to work as soon as we got there.  The girls did a lot of the physical work, moving things around from room to room, while we were helping set things up.  Everyone was busy doing something until it was about time to get dressed up for the dinner. 

We were very fortunate to have several friends and family come join us for the event too.  It's a great fundraiser for The LAM Foundation, without events like this I wouldn't be on the medication that I am now that is slowing the progression. 

My friend RuthAnn, took some before and after Gala photos:





And then Delaney took her own before/after photos with her friend Sam:



Kenny tried to get a group shot of everyone who attended with us.  We lost a few people somehow, but most of them made it in the picture:



We also got a few individual shots; the lighting was a bit difficult at times -- and comparing me to my sister who just returned from a cruise (I'm practically a ghost).


 



 

 


The kids did a great job helping out at the gala.  They helped sell raffle tickets and were runners at the dinner itself for those donating at the event.  Michael was a hit with his fedora, and he even got to pick the winning raffle tickets:


 

 


I wasn't comfortable walking up and having my name announced (and they said I didn't have to), so I chose not to participate in that portion.  I know that a few people were frustrated with me for my decision, but it was kind of difficult just being there.  I have a hard time talking and dealing with my illness at times, and I just didn't want the extra stress.  When each patient's name was announced, they were handed a rose.  Since I didn't want to go up there, RuthAnn's hubby snuck up and got me one too.  :-)



The Fund a Cure auction at the Gala that evening, raised over approximately $170,000.  And then the hotel donated $3000 for people checking out early the next day.  FABULOUS!!!  It is through events like this, that funded previous research and trials, that I even have a medication now to try to slow the progression.  When I was initially diagnosed, there were no treatments available.  Kenny wrote up a great synopsis of his time at the LAMposium, and it is under our About LAM link - check it out!

Another neat way we learned to help support The LAM Foundation is by utilizing Amazon Smile's fundraising site.  If you shop at Amazon.com, you can do the exact same shopping on their Amazon Smile site and select an organization to support.  It even shows you on the site after your selection, who you are helping support:



Amazon describes it as, "a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you."  Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your purchases to your chosen charity.  Amazon says "tens of millions of items" are eligible, so obviously there will be some items that aren't eligible -- just make sure you check everything out and shop from the Amazon Smile site.  Sweet!

This was the first time we had to leave Loki home alone overnight, too.  He always looks so sad and forlorn when we leave; he usually hops into our bay window and watches us leave.



Our neighbor was nice enough to check on him that evening and the next morning, so he was in good hands.  But I think he was a bit miffed at us for leaving him alone overnight, as he was definitely giving us some attitude for a while the next day before he decided to forgive us.  :-)

And right now, we are just enjoying the rest of our Spring Break!  Even if it is here and quite cold:



Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle