Gymnast Down

 

Annie and Emma have been working hard for months to advance from level four to level five in gymnastics.  Level five requires much more of them it requires more physically and more mentally.  They practice four days a week after school and work very hard.

 

A few weeks ago, not even 24 hours after a took this picture of Emma on the beam I got a call from the owner of the gym.  She said Emma had crossed her legs on vault and landed in that position.  They thought her foot was broken.

 

I quickly called the pediatrician who told me there was no need to rush Ems to the ER, but that we should instead watch the foot over night. When we got to the gym to get Emma she was scared and hurt.

After a night of elevating and icing Emma's foot was not better. I took her to the pediatrician who said she had not broken the foot, but had instead damaged the tendons. He said Emma needed to be off her foot for three weeks and sent us for crutches.

She mastered the crutches quickly, but her foot became a magnet for younger siblings who would bump, smash, or trip over it. Despite her siblings inadvertent attempts to thwart healing, Emma is doing much better. She has courageously continued to attend practice and done conditioning to keep herself in shape. Within a couple weeks she should be back to full activity.

Pre School

On September 4th, Justin and Megan started preschool.  Is it just me or does it not seem possible that these two are old enough to be in preschool?  They look forward to Mondays and Tuesdays when they get to attend school.  However, Justin fains slighlty when it is time to wake up.  Mornings are not his favorite time of day and waking up is by far his least favorite thing to do, but by the time we force him dressed and attempt to feed him he comes around.  Meg on the other hand wakes up with an extra bounce in her step and usually is dressed and fed and has enough time to play or color before it is time to leave.

 

 



On their way to their first day...

 

All settled in their desks...

 

Literally ten minutes after school.

Back to School

On August 22 Annie, Emma, and Jake went back to school.  Annie is in the 6th grade and decided this year to return back to Homedale.  The sixth grade is in the middle school.  Emma is in the 4th grade and Jake in 1st.

 

We were worried about Jake going to 1st grade and being in school all day.  In Kindergarten he never really did adjust to being required to be at school every day.  He cried many days when he had to get out of the car and be away from home for 3 hours.  "It's just so long!"he would cry.  This year has been much better.  Though he doesn't necessarily look forward to school, he is surviving and doing quite well. 

 

Annie too, is having a much better year.  Last year she attended the charter school and her feelings about getting out of the car each day didn't differ from Jake.  It was a difficult year.  It was difficult each day to know we had two children who were miserable.  This year Annie is coming home from school happy.  It is so nice to see her happy again.

 

Back to school is my least favorite time of the year.  We had such a fun summer.  We spent three or four days a week at Roaring Springs thanks to a family pass given to us by Grandma Jo and Grandpa at Christmas time.  The girls would attend gymnastics four days a week and the other kids and I would pick them up and we would swim and play for two or three hours.  With everyone back to school life suddenly slowed down and home became very quiet. 

 

All three older kids have amazing teachers this year and are learning so much.  So, there really is no comparison to the days of play we enjoyed all summer long.  We look forward to weekends and days off to play.