Our First Cast

Well, it was inevitable, I suppose. For as many years as we've been playing sports, and for as aggressive as these girls play, we're probably lucky it didn't happen sooner. Last Saturday, right near the end of Emma's second soccer game, she took a hard fall, coming down on both wrists (but she'd made a great play just seconds before!). I could tell immediately by the way she reacted that this fall was different than others. She left the field in pain and began icing her wrists. Then we went home to continue to ice and monitor them. Within a couple of hours, her right wrist was sort but had full movement. The left, on the other hand, began swelling and bruising ... 

We took her initially to the pediatric after hours clinic for an x-ray. The doctor there was great, but said we needed additional care and sent us over to Children's Medical Center.

The care at Children's was wonderful. Even though we were there for several hours longer than we would have hoped, the staff was fantastic and Emma made it through multiple movies in our ER room.

She was in a ton of pain, but seriously was so brave. Once in a while she would say, "it hurts", but no tears or screaming. Pretty incredible. She was tired, of course, and hungry since she hadn't eaten anything but a little snack between morning games. 

After more x-rays and exams, the doctor determined that the break, right at her wrist and forearm, would need to be put back into place and stabilized with a split. They gave her laughing gas and numbed the wrist area with shots, then pushed it back together. She did NOT enjoy that process, but did so well. I was so proud of her.

Emma was sore but feeling a lot better once the splint was on one hand and she had a popsicle in the other.

We walked out of the ER just past 10:00 that night with instructions to rest, give ibuprofen as needed, and to see the orthopedic doctor later in the week.

On Wednesday, Steve took Emma to the Andrews Institute to see the orthopedic doc. We were *sure* that the splint that went above her elbow would be replaced with a smaller cast. She was disappointed to hear that the cast wouldn't be smaller than the splint - but even bigger. Ugh. The doctor said the break appeared to be healing well, but because it impacted her growth plate, he wanted to provide even more stabilizing to the area. The longer cast keeps the arm and break as immobilized as possible.

The silver lining was being able to pick her cast color and obtaining many signatures on it once back at school! She goes back on May 11th for a re-eval. Ideally, the cast will come completely off. Realistically, it'll probably just be a smaller one. We'll see. Emma has been such a trooper through this process, even while she's dealing with tons of disappointment in not being able to play soccer or softball, participate in PE and field day, etc. As a friend told me, a break is like a childhood rite of passage for a sporty kid!

Spring has Sprung

 We've had a busy start to spring (really just a continuation of regular life/all the other seasons!). Lots of soccer with these girls ... and some pretty cold practices, even in March and April.

A couple of weeks ago, Sara went to a Bat Mitzvah at the W. Pretty fancy! After we dropped her off, Steve, Emma, and I stayed downtown for dinner. When we came out of the restaurant, we spotted the top floor party room with pink lights. Sara had a blast! Of course I didn't manage to get an actual picture of Sara, but she was all dressed up and looking great.

Emma's softball team went to the Plano West softball game, and Emma wanted a picture with the catcher (who also happens to be the daughter of a school counselor I know). She loved watching the older girls play!

Sara ran track this spring. The season is very short and over now as they begin cross country, but she had fun attending a couple of meets. She ran the 100 and 300 hurdles. This is the only picture I have of her at a meet...

Patio dining with my girls❤

One day last week, Steve sent me this picture of ducks visiting our pool. Made me smile.

Both girls enjoyed filling out a bracket for March Madness, and both picked Kansas to win. They came in #1 and #2 in our annual Phi Kap bracket challenge!

Of course, spring has meant plenty of severe weather in North Texas, even resulting in some time in the closet. During this particular event, Sara was at cheer (they waited it out in the foam pit), and Steve was at HH. Luckily it passed by us mostly without incident. 

Sara's cheer season came to an unexpected and disappointing early end due to a coaching change (followed by lots of drama) at the gym. The team had to withdraw from the final three competitions, and most girls have left the gym. On the bright side, Sara has gotten lots of gym and coaching time almost entirely to herself! Not sure what our next steps are on this front; we have some decisions to make. She wants to keep cheering competitively, and also has school cheer to look forward to starting later in the summer.

Emma's sports season has also run into a big obstacle, unfortunately, because she suffered a fractured wrist at yesterday's soccer game. It's been a long and exhausting weekend for her (and all of us). More to come on that. In the meantime, though, we're getting the slow-down we'd been wishing for ...

Wordless Wednesday

Spring Break

Well ... spring break was nearly a month ago, but it kind of feels like years ago. We had the best, most relaxing week in Florida - we needed it so badly, and even though the effects of the R&R wore off quickly, these pics still bring back all the beachy feels!

Right away we hit the pool, and then spent our first full evening listening and dancing to the Tap Monkeys. Always have to hit a gig while we're there!

We loved spending a few days on Sanibel. Our weather could not have been more perfect. We played in the sand and the waves, took beach walks, indulged in fru-fru bevs, read books, and soaked up the sun.

We also spent a day taking the ferry to Fort Myers Beach ... touristy shopping and lunch on the beach!

Our week truly couldn't have been better and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time ... we were all barely hanging on by the time spring break rolled around. I'm so thankful to have a great place and people to visit for a get-away from reality!

Reality came back into check quickly when our flight home was cancelled. We had an unexpected road trip that took just about twenty hours (non-stop thanks to the full hotels at every exit in Louisiana). It was exhausting, but we made the best of it ... and finished with a good story to tell!

Winter Wrap-Up

We've officially (by the calendar) made it to spring! February was truly a winter month for us again this year with lots of cold weather. We were more than ready for our spring break trip, which I'll summarize in another post.

Emma was proud of her soccer goal Valentine's box this year!

Valentines 💕

Sara's team competed at the Sweetheart Classic and were thrilled with their 2nd place finish after a rougher competition the weekend before. We've since had cheer drama with the unexpected removal of a coach, so we're not sure what the rest of the season holds. I'm proud of Sara for continuing to work hard and have a positive mindset about it. She's excited that school cheer starts soon, too!

Steve got me tickets to Rent for my birthday, so we had a fun date night when the show was in town for just a couple of days!

We've now seen it in Des Moines, Minneapolis, New York, and Dallas ... and it's amazing every time. We had a fun night out together - not something we get to do very often.

As another round of winter weather was moving in, Steve and Emma bundled up to watch the US Women's Team win the She Believes Cup. They were frozen, but were able to get to and from the game before the ice hit, and managed to snag front row seats since very few people used their tickets.

Sara and I loved seeing them on TV!

They warmed up by the fire when they got home. It was a late night, but they had a ton of fun together ... and we got a snow day the next day, so we all got to sleep in!

Emma's basketball team finished another season, this time in 2nd place. A huge improvement ... but we all feel this really isn't their sport. The parents are glad that softball is starting again!

We're all loving March Madness. Both girls have KU winning their brackets, which is sort of a difficult pill for Steve and I to swallow ... we'll see how it all plays out! For now, we're glad the Cyclones are still in it (at least for the next 20 minutes or so).

Snow Days!

 The forecast had had super cold temps, freezing rain, and even the possibility of snow in it for quite some time ... but it felt premature for our school districts to call snow days for Thursday and Friday on Wednesday morning. I was sure it would jinx everything and we'd have no weather to show for the days off. Not so! We made it out to a quick birthday dinner on Wednesday night in the rain, with temps steadily dropping. By the time we went to bed, there was a layer of ice, and we awoke to white on Thursday morning. The girls were in and out all day - lots of play, and lots of warm-up breaks since the "feels like" temp hovered around 10 degrees. Once again, our driveway proved to be a great sledding hill, especially with the slick layer of ice.

Big flakes fell for much of Thursday, leaving a nice layer of fluff over the ice! No rink on our pool this year, though, thank goodness.

Sara was looking for just the right pose in our winter wonderland.

I snapped this pic of Emma and Jim, totally passed out on the couch Thursday night after a day of play. It was a FUN day with lots of time outside, neighborhood friends dropping by to play, and just enjoying all the snow for as long as possible.

Friday was a repeat, and although the temps went up a little bit in the afternoon, they dropped again at night. Today we're in the 30s and it's sunny, so we're watching and listening to everything melt away. Emma's soccer games were cancelled this weekend since the fields are still unplayable, but cheer is on and so is indoor batting practice, so as quickly as the weather can stop things around here, they are back up and running again. As always, we enjoyed it while it lasted!

The Rest of the Break

 The rest of our break has been so relaxing and SO great. We literally had nothing going on - no plans - and just enjoyed all of it. It felt good to get bored a couple of times, but we read books, had a fire in the solo stove, watched movies, made popcorn ... so perfectly simple.

We did meet up with the DFW Cyclones to watch our guys lose their bowl game. It was sad but kind of expected after a couple top players were ruled out. Still only a one-score game, so it could have been a lot worse!

Emma spent some Christmas Amazon gift cards on a hoverboard! She'd been wanting one since the summer, and we'd told her no repeatedly. But when she learned that her cousin got one for Christmas, with gift card in hand, she decided it was a worthwhile purchase. She has mastered it in the last couple of days since it arrived! Our weather turned super cold, so it's actually been a perfect way to keep her occupied inside.

Sara is ready to get back to the gym. She's been on the tumble track experimenting with some new skills. She goes back to cheer tonight, and competitions start in just a couple of weeks!

On New Years Eve, we took a family trip to Top Golf. It was the girls' first time, and we all had a blast!

And of course we had to have our lucky New Year's Day black-eyed peas. Maybe they won't bring luck, but if they keep the bad away, that's good enough for us!

I officially go back to work tomorrow, but it's been slowly creeping up the past few days. COVID is striking again - and hard, so I'm going to need to get creative with staffing ... we all knew it was coming but the reality is tough. The girls head back on Wednesday; they say they aren't ready but I know they are. Sports start up again tonight, so normal life is upon us. Here's hoping we stay healthy and, mostly, just choose to be happy!