(pictures and video below!)

What a day/week/year!

Today we took S. to Childrens Hospital Boston for a check up on her heel. I am happy to report that although she will continue with this condition (Sever's Disease) for a couple years, she now has no restrictions on her! She is allowed to do all her gymnastics and only limit herself if it hurts, but she won't make it worse and she needs to make her 15-20 minutes stretches a part of her daily routine. That one's tough but she's been doing if for a few months now and it's not a bad idea to teach our kids to take time to stretch their bodies every morning.

She also gets her cast off on Friday! Yeah!!! Ease back into full workouts and hopefully she'll be able to compete in January. I hope everything goes well in the next two weeks with strengthening the wrist back to normal.

The worst part of the whole experience was driving into Boston. Driving into oncoming traffic and onto the curb to get out of the way for an ambulance was not pleasant. Nether was the weird drivers or joggers running out in front of me. *sigh* We got home without too much incident. We laughed about it all because, "Why get angry?"

The second worst part was that after the appointment I was in so much pain that walking was almost impossible. We went to eat in the cafeteria and I could barely make it though the hospital and to the car afterwards. Later, navigating the stairs at home was excruciating. I'm glad to be home to rest.

In the doctors office I was impressed to see most of the children, high school and littles, working diligently on homework, flashcards and papers. NOT something I usually see here in Maine. It's always been clear to me that Maine does not have the expectations that Mass does, but it was interesting to actually see it playing out before me. I actually felt like a bad mother letting S. play her DS. It was good for S. to see and even though most of those things we have the opportunity to work on during the day--homeschoolers don't have the need for "homework" but I'm seeing the need to push her a little during our appointments and time outside the house. Paper and "busywork" may be something to add to our appointment times.

On a bright side, we spent time at McDougal Orchards on Sunday. It was very nice to have us all together enjoying the day.
Picked some yummy Crispin apples, went on a hayride -- so seriously bumpy for me! -- did the corn maze with D. jumping out at S. and scaring her, and D. pushing her on the huge tree swing.

It did my heart good to see them enjoying each other so much.

I'm doing my best to get everyone out and about...field trips, playdates, etc. before the babies come and I'm not able to go everywhere. It took a lot out of me but I was glad we did it.

Coming up: Field trip to Plimouth Plantation, a candy store to see the taffy making process, the TEACH science workshop, Scripps Spelling Bee, gymnastics clinic with Tom Koll the National Junior Olympic Committee Chairman, and caroling for the senior luncheon at South Waterboro Baptist Church! Then later...relax (haha) with babies!