Femur Update

Andy took Anna back to the doctor on Friday for a follow-up.  She is pleased with the progress the bone is making.  The cast will come off in three weeks and then they will determine whether she'll still need to be on crutches and what kind of physical therapy will be required.  Jake is still being very helpful, most of the time, and Anna still has a very good attitude!  I'm sincerely impressed!

Mystery Solved

Thanks to Nan, we figured out where Anna first injured her leg.  When we went to Chicago to compete in the IGI Chicago Style meet, Nanny, Jake and Anna had a tumble in the lobby of the Marriott.  Anna went down on her knee and Nan and Jake fell onto Anna.  She said her knee hurt, we iced it and then didn't hear anything else about it until now...

Anna's gymnastics season ended with a boom...unfortunately, it wasn't the boom of the spring board or the vault table...it ended with a broken femur and four weeks in a cast.  We're not exactly sure how she broke her femur, but the orthopedic said Anna probably had a fall at some point and landed on her knee, then continued to work out, run, play, etc. and the fracture increased, until she couldn't handle the pain anymore.  I'm guessing my daughter has a very high tolerance for pain since the doctor couldn't believe that she wasn't LITERALLY writhing in pain. 

She's an amazing kid with a great attitude.  She's upset that she can't compete at State, but knows that the leg will heal and she'll get back into her gymnastics routine with some rehabilitation and more hard work.  If anyone can come back, she can!  I am very proud of her. 

Jake has been very sweet during this whole "ordeal" and has helped out as much as he can.  When we found out the leg was broken, Jake's first thought was what he could do to make Anna feel better.  Gotta love him!

The End is in Sight...

Whew - we are almost there.  Almost to the end of the 2010-2011 meet season.  It has had its ups and downs, but definitely more ups!

Today's meet was the All American Spring Invitational hosted by and held at All American Gymnastics in Olivette.  The gym is fine, but small and VERY warm.  There were five teams competing in the afternoon session of level 5s.

Donna came to cheer on Anna (so did Robin, Mark and Grammie)

We started on vault and let's just say, it was a very rough start!  Anna's first vault was more of a cartwheel across the vault table and the second one was just sloppy.  She got an 8.0.  Not a great score, but she didn't let it get her down.

Next was bars.  She had a very nice routine and scored a 8.95.  I love watching the girls mess around with each other during warm-ups.  It shows their personalities and lets them chill out in what could be a very tense situation.

Beam was our third event and the Team Central girls rocked!  Anna scored a 9.15 and had a very solid performance.  Floor was our last event and our girls did a great job there too.  Anna came away with a 9.05 and seemed very happy with her overall performance.

Sorry...not a great picture, but I love getting pictures of her mid-air

The highlights of the day came with Emma landing her cartwheel on the beam for the first time all season and Katie getting her highest bar score of the season.  The girls rallied around them and made them feel special for their achievements!  Also, some of the "older" girls came to cheer on the level 5s.  They were so excited to have the support of the rest of the team!

Anna finished out the day not placing on vault (no real surprise there), tied for 2nd on bars (but getting 3rd place because they break ties), 3rd place on beam, and tied for 3rd (but getting 4th) on floor.  She then finished 5th all around in her age group (9 & under).

All Around 9 & Under: Caroline (6th) Anna (5th) Olivia (4th) and Rebecca (1st)

Anna and Olivia

Rebecca and Anna

Okay...one more meet...I'll keep you all posted.

Classically St. Louis

As meet season continues (and continues and continues and continues), I find myself looking at my children in a different light.  This past weekend was St. Louis Classic, which is the gymnastics meet hosted and run by our gym, Team Central.  Our coaches and parents volunteer and do all the prep work, set-up, awards, tabulating, tear-down, etc.  It's a long weekend, but it's also a lot of fun.

The weekend started early on Thursday night, when I went to go help my awards co-chair set up our two awards rooms.  We organized medals and trophies and made sure the room looked nice.  As I headed out from the America's Center, I discovered that I was locked into the building, unless I wanted to walk three blocks around the outside to get to my car.  After finding someone who worked there, who found another someone who worked there, who found a security guard with a key, I was released and headed out to pick Anna up from the gym.

Friday morning, I arrived at the meet ready to work.  I checked into the Renaissance Grand Hotel across the street and headed over to see what was going on.  The first two session went well and then Anna, Jake and Andy came down to help with awards and see their friends.  Anna wasn't feeling very well, so I sent her home.  She ended up with a 102 degree fever.  Crying, she asked my why Jake had to get her sick (he had been sick earlier in the week).  I told her that's what brothers do - they share!  Friday night, I joined the Knuth, Holtzworth and Swann ladies for dinner at the hotel.  We had a nice dinner and got to hang out and get to know each other better.  It was fun to talk to the girls and get the inside scoop on the coaches.

The amazing men in my life!

My awesome score keeper!

Jake still wanted to help out at the meet on Saturday, so my friend Donna picked him up and brought him down to work.  I didn't think he would want to work, but he was very sweet and made friends with some of the other moms and let me hug and kiss on him all weekend.  He got to flash scores and be a runner, plus he helped me organize the medals again during awards.  Anna was very sad and wanted to come help, but at least her fever was gone and she was resting.  Thankfully, she wasn't scheduled to compete until Sunday afternoon.  After the third session of the day, Donna took Jake home.

Saturday night was spent eating pizza with Terri and sleeping for about 6 hours.  Sunday morning came very early, but the good news was the Anna was feeling better.  She rested during the day and headed down after lunch with Andy and Jake.  Again, Jake helped out and Anna hung out in the hospitality room with Grammie (who also volunteered her time to help).  I got to be the hairdresser of the afternoon and did Katie, Anna, Caroline, Bridgette and Taylor F's hair.

Katie L, Katie H, Taylor, Anna, Caroline's friend, Caroline, Alyssa and Bridgette

The important hug from Coach Troy

Cheering on their friends on Floor

The Level 5 team had a decent meet, but struggled on bars and beam.  Lots of falls...but they bounced back and had a good time - and finished 4th Place as a team.  Anna got her highest scores of the season on floor (9.225) and bars (9.35) and her lowest of the season on beam (8.2) due to 2 falls.  Vault was about average (8.75).  She still placed on three events (Vault - 5th, Floor - 3rd, Bars - tied 3rd) and all-around (7th - 9 year olds).  Considering where her weekend started...it wasn't a bad outcome.

Ashley and Anna

Olivia and Anna

Vault - 5th Place

Bars - Tied for 3rd

Floor - 3rd Place

All Around - 7th Place

Team - 4th Place

Tired girl!

VERY tired girl!

I hope our coaches know how much we appreciate them and the amount of work they put into making this past weekend a huge success!  Congrats Team Central!