My Hip/groin/thigh

So, after running the marathon I had ankle pain which I dealt with and didn't run for a month.  At the same time my hip/groin were very tight and hurt to rotate out.  I assumed this was just tightness so I largely ignored the issue.  All I really cared about was getting my ankle better so that I could run.  Well, my ankle healed and I went back to running.  My hip/groin issue has still not resolved itself.  It does not hurt when I run but I figured after 3+ months I should probably have it looked at to make sure I was not doing any damage by running.  I went to an orthopedic doctor to have him take a look.  He felt around and took an ex-ray.  Of all the issues that could be wrong in the hip/groin area there is no injury that is a perfect fit for my symptoms.  This, by the way, is the same thing I came up with when I researched online to try to diagnose myself.  He told me to go to physical therapy to see if they can help gain some more flexibility in that area and if that doesn't work then I will need to go back and see him at which point he would do an MRI.  He did not feel that doing a MRI was warranted at this point because my symptoms were also not completely inline with anything that would show up on an MRI.  My big question though was, "Can I run?".  He said I can run because it won't do any more damage to anything since it doesn't hurt when I run.  Yippee!  That was really all I needed to hear.  I will make the appointment for physical therapy and I am already going to a massage therapist for deep muscle/sports massage (which I will say is not a pleasant relaxing experience) .  The massages are definitely loosening up my hip/groin/thigh which is great.  I like seeing improvement!  It will be nice to get full mobility back in my hip and full strength in my thigh.

Piano Recital

Sofia has been playing piano since the summer.  Her progress has been amazing (in my opinion but I recognize I am her Mom).  She had her first recital this past weekend.  She was a little nervous about it and by the time the recital was here she was tired of practicing "Memory" which was the song she played.  I don't blame her for being nervous or being tired of practicing the same song to perfection but her efforts paid off and she did excellent at her recital.  Here is the video from the recital:

Fairy Houses

The girls love Fairies.  Jason's mom gave them a book on Fairy Houses and how to make them.  Jason and I had gone out to the store and we came home to find the girls had built a fairy house.  It really was beautiful and they did a great job.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but there is a swing and a pool as well as a little house.  Grammie had a couple of fairies to place in it but otherwise everything else are things you can find in the woods.  They had fun building it with their Grammie and look forward to building more out in the fields and woods next time we visit.  I told them they can also make them in our backyard but there has been snow and not much time to spend out back lately.

Skiing

We drove up to Maine the day after Christmas so that we would be ready to ski on the 27th with My brother Joe and his sons, Michael and Johnathon.  I like this day of skiing because it gives us more time to spend with Johnathon before he goes back to Ohio.  Unfortunately this year we were not able to join them at the mountain.  The 27th saw a foot and a half of snow dumped on the mountain.  The roads between Jason's parent's house and the mountain were not going to be good as they are not heavily trafficked roads and it is a 45 minute drive on a good day so we decided it would not really be safe to make the trip.  Also, Ali only weights 44lbs and with snow that deep she would have had trouble plowing her way through it.  As the first ski day of the season we did not want it to be a bad experience so we didn't go skiing in the 27th.

We waited a day and headed instead to Shawnee Peak.  I think this ended up being a great decision for the girls.  It gave them a beautiful sunny day with temps in the upper 20's (F) to ski on a mountain that they were familiar with.  We hit the bunny slope once and then they were ready to move on.  We skied a blue trail for most of the day and both girls even popped into the moguls for a little bit.  When the girls were tired we went in for lunch.  I was fine with the lunch break as well because for some reason my feet just can't take the cold anymore.  It is unbearable!  It wasn't even cold out and my feet were freezing.  Jason put my feet on his stomach under his shirt for 15 minutes before the pain/burning stopped.  I was a trooper though :) and headed back out after lunch.  Ali finally started to parallel ski down the mountain rather than snowplowing every turn.  She felt very proud of herself.  She tuckered out first and I brought her into the lodge while Jason took Sofia up to the top of the mountain to hit a black trail.  He says she did great but by the time they reached the bottom she was done.  It was a great day of skiing.  We got the girls some hot chocolate and a snack and then headed back to Jason's Parent's house.  I left the mountain with the decision that I was going to have heaters put into my boots.  I love skiing and I don't want to lose the love for it because my feet are too cold.  I'll let you know how the heaters work out next time I hit the mountain!

Christmas

My mom and me

This is our second Christmas back in America and we have accepted that Christmas in the States is just mayhem.  We carve out Christmas Day as a day for us as a family to hang out and chill but otherwise it is a whirlwind.  The kids seem to love it and I think they have adjusted to the loudness that it includes.  Last year Ali had a headache when we went for Christmas at my parents because it was too loud.  This year she was part of the noise!  We spent a lot of time driving but it was all worth it.  We drove down to my brother's house on the 23rd for dinner which gave the girls more time to play with their cousins, Michael & Johnathon. Jason and I were happy to go down and visit with everyone but we were particularly looking forward to seeing Johnathon as we don't get to see him as often since he lives with his Mom in Ohio.  It was great to see him and he is definitely at the age where he is in the limbo of too old to play the kiddie games but not old enough for the adults.  Part of him wants to be in both worlds so when he became tired of the kiddie games with his cousins he would come and punch/wrestle with Jason.  I love that he feels comfortable with us and feels he can play around.  Of course the horsing around makes me nervous just as it did when Pat and Joe (my brothers) would do it as kids but for the most part I kept my mouth shut and let the boys play.


The day before Christmas I made my traditional holiday sweet bread and then also made a custard pie to bring to my parent's house.  Custard pie is my Dad's favorite so I try to make it for all holidays.  We arrived at my Parent's house around three o'clock and the kids were off and running to play with all their cousins.  As she was with us, my mom is very lenient and the kids have the run of the house so they LOVE it.  It is so nice to have reached the age when our kids are gone the moment we arrive leaving us to hang out with the adults and we don't have to worry.

Let the mayhem begin!

We opened gifts with the family and this is no one present opened at a time....no,no,no...this is passing gifts out and not waiting to see what it was but getting a gift to the next person.  It is how we did it growing up and the kids love it.  They don't want to have to wait patiently for adults to open gifts.  They knew they were getting McKenna (American Girl Doll) from Grandma and Grandpa but that didn't detract from the joy they had unwrapping her.  They were delighted.  They moved on to gifts from the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins...necklaces, crafts, card making supplies, American girl clothes and on and on it went.  I did have to laugh at my Sister-in-law as she was blockaded behind big diggers and tonka trucks!  Oh to be done with those big bulky toys!!!  I chose to be on the outside edge and organized the gifts as they got unwrapped.

Left to right: Laura, Me, Leah

The rest of the extended family arrived around six o'clock and dinner was served followed by the opening of yet MORE presents!  It is definitely a gluttonous amounts of gifts but it is so much fun.  Everyone had a good time and it is nice to see the extended family as well.  My cousins were both in town this year so I was able to catch up with them.  One is busy with her PhD and the other is living in Papua New Guinea so I rarely get to see them.

Back Row: Aiden, Johnathon
Middle Row: Michael, Sofia, Alessandra
Front Row: Nathan, Logan, Bella

 I like that we see my aunts and uncles enough now that the girls are comfortable around everyone and if I happen to not make it through everyone to have a conversation it isn't like I won't get another chance to talk with them soon.  They know their cousins very well now and play with them as easily as if they saw them every day.

Christmas Day the kids actually slept in a little bit since they were so tired from all the excitement at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Jason and I woke up and stayed in bed listening for the moment they awoke.  Sofia woke up first and we heard her climb down from her loft bed and wake Ali up.  We did not mind that she woke Ali up since it was a reasonable hour and it was Christmas!  We headed downstairs to see what Santa brought.  Ali looked first in the room with the Christmas tree and was instantly disappointed that she didn't see big bunny so we caved and told her to go look again before we opened up stockings.  She was SO EXCITED!!!  She carried big bunny everywhere.  We headed into the living room and opened stockings followed by coffee (for Jason and me), juice and sweet bread.
After a little sustenance it was time to open presents.  Both kids were very excited to see what Santa brought.  Sofia hit the jackpot with an i-touch and was very happy.  Ali was a little disappointed that she didn't get an i-touch so we have let her borrow my old i-pod and she walked around the house listening to music carrying big bunny all day!  There were a lot of presents to open but we got through them pretty quickly and then it was time to play.  We had a very low key day and we all stayed in our pjs the entire day.  Jason made dinner of salt encrusted beef tenderloin on a bed of spinach, gorgonzola, & potato salad.  It was delicious and we will be having that again next year although we will put the gorgonzola on the side since the girls did not love that part.  All in all a successful crazy Christmas!

Indoor Soccer

One of the Dads from the girls' fall soccer team asked if Ali wanted to play indoor soccer this winter since he was putting together a group of second grade girls.  After some hemming and hawing on my part because of schedules we decided to let Ali play.  She really wanted to do it and I am thrilled that she is so into soccer.  I was interested to watch it as well since I was never allowed to play indoor soccer as a kid.  Ali started her first game and had no idea what she was suppose to do.  It was as though she had never played the sport in her life!  I realized though that it does take an adjustment to play indoor soccer.  There is no stop in the action and the ball moves fast.  After the first game she got more into the groove and really started working. I was surprised when she would be wet from sweat at the end of the game.  She started to really go after the ball and went to steal the ball from an opposing player and the player tripped, knocked Ali over and stepped on her shoulder blade by accident.  I was not there for that event thank goodness but Jason was and he said she was amazing.  She got up and started to play on but her coach called her off the field and then she started to cry.  That is one tough little girl!  She has also figured out how to play a position and not run everywhere on the field.  Her coach has been really working with the kids on this concept and Ali did such a good job with it that she was given the team stuffed animal to take home with her for a job well done.

Swimming

The day of Sofia's first swim meet finally arrived!  She has been swimming on a swim team since she was four years old.  Her little body worked hard to swim laps in a 25 meter pool but she loved it and her coach, while wrapped around her little finger, knew she could swim with the older kids and no matter how many times he was asked if she should be moved he wanted to keep her in his lane.  She kept at it when we moved back to the states but has never been with a team for the competitive season.  She worked her way onto the team in RI and then we moved her to MA where she had to earn her way onto the team again.  So here we are four years after she started swimming laps and she is finally competing.  She was very nervous about her first meet.  She was nervous she was mess up a stroke and be disqualified or that she would come in last and be embarrassed.  We talked her through these feelings and we went off to her first meet.  The kids have to write the races they are swimming in sharpie marker on their hands so I decided to help her out and wrote on her palms to remind her that she is strong and that this is about having fun.

She stepped up to the block for her first race, the 25yard freestyle, and you could tell she was nervous.  She made her dive into the pool which is the worst part for her and she swam great, placing 5th with a time of 19:31.  She has since had 4 meets and has raced breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, backstroke and been a part of the freestyle relay team.

She has been amazing.  She has placed 1st and 3rd in Backstroke and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for relay.  Her freestyle is great but until she gets her dive better she will be hard pressed to break the 5th place position** (although her second meet she swam faster but still came in 5th).  She knows it and is trying to work on it. For a girl who can do a flip into the pit, jumps for low to high bar and balance beam work in gymnastics I don't understand her fear of the dive but I have to assume she will at some point get over it, the dive mechanics will click and see the big improvement in her freestyle races.  For now she is happy with swimming and competing and overall she is doing great!

 **By the time I was ready to post this to the blog Sofia has had another swim meet and after working on her dive this week she broke the 5th place barrier in freestyle and placed third!  I worked with her this week in our basement having her dive off the workout bench into pillow and roll as soon as she hit.  She had to feel the "C" motion of her body into the pillows in order to make the roll and it seemed to finally make sense to her how she was meant to dive.  It will still take more practice but she is getting better.

Christmas Tree

Since December ended up being so busy and the one weekend we had available to get a tree it was raining we decided to just buy a pre-cut tree this year.  There is a nursery about a mile and a half from our house that sells Christmas trees and the owner's daughter is in Sofia's class so we went there.  It didn't take us long to decide on a tree and once the decision was made Sofia was off to find her friend.  Once the tree was tied onto the car we headed home and set it in the tree stand in the garage since it was soaking wet.  The next day we brought it in and set it up.  Jason and the girls worked on putting the lights on the tree and then FINALLY we were ready to decorate.  The girls each put a couple of ornaments on the tree and our house lights dimmed and then went out in half our house, including the room the tree is in.  After a little detective work we realized that one of the stems coming into the electrical panel from outside had no power so we called the electric company.  They said they would send someone out to the house.  As you can imagine this put a damper on our tree decorating.  We had to stop decorating, eat dinner by lantern and then had the kids get ready for bed.  The electric company showed up around 9:30PM and fixed the problem which was the connection to the house on the outside.  In any event a couple nights later we were able to finish decorating the tree.  We were all excited to finally have a tree that had an excellent top stem to use our Christmas star that we bought in Vienna!

December

December was a bit of a blur.  It seemed we had so much time for December since Thanksgiving was so early but as is always the case December zips past so quickly.  As he has every year, Mikuláš visited the girls in the night and left them Czech Christmas cookies and a Czech candy bar.  We are now all out of Czech treats so I will have to have Jason stock up on his next trip to Prague!  Just to ensure the kids were still believing, Mikuláš left a message for the girls in Czech on the windowsill with the treats.  The kids look forward to Mikuláš and they weren't sure if he was going to come this year so they were very excited that he came and they feel extra special that he makes the trip all the way to America to give them treats.  It is a fun tradition and one I will continue as they get older.  I think it helps keep their memory of Czech alive.

There are not really any Christmas markets here like there are in Europe and since we miss them we wanted to try to do something similar.  Newburyport is a cute town with a village feel with lots of little shops to go in so the kids, Jason and I met up with Jason's parents and spent the day walking around the town.  Santa was also in town that day so the kids got to see him and have their picture taken.  Unfortunately he must have been one of Santa's helpers and not really Santa as Ali quickly pointed out since he was wearing slippers and not boots.  He also did not have his beard affixed properly!  Oh well, the kids believe that Santa sends helpers around b/c he can't be everywhere at once.  They felt confident Santa would get their requests.  We walked around the town and it was fun although definitely not a Christmas market.  Ali found a model of the mayflower ship and bought that with her own money.  She did a good job of looking at everything and keeping in mind the things she liked the most and at the end of the day we went back to the shop with the boats and she bought her own Mayflower.  It is now on a shelf in her room where she can see it when she is in bed.  Her reasoning for buying it was that it would always remind her of the day in Newburyport but it also reminds her of the day she went to see the Mayflower with her Grandma.  I thought both of those reasons were good reasons and she bought a quality wood ship and not a piece of junk.  After having some coffee and treats we headed home.