This has been quite the summer in our household.  Here's why:  Late May, I am in the house finishing up supper when I hear Emily coming in crying.  She hurt her right hand ring finger.  She was "sock surfing" down our backyard slide, fell, and hit the finger somehow.  We iced it but she cried for about an hour and Mark and I got concerned.  So, Mark took her to the ER while I stayed home with Kaitlyn.  The ER was busy that night so it took awhile to get to Emily's finger but when they reviewed the X-Ray, it was broken.  Not only broken, but broken at the "growth plate", so it was recommended that we see a specialist.  The next day we went to the specialist who recommended she have a pin put in to keep the finger in place while it heals.  So, that was a surgical procedure and then the whole hand was cast--purple.  Jump forward to late June, Emily has one more week with her cast.  I was in the kitchen finishing up supper (I've GOT to stop doing that) and I go to the door and call the girls in from outside.  Kaitlyn comes running up the stairs, trips, falls, jams her finger into the stair railing and the tears start.  I put ice on the finger and try to calm her down.  In my mind I'm thinking, sure, drama queen, you just want a little attention for your finger like sister got.  When I put Kaitlyn to bed, I look at her finger and it is still swollen.  The guilt starts to creep into my mind.  Have I been too harsh? Do you think she broke it? She could NOT have broke it.  Should we have gone to the ER?  No, it's not possible that it is broken.  The next morning came and the finger looked horrible.  So I talked to Mark, "Just because we don't want it to be broken does not mean that it isn't broken", I reasoned.  It took some convincing, but we agreed that we should take her to see the Doctor.  Guess what?  Broken.  And, not just broken but broken at...........the "growth plate".  And so, off to the specialist, no pin this time but a cast was in order--Blue.  For one week this summer, both our girls were in a cast.  Can you believe it?  Emily's cast is now off--Kaitlyn's comes off next week.  Cross your fingers (is that appropriate?) that the family makes it through the rest of this summer!