Poor Nona!

Well, after 8 years, and 6 kids, we officially have had our first injury trip to the Emergency Room. In the process of going outside to play, one of the older kids accidentally shut little Nona's hand in the door, and we knew right away a bandaid wouldn't fix this one.

I'm so thankful it was Aaron's day off. We had just walked in the door from running errands all morning, and everyone still had their shoes on, so it was quick work to corral everyone in the car and head to our urgent care clinic in Glenwood. Amazingly, Nona only cried for about 10 minutes, and by the time we reached the clinic she had pretty much calmed down. I was able to hold her hand while constantly putting pressure on her pinky, and that seemed to keep the pain down a bit. My mom met us at the clinic and took the older kids home with her for the evening. What a wonderful thing it is, to have family close by in times of trouble! 

Unfortunately, we had to wait about 30 minutes before the doctor could look at Nona's finger. He looked at it, and after noting that the cut was all the way through the fingernail, decided that we had better make the trip to Omaha to have it stitched up. So, off we headed to Children's Hospital, during rush hour, through massive stretches of road construction.

I know God was showing grace to Nona, because on the 45 minute trip to the hospital, she hardly cried at all. She said, "Owie!" a couple of times, but no tears. Thank goodness she also has a dad who is super good at driving(thank you, OPD) and did an amazing job of getting us there as quickly as possible during Omaha rush hour. We had another long wait at Children's before they finally took x-rays and started working on her finger. Until that point, she was unbelievable serene, and sat quietly on my lap. The nurses at Children's remarked that she was the calmest baby they had ever seen. Every time I think about it, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God for giving her(and me) peace. All in all, she waited over three hours from when her finger got slammed until the time they finally stitched it up.

That part - obviously not fun. I won't talk about that too much. Mostly because it makes me want to cry thinking about it. Definitely one of the hardest parts of being a parent is seeing your baby in pain. It's just horrible. Again, I'm so grateful Aaron was there. Nona definitely needed her daddy. There is no denying that she is a daddy's girl, and he was able to calm her when I couldn't, while they were stitching her finger.

We are incredibly thankful they were able to get Nona fixed up. She ended up with 3 stitches across her itty-bitty baby finger. The cut went across the top of her finger, through the nail, down to the bone. Thankfully, she shouldn't have any permanent damage, and it didn't hit her nail bed, so her nail should grow back, good as new. So very, very thankful.

Psalm 36:7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Purple Raspberries

After 2 years of intending to go to our local berry patch but never getting around to it, we finally scheduled a family date, and went raspberry picking at Bellevue Berry Farm.  It was great, delicious fun, and a perfect activity for big families. I wish I had taken advantage of this gem of a place sooner. Bellevue Berry Farm offers strawberries in the Spring, raspberries in the Summer, and pumpkins in the Fall. We will most certainly be spending some time there this October when the pumpkins are ready.

Ivy was super excited to get out to the berry patch.

We did stop along the way for some silly photos.

Here they are! Beautiful purple raspberries.

Once we hit the patch, the girls and boys split off into two groups. Bree and Elle wanted to get picking right away, but the boys, being typical boys, decided to go off and find the "ultimate" picking spot in the patch.

Elle really picked a lot of berries!

When we finally caught up to the boys, they had harvested a good sized bucket of their own.

Sadly, my Lightroom skills are not advanced enough to make Grant appear as if he's smiling.

Here's proof that he had a good time.

Nona didn't pick any berries due to her finger injury(blog post on that later.) She didn't miss out, though. The kids were all very concerned about her, and with all five of them force-feeding her raspberries she had her fill about ten minutes in, and refused to eat any more. She found this lovely ceramic duck to play with, instead of picking berries. Highlight of her day. 

Nona was comfy and happy in her stroller when I pulled her out to try and get a quick pic of all six kiddos. She was not amused.

Bree likes to take pictures too!

Here are just a portion of the berries we picked. Amazingly, a  few of these cartons even made it home without being consumed! 

Couldn't have had more fun at Fun Plex!

 Our Police Welfare and Benefit Association throws an awesome summer picnic every year at Fun Plex, for Omaha Police families. We took Rylan, Bree, and Elle with us this year, and it was such a blessing to spend a whole day enjoying the one-on-one time with just our oldest kiddos. We ate so many hot dogs, hamburgers, and little bags of chips, we thought we would be sick. You know those little waxy plastic bottles of colored sugar water "juice" with foil on the top? Yeah, they had an endless supply of those...the kids were in heaven.

We spent much of the day hanging out in the lazy river and the wave pool. Didn't feel like risking dropping my phone in the water to get pics of that, but we got a few of the kids enjoying the amusement park part. I think this was the first time they had been somewhere where they could do carnival rides for as long as they wanted.

We spend a lot of nights missing Daddy. God's calling for him requires the kids and I to give up a lot of time with our husband/daddy that other families typically have with theirs. That's okay. We are incredibly proud of how insanely hard Aaron works for us, how he loves us, and who God has called him to be. We believe, as a family, that God created us for this lifestyle, and do our best to walk through it with joy. Obviously, there are hard days. There are tears at night when Daddy is not home.

It brought so much joy to my heart to watch Rylan, Bree, and Elle be free to just have fun - a whole day where we could love on them, and enjoy them. It was nice to be able to tell them that the whole day was to celebrate daddy's hard work, and to say thanks to them for all the things that they give up too. It's good to be able to tell your children that other people also appreciate what their dad does. I'm super grateful for all the hard work that goes into making this special day happen for us and other police  families.

College World Series 2013!

Aaron worked A LOT of hours for the College World Series this year, since he was on Riverfront Patrol. We missed him a lot, but it was only a week and a half, and I'm so glad he got to get in on some of the fun downtown. 

This particular day was the last day of the series. Aaron called me from work - he forgot his bike shirt at home and needed us to run it to town for him. We were happy to oblige. It's always fun for the kiddos to see what Dad is up to when he's at work, and it was a good excuse to see him a bit more that day since we had been missing him all week.

 Here are the guys, Aaron and his partner Ofc. Keenan, at the CWS OPD "headquarters" they had set up at the Century Link Center.

Aaron texted me this pic later that night at the end of the championship game when all the officers were lined up on the field during the award ceremony. So cool.

And here is our text conversation that followed the cool "I'm on the field right now, at the CWS championship game!" pics he texted me. 

(Obviously, me on the right.)

 How sweet is that text from him?? 

Now that is how you make a stay-at-home-mom feel good. 

Love my man.

Dairy Queen Fun!

The Plattsmouth Dairy Queen was giving a free mini blizzard to anyone who brought in a letter for a US Service Member, and Erin Purdy had the great idea of getting the kids together for a craft day and ice cream outing! We spent the morning crafting and fellowshipping at the Purdys house and then headed over to Dairy Queen. We haven't really been out for ice cream since starting Primal eating(we have eaten it at home for holidays and birthdays...I'm not totally mean), so it was a fun day for our kids. Bree asked me on the way over there, "Where does the dairy queen live?" I guess she forgot what a Dairy Queen was!

 Here are most of the kiddos with their cute letters!

M&M Blizzards....gone in like 2 minutes flat.

The girls table!

June evening at Glenwood Lake Park

 Aaron didn't have to go to work at QT until 9pm, so we decided to spend the evening at the park. Well, first we had a yummy mexican dinner at El Portal in Glenwood, our favorite place to eat(they give you unlimited chips and salsa.) Nona enjoyed eating the salsa with her hands - funny girl! We wanted to catch a free Summer concert at the park amphitheater, so we got to the park an hour early so that the kids would have time to play.

Ivy loves the slides!

We checked out the nature trails for the first time, and they were beautiful! 

Nona tried to pick every bloom of clover on the path. She was so pleased with her little bouquet.

It's wildflower season!

 It was perfect June weather. High 70's and just a bit breezy - a gorgeous night for a walk!

The prairie grasses were lovely.

Our nature trail ended up right at the amphitheater. We arrived with just enough time to pick up some popcorn before the show started.

The Offut USAF Vortex band was playing. They did a lot of jazz numbers, and some "oldies" from the 70's and 80's. We were really impressed with how great the band was.

We stayed for about half an hour before leaving so Aaron could get to work, and it was just the right amount of time for the kiddos to enjoy the music. 

 I feel so especially blessed on nights like these.

Star Wars Movie Night!

After a year or more of begging from Rylan, we decided to finally have a Star Wars family movie night. Watching Star Wars for the first time is a momentous occasion, so I made sure to take a few pics to document this important night. :)

We had popcorn!

We had Paleo Chocolate Banana Zucchini Cake! 

The boys were enthralled and amazed!

 The girls ended up watching My Little Pony on the laptop halfway through. In their defense, Star Wars is a long movie!

Kitchen Buddies!

I love having buddies in the kitchen with me! Today, Bree and Rylan helped me make a fresh Italian sauce puree go with meatballs for lunch. We had beautiful tomatoes, onions, and peppers from Bountiful Baskets, and we used fresh herbs from our garden. Rylan and Bree even plated up the food. They did such a gorgeous job. So proud of my kiddos!

Country Roads

Aaron finally had a day off from the College World Series this Sunday. We went on a date to the Old Market in the afternoon, and then took the kids on a walk in the evening. 

Rylan and Bree always bring their bikes along on walks now.

Ivy tried rolling down the ditch. :)

Rylan is loving the new bike he got for his birthday. Thanks Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Jeff, and Grandma & Grandpa!

Pleased as punch that I let him take his shirt off!

Aaron, demonstrating to the boys how the bike pegs work.

Nona stayed in the stoller for most of the walk, but ran around with us for the last 10 minutes.

Elle found a beautiful birds nest!

Happy memories on our country road.