McPherson Marathon: Last Strong Bond and a crazy Middle child

This past weekend we went on our last big event before the packers come. On Wednesday at midnight the money came through for the strong bond event so Jon called to let me know that we would be leaving town this weekend instead of staying home to have a garage sale and get ready for the packers that are coming TOMORROW!! Thursday I attended my last board meeting for PWOC and afterward went to lunch with some ladies. We were having a nice leisurely lunch and Karlyn was going to watch the girls in the car while I ran into a store to the prizes for the retreat but Riley had other plans. Somehow she took her fall to a whole new level and managed to "scalp" her hand as the ER doctor said. Yes I said ER doctor. When the blood wouldn't stop and the two nice bystanders kept telling me to call an ambulance I loaded up the car - which Karly graciously climbed in the back seat to hold Riley on the drive to the hospital. My friend Erin had called her husband who is a medic and occasionally works in the ER who met us there and man was it nice to have a friendly familiar face with us. On the drive to the hospital I gave Jon a call to let him know I would be there and since he was already making a hospital visit for one of his soldiers he got to be part of the whole experience!! I am not an extreme emotional person but I really don't like my kids crying and seeing them in pain and well Riley was doing both but we survived. I also think that I came out of the ER more relaxed than when I went in because I got to see God work in so many ways. He has given me amazing friends everywhere we go and many times I take that for granted, he directs our steps and had Jon already there to be with us, and he has gifted people to be doctors, nurses, pa's and other hospital staff who are there to help you in your times of need. 4 stitches later and not having to go under just some benadryl and a great distraction for our nurses we got to go get the other girls who were staying at a friends house. So that took up my entire Thursday which I had planned on doing some pre-packing and sorting for the movers.
Then came Friday which was another friend watching the little 2 while I dropped Molly off for school and then did the pre-retreat shopping, packing, laundry and leaving my house in the worse shape I have ever left it in. We rushed from the house to pick up the school girl and her dad and drove to the beach for one last hurrah. The retreat was awesome and we got to met some fun families and the girls got to make necklaces! Jon taught on the 7 habits of highly effective families and I love getting to hear him encourage others. I had planned on tuning him out and working on my packing list but every time I just had to hear what he was going to say because even though this was like his 6th time to teach the material he focused on different things that applied to the families that were there and the couple he had interviewed.
Also as a surprise one of Molly's good friends family was at an event at the hotel next door so us tricky moms planned for a meet up at the pool. The kids were so excited to see each other and we swan in the freezing cold pool, heated lazy river and then went to the beach to build sand castles and fly kites all before NAP TIME!!
Tonight we got home and the madness began - the garage is completely ready for the packers which is good because they will be here soon:)

PLEASE NOTE THE LAST PICTURE IS GRAPHIC - I want proof to show Riley later what it looked like but for queasy people you may not want to look at picture 8.