Ok...so my last few posts have been about court, and Ryan, and so now it is time to do an update on the kids and all of their shenaigans.  School started on August 29th? maybe...around that time anyway.  We also had several birthdays that we celebrated in the month that I need to discuss as well.       Dill has also reached a point where she is constantly dumping stuff...I really don't enjoy the dumping phase, and with each kid, I swear it gets worse.  Dill also seems to be able to locate a tube of red lipstick no matter how much we try to hide them from her.  I finally just banned red lipstick from the house altogether.  If the girls want to look like Taylor Swift, they will have to move out of the house.  That's our only solution to that problem...and Dill is unlike any other kid I have had because she figures out how to get lids off.  Nail polish has to kept completely away from her.  If she finds a bottle anywhere, she unscrews the top and reeks havoc.  She also likes getting her nails done, but she doesn't like her hair done so much.
     Chlo and Mo spent quite a few days playing in the dryer.  Luckily, I am usually trying to cut down on the electric bill, and so I don't use it a whole lot.  I don't like to hang socks out though, and every time I would try to use it, I was met up with a little cubby of toys, blankets, and knick knacks...sometimes Mo would even be in there.  At that point, I would have to clear the hut, in order to use the dryer.  It totally makes sense to live in the dryer though.
     We had Chloee's birthday on the tenth.  I also was in charge of my Young Women's activity that day.  Chlo wanted to go to the splash park, and so I just had my beehives meet us there.  Chlo opened gifts, and played in the water.  We also had a great neighbor bring us pizza's and I let Chlo watch a movie on netflix.  All in all, Chloee was way easy to please for her birthday.  Jerusha's birthday was on the 23rd, and she had wanted me to take her and a group of friends out to Nay's Ranch and enjoy the waterslide.  The only problem with that was, it had rained and washed out the road to the ranch out there.  And so, it left me wringing my hands and worrying.  Jerusha's birthday party last year was a little bit of a fiasco.  Well, she was heartbroken.  Luckily, Calla Haviland came over to our house and offered the use of her pond (I just want to make a note that I had suggested this over and over, but it was not a good idea when I presented it)  Jerusha was all for it.  I ran to town, grabbed a few long deli sandweeches, and some chips.  I opened up her guest list to include all of the boys in bunkerville, and we went to Bunker's pond.  It was a ton of fun.  They slathered themselves in mud and had diving contests, and zipline contests.  It was simple, and the kids had a great time this year.  Mo had a good time.  It was just fun.  I took her out for dinner that night (sushi like Jazzerz) and yes...birthday party success.  Jamie's birthday was on the 31st.  Her friends spoiled her rotten.  I offered to give her some money toward a new phone, and I took her out for Sushi too.  There were some teenagers leaving when we arrived, and it made me cry, because when I went to pay our bill, when we were about to leave, those teenagers had already paid for us.  I bawled and bawled over that one.  It isn't often that you see teenagers that are that thoughtful...no offense any of you teenagers out there...but really, I was way floored by that act of kindness.
     Since then, I went to Portland for a week.  That would have been the first week of trial.  I went with Aunt Margaret, and we met Lisa and Sarah.  Jason Patrick, and his sister also ended up staying with us.  I was so proud of my husband that week.  He did an incredible job at defending himself, and I just knew that Heavenly Father was answering those little prayers.  How good it was to be across the room from him too.  I love that man.
     And, we have dealt with the day in and day out craziness.  Dill has been on a kick where she is constantly putting things in her hair.  She slathered a bunch of lotion in there the other day, and just yesterday, she attempted to spruce up with some maple syrup.  And, I know that I have mentioned my hatred for balloons on here.  Well, Mo found a glove this morning.  It was one of those cleaning gloves.  I had some beautiful ladies from the ward come over and help me spruce the house up before Mikkelsen's had their homecoming a few weeks back.  Mo just happened to find a cleaning glove that had not been used in that endeavor.  We filled it up with water, and he had his very own water balloon.  This made Dilly bawl all morning, because I didn't have a glove filled with water to give her.  Finally Mo let her hold it.  She lovingly wrapped it in a blanket, and put it in her toy shopping cart that Uncle Gary had bought for her.  Oh Dill...she just has the desire to mother something....even if it is a cleaning glove filled with water.
     I also have had a lot of drama with Mo and his clothing choices.  Around the house, all he wants to wear is underwear.  All of my kids have really gone through that phase at his age.  It especially seems to happen down here in the record heat.  Anyhow, he bawls and bawls when he doesn't have a special pair to wear.  I just couldn't figure it out.  Finally Jazz pointed out that he just wants to look nice, by wearing his lego underwear. This was kind of a epiphany for me.  It had never occurred to me that he cared about his appearance in his shorts.  I guess that is true though.  Mo just wants to look nice, and so we try to wash his lego underwear more frequently.
     Dill has also been on a rampage of messes lately.  She will crunch up chips in a bag, and dump them down the stairs, or she will find Jerusha's window markers, and paint the bathtub with them.  She has also been know to dump honey, chocolate milk, or anything else that she is done eating at the moment.  She has a real problem with running around barefoot, and getting bit by little sugar ants.  This causes her to bawl and bawl.  It is not a good thing.  But, to keep shoes on her is just not happening.  She cannot handle it.
     We had a problem the other day with Mo.  He had gotten into Oak's stuff, and found his leatherman tool.  He had then taken the knife and had slashed all of the leaves off of my prized fern.  In that process, he had cut his finger.  When he came up the stairs, he was bleeding a steady stream.  I calmed him down, and cleaned him up.  We glued and bandaged the finger, and I tried to calm him down.  He really felt like he was going to die.  He wondered why Jesus wanted to kill him???  This caused me to have a nice discussion about Jesus with him, and that Jesus does not kill people, but saves them.  He finally fell asleep.  It was not until the next day, that I saw his pruning job.  I still cannot figure it out. That plant was thriving, and beautiful.  He just claims that it had been bugging him for a long time.  Really, really bugging him.  Wow...it was in a corner that he likes to play, but we could have moved it, instead of slashing it to pieces.
     Another thing that Dill does, that isn't really great in a social scene, is she will strip naked, and remove her diaper whenever she gets the chance.  It really is not a good thing, to be visiting with someone, you are trying to appear, that you are totally keeping it all together, inspite of your husband's incarceration, and then a little naked Dill will come around the corner....it is like a flashing neon sign that yells "mom is in way over her head!!"  and that would be the truth. 
     In spite of our heartbreak, I see God's help and miracles daily.  We will continue to pray until that man is home.  We need him, and we are not whole without him.