I cannot figure out why I can't get organized, or get it together at all.  Other people seem to be able to function in a somewhat organized manner.  I cannot.  I have lost all of my ability to keep on top of things.  These past few weeks have passed in a blur, and for the past three weeks we cannot, for the life of us, find Chloee's shoes for shrsh.  We also cannot seem to keep on top of all of the endless activities, and demands that is just common to life. 
     For example...next week is drill team tryouts for the middle school.  Rooshkie has all kinds of desires and ambitions to try out.  I am fine with this, and I even attended the parents meeting, which was held a week or two ago.  They passed out athletic packets, which needed to be filled out and returned by....um two days ago.  Yeah, this is how things are continually done.  I had to hurry and try to get her in to get a physical on Saturday because her athletic packet was due last Fridee.  I find myself not doing things the last minute.  I do things after the last minute, and then have to beg for things to be accepted and admitted after the fact.  Anyhow, we went in to the clinic, I had the athletic packet, but the paper that was needed at the clinic, to be filled out by the physician had ripped off of the back (seriously so typical of me!)  So...this left me scrambling.  I ran to the high school with the remote hope that someone would be in their office on a Saturday (no one was).  I called Saggers at the house because, thankfully, I had accidentally left her athletic packet at the house when I took her in to get her physical, which caused me to run up to the high school for another one.  Unfortunately Little Sags had tossed it during her last room cleaning.  I was just beginning to give up hope, when Rooshkie found it, dripping wet and under Wamzerz leaking water bottle.  So...we went to the clinic with a soppy paper, and they filled it out and ignored the fact that it was soggy.  Yep...it is the story of my life always these days.
     Another example of this, is Oak has all sorts of ambitions in the football arena.  Unfortunately, little league tackle football is drawing to a close for the year.  They began their season when we were in the middle of melons, and I just knew that we would be too busy to go.  It was a several night of the week commitment, and I knew it would be too much at the time.  Ryan expects Oak especially to help with melons because he is our oldest boy, and he needs to learn how to work hard.  They have a flag football session starting up, and I figured that he could at least learn the rules of the game, and he begged me over and over and OVER to sign him up.  Well....yep, I didn't get it done until sign ups were over.  I did go and beg, and they let him in.  I am tired of being this way, and I know that melons are largely to blame.  I still remember my bridal shower.  I had invited my Mother in law to be, and my new sister-in-laws to it.  It was right in the middle of melon season, and I remember Carol squirming when I gave her the invite.  They did show up, but they were like two hours late.  We kept stalling and stalling with more and more dumb games because they were on their way.  I just could not figure out at the time, how melons could get in the way of my little event, but I definitely understand now.  Melons have taken over the world as I know it.
     Dilly is now walking everywhere and getting into EVERYTHING.  I realize that this is just part of her learning process, but she is dumping, and sorting, and unloading nonstop.  I cannot keep up, because I am still constantly having to drive the kids all over tarnation with their practices, meetings, and activities.  It sometimes takes me a minute to recover from her unloading sessions.  I noticed last week, that she dumped a package of q-tips and it took me a few days to get to it, because it was in a corner that I just couldn't get to.  Yesterday, she got into a jar of marshmallow cream and went to town eating it.  I watched her dip her little hands into it over and over as she got it all over her little face and hands.  Chlo got herself a dip or two, and claimed that the stuff tasted of "deer heart and marshmallows"  I am not sure how that stuff tasted like deer heart, but I get the 'shmallow taste origins for sure.  My little Dill is learning that is for sure...and making a huge mess in the process.  She also likes to take paper and rip it to shreds.  It is one way that she feels extremely productive.
     Ryan sold a bunch of melons to a company in Vegas that were actually willing to come and pick the melons up right out of the field.  I was concerned because it was 20 bins, and a school day.  Cliven and Carol showed up to help, and our cousin Christopher, who is recently returned off of a mission was there, and another kid from Beaver Dam AZ.  Anyhow, we put Oak on the tractor, Wazz loading boxes and we went to picking.  The biggest problem, is that most of our melons are overripe and ruined.  This means it is a ton more work, because we have to pick every melon, tap it, and chuck it, or put it on the picker if it is good.  9 times out of 10, it is no good.  It was a long day to say the least.  And quite disheartening.  Anyhow, when my older kids got out of school, they came and began helping us.  Sags was all sorts of disgruntled about all of the melons to be picked, and she was way annoyed with everything Rooshkie was doing.  She complained and complained about Rooshkie.  Finally, Christopher mentioned a talk given by Elder Uchtorf about complaining that she should listen to.  I agreed readily that she should listen to the speech.  She quickly shot back with a retort about Elder Uchtdorf's talk about being annoying that Jerusha should definitely listen to.  I looked at her quizzically because I could not recall a speech about avoiding the annoyance of others.  Yep...Sags is quick....I love her sense of humor.  She seems to have gotten "the glass is half-full" attitude that Cliven often has, but she also got the Huntington sense of humor.  Seriously, hilarious a lot of the time.  Rooshkie spent most of her time dancing and flitting about the melon field.  They were doing the odd "whip and nae nae" song that came out recently.  Christopher mentioned that his sister made him watch the video when he returned home, and that it was a huge waste of three minutes of his time.  Of course, this made Sags and Rooshkie whip and nae nae even more.  I have to laugh at Rooshkie too because she likes to put rotten melons on the conveyor for Wams to deal with as she loads the bins.  I find it so hilarious to see a rotting melon set with all of the other nice ones rolling slowly down the conveyor to Wams.  Just some of the ways that we have made the melon field fun.
     Another thing that I love in the melon field is when the evening falls.  When the sun goes down, everything cools off, and the bats come out.  I get a big kick out of watching the bats.  They swoop around and eat bugs, and it is almost mesmerizing.  Anyhow, I mentioned to the kids that I was really looking forward to the bats coming out.  Rooshkie gave me a sidelong glance and told me that if bats were the highlight of my day, then she felt really sorry for me.  Bats have become a very enjoyable part of my day though.  When the bats come out, I know that my work day is done.  It is a very satisfying and enjoyable part of the melon field.  I like the bats.
     Today has been a crazy and busy Sundee.  We have also been taking care of Grandma since yesterday morning.  This means that Ryan was at Grandma's and I had to get all of the kids ready alone this morning.  Dilly was way forlorn without her Dad.  She has gotten way attached to Ryan, and must have her Daddy time.  Anyhow, she whined and bawled as I tried to get everyone ready.  To top it all off, Wams had to go to some soils convention for FFA today.  She also had to go to Moapa to a farewell, and so the morning was especially busy for her.  Because she has an injured arm, I had to curl her hair for her, and Dilly was not down with it.  I finally asked Oak to take care of her.  He promptly sat her on the floor and began spinning around and around on his knees.  This stopped her crying and she was entertained for a moment.  I was struck for a minute about the difference in my boys and girls.  When I hand the Dill off to Wazz or Sager, they soothe her, or try to feed her in some manner.  They hold her close and love her better.  Oak, on the other hand tries to make her happy by entertaining her in some way.  Often it is in some loud, and horrid noise that makes the rest of us all cringe.  This morning the spinning on the knees thing, made Dill all sorts of happy.  I love my little Oaker  boy.  He is great.
     Jerusha has become smitten with a boy at school.  He apparently feels likewise about her because when the school interviewed him about his favorite person, he mentioned Jerusha Bundy.  He also sat by her on the bus that day....yep, I see a romance starting.  It better be nothing more than admiring each other from afar, but anyway...when it came time to pick melons I was supposed to pick her up after school, but was of course...late.  She got on the bus, which made me go on a crazy chase after the bus.  I finally caught up at one of the stops, and crazily ran onto the bus carrying a melon to bribe the bus driver with.  I didn't have to explain...he asked me if I needed Jerusha to help in the melon patch.  She was on the back seat, not looking too happy about the fact that I was on her bus, muddy, and holding a melon in a crazy manner.  And she wasn't too excited about picking melons, and leaving a cute boy who had the courage to sit by her.  All I can say is...get used to it Rooshkie my love...I will be embarrassing you until the end of time.

     Well, we are back in the rhythm of school, activities, and homework.  Plus, we are trying to sell as many melons as possible, which puts Ryan and I in the melon field with the babies a lot.  Mo is down with the melon field, but Dilly gets pretty frustrated.  All we have to do for Mo is crack open a melon.  He will just sit and dig in it with his fingers, and pretty much eat the whole thing.  One night we had all of the kids and Arden out picking, and Mo got whiney.  We busted a melon open for him, and I will never forget looking back at his little blond head, poking up out of the melon vines, as the night surrounded us.  His little blondness became harder and harder to see, but I knew he was content to just sit and eat his melon.  Dill usually gets set in the bin as we pick, and I just think that she is sick of the confinement of it all.  We even had Mo "drive" the melon picker the other morning.  Anyway, he thought he was driving, which made him feel pretty important.
     I would also like to take note of how much family has stepped in and helped us in our time of need.  Carol and Cliven have spent a lot of time helping us harvest, and they have done all that they can to offer suggestions, and assistance in selling wherever we can.  I was at the end of my rope one day, and I had to run to St George to get Chlo-bird's birth certificate so that she could start kindergarten.  I also had a bajillion other things that needed to get done, and I was feeling a ton of pressure.  Sags came in and informed me that she also had volleyball pictures that day.  It was seriously the last straw that I couldn't take any more.  I tearfully called Bailey (whom I know is extremely busy herself) and just asked if she could possibly run Sager in for pictures, because I couldn't be in St George and her ride for pictures...of course I had also waited to get the birth certificate until the very last minute too.  Anyhow, she not only ran Saggers to pictures, but she came and cleaned my house as well, leaving dinner on the table...that I might add, gave me dinner for several days.  I will always remember all of those people who are always so willing and ready to assist us all the time. Arden has also been so good to come and help us, when I know there are tons of things he would rather be doing.  I love my family, and I love my Bundy's.  I am very blessed.
     Sags has had several games, and seems to enjoy being on the volley ball team.  I have gone to all of her home games, and she has won one, and lost one.  She has another home game on Thursdee.  I was proud to watch her score a few points, and scared when she missed a few.  Man...it is a lot of pressure, and I am not even the one on the court!  She has come a long way with her skills though.  I am happy for her.
     We also celebrated Jamie's sixteenth birthday.  Wow...I cannot believe she is really 16.  Anyhow, she wanted a swimming party, and we congregated at Bunker's pond for awhile, and then the kids played night games.  I encouraged some of Rooshkie's friends to try to scare Wams back that evening, but I don't think it really happened.  She said it was a lot of fun, and she is pretty low key...I am grateful for this, because I have plenty of kids who aren't. 
     We had our first home football game the other night, and it was great to watch Wams perform with the drill team.  I was really proud of her.  One of her dance friends got injured during the routine though, and unfortunately, she knocked her knee cap out of place, and is more than likely done for the season.  Arden also killed it on the field by sacking the quarter back, and scoring a touch down.  Because he threw the ball in his excitement, they threw a penalty at him, and because the team was easily winning he was pulled out of the game at that point.  I will never forget my Arden boy carrying the water to all of his teammates with his pads, his jersey, and his cowboy boots.  I love that guy.  He is a ton of fun.  Mo was also a fiasco at the game, and so was Dill.  I also learned that most of the children in town, spend the time of the game, rolling down the hills near the bleachers.  Chlo engaged in this activity for the most part.  She also found that all of the grass on the hill was a bit dry, and all of the bits of dry grass ended up making her itch for the rest of the evening.  In my opinion the whole rolling down the hill thing is overrated, and is not as fun as it looks.  Usually the kids end up rolling sideways, and they usually end up with a confused, and unpleasant, dizzy look on their face.  Mo would run around and around the bleachers, only pausing to demand a drink of Volleyball water.  I still don't know what volleyball water is.  I would understand if I had taken him to Saggers games, and gotten him a drink at the fountain near the gym, but I always opted to leave him home during the volleyball games.  I had a hard enough time keeping Dilly off of the court, I don't want to even think about what Mo is capable of.  I do know that Volleyball water is not any kind of water out of a water bottle.  I offered several water bottles to him, only to have him decline, and insist on Volleyball water.  He was also wearing nothing but bib overalls and I heard a few snide remarks about his apparel from the cheerleaders.  But, Ryan seemed proud of the fact that he was officially a farm boy, and looked the part.
     After the game, and a small fiasco of misplacing Mo temporarily, Wams wanted to stay after the game and go to the "Stomp."  I had no idea what a stomp was, but I guessed that it must be a fun, and rowdy dance.  I readily agreed, but Ryan wanted her to come home.  He did finally agree to let her stay, but reluctantly.  We should have listened to him, because instead of going to the "Stomp" which had either been cancelled, or there never was one scheduled, she ended up at the Bunker's house jumping on their trampoline.  She fell off, and tried to catch herself by straightening her arms to catch her weight.  This ended up dislocating her elbow, and she was just extremely lucky that it wasn't broken.  Ryan ended up taking her to the Emergency Room in St George where it was X-rayed and set back into place.  She was in a ton of pain, and cried way more than I had seen her cry in a long time.  The good thing is, it isn't broken, and it will take some time to heal, but not 6 weeks like we feared when she left.  I figured she was done with drill team for sure.
     The next day, we had the Dave Bundy Reunion out at Nay's Ranch.  We had a hard time pulling it together and getting out there for some reason.  I just seem to be able to get through each day, and planning ahead is out of the question.  When the kids were little, and we had a reunion, I would pack for days, but I just don't have that luxury anymore.  Wams, was stiff, and sore, she and Ryan had both been up all night, and were extremely tired.  We did finally pack up on Saturday evening, and head out to Nay's.  We got there right at dusk, and dinner was still being served.  I must admit that I was a little bit crabby about setting up beds.  We were so ill equipped it wasn't even funny.  I had checked the forecast, and there was no remote chance of rain, anywhere in the vicinity.  But, I hated putting my babies to bed in the dirt.  All of the grassy spots were taken, which is no surprise, because we were the last ones out there.  I finally got to work, trying to set up some beds in the dark.  Luckily, Hailey Allen invited Wams and Sags to sleep in her tent with her (yeah!) and Wazz and some other secret cousin friends had decided to sleep down in a grassy area by the house.  Ryan had thrown us out a bed on a flattish area, which left Mo, Chlo, Oak, and Rooshkie...of course Dill was all about sleeping by Mom and Dad.  Anyhow, Ryan had hauled a bunch of melons out in a bin.  I quickly unloaded those and made Mo and Chlo a bed in the melon bin.  I then made Rooshkie a bed on the truck bed, and Oak slept on a table.  The reunion was great fun.  I always enjoy the spirit at testimony meeting, and one of Ryan's cousins had returned that week from a mission.  Anyhow, the next night, we all went to bed and there was a full-on down pour.  It poured rain like I had never imagined.  We literally had nothing to keep us dry.  Mo awoke in his melon box to water pouring in on his little bed.  Needless to say, that I felt like a horrible and irresponsible parent at that moment.  I told Ryan, that we would no longer camp without a tent of some sort.  How many times does this have to happen to us?  I will never forget Scott Sessions crawling out of his tent to help us.  Ryan did have a pop up canopy that he set up over our bed.  We also scrounged up a few tarps from people, and Scott even gave his dry bag to Jazz and Oak who were soaked.  We all ended up huddling under the pop up canopy on one bed in the end...seriously a horrible night.  Ryan had offered to haul the trailer out there, and man...I wish we would have done that.  Oh well...this will motivate us to be more prepared next time.  No more bill board tarps, or logs falling on faces.  I want a normal tent like a normal family. 
     Since the reunion, we have had some interesting days for sure.  Dilly is now walking more than she is crawling which makes me a little sad.  She and Mo have gotten to where they play pretty good together, but he will shove her for no good reason every now and again.  He stole a crown that Jazzerz had received at a church activity and was sporting it around.  He claimed to be the king and all of that.  I asked him what I was and he informed me that girls cannot be kings, because girls can only be kingdoms....got it Mo.
     Mo has kind of struggled with being home without a ton of siblings to entertain him.  I have also been surprised at his abilities to entertain himself for long spurts.  He will take a few matchbox cars, and quietly play all afternoon.  He will also take big lego type blocks, put a longer block on top, call them horses, and play with his "horses" for hours too.  Yesterday had been a really long and quiet day because Dill had taken an extra long nap.  When Rooshkie got home, Mo was all kinds of eager to play with someone.  I was very impressed with the way that she handled him.  She is twelve and not into playing little kid stuff any more (which makes me really sad, because her imagination was the best at keeping everyone entertained).  Anyhow, she walked in the door, and he immediately came running over to her, and begged her to read a stack of books to him.  She immediately sat down, and read all of the books.  Then he begged her to go and play with him upstairs.  She followed him up the stairs where he produced two pairs of Ryan's work gloves.  He was so excited as he told her that they were now able to slap with the gloves.  "Yeah!  We can just slap, slap, and slap!"  He said enthusiastically.  She put on the gloves and clapped around with him for awhile.  At that point my little Chlo-bird came home, and she was all up for playing with Mo.  This made me smile too, because for awhile there, she was way too cool to play with him.  Kindergarten made her hotsy totsy there for awhile. 
     Mo also befriended a rock one day, and named it Robert.  He played with Robert for awhile, and when we went to get Sags he really wanted Robert to come.  I must say, that I didn't trust Mo with Robert in the car.  He has a tendency to want to throw rocks, and I didn't want my windshield broken, or anyone beaned in the head with Robert.  I was very surprised when he chucked Robert out the window and left  him with no regrets or remorse.  Poor Robert...cast aside, like other such rubbish.  Just this morning, Mo went out with the elementary kids to wait for the bus.  He chucked a mud ball at the bus, but from my vantage point it looked like a rock....he swears up and down that it was only a mud ball....either way, I will not be letting him wait for the bus with the kids any more.  Mo also bawled and whined in the store because he wanted a set of golf clubs.....ummmmmm, not happening my friend.  Golf is an extremely expensive and time consuming sport, that I will not be supporting you in at this current time.
     We also have had some problems with Chlo being driven to do homework.  I am sure it is just because school started, and she is eager to learn, and to please, but we had some trouble when Oak's homework turned up missing.  We could not find it, until, of course the last minute.  The missing homework ended up being with Chloee's stuff.  She had made a great attempt to do Oak's homework, but she did not understand his difficult math problems ( I mean hello, they are still learning their numbers for crying out loud)  All of her answers were wrong, which had Oak all upset.  We finally found an eraser, and erased all of Chlo's math work.  Oak was way mad at her, but really, she is just trying to be a good student, and make her way.  A little forgiveness is in order, I believe.

     Wow, how much can change in the course of a week!  Or week in a half....anyhow, melon business has really gone south, and I will explain later in the post.
     The kids are back to school.  I have never been one of those moms who get excited to send the kids back.  I really dread it, and it sneaks up on me, and I was just not ready to send them back.  Chloee was so excited to start kindergarten though, and she loved her first day, so that's good.  Chlo just seems way to little to me to be gone for school already.  Man, I miss that little girl!  Anyhow, she has gotten really good at keeping Mo busy.  Yesterday, he begged to go to school with her, and he bawled most of the morning.  Today, his matchbox cars are keeping him busy and happy.  I am sure that it won't be long before Salem is better at playing with him.  She has been kinda miserable the last few days.  I am sure she is cutting teeth.  It has been really quiet the last few days, that is for sure.  On a positive note, Mo cleaned his bedroom yesterday, all by himself, and he kept it that way.  Wow!  Chloee being gone will make him my little helper, and he will have to grow up quite a bit.  All of that will be a very good thing.
     We have celebrated two birthdays since my last post.  Chlo turned 6 on the tenth, and Rooshkie turned 12 on the 23rd.  Chlo's birthday was pretty busy with melons, but we bought her some nice gifts, we had pizza, and I bought her a big balloon, which goes against my very nature.  She did love that dumb balloon until Oak popped it on "accident."  Of course, then it was a whole bunch of bawling from Chlo.  But, I had endured Mo bawling all day long because of his lack of balloon.  Chlo had picked out a nice mylar balloon filled with helium.  I had also blown up a few to kick around on the floor.  To make up for the fact that he didn't have a balloon, Jazz tried to appease him, by tying a string around one of the non-helium filled ones.  This didn't quite cut it for Mo.  He kept throwing his in the air, in the hopes of getting it to float like Chloee's.  It just wasn't happenin.  My parents also came down a few days later, and took Chlo shopping.  She absolutely loved that, and felt quite important over it.  My parents are awesome, that is for sure.
     The melon business got crazy busy there for awhile.  There was a store who distributes to restaurants in Vegas that were willing to take whatever we could haul them.  But, they had to be boxed in small boxes, and they were very particular about what they wanted.  The first load went down without a hitch, but they began to complain about our second shipment.  They thought our melons were too small, and too soft.  They also complained about sun spots.  After that, Gregg became so stressed about anything that got put into the boxes that he was acting like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.  He was yelling and insulting everybody nonstop.  Whenever he showed up with the truck, the whole spirit of the place changed.  He was obviously stressed because what we have in the field is not what the supplier wants.  Nothing we picked was good enough, until he roared out of the field in a huff, with vows not to pay us for the loads he had hauled so far.  This totally left us in a lurch.  We had fourteen bins sitting in the field, ready to go nowhere.  Ryan, of course began to scramble and try to find places for them to be sold.  And, he was successful to a small degree, but we are nowhere near cleaning the fields of the ripe melons.  Things have slowed way down, and well, I am not sure what is going to happen at this point.  We are shipping out a bin here and there, but after 30 bins a night, it is quite discouraging.  Fortunately, my family is awesome, and they have helped us where they could, and prayed for us.  I feel at peace, and know that somehow, things will work out.  We have invested $35,000 and six months of time.  It will definitely take some time to recover, if we don't sell any melons from here on out.  But, Ryan is up in St. George welding this morning for pay, and I know he will take care of us one way or another.  He always has.  I will still defend our melons too.  They taste excellent, but they are on the smaller side.
     Anyhow, since that time we celebrated Rooshkie's birthday.  She desired to have an evening of night games at the park, and she was really quite elusive about the whole thing.  She kept telling me that I didn't have to come, that it would be no big deal, and that really....she didn't need me to come at all.  Of course...this kind of appeals to me because hey, I have plenty to do at home at all times, but why did she not want me there?  She also made it very clear that no one in the family really was needed or wanted at this particular party.  Her birthday actually fell on a Sunday, and she wanted to have a nice dinner party with the fam on Sunday, but her party on Saturday night was a friends only deal.  This of course caused quite the uproar.  Oak always insists on coming when he is told that he can't.  Jazz was way upset that she wasn't wanted, and Wames wanted to go simply because she wasn't wanted.  I ended up taking Rooshkie and a secret friend (Calla) to lunch, and then I took them to Walmart where they bought chips and pop for their night games extravaganza.  During this whole little trip to town I got many phone calls from her siblings protesting the fact that they were not wanted.  I finally just told her that I felt that Jasmine at least should be invited to her party.  I knew that she had invited a bunch of boys and girls her age, but Jazz is only 2 years younger.  She protested, but finally gave in.  Well, we get to the party, that I am not wanted at, and she had invited quite a few kids.  I asked her what she had planned, and she shrugged her shoulders.  What????  The kids began to arrive with gifts, and she was not prepared to play a single game.  I immediately began trying to remember some of the night games that we used to play.  I got some big embarrassed frowns from Rooshkie when I suggested "button, button, who's got the button" and "duck, duck, goose." One of the boys was eager to play ghosts in the graveyard, but he insisted that it had to be pitch black in order for that game to work.  So...I put a can on the grass, and tried to recall how to play "kick the can"  I seriously haven't played it since the 80's.  I finally started to remember when they wanted to move on to another game.  I tried to recall "murderer in the dark" which requires people to hold each other's hands.  This game turned into a fiasco because these kids are still pretty awkward around the opposite gender.  None of the boys were bold enough to hold hands with a girl and vice versa.  I finally got them playing that game pretty good, but one of the boys figured out which slip of paper had the murderer sign on it, and he would purposely draw it out every time.  This made it a little bit obvious when he turned out being the murderer time after time.  Also one of the other boys had a hard time catching onto the game, and he would ask if he could just randomly squeeze people's hands because he wanted to....ummmmm no....that in fact messed up several games, but he just couldn't seem to grasp the concept.
     At this point, it was getting pretty dark.  I urged them to start "ghosts in the graveyard," because they all seemed somewhat familiar with that game, even though I could not specifically remember the rules.  Once again the same boy insisted that it just could  not be played until it was darker.  I said fine, why don't we tell a few scary stories just to gear up for the game then.  This was met by a lot of excitement from the boys.  They all had stories that they had heard around campfires at scout camp that they wanted to share.  They all talked over each other, and their stories were so incomplete and convoluted that they weren't really scary at all.  That didn't stop the group of girls from walking a distance away and plugging their ears because they were just too scared to deal with the stories.  Really, I didn't hardly feel a shiver of fear during any of it.  The evening was finally beginning to cool off, the cows were in the next field over mooing softly, and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.  At this point they decided they could try playing "ghosts in the graveyard."  Wames called me and informed me that Dilly was way upset and wanted to go to bed.  I left one of the more responsible boys in charge, and went to get Dill.  After all, most of these kids are 12, and I was going around the corner.  They finally seemed to be playing pretty good too.  Anyhow, I asked Wames if she wanted to go and finish up the party.  An hour was really all that remained, and Dill was wanting to bed down.  She balked a little, but finally said she would do it.  That turned out to be a horrible decision.  Anyhow, I should have taken Dill and gone back.
     My desires for Wames was for her to keep the kids playing games.  Well, she did try to get them to play a few things, and she just couldn't keep them interested.  We were so horribly ill prepared it wasn't even funny...seriously, though, I didn't go into detail, but my week had been as bad as bad can be...because she didn't want me at her party, I had not planned it.  She insisted that this group of kids play night games every night, they live right on that same street, and really, it is a nightly occurance that she is never invited to because she doesn't live in the neighborhood.  She just wanted to be included for once.  It was not that way at all.  The girls would go off in their little group and whisper, and the boys would climb trees, and horse around...to try to get the two groups together required some games.  Wames abandoned the games and just started to scare the two groups.  This proved to be disastrous and kind of ruined the party.  The girls got so scared that they all (with the exception of Rooshkie) ended up bawling...she apologized, but they all were so scared that they went home way upset...yeah, we had some mad parents...wow...Rooshkie's party was quite the bust.
     Ryan just happened to be staying and taking care of his Grandma that night, or I could have really used his help.  I had Wames come home with a bawling and upset Rooshkie...after all, Wames had ruined her entire party, her friends were bawling, and would probably hate her forever.  It took me forever to get to the bottom of things, to get Rooshkie calmed down, and to finally send the kids to bed.  I was way mad at Jerusha and Jamie....Jerusha was not one bit prepared to host a party, and Jamie was not sent there to make the girls cry (apparently the boys were fine with being scared by Wames).  Wames was just trying to make the party fun, but it backfired big time...and these girls are all in the ward, and I love all of their parents a ton.  The last thing I wanted was for them to have to comfort scared and crying girls all night.  Whew...it was a horrible week all in all.  Ryan's truck broke down, I lost a bunch of cash when it fell out of my pocket shopping with Rooshkie, and I got pulled over....the list goes on and on for last week, and the party was just the horrible cherry on top.
     Finally at about midnight, I had everyone settled down to some degree and in bed.  I was just finally starting to get into a deep sleep when a series of loud bangs hit the windows and front door.  I woke up with a jolt bewildered and confused.  There was an incident a few months ago, when Ryan came home and he was supposed to be out of town.  I had locked the house up tight, and he had tried to rouse us by banging on some windows, but ended up sleeping on the lawn because he couldn't get us to wake up and let him in.  My first thought was that he had come home from Grandma's because he needed something from the house for some reason.  I stumbled down the stairs and turned on the porch light.  I stepped out on to the stoop in my garments and hollered for Ryan.  All I heard was a whole bunch of falling footsteps...it could have even been someone on a horse.  The night was perfectly still.  Then, I called for the dog, because she ought to at least bark when someone is on the property that shouldn't be, but she was nowhere around too.  I was way confused, but then realized that it would have taken multiple people to do all of the banging simultaneously that was done.  At that point I felt kinda sheepish standing there in the light of the porch in nothing but garments.  I went back inside and was met by a crying and sleepy Wazz...she was scared to death because she swore up and down that someone was in her room.  She heard voices, and was sure someone was there.  Serious moment of truth...all I could do was deal with the situation.
     Anyhow, I went upstairs and grabbed a gun. At some point I moved the little kids and told the bigger ones that they were to go upstairs...if I had to shoot, I didn't want to worry about missing and hitting one of my kids.  I felt like a real warrior, training my gun, and looking in closets and under beds.  I am, and will forever be grateful that I was taught from a child the importance and significance of guns.  I am glad that there was one available, but the house was empty.  She must have just heard voices before there were knocks on the outside windows.  I don't know, and may never know who it was.  There is a good chance that it was am attempt to payback Wames for her shenanigans.  In any case, I was glad that I was able to handle the situation without getting anyone else involved.  Guns are good to have.
     The rest of the week has been somewhat typical.  Ryan has been helped by a gentleman in Enterprise, and we have been hauling melons to all of the vendors that he hauls corn to.  Because of that Ryan brought home some lovely ears of corn.  This excited Mo to no end.  He has been nibbling on them raw, and you guessed it...he brought them to bed with him the other night.  He has actually been kind of better about sleeping in his room, but not the night of the corn....we ended up sleeping with ears of corn and husks trailing around.  I'll never figure it out.
     We have had a few shenanigans at shrsh like usual.  Mo came in shouting CANDY!  loudly, over and over.  He also wanted me to lick and chomp on a make believe ice cream cone that he had made at shrsh.  It consisted of a raggy old baby wipe that was wrapped around a pencil.  It did resemble an ice cream cone, but I wasn't about to lick it or bite it.  He insists that I do certain things, and honestly, at times I just refuse to play along.  This makes him mad, but he has got to know that he can't control people.
     Another positive thing, is that my little Sager made the Volleyball team.  I am so proud of her, and this news has changed her whole attitude around about school, and the town etc.  Seriously, I am way excited for her.