Our Handful of Children

Hunter, William, and Wyatt

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Halloween and Piles of Poop

My computer had a hickup (*read crash and burn) that had me in tears for several days. We apparently downloaded a virus when we were watching conference. IT was NOT pretty and all of our business files were saved in the wrong format and we were unable to retrieve them. I have hated this dumb PC from the first day Jon brought it home but supposedly it was the best priced hunk of junk out there. I would have rather paid more and got a computer instead of the joke of a machine that now cumbers my office desk….BUY A MAC.
So with that in mind I will try to bring you all up to speed in 10,000 words or less. Jon has been hunting and has brought home an elk and 2 deer so far he has two more deer tags which he hope to fill. I hope he does it VERY soon.
William has pooped and peed in the potty. We all celebrated but are not pressing the issue. He is very quietly stubborn and we are willing to wait until we are sure we will win the battle sooner rather than later. His most endearing quality of late is he response of “No I not” which he gives in most circumstances. “Your silly-No I not” “Your funny- No I not” You made a mess- No I not” “you are soaking wet and have been playing in the toilet- no I not” “ your in trouble- No I not” J He also answers yes to the question “do you want a spanking?” This usually gets him out of one and the reverse psychology is working well on his parents. He is making terrific messes which give Stiles and Hunter a run for the title but has not yet out done them yet. However the other morning I found him downstairs laying in the middle of ALL of Stiles and Marcus Halloween candy. ( I told myself I would deal with that mess AFTER my shower) and then After my shower I found him in the middle of the Kitchen floor in a HUGE puddle of pancake syrup. Oh and someone had peed on the floor in the bathroom that morning too. I never did get to the candy mess. I was following Will around taking away markers and sharp object and any other destructive feet he was trying to accomplish. HE is TWO…sigh.
This Halloween we hosted a neighborhood Trunk or treat and Potluck dinner in the upper reaches of the Woodin Nickel Barn. It was well attended and we ran out of chairs and candy. My kids were dressed as the following. Stiles-Clown. Marcus- Knight. Erica- Fairy Princess. Hunter- Orange bad guy (I’m not sure either but he wore orange fairy wings as part of his costume) William- cowboy Wyatt- devil. Jon and I were Pirates and we all had fun. The barn is still decorated as I have not found time to take it down.
I did finally harvest the rest of the carrots and onions and I threw the Brussels sprouts to the goats. (they were VERY bitter) And then roto-tilled the whole thing under and as I was doing so I decided that the rest of the world gardens just so they can have a small taste of what it might be like to be a farmer. But without the risk or course. I think I have a good idea as to why Dad loves to plow. It is pretty fun to just roll everything over and under.
The Primary Program came and went and the Kids all did their parts beautifully Stiles told a story about how he followed the promptings of the holy ghost. Marcus talked about working with the animals and serving his family. And Erica yelled into the microphone her part “I felt good when I helped Stiles get out from under a chair.” Everyone giggled because of her confidence and her volume and Stiles was mortified because he thought everyone was laughing at him for getting stuck under the recliner. It was a great program.
Alright here is my funny scenario of the month. Yesterday we are preparing to go to Utah to witness Luke’s Baptism and enjoy some good company south of the Idaho border. Well we have given ourselves a 30 minutes cushion for our leave time just so we won’t be a crazy rush. Well it is about time to leave and I have left the task of bathing and Dressing my youngest three until the bitter end because lets face it they are boys and will become horribly messy in a very short amount of time. Well I got Wyatt dressed first and set him down thinking that his messes are usually minimal. I gather up William and strip him down and throw him in the tub only to discover that sometime in the last hour he has managed to step in a nice big pile of dog poop and it is all over his shoes and in a couple of places throughout my house. SO I throw Will in the tub then scrub down the shoes in the sink and place them under my blow dryer to hopefully have them dry in time. Then I helped Hunter get dressed and he looks good new Sunday clothes and the whole bit. So I send him off and he goes to get in the van because that is where the older kids are and they are all geeked up because I put the portable DVD player in the van so they are getting all ready to go. Then I head to the bathroom to fish William out of the tub. I had left him in until the end as a damage control measure. Well when I walked in I found him in a very very VERY poopy bathtub. No big deal right. Kids poop in the tub, not the first time not the last time. So I start hosing off my boy and the tub and everything else I can hit with the shower wand and William is screaming because he was not in the bargain for a shower he wanted a bath. Anyway I soap him up and rinse him off a declare him non toxic and pull him out of the tub. At this same moment my three oldest children come whooping and hollering and screaming bloody murder that Hunter has pooped and it is ALL OVER THE VAN. Sure enough he had a case of explosive diarrhea and it has landed in his shorts his new dress pants down his legs and in his sock and new shoes and there was a mice amount on the floor of the van. Jon was assigned to clean up the van and I got the boy since now I have to not only bathe but find a complete new set of clothes for the poor child including shoes. We set to work and finally end up smelling a lot better all round not quite roses but marigolds might be the right flower to compare too. Except for Wyatt came crawling into the bathroom right through the less than clean water puddles that have now made themselves known on my bathroom floor so he now needs a new pair of Sunday pants. So now we are ready right, new clean Sunday clothes all around I finally get William dressed. He has been streaking through the house for about 15 minutes now. And I decided his poopy dog shoes are not going to cut it so we hunt to find his boots and magically we find them BOTH. Whew poops all over, into the car right. we should have left 10 minutes ago. Well no I am informed that Wyatt needs yet a new pair of Sunday pants AGAIN since he crawled outside and right through the puddle of yucky poopy water that Jon had used to clean out the floor of the van. I’ve already exhausted all of my extra Sunday clothes and now I am down to a pair of Jogging pants. Hey they are black and they work. We throw in our potluck Salad and a few other changes of clothes (just in case, hey we are batting a thousand right now) and finally with our 30 minute cushion all the way gone we pull out of the drive only to realize that we do not have the address to the church house so we stop pull back in and find the email with the right info and we are finally off. 20 minutes later as we were getting close to leaving Pocatello behind us. We hear from the peanut galleries in the back seat “MOM? I have to go to the bathroom…” It turns out that EVERYONE needs to go. So we pull back off the freeway and into a gas station so that we can all get rid of the extra pressure and then we drive like bats out of china and make it to the baptism in the nick of time after one more pull off the freeway because Hunter has to pee and can not hold it any longer….that boy did have some definite pressure and distance. The ride home was much less entertaining.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Catch up!

Okay, So I just got done reading my last letter. It was ahem…Written a few moons ago. So I will try to catch you all up and repent of my ways. My last letter was just prior to our trip to Lake Powell and so I will start with some highlights from that trip.
William and Wyatt stayed home, Katherine was a gem and watched them during the day, and Jon had them at night. We drove all through the wee hours of the morning and arrived at the lake before lunch time. My kids were super excited. We got all set up at camp and permission had been granted to all of the children that “YES! You can go get in the water and play” The next thing I know I watch Hunter as he is falling off the end of the slide into the water in a belly flip flop fashion. This is his first entry into the water. There was no one to catch him, or even take a picture. He said it was fun but refused to take another turn. He did laugh and giggle every time his Mom went off the slide however. I was sure that Stiles and Marcus would be little boat hogs. I was only half right. Stiles did try to ski and did Okay on the boom bar. But his love was a tube ride. And he wanted to go on a “big kid ride”, not a “little kid ride.” I admit I was having a hard time staying calm as I watched him out there with his big uncles getting thrown out of their tubes and eating white rocks. But Stiles was eating it up. I think he though the best was when Grandpa managed to unload all three of them at once. Marcus is not the same adrenaline junkie type. I beged and pleaded and finally bribed him with not one, but TWO dollars if he would go on a tube ride. He consented if I would go with him. He would not let the boat go any faster than barely trolling. He kept on signaling for grandpa to go slower. I think that for grandpa to go any slower he would have had to pull out the paddles. (which they did have to use THE paddle and waterski to get back one time) I thought that if I could get him to go just once that he would go again. But once was enough for him, and He made me pay up the $2.00 bribe. Erica was happy to play in the water with Elena and Becca ALL day. Erica and Elena jumped off the back of the houseboat countless times and played well together all week. We decided it would be fun to give the three little girls a tube ride. Elena and Becca were fine with the idea and I think they even had some fun But Erica threw a rip roaring tantrum the ENTIRE tube ride. IF we would have known how crazy her Tantrum would have been we would have recorded it and posted it on you tube. And that poor girl was so tired every night that she just couldn’t even see straight and bawled herself to sleep most nights. It made bedtime a bit memorable and we were all so grateful when she would finally fall asleep. Hunter was so excited to go to Powell. He had no idea what it all meant, he hasn’t been since he was an infant, but he knew it was going to be something way awesome. He played hard and paddled around in the water and took a tube ride and jumped off the back of the boat and generally was just having a ball. Well after a long drive home and as we turned onto Tyhee road and Hunter recognized where we were he asked “ Mom. HOME?” I said “Yes we are almost home Hunter.” Hunter said with anxiety and determination in his voice “NO! POWELL! NO! POWELL!” Like all the rest of us we would rather go to Powell than almost anywhere else, even home.
So after we got home we had a fun crazy week of things I can’t remember probably mostly un packing and trying to green up all of the 5 acres that Jon had let turn brown while I was gone. And we looked forward to the Bannock County Fair. Now this fair is quite small, and not attended by many. But we made it a family goal in January to make entries in the Bannock County fair. So much of this week was spent in the gathering and preparing and entering and showcasing as many things as we could in the fair. And it PAID OFF. My kids all won a “Best of Show” Erica won 2 and I even won one. There were lots of blue ribbons and 2nd and 3rd place ribbons as well. Stiles and Marcus Entered some Chickens and The judge was so nice and Gave them a blue ribbon for the rooster and a red for the hen. The judge said to Stiles while he was looking at the rooster. “Now this rooster truly is a blue ribbon rooster but I am going to give you the blue ribbon because you are holding that chicken that is almost as big as you are!” The whole week was very busy and very fun, AND my kids learned a lot about having to help mom out so we can all do something together as a family. The pay day checks at the end of the week had all of my kids grinning from ear to ear all the way to the bank. Hunter even took home a paycheck for turning in the tallest weed.
Then the next few weeks were full of getting ready to go back to school and celebrating 3 birthdays. Jon and Erica’s birthday bash was fun. We decided that it would be a good idea to give her something to teach her about responsibility. After all the boys have the chickens and all of that. So for Jon and Erica’s birthday Date they tracked down a new GIRL kitty. “so Erica could have a sister” The kitty immediately went into hiding and it took quite a bit of hunting for the little feline before we located her behind the dryer. Erica named her Lily. Which is a big change from her usual “beauty” but since she has named all of her stuffed animals and pet ladybugs “Beauty” she decided that Lily was the perfect name for a kitty. I didn’t try to talk her out of it. It has been fun to have a pet kitty. And Erica is a good little Mommy to her pet. So much so I fear that Lily will be quite spoiled. Wyatt also had his 1st birthday and it was low key and without too much fluff. I got him one of those leapfrog stuffed dogs named Scout that you can connect to your computer and program in your Childs name and songs and Favorite things. Well it has been a challenge to keep it out of Hunter and William’s hands and in Wyatt’s possession since both older brothers are sure that it is THE COOLEST toy. Hunter has already told me that for his birthday he wants an Orange dog, like Wyatt’s. We shall see. Wyatt is pretty content with the monster truck that came from the dollar store and likes to push it around.
School is off to a good start. Stiles is in 4th, Marcus in 2nd, and Erica is repeating Kindergarten. Hunter is also enrolled at the Early learning center for Speech therapy and goes two afternoons a week. I am almost able to accomplish something. But the homework load is really putting a huge demand on my evenings to get all three of them through the things they are suppose to do and Erica’s homework load won’t hit hard for about 3 more weeks.
For Labor Day weekend we packed up the camper and headed up to the mountains above Arco. Up in the Lemhi range. Jon did some hunting with his hunting buddies and the girls back in camp tried not to freeze to death. It wasn’t that cold and we were able to have a fire but it wasn’t that warm either. But the kids had fun and fished in the stream and rode their bikes and built a secret fort in the trees and we went on 4 wheeler rides and ate good and burned up marshmallows over the fire. So far Jon has not taken a shot at an elk yet. But has had some fun exciting hunts and helped others to get their tags filled. We are down to two weeks left in September and the pressure to get something is increasing so I doubt I will see much of Jon or any of his hunting gear over the next two weeks.
SO I think you are up to date on most of the general details of our lives. There is much more to tell like the 2nd flood I had in my basement this summer that left me washing dishes in my bathroom tub for two weeks, the dead mouse behind the fridge, and the coyote that my kids watched carry off one of our chickens that engaged Jon in a “morning hunt.” I’ve been canning Peaches and Pears and salsa. I love that I am blessed with so much and that I have wonderful children and an awesome hardworking husband. I hope to be a better writer and keep you filled in on the details. But if not I hope that I am not totally boring you.

Love Monica and the insanity that as always happening at the Woodin Nickel.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Excuses Excuses 2010

Okay, okay, I have been a real slacker…or perhaps anything but. My last email correspondence sent out to all of you that might care was in fact almost 2 full moons ago. So let me tell you all of my excuses as to why you have not heard from me by way of the cyber highway.
I was feeling SICK for most of the Month of May and several different days in June. I am NOT suffering from Morning sickness despite the many similar symptoms. My doctor put me on a once a day anti-acid and I have been feeling much better. I do not think that I am truly all better but after 6 kids I sometimes think that my body was freaking out that it was not pregnant and just going through the motions of morning sickness because I doesn’t know how to not be pregnant after my previous baby reached 9 months oldJ
My next excuse for my lack of communication. “It is JON’S fault” a few days prior to A Woodin Family camping trip to McCall Idaho our one of our two full time employee’s fell deathly ill with internal bleeding and literally almost died. The same day our other employee informed us of his new job that he had just been offered and his intent to quit working for us immediately. Jon was up a creek going from a 3 man operation to Him and Ethan Hall, a young man from our ward. Since then Jon has been going a mile a minute and Ethan is getting way more hours than he was previously promised but he is saving for his mission so it is a blessing for him. But I have been getting more hours than I signed up for too. I’ve been promoted from Water Girl to Water Master and most things around here a pretty green. There are some less that lush areas but We are getting to them as we are able. The Garden by the green house looks pretty awesome but the one by the chicken coup is not looking so hot. I really am ready to roto till the whole thing under and act like it never even happened. The cherries got ripe and we saved a few handfuls from the birds.
I had decided that my baby Wyatt was now old enough to be moved out of Jon and I’s bedroom but in doing so I decided that I would also move Stiles and Marcus to a basement bedroom and put Hunter, William, and Wyatt all in one room and give Erica her own room so that she could have some privacy...she is a girl after all. In the whole of this transition I borrowed my Mom’s rug doctor so that I could clean carpets after moving large amounts of furniture and decided that the basement bedroom would be much more attractive and maybe my boys would keep it cleaner if they helped paint and decorate their new bedroom. Stiles and Marcus worked hard and we painted a room one day, moved their furniture in the next, and cleaned carpets in their old room, and then the next day after, moved all of the stuff and ripped out the carpet in the adjacent basement room that had flooded…yes my house was in shambles…and still is. Still not good enough excuses for you. Well then William was sitting up to the table on the bench and Hunter decided that he wanted to sit in that exact spot and pushed William…right into the counter. 5 stitches in the back of William’s head and then we load up our new baby filly and rush her into the Vet because she has a hernia, this was on the same day, then the day before William is suppose to get his stitches out Marcus and Stiles were having a tug or war fight on opposites sides of the door and I don’t know who won but the door was okay but Jon missed Sacrament meeting that day as He took Stiles to the Dentist so that Dr. Hugues could fix Stiles broken left front tooth. And literally 3 minutes prior to the broken tooth I asked my kids to stop fighting and please go brush their teeth. Speaking of front teeth Marcus just lost one of his baby teeth as I was writing this. which reminds me that Erica lost one as well and the tooth fairy was not very prompt in exchanging cash for rotten baby teeth.
We have had some fun in all of our woes. We did a weekend overnighter camping trip to McTucker Ponds we didn’t realize that it was free fishing days there while we were there but when we did we got in line to get our free hot dogs and put our names into the raffle drawing. Wyatt won a fishing pole which Jon picked out (ahem). We did the ward campout the following weekend at Indian Springs and the kids all had a ball. The next weekend was the Woodin Family camping trip. Jon was not able to attend the camping trip to McCall so I went by myself with 6 kids and the Camper in tow…the camper was much easier to tow by the way. The trip was way fun we even got lost going to Riggins and ended up in Council. (never trust a GPS) but we found a little fishing hole and the kids all got to catch a fish. There were great ghost stories complete with a ghost. And We had fun one day at a hot springs, and then another in the sand by the lake. We did a hike with all of the little kids and that was not as bad as it sounds. The Food was good and the company great. However the moments when I could not find William were a bit gut wrenching. He had found a campsite that was blowing bubbles and joined in on the fun. After we found him we took a piece of Duct tape and wrote “I belong in site # 67” and taped it onto all of the kids three and under. A lot of our fellow campers from neighboring camp sites were kind enough to haul our kids back to us. I guess they had heard the saying “Don’t take any Woodin Nickel’s” and they were following that sound advice.
I have to tell you about my cat. When we did our over nighter to McTucker Our cat, Georgia, (My kids named her) got locked in the house. Well there is not a kitty litter box in my house because Georgia is an out door kitty who occasionally gets to come in and take a nap on somebody’s bed. Well when we came home She bolted right out and then the smell of cat poop hit me like a wave. “OH GROSS” I thought and since we got back from camping quite late I transferred my sleeping kids to their beds before I went in search of the offending smell. Well I looked and looked and I just really couldn’t find nor did I WANT to find it. So I decided that I had better at least climb in my shower and get the camping stink off of me at least. And there in my shower was all of my Cats business. I was so happy with my cat all I did was turn on the water and washed it on down the drain. I loved that cat that night. She has been the best cat with my kids. Especially with Wyatt. Since Wyatt learned how to crawl, Oh yeah Wyatt can crawl now, ( he even crawled himself off of the stage at the church, WHAM) I have been worried what their interaction would be but I have watched him crawl over to my cat Georgia grab her by the fur and the tail. Pull her closer and then crawl on top of her then lay on her. And Georgia just sits there, she doesn’t scratch or try and bat him away, So you can understand how sad I felt when Jon told me he found her out on the road a lot less alive than the last time I saw her. He assured me that he took proper care of her and “kicked her off to the side of the road so that the kids won’t see her.” Got to love that man!
We were suppose to go camping this weekend but that got shelved early on in the week so I set up the tent in the yard and put a TV and DVD player out there and my kids spent several nights out in the tent. I guess it beats making their beds in the morning. WE also spent some time out at American falls Reservoir me and the kids of course with out Jon. We had lots of fun both times. Erica and I managed to sunburn our backs pretty bad the second time we went and Both of us have been a bit sore ever since. She has been a trooper and I have been a wanny.
So lets see. I painted a room, had my basement flood, ran my kids to the doctor more than once and my baby horse, watered and weeded the majority of a 5 acre property, oh and I cleaned the shop and the barn and bucked a ton of hay one day. Haircuts ( I have 6 boys) , My cat got run over. The ward is currently building the 24th of July parade float in my big shop and I hosted an impromptu BBQ as part of that this Saturday and I have Pack night campfire night here on Wednesday night as well. The parade float is awesome and I expect to have many people in and out all of this week finishing putting it together. And I am trying to get ready to go to Powell without Jon again next week. Now all of these things all spread out over two months is just classic everyday life here at the Woodin nickel but you throw in Jon’s EQP calling, doing visits with the Elders, and kids in diapers, and Chickens, and Skunks under the chicken coop, Chicken for dinner (didn‘t get there from the store). Three meals a day and TONS of laundry, not to mention dishes and floors, did I mention my basement flooded too. Well I have been a bit busy trying to hold everything together… there is a reason I am not milking goats this summer, can you tell what it is?…..I need to go Visiting Teaching…
Anyway I want you all to know that I love you all and think that you are all super wonderful. I look forward to Powell and will miss my family who won’t be there, but hey you were invited. And to MJ…You may think that you live in Paradise there in Florida but I promise you that next week when I am surrounded by nothing but warm water and red rock you know who will truly be in paradise…J And to Brian. I am really enjoying your blog. You make me laugh. Keep your posts coming.

Monica and the Woodin Nickel mess that is mine and I love.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Baby girls at the Woodin Nickel

May 23 2010 Our new arrivals are PINK!
Lots of new Flowers!
Yesterday in the early morning hours Sugar finally had her foal. She is a beautiful buckskin filly with light colored eyes. We have named her Rose -n- Nickel and call her Rose or Rosy . We have had several visitors to see the new arrival and have loved showing her off. Rose is very calm and will come up to you for a little pet and a love. She loves to lick Stiles hands and makes her Momma a bit crazy, as all children do. She of course was born on the coldest day in all of the month of may and we spent quite a bit of time and effort to get her and her momma moved into the barn and out of the cold wind, rain and snow! Today it was a bit warmer and we let the two of them out on the football field for a chance to enjoy some sunshine and a bit of exercise and fresh grass. Rose immediately took off and ran the length of the football field and her mom was right there with her trying to keep her away from the rest of us.
Today While we were gone to church our White goat named Iris had 2 doe lings! We are so excited to have all these new little girls running around here. We named the baby goats. Jasmine and Daisy. William is thrilled with the baby goats and tries to pick them up like he does the cat. It is great fun just to watch William with the goats. It amazes me how fast those animals are up on their feet and running around. The first few hours on wobbly legs is so precious and fleeting. So now that you have been briefed on the Livestock report I’ll try to fill you in on the rest of things going on around here.
This is the last week of school. And we are all excited. I think that when I pull out my new summer chore list for my kids some of that excitement might die a little. In the mean time I am counting down the days when a 6 am alarm means I am getting up because I WANT to be up that early, not because I HAVE to be up that early. I am anxious for a less structured day and bedtime to be whenever I think it should be a good idea. Ask me again in 3 weeks and school in September will be looking REALLY NICE!
Stiles had a solo in the school music concert. He did very well. There were quite a few youth from our ward who had large parts and I really enjoyed listening to all of them. They all did really well. This week we also had our pack night. It was a talent show. Stiles showed off his plants and told about them. He even threw in some knock knock jokes and funny little puns. Afterwards many people asked if he could come over and plant their gardens for them. Stiles was pleased as could be with himself and his talent. It was fun to see all the other boys show their talents as well.
Marcus continues to amaze me with his new found ability to read and read well. He is reading everything he can get in front of his eyes and I am loving every minute of it.
Erica had kindergarten graduation this week. She received a certificate for completing 1 yr of Kindergarten.( apparently WE enrolled her in a two year program) But she sang the songs well and was So happy that her mom and Grandma were there to watch her. William however was NOT happy about being at the ceremony and was making life very miserable. In fact he has become such an independent little guy Jon and I are in agreement that we would rather take all 5 kids at once over William when it comes to having to try and sit still for longer than 10 minutes. Church is a trading game for us. William gets passed back and forth all through the meeting usually at about 10 minute intervals. Today Jon had him during the sacrament part of the meeting and Will managed to spill two cups of Water all over Jon before Jon was able to take the sacrament. It was NOT a very spiritual experience for Jon. Covered in Water and trying to Hold William while passing the tray to Marcus who is not paying attention at all. We will just say that William likes to go to nursery where He can run and play and be loud. We Love it too.
Wyatt has not made the transition from wiggly inch worm to crawling baby but I am sure that this report will change very soon. We are no Longer nursing and he has definitely plumped up a bit since he is getting more than enough to eat with the formula. Still no sign of sleeping through the night but we wouldn’t expect a restful night for the next decade of our lives anyway.
The snowstorm on Saturday made me very glad that I was feeling sick for most of May and that all of my plants were tucked away in the green house and that I was feeling to crappy to think that it would be a good idea to move them into the garden plot. However I did get the garden all lined out and fenced off so as to keep the chickens out of the Garden and hopefully the kids will not walk on the planting beds and the fence will keep them with in the confines of the garden for longer periods of time when it comes time to pull weeds. When it comes to feeling sick I am felling much better. It took a while though. I was wondering if maybe my gall bladder had died, or maybe I had juiardia, or perhaps an ulcer, I even took TWO Pregnancy tests!( (go ahead and Laugh but they were both negative) But in the end I think that my body has fought off whatever it was that was making me feel rather yucky and gross.
Jon has been up in the night every night for many weeks checking on the pregnant animals in the afore mentioned livestock report. He has been very tired and a bit bellyaching about how hard it is to get up a couple times in the night…….I gave him NO sympathy. NONE NADA ZIP! But you have never seen a more excited guy than Jon is about our new horse. HE is SOOOO tickled Pink! Sometimes I think he is more jazzed about the horse than he was about his own kids but I know that is not true. HE is such a good dad and I am lucky to have him. (whew now maybe I can be a bit off the hook when Fathers day comes around) Wait…I didn’t get anything extra special for Mothers day…I am totally off the hook! Just kidding.

Love Monica and the crazy Monkeys at the Woodin Nickel

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

the Hoover Dam!

Dear MJ and the rest of my devoted readers (all two of you)!

The OX has finally been pulled out of the mire. The hole were the septic tank is housed is now all buried and the ground is being settled back into place. As I was about to sigh a HUGE sigh of relief I fell very sick and spent 8 days not far from my bathroom extremely grateful that it was now working properly and I could flush, shower and wash when ever fancy struck me. I spent much time in bed and Jon was very supportive and did not mumble about how the maid, cook and nanny had taken a leave of absence without proper notification. I was even sick in bed all day on my birthday. My children informed me on this day that they could not sort their laundry in the downstairs laundry room because there was a large and very dirty puddle in that room. And sure enough the kitchen “stuff” was not making it all the way out of the house by way of the plumbing system. Our Neighbor Jim Sant, came to the rescue…AGAIN. And got rid of the stinky offending water…AGAIN. I guess that was a very nice birthday present. So I THINK that our Mire is now mostly cleaned up and the OX is back in the Pasture…just waiting… to get back into the mire. My experience is that the Ox will get back into the mire just when it really isn’t convenient.
So I had a Birthday. I turned 16. And I laid in bed or was being very friendly with my commode, not to be confused with comrade. At dinner that day which Jon lovingly purchased from Papa Murphys and put in the Oven all by himself…I said “Now that I am 16 and I can date maybe Jon can take me on a few dates.” to which Jon instantly replied “You know the Prophet said that you should only go on group dates and wait until you are older for exclusive one on one dating. So I guess I can’t take you on a date unless it is a group date.” So I suppose that since we are always with a large group I am ALWAYS on a group date!
Wyatt is very close to being purposely mobile. He is up on all fours often and spins circles like a top. He usually is stuck in back-up mode but I can see that he is going to switch gears here soon before I am ready for it and THEN I an in TROUBLE!.
I took Stiles to the Dentist…$$$$$$$$. Yep there goes his mission fund! And the Dentist told me that if I didn’t have a piggy bank to pay the orthodontist I had better get one started. This is the 3rd Dentist to give me such distressing news. So I guess I will try to believe them.
Erica has a tooth that just keeps on hanging on. Jon tried to pull it out but the only results was a screaming daughter and some blood in her mouth. And since the tooth was not fully extracted the promise of ice cream was not brought to a reality. Erica is ready for school to be out. Mostly she is looking forward to the end of school parties. I am looking forward to not needing to do her hair for her every morning. Because of course I never get it how she wanted it done!
Hunter is trying really hard to talk. He is adding about a word a day. The words he is adding are not full of great diction, syntax, and diphthongs. But I have a better idea as to what Hunter is trying to tell me. I have a meeting with the school district at the beginning of next week to start the paperwork process of getting some intervening help. I got his testing scores back from his evaluation and he was in the 1% for every part of speech that you could be in. I just sat there thinking to myself “well I could have told the evaluators that! Then we didn’t have to waste a whole afternoon. If a Kid does not talk at all…doesn’t that mean that everyone else who does talk, talks better than him?” But as Hunter is trying to make Language work for him I am so grateful that it seems like words are beginning to make sense for him. Before it just seemed like he was not making that connection.
William is being much better about staying off of the road. Jon and I still watch him like a hawk though. Will is picking up a few works and is totally adorable when he says “UH-OH” He says this a lot. Like yesterday when I found that he had taken half a pitcher of RED Kool-aid into his bed room where there is White Carpet that I very Recently cleaned and then spilled every last drop of the Cherry flavored drink…Who even manufactures White carpet??? It should only be sold to the people who have been contracted to build temples. It should not be available to the common village idiot! Mom, How soon can I borrow your rug doctor again?
Marcus is shooting up like a weed. I can hardly believe how tall he has got since spring break. His reading skills are awesome too thanks to the teachers at Tyhee. Reading Scriptures with him is very enjoyable now and we can tell that his confidence is growing daily with his reading skills. He use to get so frustrated if he didn’t know a word that he didn’t even want to try. Now I am impressed with the words that are flowing out of his mouth.
The irrigation water is available for our use. We have MANY MANY MANY broken pipes. Something to do with having a Baby right before hunting season and then of course the afore mentioned season did not result in proper winterization of irrigation lines and the Cold Idaho Weather does VERY mean things to such systems. Not to mention the horses can do lots of damage to the lines as well, and I will not rule out my kids as a contributing factor to the amount of repair that needs to be done. One of the first areas of repair that HAD to be addressed was our Head gate. Last year Fort Hall Irrigation District changed the head gate above us and cause much and many issues with the water. Just when we thought we had figured out the precise amount of water we needed then things would get all flooded and wash out, or dry up and stop the pump. We decided that if our Head gate by our pump was in better condition that we would have less stress and mess. We had in place just a dirt dam with a little culvert built in. SO since Jon has a concrete mixer we decided to fix the gate in a very permanent fashion. It felt like we were trying to reconstruct the Hoover Dam! Jon and I worked Hard all day and into the night on Saturday to get it finished before the water came down the canal. Stiles was a great help and worked his little tail off. Then as we were about finished with pouring the cement the cement mixer lid flipped over on top of Stiles and I. I took most of the force on my back but it caught Stiles right across the top of the head. We were very blessed that he was not seriously injured. Jon had his back to us pouring the cement, from buckets that we had been filling, into the forms. The Motor to the mixer was running and it is QUITE LOUD. I had to scream for Jon to look and see the predicament we were in Stiles was laying on the ground holding his head and I was trying for all I was worth to push the cement mixer lid back up off of me. Since there was very little cement left in the mixer I was able to get the lid off of me and get the mixer back upright. Stiles was not bleeding which I am sure was a miracle and as we were checking him over he said “Can I be done now? I just want to go inside!” We told him that yes of course he could be done and yes he could go inside. WE finished our new cement Gate/dam and now just have to finish putting together the rest of the pipes at the pump that we took apart for our dam building project and then many pipes to be fixed are on the to do list.
The Garden has been roto tilled for the second time and We have started to build a fence around it to deter the Chickens from eating anything we decide to plant. I hope to get many seeds in the ground this week. We shall see what really gets accomplished at a later date.
We are still waiting for a baby horse Jon is getting tired of getting up and checking the barn every two hours in the night. I do not feel too much sympathy for him. It has been rare in the past 9 years that I had the privilege of sleeping all through the night. We are also expecting one of the goats to have her Kids anytime too. We think she might have as many as three Kids. The poor goats and The poor horse look so miserable. And with all of the laying Hens running around the yard it is a wonder that the whole place is not dripping with estrogen! Jon goes out to the barn and the Pasture and asks “HOW are all my girls doing?” He has over 60 of them! All different shapes too!
So how does a Duck drown? We found one of our ducks has drowned in the water trough…Now you may say that that sounds like a very dumb duck, but also in the trough was a great big Chicken that has drown also. Our theory is the duck was going for a paddle and the Chicken was stupid and thought perhaps she could do the same thing. Well chickens DO NOT have webbed feet and they do not float. We think that in self preservation that the Chicken tried to get on top of the duck to save itself and drown the duck then drown itself.
Just a few more serious thoughts. Since the Passing of Tyrell and Rose’s little boy, Levi, I think about how we are all tried and tested in so many different ways I reflected quite a bit about how when I have gone through my trials and have felt the strength of others through their prayers offered in my behalf it is truly a humbling experience. As I sat in the church at Levi’s funeral and saw much of the family assembled there and knew of the eternal bonds within our family and I thought about all of the rest of my family and Jon’s family who were not physically with me in that meeting and of their love and support of me and my family, and I was truly humbled again. Forever Families are real. They are so precious and I am so blessed to be part of such a loving family who has great faith and strength. And I want to thank all of you for your love and support of me and my family and for the prayers you have offered in my behalf. They have blessed my life and fortified my faith in such ways that you can never know and I can never express. I only hope that somehow, in some way I can return the favor. This church is true. It is through trials that we grow and find joy in this journey. I know that it is hard and that there are many things I do not understand, but I know that Jesus is my Savior and that President Monsen is His prophet. I know there is real power in prayer.

I love you all!
Love Monica and the rest of the Dam building Woodin nickel dwellers

Sunday, May 2, 2010

getting the ox out of the mire

Hello to all of my Family. May 2 2010
I am still band from using MY bathroom all though the two other potties and all other plumbing is not off limits. The Tank has been found and yes it was directly under a huge pine tree. The roots had destroyed the lid to the tank and a new lid still needs to be fashioned on the to do list for this week. The said tank in question had not been pumped in oh EVER. We even called some of the previous owners of the house and learned that they had no idea that there was a second tank underneath that beautiful tree. Hence a need to clean out the drain field pipes. President Loveland was very understanding and asked us not to destroy too much of his grain field. We were treading very lightly and managed to find that the job was not done “according to the law” the first time it was done…no surprises there, we are out in the county… SO we have just about cleared the drain field lines of yucky black stuff and we have big plans to put the drain field back to it’s original state with a bunch more gravel and big promises to pump the tank regularly so as not to have the sludge pile up. It took a bunch of crap for 30+ years… I think once we get it back together and throw the dirt back on it I might enjoy looking out the windows… The guy in our ward who pumped out tanks told us that when he went to dump the stuff at the plant that there were A LOT of toys and asked us if we wanted them back… We said NO THANKS and told him he could keep the toys as a tip…WILLIAM! I think this week we might actually get the ox OUT of the mire! But I am not going to hold my breath.
There is not much more to report on. The woes of our septic system has been heavy on our minds and I am not recalling much other interesting things to tell. However Erica has announced that she is “No longer a Kindergartener.” I confess I was concerned with her declaration seeing how we have decided that it is in her best interests to repeat Kindergarten next year. She then Proclaimed that she “Is a first grader in Training!” What ever makes your boat float kid. I’m happy to go along with it.
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new foal. The Foal was due today and we have been checking the mare every few hours for the past three days. With all of Murphy’s luck that baby horse will want to come at 3 am on the coldest of all the nights we will have this spring… That is what our baby goats did last spring. Coldest night when all of the other nights around it were almost pleasant. But tomorrow is suppose to be a warmer day. Windy but not so rainy and cold.
The cold weather and lack of lots of sunshine has put the plants in my green house in a bit of a slow down mode. They have not grown like crazy this week. But like I said last week if anyone wants a few green plants to start their garden I could make you a sweet deal.
I love you all and miss you more.

Love Monica!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Proof of the mire... the OX was missing for the photo shoot

So if you have been following my blog or a friend of mine on Facebook you have heard that things are a bit "messy" at our house. My sister wanted pictures and origanally I thought that I did not want to remember these wonderful moments but as I watch the mess get messier and messier I figure I needed to prove that "YES THIS IS AWFUL AND I CAN PROVE IT!" so here is a little glimps of a tiny bit of the mess at the Woodin Nickel...

the "HOLE" a tree was planted exactly on top of our septic tank... the roots literally just broke and tore up the LID to the tank. We have to make a new lid before we can continue with our project. The beautiful Yellow badger in the background made it possible to dig out the stump and the hole that you see here. We are so greatful to Rusty for letting us borrow it and to Mike for helping us run it!
this is the tree about and hour before it was brought all the way to the ground. We decided that we should cut off all of the limbs one by one so as not to have the tree fall and break our house or our fence. You can see Jon is strapped to the tree with his Hunting Tree Stand Harness. His Hunting Habit did pay off a little bit. Jon lopped of the top of the tree not too long after this picture and then Jim came over with his chain saw and and dropped the trunk of the tree for us without breaking anything else. Then we cut it up and hauled it to a big pile for a big bon fire to be held at a later date...

Monday, April 26, 2010

Get out of the mire!

April 26 2010 If the blasted Ox would just get out of the mire we might be able to clean this mess up!!!!

Yes septic problems continue to rule the roost. While nothing has entered into the house again we have been searching for our septic tanks…note the plural form of the word tank. Jon spent much time digging and yelling for me to run around and flush everything so as to perhaps hear the elusive tank. We borrowed a little bobcat backhoe from our neighbor and finally found a pipe line. Jon and our neighbor Mike dug and dug and dug. Finally after much toil and questionable language emitting from the mouth of the EQP not to mention Rain, Jon found the tank. And in doing so Ripped a good size hole out of it…and broke the pipe to the drain field…oops. Guess where the elusive tank was buried….Right under a HUGE pine tree. What idiot planted a tree directly on top of the tank!?!?! The weight of the huge tree…any guesses as to why it was so huge and healthy?… Was crushing the tank. So now in order to fix.. Ahem… replace the smashed tank requires a chainsaw before the project can continue. I have been band from using my Bathroom and am now required to descend to the basement for all bathroom activities. (I refuse to use the bathroom on the main floor. While we are thankful for Hunter’s potty training success he is still a very poor aim) When the huge tree is cut down and removed we shall have a very big bonfire and you are all invited to bring your own hotdogs and roasting sticks…and a shovel. Then we will be able to finish digging out the crushed like a tin can tank… and then somehow we plan on dragging it out of the hole and putting a new tank in the said hole, next we will have to replace the drain field pipe which was ripped in half courtesy of Jon and then we will fill in the hole with some “roughed up dirt” It was earth day this last week I feel a need to plant a tree. I have a good idea where I will NOT plant one. However, some grass seed is now on my shopping list for this next week.
In other news Wyatt has sprouted two new teeth. Pictures on my blog show his smile with just the two opposite teeth. I called him my Hillbilly baby for two weeks but now his Tennessee Teeth are beginning to even out and he looks less and less like he in two tacos short of a combination plate. Wyatt is also a bit of a inch worm and is moving around the floor little bits at a time he is also developed a great love for tearing up paper and has got to a few books and magazines that now are a bit rumpled and chewed on. I do not have much longer before I am truly in trouble with the messes Wyatt will make.
Erica has NOT been doing well in school since Spring break. After three weeks of falling test scores her teacher called me in and we met with the principal and discussed her grades and behaviors. The end result is we are going to have her repeat Kindergarten this next school year. This will put her in the same class as Elena and Caleb, but Lyndsay, Wesley, Andrew and Mckay will be ahead of her. Which is fine. I think if I tried to push her forward into first grade I would be setting her up to fail.
This week we added 28 laying hens to our menagerie of pets at the Woodin Nickel. The birds were up in Howe Idaho and the boy who had them wanted to start some new chicks. His dad told him he had to sell some of his full grown birds to make room for the new chicks. He Sold us the birds for $2.50 a bird! There were many many people who wanted to buy the birds for that price but nobody wanted to drive clear out to Howe Idaho to get them. Kind of like no one wants to drive clear out to Kimama. But Jon woke the boys up early on Saturday and they Borrowed Fred’s truck with the camper shell and drove the two hours out there and picked up the birds and brought them home… Anybody want to buy some farm fresh eggs. I’ll make you a deal!
Speaking of deals If anyone wants a few Tomato, Pepper, or Cucumber plants from my green house Let me know and I’ll make you a deal on those as well. I might sell some flowers too but I am not sure how many of those I’m willing to let go. And Fred has got A LOT of Cabbage starts in the green house as well. If you talk to him I’m sure that he might let you get a few or half a dozen from him.
I have continued to Lose Marbles but I am getting better at keeping them in my marble jar and My children are getting a bit better at keep a hold of their Marbles as well. In the end if the Marble jars work I may not Lose my marbles.
Hunters speech evaluation was: HE qualifies for any and all Speech therapy. The question now is what program do we try to get him into. OF late though he is adding about a word a day and really trying to make the sounds. HE came running into the house the other day and very clearly said “Will on Road!” And sure enough William had escaped and was out on the road AGAIN!!! Just hanging out on the road AGAIN!!! That Boy of late will hang out by the door waiting for an opportunity to escape OUT to the great outdoors. He reminds me of how the Cat waits on the other side of the door waiting for a chance to come IN!
I don’t Know if I mentioned in Past letters that Stiles Achieved and was awarded he WOLF in the scouting program. HE was also awarded 3 arrow points. Most of which he earned courtesy of living here on the Woodin Nickel. This home has been such a blessing to us in so many ways. The biggest is that it is given us many opportunities to teach our children about hard work and responsibility. I hope Marcus can start “LEARNING” those lessons soon. HE likes to hide when it is time to work. Reminds me a bit of Crystal. Anyway… I think that for the most part you are up to date on the majority of the goings on of the Woodin Nickel. I am thankful for all that I have been blessed with even if it feels like the OX is ALWAYS in the Mire. One day all of my Little OX’s will grow up and move away and take their mire with them but then I have this funny feeling that they will bring their own little bits of mire back home with them. But I’ll just try to clean it up…like always…hey were is a washcloth and about a gallon of disinfectant?

Love Monica and the “HERD” Wallowing at the Woodin Nickel.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Hillbilly BABY

Wyatt Loves to be in his Jump Up Johnny. WE caught him catching some ZZZ's.


the pine wood derby was a blast. Stiles Won in the wolf division for our pack. But I was too dumb to make sure that I had a camera. These pictures are at the District run off derby. He did not make it to the semifinals but gave the other cars in his heat a definite run for their spots.

My Hillbilly Baby Wyatt. The two opposite teeth came in first and now the other ones are pushing through. I thought I had better capture My Wyatt with his Hillbilly smile because in another month it will be gone.







Monday, April 12, 2010

I've Lost my marbles

MJ and all you other beloved people. Jon and I have decided that our “NEW AWESOME” Computer is somehow crappy. Meaning it just doesn’t work right. We have called the store from which we parted with greenbacks for the said hunk of junk and they are willing to exchange computers with us. Something in the Way cool new processor is simply not processing the information well, fast, or in the right order. I am not happy with Intel right now and am writing this on my old laptop with the broken H and K key which means that I have to go back and carefully fix all of my Errors. But I do feel better that perhaps the reason I was HATING our New computer was not my fault. We shall see if we like the computer better after the exchange is made.
Wyatt is a wiggly worm and manages to move about slowly and with little efficiency. He has cut one bottom tooth and one top tooth and is working on the other top tooth. This has made nursing painful and NOT desirable. We are planning on being totally weaned by the end of May. So Jon and I introduced Marble Jars. In which each person in the family has a jar with a certain Amount of Marbles. Marbles are taken away when a person decideds to yell in anger, throw a tantrum or refuse to be obedient. Rewards are given for having a large remainder or marbles at the end of the week, a reduction in privileges is given for no longer having marbles. We started Saturday and will start over next Saturday. I have already lost Most of my Marbles. I am in trouble. If Mom or Dad lose all of their Marbles in a week the kids get extra marbles. I hope to not lose my marbles.
The green house is full of green plants. The Gardens have been roto-tilled and the Chickens and Ducks are growing like crazy. I see brown grass turning greener every day and the tulips and daffodils are coming up all over. I also am aware of the weeds trying to take over again this year. Maybe we will win that war this year…or maybe it will end up in a draw.
I spent most of the last two weeks cleaning my Carpets. They look SOOO Much better. I just wish I had a bunch of money to spend on Paint and the like so that the room scould all look super awesome. But do not be dismayed. William already spread into the white carpet Chocolate pudding the day after I relinquished the rug doctor into Camille’s hands. So do not feel bad if your carpets have a spot or two. My newly cleaned carpets now match yours once again.
Well I am sure that many other noteworthy things happened this week but Wyatt is crying and it is lunch time and I soon will be conducting a scout meeting here at my home. So I will end with a far off hug and kiss and hopefully new great news next week. Work Hard MJ. And Kudos to Cody. You go girl. Taking care of Babies is HARD WORK. Believe me I KNOW! And Good Luck SARA. Hope your last little bit being a “baby house” is as pleasant as being totally miserable can be.

Love Monica

Monday, April 5, 2010

the mire gets deeper

Dear MJ. Last you heard there was an Ox in the Mire…or rather A LOT of mire in my basement shower. So the story just keeps getting better…they always do right. Jon gets a hold of Bro. Jim Sant from our ward and Jim comes over and after a series of rescue maneuvers manages to move on through what ever it was that was Stuck in the line. Great now I have a big job involving much disinfectant but as high fives were going all around for the cleared sewer line we noticed a pond developing in the side yard. We were pretty certain that our Water hydrant had rusted out and we needed to dig it up and replace it … This would mark the 3rd one that we have replaced since we moved in. Well in order to proceed the Water had to be shut off. So the cleaning of the poopy bathroom was shelved as Jon and I grabbed shovels and started digging a hole to China…a rocky hole to China. There is a lot of rock in the ground this close to the river bed and gravel pit…go figure. After much digging a many bad examples in language and with the help of some of the neighbors we finally won the battle late in the 11th hour, and were able to turn the water back on. We took much needed showers and proceeded to ignore the mire still in the basement then went to bed. We recognized instantly that our Water pressure (which we have always grumbled about the lack thereof) had not just doubled but perhaps tripled in strength. We were fearful in that first shower that we would be thrown through the shower wall, the impact tore off our skin and we were no longer standing in the rain trying to get wet.
The mire in the basement did eventually get cleaned up and much bleach and disinfectant was used and some towels were indeed ruined. But the bathroom is quit shiny and clean now and all of the spiders were obliged to move out. Because of the mire and its far reaching effects to the carpet in the basement I felt that it would be a very good idea to borrow Mom’s rug doctor and do a little extra heavy duty spring cleaning to my basement carpets. Mom let me cart her vacuum home after a brief trip to the farm during our kids spring break. I spent most of last week moving furniture and cleaning the carpets in my house while my big kids are at school, I am very pleased with the results and was feeling extra pleased with the appearance of my home. Then Easter came and went and after I scrubbed out numerous jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, and robin eggs, not to mention hard boiled egg, I am wishing I had waited one more week before I spent so much time cleaning my carpets. The dumb part is that the rooms that I have not yet cleaned were left unscathed and no candy was ground into the carpets in THOSE rooms. Oh well something about Murphy and his dumb law…
We had spring break and as part of that we Participated in the Spring Fair in the Holt Arena. We spent most of the first part of the week preparing to have our booth ready for the show and the end of the week standing in the Holt Arena trying to sell our wares to the passing homeowner. Camille was a sweet heart and helped take care of our kids. And Jon has been a busy man ever since trying to follow up and give bids trying to generate some jobs for us. So far the Spring Fair has been helpful in putting us in contact with people who want some work done.
Hunter is joining the ranks of the potty trained. This last week something finally clicked and I told him that if he did pee in the potty he could wear underwear and if he had an accident then I would have to put him back in a diaper. Well he really really wanted to wear underwear and we are on day 4 with no accidents and he is the informing us of his need to go. I am so happy and do a dance every time he comes back out of the bathroom. Hunter is pleased too and is always grinning from ear to ear. We are still diapering at night but I don’t think we will have to do that for too long. He hates for us to put the diaper on at bedtime.
We really loved conference and Easter was very pleasant. I came away from conference with a new found desire to be a better Mom and Daughter and Disciple of Christ. I hope to be a good example and tell the “Stories of Jesus” to my children so that they will Know those stories and not doubt. I was very pleased today to hear Stiles Quote the story about being a used up $20.00 bill and still worth $20.00. I really didn’t think that he was listening but apparently he was. My children never cease to amaze me!
Well many more things have happened but I am totally tuckered out and want to go to bed.
Love you all, Monica

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Ox in the Mire

Dear MJ and Family. I missed last week. I don’t know why. I guess that the lack of having a missionary Brother has reduced my insistence on hogging the computer for an hour or so to spew forth the embarrassing goings on of my family. The truth of it is that I am having a hard time finding things that are humorous to write to you about and provide cheep…no wait FREE entertainment for the rest of you. On second though it probably is cheep. Jon’s work has slugged down to nothing. Which means he is hanging around the house a lot. This could be good and bad, don’t worry I DO NOT forget to take my pill every night, Wyatt is a good reminder. Speaking of Wyatt, the little monster has sprouted a fang! Nice mommies say “O look Jr. cut his first tooth. Isn’t that precious.” This Nursing Mommy looked in his mouth one day to find the razor sharp projection and realized why she had been in extra pain of late. He is barely 6 months old! I think that a second weapon of mass destruction will emerge soon, and judging from the lack of sleep Jon and I are getting because of the emerging pearly white it had better show up soon because the rest of the family can not take to much more of grumpy Mommy and Daddy hanging out in the same house all day long before somebody has a SUPER NOVA moment and everything goes black! I admit I needed a time out today in a very bad way…sorry Kids.
Anyway Spring is in the air. We have started an array of plants in the green house and Jon has carted Home some 30 baby chickens with some 25+ and a few Ducks to arrive this week. Currently the market for a laying hen is between 10-15 $ a chicken and the hens are sold within 2 minutes of being listed online. So we are hoping that we can make a little extra cash for our boys to put in the bank towards their missions. Every time I look at all those little boys and think about when this letter will be addressed to them I cringe at the cost. But I know the blessing will far outweigh any dollars and cents.
William or as we affectionately call him “Willy Joe” has often heard his name called out in stern and firm tones. “WE do not eat out of the garbage…We do not drink out of the toilet…we do not put mommies toothbrush in the toilet…We do not throw entire rolls of TP in to the toilet… we do not play in the flour…We do not sit on Wyatt’s head… HOW did you get up there?…Get down from there…Don’t touch that…WE Never EVER EVER go out on the road and lay down and wait for Mom and Dad to find us!!!” William has been a bit of a handful lately…I think it might get worse.
Parent teacher conferences came and went. The cold hard truth was reveled to me and I knew it was coming. Stiles is competing with about 5 other boys in his class for the title of Class clown. Other wise his grades are good. Could be better if he would devote some more attention to his work rater than being silly. Marcus is doing well all around still a bit behind and slow when it comes to reading but definitely getting better with his reading skills. Erica has learned a TON. She is still below where she should be and gets distracted easily. The teacher can tell from her behavior that she is THE youngest kids in the class. If she doesn’t mature in leaps and bounds over the next 3 months it might be a very good idea to repeat kindergarten. (Jon is so not thrilled with that Idea) We will see how she does this spring.
Stiles- I mean WE but I should say Stiles built a pine wood derby car. The races were good and Stiles’ car was the fastest car in his den by a long shot so he will attend the district Pine Wood Derby in April. We had set him up to just be excited to run the races and not care about who won. He was a trooper and a good sport about beating the other boys in his den. He was kind of disappointed that he didn’t lose any races. But then was bummed out when We did the pack race and lost to the boy who won for the entire pack, on the first race so that he wasn’t able to race again. Marcus offered his condolences and told him that he was just supposed to have fun building the car. Marcus needless to say can hardly wait for the derby next year.
This morning I found the mess of messes in my downstairs shower. Apparently we have some sort of obstruction in our sewage line and all of the “Stuff is being back loaded up out of the shower drain and into the bottom of the shower. Now since this is a little used bathroom in our house the shower has been “collecting” the stuff for maybe a week now. I now know why my house was smelling “funny” I thought it was just because of the cloth diapers, but my suspicions are that William flushed “something” and now it is caught and only letting the liquids go past. And since it is Sunday we determined that YES it is MIRE but the Ox is not in it nor did the OX want to get into it to clean it up so we choose to ignore the mire until the Ox is good and ready to get into it. Wish us luck tomorrow. We hope we do not get stuck in the mire.
So I guess that brings you all up to speed on the doings of the Woodins out on the Woodin Nickel. Not much of most things but hopeful you enjoyed your free entertainment and perhaps there will be a good story to follow up to the ox and the mire story, but I really hope that it is NOT that good. Will might give me some good material if I can keep him off of the road. Anyway I Love you all.
Beware the IDES of MARCH! Monica and the messy Woodin Nickel Knuckleheads!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

new computer

Hey MJ. Okay Okay, So I didn’t get you a letter last week. But I was looking to come from behind for a more dramatic victory. The truth is we bought a new computer and even though it is supposedly user friendly and an excellent hunk of metal, plastic, screen, and circuits Jon and I are NOT computer Wizz’s in any way, shape or form. So I guess I’ll plead that I have just been intimidated by the new monstrosity in the office. The Kids are not so easily bullied. They have Already managed to mess up the computer in a way that I still am not sure what they did or how I undid it but it required several hours and a huge headache to fix. They are most jazzed that there are now TWO computers connected to the internet and are usually playing games on WEBKINZS most of their Waking Hours. Jon has been pulled into the fun and is often found playing a game “to help one of his kids out because they were going to lose unless he intervened” Yeah sure right Jon! My other big excuse come in the way of a mean little virus. I already let you in on the fact that Stiles had contracted Fifth’s Disease. Well last Monday Erica and Myself broke out in Rash. Erica’s was much worse than mine. Mine only lasted about 24 hours. But the Joint pain has been making me quite miserable. This weekend I kept looking at my knee sure that it was swollen to twice it’s normal size and black and blue like someone took a baseball bat to it. But alas it looked fine on the outside but it hurt like crazy and made me a VERY grouchy person. On Sunday night I decided that the regular ibuprofen were just not cutting it so I took a prescription one left over from when I had Wyatt. I was expecting a pain free night with perhaps a bit of sleep. Well apparently it was too much meds to my system because I was in a night sweat for most of the night. And I am sure it was the meds because right after I had Wyatt I had horrible night sweats until I quit taking the painkillers. I figured my night sweats were hormonal but like I said 800mg of Ibuprofen is TOO much for my system. Then to make things even more fun William and Marcus have broken out in rash as well. Only Hunter and Wyatt have not been affected …YET. Fifths disease is NOT FUN! We cleaned out the greenhouse a little while ago and are planning on doing some planting this week. There is a class being taught this Wednesday in the greenhouse for those members in our Ward and neighborhood. I am NOT the teacher. I hope to be a good student. Dad was a great teacher but I just am not sure how to grow food without a tractor and less that 100 acres so I am hoping that the wisdom of others will help me in this regard. We did alright last year but we also made a bunch of mistakes. Plus Wyatt trying to come early kind of messed up the harvest. But we are hopeful for this year. Parent Teacher Conferences are looming in my face again. I again am terrified to be told the cold hard truth. I already know the truth…I just don’t want to be told the truth. But Erica seems to be catching on and up to her classmates. Her teacher the other day told me that Erica has really begun to FIGURE IT OUT. And I can tell she has as well. Marcus is increasing his reading skills in leaps and bounds although they are smaller leaps and bounds than other children, he is figuring out some of the mysteries of reading the English language. Stiles still needs major improvement in his handwriting skills and a good push in Science. But he reads for enjoyment late into the night and then is grumpy the next day. Hunter is learning his ABC’s and mimics every letter but W and sometimes Q …who can blame the kid. He is trying to learn to say words but so far he still hasn’t figured out that if he would try to use words then we would know what he wants. He has a well Child check later this Month. We might see if a speech therapy class is something that could end his and our frustration. William is into EVERYTHING!!!!! I forgot what a child that age can do and undo in a short amount of time. Mostly he likes to sit ON Wyatt. Will is also growing like a weed. He sometimes will eat more at a meal that both of his two oldest brothers. Wyatt is a happy content Baby. He is now officially 6 months old and still has not rolled over…that I know of. Jon has gotten him giggling which is really funny. And he is good at blowing poop out of his diapers. Lately he has gotten into the bad habit of peeing AFTER I take his diaper off. And then I have to change his clothes as well. WE do A LOT of Laundry in this house. Or maybe we SHOULD do a lot more laundry in this house. I’m thinking that another washer and dryer set would not sit idle for very long at all in our house. It is the Laundry Folder who is always slacking and holding up progress. Anyway March is here. The Lamb and Lion thing. We are suppose to warm up to 40 degrees and then I am sure it will start snowing again. It usually does. The Mud is Just so much fun! We miss you, Keep working hard. Love Monica and the Woodin Nickel Knuckleheads

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Erica fishing on the 4th of July

I just love this shot of the back of my daughter holding her princess fishing pole.

Willy Joe and Wyatt Logan

So I guess that Wyatt is a pretty comfy guy because William is always sitting on him in his swing chair. In the picture they are actually both asleep. Wyatt really doesn't seem to mind. Yes after I took the picture I did move Will to his bed. Wyatt was left there.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

My Valentine

MJ. FEB 14th 2010 Happy Valentines Day! We are home from church…sick!
The beginning of this week started with a round of potty training. I was feeling very determined. Hey I was washing Hunters cloth diapers out in the toilet what makes underwear different right? Well after 3 days of setting Hunter on the Toilet every 20 minutes only to have him pee all over 2 minutes after getting off of the toilet and having 0% success of ever making anything go into the toilet we threw up the white flag and said no more! (Jon wants me to try with William…yeh right!)
Hunter did turn the ripe old age of 3 this last week. We had cake and ice cream. When it came time for presents he opened a kid size snow shovel from Aunt Nanette. He giggled with glee then immediately took the shovel to the back door, opened the door, threw the shovel out into the snow, then slammed the door, and came back to his party. I was laughing so hard. He then proceeded to put everything else AWAY as he opened it up -socks, clothes, toys, they were all carefully put away before the next gift was opened. Apparently he had heard my threats to throw away toys that were not put away. And did not want that to happen to HIS new things. We told him that his shovel could be inside hanging up by his coat. He had much fun with the shovel on Saturday helping mom shovel the walk. And as soon as he came inside he hung up his shovel before he did anything else. I wish he would rub off on his siblings a bit more. Maybe because he has seen what treasures Mom throws out when the big kids are off to school…Who knows.
William has stepped up and is currently filling the shoes of his older brothers. If it can fit inside a toilet He is usually found throwing it in. Jon and I have spent much time this week dipping into the porcelain thrones around the house and fishing out what Will has thrown in. multiple times a day, even multiple times an hour! The worst thing I found this week was my table cloth! But it would take too much time to list all items. Will has also dumped out Jon’s file cabinet -while Jon was in the room- Whew I lucked out on that one. Pulled books off of the book shelf , no make that pulled ALL books off ALL book shelves. Done science experiments with gravity and threw everything he could get his hands on down each and every flight of stairs. And even launched himself out of his highchair and found that gravity does indeed work on little boys as well. Threw every DVD he could get his hands on into my shower. And Sits on top of Wyatt when ever he gets the chance. I think he is timing himself on how fast he can get Wyatt to cry loud enough to get mom’s attention. Wyatt is catching on quick. William is turning into quite the menace and Jon and I are just scratching our heads wondering how our perfect easy going baby turned into a Tasmanian devil over night! In the mean time we continue to gather great writing material.
Hunter is not be left out in the cold when it comes to a bit of a mess. In Erica’s room is a very large and deep closet. I keep my extra bedding in this closet. Sheets, pillows, blankets ect. Hunter has found that he can climb into the topmost shelf and then he becomes almost invisible, since I usually do not look for my children in my linen closet. It has become his favorite hideout this week. I have not been to concerned he really wasn’t messing things up and frankly I was too busy chasing after William’s messes. Well last night Hunter pulled out ALL of the items in that closet and then threw them onto the floor of the other closet in that room. Then to make matters worse. He got into the fish food and it was sprinkled all throughout. And then to top off his mess, HIS DIAPER LEAKED! That sometimes happens with cloth diapers. (it might have been Wills he was in on the mess at the end) So now all my nicely folded sheets and bedding are now unfolded and sprinkled with foul smelling fish food and urine! Needless to say my washer and dryer will get quite the workout this week catching up on all that bedding.
Stiles woke up this Friday morning and came into the kitchen and complained that he had red bumps all over his arms and legs. I took one look at him and could see that the bumps were all over his face as well. I thought for a moment that he must be having a severe allergic reaction. But then he said. “Mom some of the Kids at school have something called Fifths disease?, or something like that.” And as soon as he said that I knew that I was looking at a child with fifths disease as well. So he got out of school on Friday. He was most disappointed to miss his Valentines’ Party. But I went to the school and retrieved his Valentines and passed out his. Since then was have quarantined ourselves hoping not to spread it around. The hardest part is that you are contagious before you break out but you have no symptoms other than vague flu-like symptoms. And When you do break out well lets just say that Stiles is a good looking kids and he looks AWEFUL! He is being tough about not scratching but he looks pretty miserable.
So because We decided that we had better lay low for the next few days in case one of our other children was in the contagious stage of the disease, we skipped out on church and other activities that were planned for the Valentines Day weekend. One was a date that Jon had planned for us to celebrate the 11th anniversary of Jon and I deciding that we should get married. We were going to go to Idaho Falls and go to a movie and dinner at olive garden. I was so excited. And then well pretty bummed that life got in the way. Jon came through though and surprised me with a dozen red roses and some sparkling cider in tall glasses out in the hot tub. I guess dates at home can be fun too.
Normally we would have spent Saturday at the pool or theater or up at the riding arena with our kids. But since we were stuck at home we had to come up with a few things to entertain ourselves for the weekend. We decided that the Garage could really use a good cleaning out. Nothing too intense. But it has been accumulating items for quite some time. Well in the midst of cleaning it out Jon picked up the cooler that he had used last to go hunting. -HE had not cleaned it out even after I reminded (nagged) him about it for 2 months. The cooler needed an intense rescue effort. Jon just opened the top and said I’ll just leave it here to “air out” I told Him that wouldn’t work Seeing how he put it right in the way to the freezer and since the Cat would get into it. He still couldn’t see the problem. He was sure He couldn’t hose it out outside because, well it was outside and winter in Idaho. So I suggested he take it inside and clean it out in the tub. (not gently and loving like, more demanding and letting him know that I think he is an incompetent idiot) In the end I got all puffy and upset and drug the cooler inside myself and cleaned it out, muttering many choice words and letting Jon know that his lack of responsibility for the things we spend hard earned money was just not cool! HE is so sweet. Instead of pointing out all of the things I do to make him crazy and drive him up the wall he gives me a kiss and reminds me that he got me flowers and that he loves me. I still cleaned out the cooler without his help. But he did change 3 diapers this weekend. I must say that he is the perfect guy for me.
Until next week, Let me just say that I wouldn’t have it any other way. Well I guess I would like to be 20 pounds lighter but that is just vanity. And I’m okay with being VAIN.
Love you all tons. We hope that we can come to Dallan’s report next Sunday but we might still be in quarantine mode. If that is the truth, you can all laugh at me behind my back and I will never know.
Monica and the Woodin Nickel Knuckleheads.

Monday, February 8, 2010

fire and brimstone

MJ, FEB 8 2010 For all of the men out there you are on a countdown to Valentines Day…DO NOT SCREW IT UP!
So Erica says to me. “Mom, I really do love my name Erica but I really would have liked it if my name was Princess!” She named her Doll she got at Christmas You guessed it “Cinderella Princess” She use to name all of her toys and dolls “Beauty” I tried to convince her that her name was beautiful and that Her middle name Esther was the name of a Queen. And that the meaning of Erica Esther is ‘ever powerful star” she was not convinced Princess was just more beautiful…and Dad calls her that.
Erica has finally decided that She Loves Dad and I the same. After almost an entire year of affirming to Jons Ego that she Loves him more that he is her Favorite, I sat her down after many vain attempts to buy her Love and told her that she didn’t have to love me More than Daddy but that she could love us the same and it would be okay. It wouldn’t mean that she loves Daddy any less. I figured my word were falling on deaf ears but apparently she thought about it and 2 days later of her own accord told Jon that she loved Mom just the same as Dad. But that SHE was still Jon’ favorite. It is nice to be removed from the chopped liver list to the I love you too list.
Marcus received a Soccer ball for his birthday. Apparently it has made him quite famous at school because after I requested that the ball not go to school one day I was met with all sorts of arguments about how the other Kids will be mad when they don’t have a soccer game at recess because the ball is not there. SO I continued to let the ball go to school. Well apparently it got kicked over the fence. And A teacher has to go get it out of the farmers field. So for the past few days Marcus has been without his ball. I was wondering about how the games were fairing with out the use of a ball Marcus told me “It is OKAY Jeffery brought his ball so we can still play” apparently the recess game is VERY important.
So I will have to dodge lightning and brimstone this week. At church it was of course fast and testimony meeting. I really wanted to hear my boy’s testimonies so I pulled out two brand new crisp dollar bills. And offered one to each of my boys if they would bear their testimonies. They willing marched up to the stand and gave very honest as a child can be testimonies and then came back to the bench and demanded their dollar. I did pay them. I thought it was worth a dollar a piece to hear their growing testimonies and build their confidence in sharing them. But Jon told me I should not do that again and that it was naughty. But I have seen him do the same thing to the boys for a piece of candy. SO perhaps both Jon and I should watch out for lighting bolts.
Even though the dumb groundhog saw his shadow I saw buds on my cherries tree this weekend and the warm weather on Sunday put a bit of a spring fever in my heart. I am getting anxious to mow grass and plant a garden. The pulling weeds I can do without.
The Super bowl was a bit of a letdown especially since I was cheering for the colts. Jon has Peyton Manning’s rookie card and it is signed. We were hoping for a win and then we were going to maybe try and sell it. But alas we will put it away and hope for the day when Payton wins a super bowl and then we can sell the card to the highest bidder.
William is deciding that anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you! HE is right there side by side with Hunter doing all of the things I wish they would not. Stand on the table. Torment Wyatt, Dump out all of the toys. Help themselves to the fridge… When Wyatt gets mobile I am in trouble.
I went to Camille’s Jewelry Debut show and I am so excited for her show and for the excitement that was generated in her behalf. I am looking forward to Crystals show but I am not sure I will be able to attend in person. I’m just going to need a catalog and then I can shop over the weekend at mom’s for Dallan’s homecoming.
Well MJ there is lots of laundry and other messes to get to and even though I know that they will be there tomorrow I best go get on them today. Work HARD! You are not a farm boy for nothing! And even though you rode short bus I still have faith in you!
Love the Woodin Nickel Knuckleheads.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Expounding on Nicknames Woody's Sister

Expounding on nicknames.
My family pointed out that I missed some nicknames that were quite common and used in abundance While teasing names from my childhood of Monica Wonica Poo were not readily mentioned the Nickname that was used to tease and torment me as a teenager was mentioned. I do not know if “Woody’s sister” is in fact a true nickname because I was called that by people who really did not now me well at all. And I feel like only those truly close to you can dub with you a new name that you will unconsciously answer to. As I attended High school it was on the heels of two of my three older brothers. With the last name of Woodland all of my older brothers were dubbed by their friends, their enemies, and the football coaches as “Woody.” I entered the Halls of Minico High School an eager sophomore hoping to have my own identity and felt it slip further and further away as I sat in each of my new classes and teacher after teacher, even the girls PE teacher, would pause after calling my name and almost incredulously ask “are you Woody’s sister?” and there it was, those who did not know me had an instant name for me purely by association. Most of them had no Idea who this “Woody” was. But the name itself lent its own impression and I was thus called all of my sophomore and Junior year. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I figured as I began my Senior year I might be able to emerge from this Woody’s Sister shadow and throw the nickname to the side of the road, I was ready to have my own identity. Alas. My younger Brother Seth entered the Halls of Minico High and was instantly the big man on campus being a sophomore, and allowed to play on the varsity football team. “Woody” was soon well known to the people and I was reduced again to being “Woody’s Sister.” Now do not get me wrong, being Woody’s sister was not all bad. But I was glad when I did graduated from High School and was looking towards Higher Education that finally the nickname would be gone. However, my two oldest brothers lived in the same apartment complex as I did at ISU and the name was applied again. You would think that I might eventually get away from this name but as I look at my Husbands Last name of Woodin and the 5 son’s I have, and I am sure that in time my nickname will morph in to “Woody’s Mom” and that my dear Daughter will be stuck with the nickname of “Woody’s Sister” whether she likes it or not. I do draw some consolation that most of my nieces might suffer right along with my daughter, and that most of my sister-in-laws will be “Woody’s Mom” right along with me.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Erica's smile

MJ Jan 31 2010
So you are now the lucky winner. I figure that since today is Dallan’s last day of his mission that he is not going to be checking his email on Sunday at some dumb kiosk. So you get the prize this week of having my letter addressed to you.
It has snowed several times this week. Big puffy flakes at times and at others little tiny sparkles. Some of it came down Kind of sideways and some of it came down really sideways. But alas School was in session everyday and for that I was grateful.
We had a bummer of a Saturday morning. Our Mare (that is a female horse for those non equine people) (equine means horse for those even less) her name is Sis was bred last spring and we were expecting her to foal in about 6 weeks. We were counting down the weeks and throwing around names for the baby horse. And then for some unknown reason Sis had her baby premature sometime Friday night. When we found the poor thing it of course had already died. Jon was bummed all day and the rest of us were in poor spirits as well. Sis seems to be doing okay, and I think we will try to rebreed her in about 4 or 5 months. So on that happy note let me tell you about the other goings on around the woodin nickel.
William fell off of the dinning table yesterday and has quite the knot in the middle of his forehead. He looked a bit like a unicorn but the swelling and color has gone down.
Erica Lost her first Tooth at the blackfoot swimming pool this Saturday, The story is worth the telling. Erica was all dressed in her suit and lifejacket and waiting for me to change and get William ready. Well somehow she had knocked her loose tooth to the point that it was barley hanging on and I was pretty sure that I needed to finish the job before she jumped into the pool less she lose it in the water. Her tooth was bleeding and she was sure that the end of the world was near. So after checking with my sister-in laws if they had any teething pain orajel type stuff in their diaper bags (which none of them did) I decided it was time to take action. I got some TP and took Erica into a changing stall. Yelled to the other patrons in the dressing room that if they heard screams I was not beating my child, I was simply extracting a tooth. Then I took the TP and assured Erica I was going to use it to wipe up the blood in her mouth, I grabbed onto the loose tooth and gave it a yank. SCREAMING CHILD! But I had the rotted tooth in my hand and was celebrating and telling Erica that she was all grown up and had just lost her first tooth and now the tooth fairy could come and how exciting that is and on and on and on. Still Crying! She was not easy to convince. But we got some more TP and blotted up the rest of the blood and she sat with a big wad of toilet paper in her mouth and tears streaming from her eyes while I changed into my swimming suit. When I was ready and Erica had spit out the TP, Erica was anxious to gain an glimpse of her new toothless smile in the mirror. After she had inspected the new gapping hole in her head she was anxious as all get out to go out to the pool and show Daddy and Elena the loss of her baby tooth. The Tooth Fairy even made it on the first try! We didn’t even have to come up with some lame excuse like…“It was the weekend, so the Tooth Fairy was visiting the Easter bunny, and Santa Claus, so they could get together with some leprechauns and play Settlers of Catan all weekend.”
Anyway my children are eagerly awaiting our trip to the Twin Falls Airport and I feel a bit sad that you will not be able to join us Monday night. But since Mom and Dad and Dallan and Garrett are taking off next week to come to see you the blow is softened and the Jealous bone creeps up and I will be thinking of all of you sunning yourself in the nice Florida sun every time I put on the Hat coat gloves and scarf.
Here is a Happy Birthday Shout out to Sara and Laura on Tuesday. Have cake for me. What, are you two turning 16 this year or what?
Work hard and know that We love you and are cheering for you.
Love Monica at the Woodin Nickel full of Nuckleheads!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Nicknames

I was just thinking about my name. It of course being Monica Gayle . As a child my mother, after having three boys, called me Monica Dolly so much I was quite convinced that Dolly was my middle name. I was fairly disapointed when my mother realized my confusion and told me the truth about my name. At the time I thought my name was a bit weird and spelled kind of funny. Later I realized that my name was a combination of both of my parents middle names. Gay, my mothers, and Del, my fathers. Few of my parents 9 children have boasting rights to being named after our parents. MJ and Camille have claims from Dads name but I am the only one who gets Moms. And so far this is true of all of the grandchildren. So there I am special. But I am not writing this becuase of Moms influence on my name. Rather the Influence DAD has had on my name. See when I was a small child Dad nicknamed me MUSH because I mushed his heart. It expanded to Mushcake which is currently a term of enderment from my brothers. As Well as the nickname CA which was bestowed upon me by my baby Brother because he was too lazy to call me or my sisters by our full names and nicknamed us ALL "CA". For some reason, "CA" stuck with me. Camille has moved on to Mille and Crystal will forever be Annie or Bacon Biscut (who knows why) Anyway back to the name Dad nicknamed me. I have not given the nickname much thought, it has been used only by my closest family members and as a joke when ever hot cereal was served, but that is a different story. Recently when I attened the funeral of my Paternal Grandmother I happened to sit down across the table from my Great Uncle Joe. And as I was explaining to Uncle Joe that I was Michaels oldest daughter Uncle Joe burst out "MUSHY!?!" I am sure I turned a few shades of red and laughed that my Uncle Joe, who has not seen me in probalby 2 decades, remembers me by the silly little nickname that my daddy gave me.
Thanks alot DAD.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

gratitude and scrament trays

Dear Dallan. Jan 24th 2010.
This marks the last letter I will write to you as a missionary so I better make it good. For all the rest of you I made a promise to MJ that if he got excellent grades at School I would continue my weekly musings in letters directed to his inbox. And if you haven’t heard the good news my bribe worked and apparently MJ can not possibly live without his weekly dose of Woodin Nickel hysteria, and MJ got EXCELLENT grades this semester. He deserves to be taken out for Ice cream and a root beer but since Florida charges way to much for their frozen dairy treats I will simply congratulate him via email, for the entire next semester…but I’m warning you bucko one not so EXCELLENT grade and I am withdrawing my hilarious support! Other people withdraw their financial support, but since I already spent that, I can only withdraw the stories that my children inspire!
Speaking of my children inspiring …something. Hunter was very inspirational for our humorous column today. In sacrament meeting today he was sitting on the bench or rather lounging around on the bench halfway between Jon and I. And when the bread was passed it was a bit of a fiasco to divert him from trying to grab two fistfuls of bread and devour them, but we succeeded…sort of…he only got ONE handful. We were not very smart when the water came by and Marcus passed it to Hunter and then Stiles tried desperately to take the tray from Hunter who had grabbed the handle with both hands in an iron clasping grip and was not about to let it go, and pass it to me. Jon had Wyatt in his arms and I had William in mine and between the two of us was quite a length of bench, not to mention a few children to get past. After much trying, pulling, yelling and the Help of Sister Terry, who was seated in the row behind us, we spilled half of the tray, before we were able to pry the handle out of Hunters hands, and pass the tray to me. I was able to partake of the sacrament and then pass the now mostly empty tray on to the Cooper family. It was indeed a not very spiritual portion of our sarament meeting for the Woodin family and I for one was very grateful when it was all over. Sister Terry laughed about the whole ordeal with me later.
I have discovered that I am raising very ungrateful children, or maybe they are just plain ole selfish. Maybe you can read this next story and help me decide. Stiles Desperatly needed a new pair of shoes. So on Tuesday I headed to the store in search of some new footwear for my oldest son. I was also on the lookout for some new shoes for William since I lost one of his tennis shoes and he has been wearing his sandals out in the snowy weather. Well I found some great tennis shoes for Stiles early on and some really cute cowboy type boots for William. Then I wandered around the shoe section for a few more minutes until I found some cowboy boots. They had some nice looking boots in Stiles size as well as Marcus’s so I threw the new footwear into the cart and then happened by some girly western boots and knew that Erica could not be left out and left the shoe section with 5 boxes of new shoes for my children. When I got home I knew that bribery is a great way to get my children to do what I want them to do but I prefer to call it “working towards a goal” so when my dear sweet childrens returned home from a “hard” day at school I gave them all a snack and informed them of my desire to give them a gift of some new cowboy boots when …they had finished their chores for the day. I excpected delight and glee as they looked upon what could be theirs with a little bit of work. Instead I heard. “OH Mom…I don’t want BROWN ones.” “Who gets the black ones.” “That’s not what I wanted!” “I want PINK ones…those ones are NOT pink!” “We ALWAYS have to do our jobs, and its too hard!” “I am NOT doing my jobs” . With this I realized that my Children needed a lesson in gratitude. So I swooped up the new shiny boots and told them that I was not going to give any such gift to children who didn’t appreciate that their Mom was trying to give them something nice and that their Father workes hard all day long to provide it for them. The least they could do was say thank you mom. And do their assigned jobs. So I informed them that none of them would recive the boots and that I would be happy to take the boots back to the store. Then my children started to really cry and beg for second chanced and opportunities to earn back the lost boots. Seeing my golden opportunity for a great “working towards a goal” moment I gave vague ideas about good behavior and clean rooms and the chance that if that happened I might not take the boots back to the store right away. In the end I had very cooperative children and cleaner than normal bedrooms (which still could be deemed a hazardous area) all week long. On Saturday I dangled my goal in front of my children and gave them a list of things to accomplish to finally achive the goal. After doing everything on the list with minimal grumbling and complaining and “MOM, so-and so’s not helping!” I told my children that they had earned the right to have a the boots I bought for them. But asked them if they thought it would be a good idea to show their Daddy how grateful they were for him providing the money for the boots by cleaning up his office. They were all in agreement that this was indeed a good plan and worked happily, and quickly and accomplished the job. So On Saturday when they were finally sporting their new footwear I think they might have a small understanding of what it is like to be grateful. But I am not going to hold my breath.
Hunter is trying to say his alphabet. Jon has been working with him. And Hunter often askes in all of his grunts if he can say the prayer. We are seeing some more pregrssion in his speech but it continues to be slow. William is a toal tease and we love him ever so much more for it. His two little dimples melts many hearts and he is trying out the just haw far can we push Moms buttons before she loses it all by himself. His latest trick involves emptying kitchen cuboards and carrying their contents all over the house. Some meals we have to go on a scavanger hunt to find the right pan I need to fix the next meal. But we all love the our Willy Joe. Wyatt has a dear little smile and is a very content baby. He does like to see what is going on and is enjoying the use of the Johhny jump-up that is hanging in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. I rather like it too. But I have to tell the older siblings not to spin Wyatt around and around. Hunter only had to get stuck in it once to decide that it wasn’t that fun to be in and I have used it to trap William so that he couldn’t get in the way.
We will miss praying for Uncle Dallan on his mission. But we are looking forward to your return. And I just wanted to point out to you that you can say you served exactly 2 years to the day! Seth claims serving for 4 years, be we all know that he is kind of full of it. HEE HEE. Love you tons. Work hard your last week. Don’t be the elder that someother Elder gets to complain about having this really trunky elder as his companion. Keep working. The Church is true. President Monsen is our prophet. And you are the cutest little missionary brother I have.
Love Monica and the rest of the Woodin Nickel Kiddos-and Jon too!