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!

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