Learning to read

While R's mom was here to visit last year I told her that I wanted to start teaching A to read before she went to kindergarten. She told me about a book that she used to teach most of her kids how to read.

This is the book:
Since we are hoping to get A into Kindergarten this coming school year (Scary to think she is that old!) I started using this book to teach her in January.

We don't do school time every day, usually 4-5 times a week. We are now on Lesson 33... I think. She has learned so much already, it is amazing. She is writing quite a few letters and reading wonderful for a 4 year old that just started reading a little over a month ago. She is also learning how to write her name (not recommended by the book, but I wanted to teach her how).

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a way to teach their child how to read. It is really simple, the book says the lessons are supposed to be 15-20 min. long, A likes to goof off a bit so it takes up to 30 min some days, but still. They start out with a few letter sounds and every other lesson they learn another to add into it. A few days in, the child is learning how to read simple words. They later start reading a sentence, then a story that is a few sentences long, and it just keeps building. We are now on 4 sentence stories with where we are in the book.

A is having so much fun and loves it (most days) when we do school. I am excited to see how she will do once she gets in to real school. We should be finding out next week if she made it into the local charter school or not. Since her birthday is right on the border line, if she didn't get in we will be waiting until next year and try to get her in again, and have a back up school for just in case.

She is learning...

A was very upset with me today. While we were supposed to be eating lunch she and G were playing around instead. When I told the kids that they had played around enough and I was taking their lunch away A started throwing a fit. I told her that she needed to calm down and that her lunch was already gone. She then yelled at me "NEED SAY PRAYER!"

I have been trying to teach her that being angry and upset are emotions that we feel but Heavenly Father can help us to let go of those feelings. I was so happy to see that she is getting it. When we are upset if we pray for help Heavenly Father will help us to be happy again.

After saying a prayer and getting G down for quiet time, it was time for school (I'm going to blog about that next... although its going to appear above... anyways). In the short story that A read today there was mad ant. After you read the story you ask the child questions about the story to make sure they are comprehending what they are reading. One of the questions asked, "what do you think the ant is going to do?" She answered by telling me "He need say prayer".

I am so proud of my little girl! She is learning how to deal with her emotions in a positive way.

funny things our kids say:

So R and I were watching Dr. Who last night. There was a part in there where a planet blows up. G looked at R a bit worried and said, "uh oh, it broke.... I tooted". He is such a BOY!!!

Today after I finished "school" with A (I am teaching her how to read from a wonderful book, I will have to blog about it later), I asked her if she was a smart cookie for being able to read some words. She turned to me and said, "No, I be.... I be.... I be a nice tomato" She is such a nut.

I never realized just how funny kids could be, until I became a mom. I love them to death even though they say some really silly things. It keeps every day... shall we say unusual.

Baby #3

We had an appointment yesterday with the OB and to get an ultrasound to find out the gender of the baby...

We went in for the Ultrasound and with the very first image we saw of the baby we saw that it is a...



wait for it........











a Boy!

I would have been happy with a girl but having a boy makes things much easier because we already have a name picked out. I really wasn't looking forward to debating back and forth with R about girl names. We are both really picky about names and have different ideas of how we want to name our children.

We are going to name him after R's Grandpa F that past away earlier this year. We found out that we were pregnant the same day as his viewing and the day before his funeral.

I am excited to think that one day we will have at least 2 more priesthood holders in our home. That is such a wonderful blessing.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Day started out with me and the kids eating our traditional Christmas breakfast: "German waffles". I don't know for sure if they are a German thing, but there is a story as to why we call them that. One year when I was in primary our ward at church had our Christmas party in the morning and we had a breakfast for our meal. There was a family in our ward that had moved to Utah from Germany and they were in charge of the meal. They made us these wonderful waffles covered in chocolate or vanilla pudding and lots of whipped cream. I LOVED it! After R and I started having kids and wanted to start some traditions I thought they would be a great thing to have for our breakfast on Christmas morning. So that is where that comes from...

After breakfast the kids and I watched some tv, waiting for the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade... Another tradition.

A little disclaimer, R had to work that on Christmas so that is why you are seeing that its just the kids and I doing these things.

After the parade was over we ate lunch and kids went down for nap, and Mommy went to work filling stockings and getting things ready for Christmas dinner.

We had a wonderful dinner of Ham, creamy mashed potatoes (with cream cheese, sour cream, and green onions in it YUM!), homemade cranberry sauce, fresh baked rolls, fruit salad, and broccoli and corn in a cheesy butter sauce... after eating all that we were too full to eat the Dutch apple and pumpkin pies.

We had lots of fun opening presents, or the kids did and parents had fun watching the excitement on their faces. Here are some pics of what was given this year.

Christmas PJ's (we open these on Christmas eve)

A's Belle and Aurora Barbies

G's Buzz Lightyear, he also got some Bullseye and Rex figures

R got me kitchen gadgets, 2 oil dispensers (so I can start making
flavored oils), a shaker, a syrup container, and collapsible
measuring cups! I love to cook so he usually gets me
new things every year since I wont
buy them for myself.

I gave R a lego starwars ship with 5 figures,
I recently discovered just how much my husband loves Legos.

Scripture case and Book of Mormon from
Grandma and Grandpa H.

Boffer Swords from our Friends A and M

And the movies we got. We try to pick up some movies
every year at the day after Thanksgiving sales. We got

some really good ones this year.

We also received some really yummy chocolates and fudge from R's mom and dad.

I am so thankful for my Savior who's birthday we celebrate this time of year. I am thankful for all he did while he was on this earth to provide us with the ultimate example. And I am very Grateful for his atonement for our sins so that I may live with my Heavenly Father and Savior again someday.

I hope all of you readers had a wonderful Christmas as well.

our family newsletter 2010

Here is a copy of our 2010 family newsletter, we decided to send these out this year instead of Christmas cards. Enjoy!

We are excited this year to bring you the first ever Wilcox Family newsletter.

Time has flown by faster than we thought it ever would, yet much has happened this year. We have had times of sorrow and times of joy but above all we have had a year filled with love. Many blessing were made more apparent as we found ourselves opening our small home for family and yet still fit everyone who had come.

After being in the same ward for over 3 years (even after 3 moves) we were a bit surprised when our Stake Presidency changed the ward boundaries and placed us in a new ward! It has been a bittersweet experience; we miss seeing some of our friends on Sunday, but this has also opened the way for us to meet people and make new friends. With being put in a new ward, we were called to the primary to teach the 11 year old class. Surprisingly they all moved away (Not our fault…We swear!). So in lacking a class we were asked to substitute the 8 year olds until the New Year.

R finally started his own production company, partnering with a good friend he took a step into the venture of web film production and made Clockwork Ninja Films LLC a reality. He was very excited to receive a new calling as the 11 year old scout leader were he is now teaching those boys everything he knows…well, at least enough to not get themselves killed.

H began learning how to quilt this year from Grandma F. Although the quilt is not quite finished it is looking wonderful. As well she has found a love for running as this year she began running laps with a group of friends from church at a local park. She hopes to make it a life long habit. She was also called to be on the Relief Society Meeting Board.

A celebrated her 4^th Birthday this year. When asked about it, she goes on and on about her pink cupcakes with sprinkles and pink ice cream. She has found a great love for all things girl this year, Disney princesses, dress up, and dancing to name a few. She is in the Sunbeams class in primary. After a rough start she now loves going to primary to be with her friends and to sing songs.

G turned 2 this year. He loves to talk, if given the chance he will talk your ear off. Although you may not understand every thing he tells you, he is learning many new words and makes sure to get his point across. G is very much a boy. He loves cars, trains, Bob the Builder, air planes, and anything else that screams boy. He loves to get into mischief, although most times he is just having fun with the things he gets into trouble with. He is in the Nursery at church and loves to learn new songs and make friends.

Surprise! We are expecting a new little one in June. We are looking forward to welcoming this child into our family. We will find out towards the end of December if it’s a boy or a girl. Either way we just want a healthy happy baby.

Some of our favorite quotes from the kids this year (A for the most part):

A was getting upset with G while they were playing. Being the avid watcher of Toy Story that she is she yelled at G saying “G, you are toy! G, you are toy!” (May 2010)

While eating Breakfast, H asked A if she liked her Captain Crunch. She looked at mommy very seriously and said “No” then she got a dreamy look in her eye and said “I love Captain Crunch”. Moments after, H was telling G to eat his cereal. A looked at Mommy sternly saying “Mommy, not cereal, it’s Captain Crunch.” (July 2010)

It’s been a bit of a crazy year at times, but full of wonderful moments. We are so thankful that we have one another and all of you!

Thanksgiving FHE

I wanted to make FHE more creative and entertaining to the kids last night. You see I'm sure that this doesn't happen in any of your houses, but our kids tend to play, dance, jump on the couch, run screaming down the hall, etc. during the lesson part of FHE almost every week. They love the songs, prayers, and treat, but we are having a hard time getting them to sit down and pay attention to the lesson. Yeah I'm sure that can't happen in anyone else house. :)

Well to make it more entertaining, and to bring in the theme of being thankful (since it's Thanksgiving this week) I found a great idea for making a craft that we could all work on together. So after searching for paper in the right colors around the house (since I forgot to buy paper at the store), cutting, and drawing (mostly thanks to my wonderful Husband!) I was ready for our lesson.

And here is how it turned out, the kids were right by my side the whole time as I glued the feathers on, or by daddy's side as he wrote the things we were grateful for on the feathers. They have been so excited all morning anytime that they look at the pantry door and see the Birdie (not a turkey according to A). We have friends that come over and do FHE with us, so with the 4 adults combined and our two kids we were able to come up with quite a few, and some interesting things that we were thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!