February Highlights

February came and went quickly! I was a little busy with our school's largest fundraiser and event of the year. Our PTA hosts a carnival and silent auction every February. We bring in close to $40,000 in one day and it takes a lot of work to put it all together. If I wasn't teaching or with my kids, I was busy working on Carnival! It was nice to get it done with but also a lot of fun.

Lydia had a field trip to Galveston and the children's museum there. I was able to join her and watch her play with her preschool friends.

The area high schools do a bunch of musicals in January and February. One high school did Matilda. Ashton and I went and she loved it. We also went to Beauty and the Beast with all the girls. It had a live orchestra, which was really neat. Ashton loved Matilda so much she is singing a song from it for the school's talent show.

February brought Alpha class for Ashton. With our district's gifted and talented program, 4th and 5th graders get to pick a course off campus during the spring semester. Ashton picked nature photography and loved it. Apparently, she was a good friend to the kids in her class as I saw this note one day. It is a mixed group of kids from all over the district so it was fun for her too. Tanner and Gemma will get their chance in a few years as well.

Gemma hit 100 days of school! She had a blast walking around the school in the parade.

February also brought Valentine's Day parties. Lydia acts like she owns the school. She is there so much with me when I am volunteering and she just makes herself at home everywhere we go. The front office staff have started teaching her Spanish and give her candy every time. Most of the teachers know who she is and the kid's classrooms all love when she visits. Lydia found a reading nook in Gemma's classroom.

Tanner came downstairs one night to tell me that if he kept his eyes like this, they'd be stuck there forever.

At the school's carnival, we had a Pie Throwing game. This is one of Tanner's teachers. I also got my 30 minute shift in the pie booth.

A family moved into our neighborhood from a neighboring ward and we are thrilled! We've known the family for several years and are so excited to have them closer. We've met up at the parks lots of times and the kids can bike back and forth too. Most of the kids line up closely in age, which is nice.

 Tanner had a field trip to the Houston Space Center. We went on the tour of the Astronaut Training Facility, which was fun. Tanner got to be with his best friend all day at the field trip.

Lydia's Birthday

 Sweet Lydia turned 4 in January! She was "kind" to share her birthday with Tanner's baptism too. Plus we had family visiting so it was a busy weekend.

One gift was a new lunch box for her! She has some field trips at preschool so was very excited about her own lunch box.

We had a little friend party for her. It got delayed a couple weeks because Gemma and Lydia both got Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease the morning of the initial party. Lydia asked that we invite all her preschool teachers. She attends a preschool at a local high school. The program offers a small preschool a few mornings a week with about 20 high schoolers and 10 little preschoolers. I was surprised when about 6-7 teachers said they'd come. Even Lydia's nursery teacher from church came to celebrate with her.

Tanner's Birthday

 Tanner turned 8 this year! He was very excited for his birthday. As luck would have it, he had the day off of school because of a cold weather snap in Houston. It was nice that we were able to spend the whole day celebrating without the hustle and bustle of school. Although, the city pretty much shut down so there was no where to go. He asked for lots of books for his birthday. As well as some new sports equipment.

January Highlights

I am trying to catch up on our year. Things have been busy with life in general.

January had some highlights! It was also filled with Hand, Foot, Mouth disease for the first time in the Wilcox family. That was fun. Gemma and Lydia were very tired and irritable for a while.

Ashton earned a spot in the school spelling bee, which was fun. She made it about half way through the competition before getting out. She spelled a word phonetically in Spanish and mixed up a -cion vs. -sion ending. She had a good time.

BYU Women's basketball came to Houston to play so we took the kids to that. If you look really closely, Tanner found the BYU Sports Radio announcer guy at the game. The guy was kind to Tanner and gave him a Stats Page after the game. Unfortunately, BYU lost and the players didn't come back out to greet the fans. Oh well.

Tanner celebrate his birthday with friends at a park. We brought cupcakes and pizza. Tanner planned all the sport games. He filled his afternoon with baseball, soccer, and football. He was so happy.

Lydia was happy with the cupcakes.

With Tanner's baptism, my sister came to visit as did Joseph's parents. We had a wonderful time with them all in town.

 Ashton has been on her school's robotic team this year. They had a couple competitions in January that kept us busy as well.

Tanner's Birthday Interview

How old are you? 8

What is your favorite color? Light green and royal/dark blue

What is your favorite animal? Grey wolf and wallaby (he saw on at the rodeo recently)

What is your favorite book? Mac Sports Reports

What is your favorite show? Video on YouTube- he watches sports highlights videos

What do you like to eat? Chicken tenders, Sprite, mozzarella sticks, sandwiches, chips

What is your favorite game? Football game with Joseph

What is your favorite thing to do? Play sports

Who is your best friend? "I have 3." Oliver (neighbor), Joseph (school), Jack (school)

What do you like to do with Dad? I like when Dad is my coach.

What do you like to with Mom? I like to read books and play games.

Where do you want to go on a vacation? Isle Royale to see the wolves, or Europe, or Australia

What do you want to be when you grow up? Sports reporters who writes all the stories on athletes

What is your favorite song? I'm Good, by Blue. I think. It's the radio version.

What is the best time of day? When I read books at night and school

What makes you happy? Playing sports and having fun

Lydia's Birthday Interview

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite color? Purple and pink

What is your favorite animal? Sea lion, otter, and a cheetah

What is your favorite book? Daniel Tiger and Biscuit

What is your favorite show? Bluey (I finally let the kids watch Bluey over winter break. It was a huge hit.)

What do you like to eat? Mac and cheese

What is your favorite game? Pie in the Face

What is your favorite thing to do? Jump on the trampoline

Who is your best friend? Sofia (friend from church)

What do you like to do with Dad? Read books with him

What do you like to with Mom? Have sleepovers (we have a sleepover in her room a few weeks ago since we didn't make it to camping that weekend)

Where do you want to go on a vacation? To Aunt Trescha's house

What do you want to be when you grow up? Doctor

What is your favorite song? I am a Child of God

What is the best time of day? The day we go on field trips at preschool

What makes you happy? Love

December Happenings

 December was busy, as I am sure it is for everyone. Lots going on!

Ashton had some robotics tournaments. I still don't understand how the scoring works but she seems to get it all. Her team is still competing into 2024 so we still have robotics. This is her team's robot that they built.

It has been a warm winter. The girls got out the pool and swimsuits one day.

Every year, the GT program in our district has a big "showcase" project for each grade. 4th grade's project is focused on the National Park Service. Ashton chose a park, researched it, created a presentation, and then presented to a bunch of people. She ended up getting a perfect grade, which was rare. And her presentation was used an example to new GT teachers in the district. She thought that was cool. She chose Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota. I wish it was closer so we could go soon. One year, we'll make it there.

Tanner had two more soccer tournaments too! He got 2nd place at one and 1st place at the other. He was pretty content. We are scaling back with his soccer club team. It is getting a little more intense than we'd like. We'll see what is next for this kid. For now, he's happy in his basketball league and then summer swim will start in May. We also found a low-key baseball league for him in spring.

School winter parties took place. PTA takes the lead on these so it was a little busier for me. Not too much though.

Lydia walks around the school like she owns the place. She fits right in with all of Ashton's friends. They love Lydia. She joined all three of the sibling parties.

Decorating sugar cookies. Not my favorite thing to do, but the kids beg for it.

We're cat sitting for a family for a few weeks. The cat is the most snuggliest cat I've ever seen. Comes right up to everyone, sits on your lap, purrs the whole time. Crazy cat. So we love going to the house each day and seeing the kitty.