Zach is the cutest!

Last night at dinner Maddie was talking to us about her friend Sallie and the b-day lunch she will be attending. It came up that her family is Jewish. Sallie and her parents are also vegetarians.

Zach says, "Mom is Sallie a Jewish name?  I answer, "No Zach"  and  Zach says, "So is Sallie a vegetarian name?"

We could not stop laughing! He cracks us up all the time.



Maddie and Wes are going through changes. (Puberty) Last night at dinner Maddie and Wes were both commenting that they each have a pimple on their nose.
Zach says, "I don't have a pimple, bit I have a dimple."
Cute kid!

The Fruit of our Labors

This is what happens when your labor isn't industrious and as nurturing as it should be.

We had a few problems.

1- Sporadic watering.
2-Pests
3- Negligence of pests and pesticides until it look over.

You should have seen our pumpkin patch. It looked awesome. Our pumpkins would start to grow, get about golf size and then start shriveling. I was told we had some kind of mildew problem because the leaves would turn an ash color and dry up. It took over the whole patch.

We'll try again next year. Good thing the grocery stores had pumpkins.

BRRRR!

I'm not sure what has happened in the last few days, but it is suddenly VERY COLD! Today when I went walking after dropping off the kids, it was 37 degrees.

Cold, but fun at the same time. It rained all day yesterday and the night before.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Who needs college?

Yesterday after school the kids were having a snack and Carina says, "I don't wanna to go college." Maddie immediately chimes in, " But Carina, you get your own house, you can do what you want, be with your friends, etc." Carina says, in a exasperated voice ans sighs, "Ok, fine, I'll go to college."

A Good Hair Day

I just came across this and I don't think it ever got blogged. It's from two Halloweens ago. My friend in AZ holds an annual party. In case you are wondering, Willie was Dwight from the tv show "The Office"

Of course you all know what I was. I was just me after homework was done for the night.

New Blog

I decided to start a blog with some friends called "Adventures in Homemaking." On it will be all things homemaking, of course.

I've been wanting to do it for a while so I can post all my projects and recipes on it and leave Wilcox World specifically for the family.

Check it out if you'd like.

Happy Homemaking!

*You'll find a link to it on our blog.

More projects

These are two tables I painted a few weeks ago. The drop leaf doubles as a buffet and a kid homework/art table and extra table for guests and the coffee table is my old 11 year old hand me down table. I love the way they have turned out. My friend Kari in AZ keeps asking my to post all my projects, so I'm finally doing it. Thrift store, garage sale, and curbside items have so much potential. Paint is AWESOME. I am having so much fun. Hope this inspires you to go hunting for great deals.

This window is how I got started with this turquoise, tealish color. I just love it . I finally found a spot for this window. It's on the mantle over the family room fireplace. i know I am decorating this rental house and we won't be here for too much longer(hopefully), but hey, I'm having fun.

Before and After

These are my latest projects. I have moved on to the family room. I picked up this awesome curbside find yesterday and got home and went right to work. I had a couple of colors that I mixed to get this one and I was pretty happy with it. I have also been doing some thrifting(I am totally hooked on one close to our house) and I found this super cute fabric. It turns out it was a shower curtain. I love it and I made these cute pillows for the couch. Not bad for $3. I need to distress the table a little.

Beautiful Savior

I just love that song! We learned it this year in Primary. I have been teaching Carina's class since we moved here and I have really enjoyed learning the songs. Beautiful Savior is the last one we learned one month prior to the Primary program. By the way, it went really well. The kids did a wonderful job singing and remembering their parts.

What I love most about this song is that it is so simple, yet so beautiful and powerful. We(the primary teachers) can't ever get through it without tears in our eyes. I love Jesus. I am so grateful for his example and his sacrifice. I am so grateful for all that I learn and am constantly reminded of in primary. The basics! It's what we need to focus on. I love the part that says " He makes the sorrowing spirit sing." Christ is always there for us and will always comfort us and bring us joy.

Just wanted to share that with you since that song has been on my mind tons lately. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for this time of year when we focus on our gratitude and service to others. I will strive to do this more throughout the new year and I hope you do too. I am so grateful that we can spend this Thanksgiving with our big family and with lots of cousins.

Zoo Day

Yesterday I took Zach and Carina to the LA Zoo. It was overcast and cool all day. For sure our best day at the zoo so far because the animals were so active in the cooler weather. They invited their friends from church. It was like having two sets of twins since they all kinda looked alike. We had a great time. The tree we discovered on our way back out was incredible. They had fun exploring and climbing.

Trick or Treating Time

The Lanes came to spend Halloween with us. This is such a great neighborhood for trick or treating. The kids got loads of candy as well as balls, slinkies, princess stuff, even pocket sized bibles. We saw some really awesome decorated houses, some spooky, some freaky, and some downright nuts, like the freakish clown one. I must have a picture somewhere. It was very fun to be with cousins. We had a great time together. It's one of the perks of California, we get to see family more often. Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

Miller Elementary Halloween Parade

Carina had a blast marching in the parade. She was so adorable as Tinkerbell. Carina with her classmates and buddies and Carina with her teacher Mrs Donnell and principal(Minnie) Ms. Hession.

Halloween Parade Fun

These are Zachary's buddies and the Caveman is Zach's teacher, Mr. Berger. He's strict and tough, but Zach is learning tons. I couldn't leave out Tink and Dorothy. Don't they all look so great?

Living Room Progress

Can't find the picture I took of the living room. oops!


Like I said, it's a work in progress. I painted our coffee table of 10 years and put a stain on the top and painted the end table. I found a window I love and painted it teal. It turned out a little too dark for my taste, but fun. I would love to hang one of the windows but our 80 year old plaster walls can't hold them.
It started out as a shabby chic kinda room, but lately, especially since moving back to California, I really love the cottage look. It just didn't really seem to work in our home in AZ. I've been having fun with curbside bargains and thrift stores. We have a great one out here close by.

The Tooth Fairy visits our home

The Tooth Fairy has been ever so busy here at the Wilcox home. This is the first of four lost teeth in 8 days. I will post a recent one later. She looks like a cute little jack-o-lantern.

All Grown Up

Maddie got her ears pierced a few weeks ago and got her bangs cut. She looks so grown up, I can hardly believe it. She is really enjoying middle school, the french horn (she's in the band), golf club, and of course her friends.
Isn't she a beauty?

Lake Webb

The whole family went to Lake Webb this summer. Everyone had a blast! I have procrastinated this post long enough. I have so many great pictures that I didn't know which to put in, so I just kept putting it off.
These are some of my favorites.

We all got there on Friday night and had dinner there and camped. The next morning we launched the boat and the propeller broke. That put things back a bit. The kids hardly noticed anything was going on. The cousins were all so happy playing in the water.

After grandpa and Willie returned and fixed everything, the real fun began. Everyone tried skiing, some with much success, others without.

Later the boob tubes came out and all the kids could ride them, even the youngest cousins. They took turns and turns. Then the adults had some turns. It was awesome. I had a blast bouncing around the lake in those things. I even got up on the skiis. I was proud of myself because I wan't sure I could ski anymore.

We played and swam until dark. It was so fun to see everybody having such a great time.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Boob Tubing all day Long

The pics say it all.