Birthday Celebrations (and the Oscars)

Ava told me, "Me a good sister!" and she requested to hold Coen. 

Then she lifted up her shirt and tried to feed Coen. When he wasn't responding, she said, "No milk Coen?"

The start of our super busy weekend! On Friday morning we went to play group at our church because it was too cool outside. These three blondes looked adorable on the bike. Of course Ava is driving it, because she is the leader!

My friend watched Ava for me so I could go to institute with Brent. I brought Coen and some girls were completely obsessed with him. Coen played along nicely and giggled at them a lot.

After institute Ava and I made the cupcakes for her birthday party. I let her lick the beaters and she was super excited.

That Friday evening Brent had the boys over from his church class for pizza and The Good Dinosaur. Ava was pretty excited to have other people in her house and sat right in between the boys for the movie.

Saturday morning, the day of Ava's party! Here we are frosting the cupcakes. We had a princess dress up themed birthday party and everything had to be pink! Ava was Aurora to start out the party.

I just invited three girls Ava's age from the ward. Here are a couple of them coloring princess pictures. They also decorated crowns with stickers and jewels.

Ava got super nice gifts from her friends that she has been loving.

One of Ava's gifts from us was a dish set because she LOVES playing in her kitchen. We used her dish set to have a tea party outside.

Then we came in and sang to the birthday girl. But right when it was time to sing I couldn't find the candles I had bought that had been sitting on the counter. They disappeared into thin air!

So we stuck a match into her cupcake and she didn't seem to care :)

After cupcakes we watched Frozen Fever and then played a couple little games. The games were so funny with the little ones! We played hide Cinderella's glass slipper. One girl would hide it and the others would find it. Of course they all wanted to hide it in the same spot over and over.

Guess what I found the second everyone walked out the door from the party? The candles of course! They were face-down in the play kitchen. Apparently one of the girls took them :)

Coen just being adorable as always, giving me his sweet smile.

On Sunday Brent had his Oscar party at school with his friends. If you're counting, that's three parties this weekend! (Primary, Ava's bday, and Oscars). Brent was super happy and excited and apparently he did not guess the best picture winner correctly, so that was unusual!

Oh my goodness, have you ever seen such an adorable little face?

It's getting harder and harder for me to work with Coen sitting by me. I just can't help myself when he's staring at me with a huge smile on his face while I'm trying to work! I have to talk to him and make him laugh. Here's a video of Coen from work one day. Notice his excited legs and then intense eyes at the end.

Ava's birthday was on a Tuesday this year. Usually on Tuesdays Brent goes to school at 9am and doesn't get home until 8:30 pm. On Ava's birthday, Brent let me sleep in and he went to school a little bit late. When I got up I found him like this with the kids, playing a Disney game with Ava. I thought it was such a sweet daddy moment.

Ava's favorite food lately is tacos. Since Brent has Taco Tuesdays at institute, we thought it was perfect to let Ava join him for that!

After institute Brent went back to studying and classes and I took Ava to get pink ice cream at her request. We went to an old fashioned ice cream shop downtown.

I love this big three year old!

While Coen slept in his car seat I told Ava a (very very mild) version of her birth story. She loved hearing about how she came out of my tummy. I snapped this picture as she listened to me tell about it.

After ice cream we went to the library and Ava played. Then we came home and had quiet time, and then dinner. When Brent got him we face-timed with the grandparents and she got to blow out her real candles and open her presents. I think she had a pretty good birthday and felt loved!

The next morning after turning three Ava apparently grew up. She came out from her room having taken off her PJs and dressed herself completely. It was so adorable because her pants were on inside out and her shoes were on the wrong feet. But for some reason it just made me love her a little bit more.

Would you look at those beautiful lips? No fair for a boy!

Coen just majorly gained weight lately. People usually have always commented on how tiny and petite he is. Well this weekend he got called fat twice :)

Brent and Ava doing a puzzle, and Coen making eyes at mommy.

My birthday was on a Friday this year which is maybe my favorite day of the week! It started out with Brent letting me sleep in while he watched the kids. (He does this several times a week anyways in case you were wondering). When I woke up I smelled waffles cooking and I came out to find my presents and a card at the table. One of my presents from Brent was this written on an index card: "This card is good for one out of every 5 movies we watch to be a chick flick. What a deal!" Haha.

Brent went to institute and to study for the day at school and I played with the kids. I love being at home with them so I'm so happy my birthday fell on a Friday, which is my mommy day! 

I put Coen in my Mobe wrap and pushed Ava in the stroller to the park. She had been there the other day with Brent and they had gathered all these sticks and she had named all of them as family members. On Friday her sticks were still there and she went right back to her sticks to keep playing with her "family." A little boy wanted to join in and liked the sticks too. But then he got a big stick and started whacking the little sticks. Ava's hand flew up to her mouth in shock. Then the boy picked up a stick and started running away. Ava cried in horror, "Hey!!! Coen! Ahhh!" As if he was stealing her real brother. Apparently that stick was Coen. 

Here is a video of Coen giving me birthday giggles

When Brent got home from school we went to see the new Disney movie, Zootopia. I loved it so much! I thought it was so funny and clever. Ava liked it too and Coen was an angel (of course).

I chose to go to BJs for dinner. It is a yummy American restaurant that brews their own rootbeer. I got a steak, because this girl loves meat! They brought me a super yummy cookie. Poor Ava had fallen asleep because we had to wait so long to be seated. It was a wonderful birthday and I felt so loved!

On Saturday evening we had Chris and CJ over for hamburgers and games. Coen was looking especially cute in his PJs.

That concludes our party weeks! We had a lot of fun on the weekends but most of the week days were stressful with busy season for me and mid-terms for Brent. Sorry there's no pictures or stories about those- we got up early, worked hard all day, took care of kids, and cleaned the house.

There are a couple funny things Ava said this week that I didn't want to forget. When I was trying to hurry and get the kids ready for the movie on my birthday, I was putting on Ava's shoes and socks for the 3rd time that day. I said to Ava, "you need to keep your shoes and socks on because we are going to go get in the car soon." Ava put her hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes and said, "mom, I promise. I no take off shoes." It was such a grown up moment!

Ava has been using the phrase "safe and sound" constantly. It's so adorable! She says in her prayers now, "bless dad safe and sound."

We taught Ava to say she's three. She was kind of defiant about it for a day or so, insisting that no she's two-half. Then it clicked with her and she sometimes says, "I stop two-half?"