Halloween and the sick Cowleys

October 16-November 10

Life was way too busy, I didn't have time to keep up on my blog! 

We were pretty sad that we couldn't find Coen's Donald Duck costume anywhere and we knew it would fit this year. After tearing apart the whole house and garage, Brent found it!

I bought Ava this outfit for Ava at Old Navy and thought she looked cute. This is what she did when I wanted to take a picture. She has been a crazy ham lately.

Ava read Coen a book one day- a rare moment of sibling camaraderie.

The sun came out for a minute so we took Ava's picture outside. 

We had more and more friends over to dinner. We made it through most of our ward so we started going through Brent's classmates at school. :) It was Rachel's birthday when we had her over so we sang to her.

We had friends over to watch a movie and these two ended up huddled close together, a little nervous.

We all got sick with colds all November long. Mine turned into a sinus infection and I was so miserable I finally went to the urgent care. Ugh. Brent was at school so I took both kids with me and the receptionist told me ten people had walked in right before me so I had a long wait. I texted Brent and told him about it and he asked if I needed him to come. I told him it was OK and he could keep studying. I was sitting there feeling so sick, trying to keep the hyper kids from touching everything in the waiting room, when Brent showed up completely drenched from the rain, having walked from campus. It was so sweet because I knew he had so much homework and was stressed, but he took the kids to the library for me during my appointment. 

Brent and I had to speak in church on the Plan of Salvation and the Proclamation to the Family. It was hard! We had friends sit with our kids and they were good during our talks. Brent of course brought in movies to his talk on families and I talked about how my life choices have been impacted by knowing the Plan of Salvation. Here I am after my talk, holding a cute little plant one of Brent's friends brought me when he came to dinner.

I picked up Ava from preschool like this and she cracks me up with her spunk. We had some warm days mixed in our Fall.

One of Ava's favorite song came on the radio so I pulled over to film her dancing and singing. She normally is in a booster seat, FYI.

Coen spilled his drink kind of on purpose and he was very happy to clean up after himself when I asked him to. 

Coen loves going to Max's house so much. He goes on Wednesday mornings just for a couple hours but he talks about it all long. He says "Max house!" Here's a video. 

The Museum of Natural History on campus had a night especially for graduate students. We walked past the famous Hayward Field on our way.

 We had a fun time at the museum!

 Coen especially loved this exhibit that had a duck from the Native Americans.

The kids watched Trolls and they couldn't help themselves and danced to all the songs.

We go to the library story time every Friday morning and after, the kids love to play with the legos and blocks. Ava asks me to take her picture every time of her creation.

One Saturday our stake had a pass-along party where people could bring things they don't want anymore and everyone swaps. I found this double stroller I've been wanting for so long!

Coen got croup one weekend and it scared me a little bit one night when he was breathing weird. The next day I told Cher and my mom and they told me to sit with him in the bathroom with the hot shower going. Here's a selfie from the bathroom. And also notice Coen's hair in this before picture.

I decided Coen's hair was too uneven in the front so I trimmed it, like I had done a few times before. But I kept going shorter because his cowlick was making his hair weird, and eventually his hair ended up like this:

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Can I get a redo on that?

We decided his hair needed a buzz. I had no confidence in my haircutting skills so I made Brent do it.

He looked so different after!

This is what our forecast looked like:

Brent's Cub Scout troop went to the fire station and we got to join in.

Ava had been acting so naughty and grumpy lately so I thought she could use some one on one time and I took her to Target after school one day. She liked these ear muffs. Look at this goof's face when I took her picture.

This is the first time I saw Ava draw a picture of our family. I thought it was so cute!

I had some extra time before picking up Ava from preschool so I let Coen run around the grounds of her school. The trees are just huge!

We went to our friend's Halloween party as Forrest Gump and Jenny. This was when we couldn't find Coen's Donald Duck costume so he went as a Mickey fan. Ava was Princess Sofia but she ran off playing and didn't get in the picture.

Halloween- Ava was Belle in the afternoon preschool. 

When I picked Ava up from school she said, "so is Grandma coming now?" She thought that Grandma would be at our house since I told her grandma is coming after Halloween. She was pretty devastated. 

We went to Brent's school to trick or treat. His campus is so beautiful.

Mr. blue eyes. He got called a girl.

After trick or treating Brent went through the kids' haul as usual. Here's a video: 

I was in charge of my first baptism and it went well. It took me quite a bit of time time to make up the program. I took Ava with me and the boys stayed home.

The Trunk or Treat at our ward was super fun. We had chilis and soups and a lot of nonmembers came.

Ava wanted to play store with me and the cash register was my favorite toy as a child so I was happy to play along!

I found out Ava has the Pledge of Allegiance memorized because she says it every morning at school. Here's a video:

Brent put on La La Land and Coen was mesmerized by it.