January and lots of Coen snuggles

January 21- February 3
Our friend came over for a picnic lunch while her mom was in the hospital having a baby.

Ava had a few breaks in her difficult moods and was happy.

Because of Ava's screaming and grumpy moods I decided (or maybe was inspired) that we were going to take away screen time from the kids (no more cell phones or ipads) for the foreseeable future. We had some rough moments in the next week or so:

Eventually the kids stopped asking for my cell phone as much and I do think their behavior has improved. We do let them watch a TV show in the evenings when I'm cooking dinner if they've been good and that's been working for us. As it's been getting busier at work, I have also been letting Coen watch PBS kids on my phone while Ava's at preschool and I'm working for a bit.

Hanging out at the Wilson's house.

A girl was baptized in our primary and I spoke on the Holy Ghost. Everyone wrote their testimonies while the girl was getting dressed and this was Ava's, which I thought was so cute.

On Sunday we had a regional broadcast for Oregon and we watched it broadcast from SLC. It was very good and then the best part was that we were done with church at 11am instead of 4pm! It was such a beautiful sunny day that we decided to "go on an adventure." First we went to Brent's school:

Ava took this of us, along with about 20 others. She pushed the button so many times!

Sun!

Then we went to a park and let the kids play, and then we went to Dexter Lake. This time Coen did not break his arm!

I let the kids each choose a stick and a rock to take home. I think this was the most exciting part of the day for them. Ava told us that her stick looked like chopsticks and when we got home I saw that it actually was an old one  that had been worn down in the earth! Ew!!

Ava made a good choice at school and got to choose something from the treasure box. She chose this pink headband and was soooo proud and happy. She looks so cute in it and has been wearing it almost every day since!

Going on a walk to the mailbox in our sunny weather that lasted like 10 days!

I don't know what it is, but the 5 pm hour all of a sudden turns hectic. The kids will be playing and I sneak downstairs to cook dinner, but they notice, and follow me downstairs! All of a sudden, they are starving and need my attention, and Coen wants to be held. This is my usual view as I cook dinner;

Spanish lessons while reading our books:

Cute girl all in pink

Brent has class every afternoon so I'm always the one to pick up Ava from her morning and afternoon classes. Luckily I carpool with another mom for the afternoon, but it is still a lot of driving!

I got a babysitter and went to Brent's school to hear him do a presentation with the Raymund Fellows. This is a group of people who all got the same scholarship and share their research with each other. He presented on censorship and Vid Angel and did a good job of course.

As I mentioned last time, since Brent is gone every afternoon, I'm always the one to put Coen down for his nap. I love our quiet time reading books together in the afternoon! He is such a snuggly boy and we get lots of blankets to snuggle with while we read. Coen requests "otts a bankets, otts a books" (lots of blankets, lots of books.)

A video from our cuddle time:

There is a new girl that moved in to our ward just down the street from us and Ava was so excited to play with her.

This was just one of those funny moments. I heard Ava say to Coen, "Ok fine. But only one more time because you stink super bad." He was poopy and it was too stinky for her getting down pushing him like that.

I feel like this picture represents perfectly what it is to be a Cowley kid right now. Coen was at the babysitters still so I had Ava eat a picnic lunch by me in my office so I could keep working. Cowley kids learn how to be independent while mom's working, and of course Cowley kids are surrounded by movies.

Ava being happier now that she's been de-toxed from technology :) Also notice the headband ever present.

Ava made a birthday card for Lucy and came up to me and said "mom, I drew a mermaid!" I looked down and said, "holy cow, you did!"

Coen loves Green Eggs and Ham so much. I caught him reading the book to himself. He's reading the last part in this video, saying "I do! I do! I like green eggs and ham!"

Beautiful weather, and it was warm!! I had so much to get done for friends coming over that evening, but the cleaning could wait- we had to get out and enjoy the sunshine! We walked to the park by our house and played and then walked home, and Coen did it all on his own two little feet.

I have been shopping at Winco mostly since it's so much cheaper than Fred Meyer. If I remember and bring snacks for the kids to eat in the car, the shopping trip goes way better. If not, it is the worst thing ever with fighting and screaming as I'm trying to rush through the store.

I took the kids on an outing on a Saturday so that Brent could get lots of homework done. The kids were so excited to get Happy Meals.

Later that day while Coen was down for a nap and Ava was in her quiet time, we left the kids home alone for the first time ever and went on a little walk around the neighborhood. It felt so nice to have just a moment alone! We locked the doors and put on the camera in the living room so she and Brent could talk to each other since he has the app on his phone. We told her to motion to us if she needed anything, but otherwise we turned the sound off. Brent looked at the camera part way through our walk and she was waving her arms so he turned on the volume and she wanted to tell Brent all sorts of things even though we had only been gone 5 minutes. Haha. It was a hopeful glimpse of how nice it will be when Ava is older and I can leave her home while I run to the grocery store or something!

January and a Trip to the Temple

Flying back into Eugene, it was so green! 

 Back at home, Brent went in first to "check on the presents that Santa had left under our tree." The kids were so excited to have a little bit more Christmas here.

 Ava was so excited to go straight to school from the airport. It always feels slightly strange to come back to your life after being gone for a while. We watched shows with popcorn the first night.

The first weekend back, we traded babysitting with our friends the Wilsons. We went to The Greatest Showman on Friday night and then our friends went to a movie on Saturday morning. My friend said that Ava was sitting at their keyboard typing away pretending to work like me :) 

 The Wilsons at our house

 Ava and Max were holding each other during a scary part of Toy Story.

One morning I couldn't find Coen and I was calling for him. I heard his little voice from the bathroom and found him like this:

 He is ready to potty train, if he would just fully commit to it!
Ava had withdrawals from having attention full-time in Utah and had some major melt-downs, behavior issues, and mood swings.

This quarter Brent has class every afternoon so I'm always the one to feed the kids lunch and then put Coen down for a nap. I am really loving my quiet time with him every afternoon, snuggled up on my bed reading books before his nap.

Coen's learning how to say Laura's name. He says "Larla." Here's a video:

And just for fun, here's a video of Coen with the giggles. Thank goodness we had his giggles to offset Ava's tantrums these weeks!

 A rare moment of the kids getting along :) Ava read Coen a book before bed.

 Library time was a special yoga class.

 I took the kids to the park for a picnic so Brent could get some homework done. It was nice and sunny, but so cold for a picnic! We ate and then got in our car and turned on the heater to get warmed up before going to play on the toys.

 We had two friends over from Brent's program. The kids basked in their attention and had so much fun. The one on the right is from Ethiopia and her husband and two sons, ages 7 and 9 I think, are still back home in Africa. She enjoyed seeing the kids but was also missing her own. So many of Brent's classmates left their spouses in their different countries because they couldn't get visas or they needed to continue working.

 We had the Wilsons over to dinner while Diana was out of town. Big hugs before going home.

 We had a sweet little girl over from our ward while her mom took her brother to the ER. She and Coen played so sweetly!

 I love the way Coen is looking at her.

 I've been working 20 hours from work (not more like I sometimes do) which means I've been having just a little more time to cook. I really enjoy finding recipes and cooking.

 One of of Brent's friends that came over gave me these pretty yellow roses. I put them in our front window and they have been happy there. Both Brent and I are surprised that I haven't killed them yet.

 One day when I went to pick up Ava from preschool, a mom had brought two little piglets. They were so tiny and could scream really loud! She asked if I wanted to hold one and I said "ummm no thank you, I just want to look." She had brought them for show and tell and Ava got to pet them but said she didn't like when they screamed.

 I thought this was sweet, what Ava brought home from MLK day.

 Ava said "mom, take my picture!"

 Poor Coen got a really bad cough. He was really sick for a few days and just wanted to be held.

 We had a ward temple day where the Bishop and his wife watched the kids in the cultural hall of a church by the temple for everyone. We were so excited to go, but when the kids got bad coughs, we didn't think we should go. But after thinking about it, I didn't want to miss out, so we went anyway and Brent stayed with the kids so I could go in.
Driving up to Portland was so pretty as we passed vineyards, hazelnut farms, cauliflower farms, and more.

 Brent took this outside the temple. Ava is the little speck in the center. Brent took the kids to hang out with the other kids and the Bishop and his wife at the church. The Bishop and his wife had brought a van full of toys and snacks for all the kids. It was so sweet.

After the temple, we went to the science museum with another family in our ward. The museum sits right on the river in downtown Portland. 

 Th kids loved exploring.

After the museum, we went to Chick Fil-A and then back to the temple where Brent did initiatories. We got home late, right in time for bed time. It was an all day event, but we were glad we went. 

Brent made this epic marble run with the kids. Still a favorite toy around here! 

That concludes the first couple weeks back in town!