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!