November 2018- Coen turns 3 and Grandma & Grandpa visit!

Ava had wacky hair day at school for spirit week, which she was really excited about:

When I wasn't watching Coen closely, he did with the bandaids. This boy thinks he needs a bandaid if he gets a minor bump.

Ava went to a birthday party and got to make unicorns.

We had our friends over to dinner one Sunday. Brent was saying the prayer while holding Coen and Coen was trying so hard to keep his eyes closed the whole time. Finally, Coen complained right during the prayer, "it's taking so long!!"

Coen really loves this family because the mom was his nursery leader.

I signed Ava up for ballet through our local rec center and she was so excited. I took this video of her dancing around before her first class.

Ava and her best friend. She and her little brother trade off playing at both our houses on Tuesdays.

Cute little friends.

My parents came into town for a long weekend! Coen was really shy when we picked them up at the airport. By the time we had gotten home 5 minutes later though, he had warmed up.

On Friday I drove them out to our favorite spot on the coast.

We hiked up to see the lighthouse.

The view from the top.

The kids loved playing in the sand. The water was so cold I couldn't stand to put my toes in it, but Ava did not care and was running in it and acting like a crazy girl. 

 That evening we went out to dinner at BJ's and got tons of yummy food.

 We celebrated Coen's birthday and he got a free pazookie.

 On Saturday I took my parents to the church swap (fun free stuff!) and we all went to see the Grinch.

 Sunday was Coen's 3rd birthday. He came to Primary with us and they sang to him. He would only go up with daddy and he had his shy smile the whole time.

Ava gave a talk in Primary (which she was so excited for) and I did sharing time.

We had one of Coen's favorite dinners, tacos, and then I made him strawberry cupcakes because strawberries are his very favorite food.

 He got to open so many presents (and Ava's showing off the tooth she lost that morning).

 We sang to our birthday boy and I think he had the best birthday ever with Grandma and Grandpa visiting him and giving him attention!

At three years old, we call Coen our mini adult. He loves to follow rules and really gets bothered if Ava isn't following the rules. He likes to wag his finger at Ava and say "that's not an option!" if she's not being cooperative. He potty-trained at age 2 1/2, but still needs help going to the bathroom because he is too short to reach the toilet. He loves puzzles and will do them for about an hour at a time. Coen is a bit of a neat-freak and needs to have things clean and in order. After he plays with toys, he cleans up after himself.  He really likes it when I read books to him and he copies Ava when she does her homework and likes to try reading like her. His favorite color is red and has been for quite some time. Coen was always an early talker, so at age 3, he speaks in full complete sentences with correct grammar 95% of the time. At Christmas time, after he turned 3, I taught him and Ava the song "Picture a Christmas" and Coen pronounces each word so clearly as he sings, which he does all the time. Coen can be very shy and his preschool teacher tells me that he doesn't talk too much at school. He is very loving and will often tell me, "I want to be with you." We sure love our sweet Coen.

 Coen can be very cautious and doesn't handle anticipation super well. We got him this Perfection game for his birthday because he loves puzzles so much, but the timer and the exploding part freaked him out. See this video:

Grinch faces:

Snuggling with Coen

Brent took the kids to the lighting downtown and enjoyed a true weird Eugene experience. I was at Costco buying our electric piano!

Brent decorated for Christmas the Saturday before Thanksgiving so we could get some use out of our decorations before traveling. We really did enjoy our lights as it was dark around 4:30pm here!

We had a warm Saturday and did yardwork. Coen wanted to hold Brent's hand as he mowed the lawn.

Happy Nutella face:

 Here is a video of Ava doing ballet with her own flair. This video just captures her big independent personality I think.

I gave the kids baths before we went to our friend's house for dinner. Then as I was getting ready to go, Coen colored all over his legs.

Singing happy birthday to Max

On Thanksgiving, we went to Ralph Breaks the Internet and we all really enjoyed it. It was our first time to have a quiet Thanksgiving with just our little family. It was kind of nice!

 We made roast and potatoes instead of turkey at Brent's request.

We went shopping at Target and Walmart in the evening.

One of Coen's favorite activities: cutting scrap pieces of paper.

The kids like to do kids yoga on Youtube:

At their weekly play date:

Coen went to his 3 year old check up and was so brave. He didn't cry and let the doctor look in his ears and everything. He was brave for his flu shot, but Ava....really struggled with hers. Coen was about 25% on height and 15% on weight. The doctor predicts he will be 5'9.

We went to Brent's school for a Christmas party for the graduate students. The kids loved decorating cookies.

As a reward for getting their flu shots, I took the kids to Pappy's pizzeria by our house which has a fun play area. We invited friends from the ward and I think the kids decided their flu shots were worth it.

I also took the kids to McDonalds the next day since Ava reminded me that I really had promised McDonalds for the flu shot. We got out of the house for a while so Brent could study for finals.

And that concludes November!