March 2023- Birthday Date and a Ferocious River

We have too many pictures from our Spring Break trip to the Redwoods, those will be in a separate post.

Coen woke up on Ava's birthday with yet another headache and feeling like he was going to throw up. I started to worry if something is wrong with him since he had two days like this the week before. Luckily he drank water and ate something and felt better and went to school.

I wanted to go to Ava's school to have lunch with her on her birthday. My work meeting went long beforehand so I didn't have time to go to Subway like I was planning, but she was still happy with her corndog that I brought her. Edit to add: Ava says she was kind of sad because she loves Subway. :)  

After school Ava had drama class and then we had Activity Days. I brought brownies to share for her birthday. 

We opened presents when Brent got home from his EQ meeting (he got a new calling!). She got a new dress, scrunchies, gel pens, a helmet, and candy. Some of those presents were from grandmas, so I didn't give her too much. She's getting old now it's hard to think of presents to give! Instead, I decided we should go on a birthday date.

At ten years old, Ava loves to do art, drama, music, and read. She is constantly doing cartwheels and handstands in the house and is either super enthusiastic and happy or in a "woe is me" mood. She is still the child that stretches and challenges me the most.  She has friends at school, but would prefer if she just had one best friend that they always know they'll be each other's partner and play with each other at recess. Right now she doesn't have that and it's hard for her. She is happiest if she is having a play date or out doing an activity. Ava is starting to be a good helper and will do things like unload the dishwasher, put away laundry, peel and cut a cucumber. 

Ava loves Coen from about 8:30 pm on, when they're going to sleep and they can talk in their bunk beds. Otherwise they fight like crazy. She loves playing dolls with Audrey and those two can also be little buddies or enemies (depending on moods). Ava is a natural leader and so assertive. She also has a tender heart and loves to bear her testimony and says some really insightful things. The other day I was cleaning up her desk and found her notes from General Conference. The heading said "what I learned from conference" and she wrote, "even though it's hard for me to feel the spirit, Heavenly Father and Jesus are real." I thought it was so sweet and earnest. 

From Audrey's babysitter- these two love to play dress up!

Coen had his last basketball practice and we took pictures. I loved his basketball season (and so did he!)

On Friday evening we went to Red Robin to celebrate mine and Ava's birthdays. 

After Red Robin we went to an arcade and I think skee ball was the favorite for all of us.

Saturday was my birthday and it started off with Coen's last basketball game. 

Coen had his best ever game and made 6 baskets! 

He had a loud cheering section :)

After the game Ava and I went on our birthday date, first to get yummy sandwiches.

Then we went to Target and we each picked out something. Ava got a swimming suit and cover up.

My friend remembered that I loooove German chocolate cake and made me one!

I opened up my presents and then we took the kids to Ben's house to be babysat while Brent and I went to the adult session of Stake Conference. It was a really great session and I think one of the most important things we learned from one of the general authorities was "parents are the primary enticers for good in their children's lives." He said that we shouldn't give our kids the option to do good things like go to church or go on a mission, and then step back and hope they make the right decision, and hope Satan also steps back. He basically said we need to help the kid make the good decision.

On Sunday I let Audrey sleep in so Coen and I watched Stake Conf on zoom on my bed while Brent and Ava went to the church.

Tammy Tuesday- sometimes she comes earlier to give Audrey some one on one attention.

Brent and I had an interview at 7am on zoom with Elder Sikahema for Brent's BYU-Hawaii application. That night I had been up with Audrey for a few hours (I think she had a cold) so I was tired! It went well though- there were questions for both of us throughout. He asked questions such as what Brent thought about gender and marriage, and what Brent would say if students asked about this or that. Brent did such a good job answering. At the very end, he asked me how Brent would fit in to BYU's mission and I cried when I explained that Brent is Christlike in that he is always looking out for the student who feels marginalized or lost. Brent is good at reaching out to them and making them feel loved and that they can pass the class.  At the end Elder S. said, "I'm writing up my report and you're passing with flying colors. Those students deserve to have a teacher like you." Then he said, "Sister Cowley, you married a very good man. Brother Cowley when you married, you knocked it out of the park." After we hung up, I said we need a selfie to remember this, teary eyes and all!

Oh and PS, I'm happy to report that the kids all slept until the interview was done, phew!

After school puddle jumping time!

I felt like this could be on the front of their studio album if they ever had one :)

Check out that action shot!

On Friday night Brent and I had tickets to see the Oscar nominated shorts at the theater. We decided to try leaving the kids alone at home with Ava as the babysitter since the shorts didn't start til 7pm. I was nervous about it but Brent said we have cameras, and we can leave one phone with Ava- they'll be fine! I fed them dinner before I left and so they only had to watch their movie and then go to bed. I left instructions for Ava and one of the most important instructions was "do not touch each other!" 

After each short we'd check on the kids via the cameras and we saw that Ava even read Audrey a book before bed. We came home to three sleeping kids and looked at each other and thought have we entered a new phase of parenthood?! What is this?!

On Saturday my friend invited me to meet up with her and a few other moms at Sweet Creek Falls, which is about an hour from our house. Brent had to work on his dissertation, as he has been most weekends for months, so I was brave and drove alone with my kids. We put on the Winnie the Pooh CD and they sang along happily as we drove. 

Sweet Creek Falls was so different in the winter than in the summer when I've been! The amount of water was stunning, but scary! Audrey and Olivia wanted to hold hands a lot of the way.

This is about the same place where the kids had waded through the gentle river a couple summers ago and thought it was so fun. On this day the water was ferocious and there is no way anyone could have gotten in, even if it was warm.

A couple videos to show you how beautiful it is:

That evening we all went to see Avatar The Way of Water at the theater. Brent had gotten an Oscars pass and saw about 7 or 8 Oscar movies that week at the theater. Audrey lasted the whole 3 hours of the movie! We had suckers and other snacks to help, but she was a good girl on Brent's lap.

Oscar Sunday was maybe a little boring- we didn't have a party this year. We all filled out predictions and watched with Brent though. While I was cooking dinner Coen came to me with his troubles, "I don't know who to put for Best Picture. I really want to put Avatar, but Dad says it's going to be Everything Everywhere All at Once. I just don't know what to do!!" I laughed and told Coen he could guess whoever he likes, it was OK. 

Cooking with Audrey- she randomly told me she was excited for her birthday on August 8.

We have been working on filling our pom pom jar for a couple months and we finally got the last pom pom in! It's hard to tell, Coen is holding the little glass jar with 100 tiny pom poms. Their reward was in a few days.

Audrey's speech teacher sent this to me- Audrey is doing well in speech and works hard!

We had a watercolor night for Activity Days and it was super fun!

Happy Audrey on our way to meet the kids as they walk home from school:

Doing Come Follow Me at Night, we talked about Jesus walking on the water. Audrey said, "I not brave. I not even walk on water. That not work." Haha. 

Audrey's thing she says now all the time is 'bout for how about. For example, if I ask her to get her pajamas on, she might say 'bout I not tired? She says the word at the beginning of nearly every response she gives me. 

When Brent and I kissed in front of Audrey she said, "stop getting married!" 

We had the Sister missionaries over to dinner and had a lot of green food on St. Patrick's Day. Green noodles (pesto), broccoli, and green jello. 

A video of these two gigglers:

Coen told me one day, "I want to be a vegetarian when I grow up, so I can be nice to animals and take care of them." I asked him, do you mean a veterinarian? 

On Saturday we took our friends dinner that had just had a baby. Then we went to Winco and let the kids pick out some candy from the bulk section as part of their reward for filling the pom pom jar. 

Then we made a blanket pile and watched a movie. The kids chose Spirited because they have been listening to that music non-stop since we watched the movie at Christmastime. 

Kids all in green for St. Patricks Day!

On Sunday the Sisters came over to film our kids talk about General Conference so that they could create a video for their Facebook page. Audrey's contribution was singing Follow the Prophet with Coen at the very end because we couldn't get her to make a peep otherwise.

That evening we had the Elders and Josh and Amaya over to dinner. This made three nights in a row of making dinner for people! After the missionaries left we played Life. 

Audrey's preschool class picture that sits outside her classroom, I wanted to remember them! From left to right we have Rylan, Haisley, Barrett, Hailey, Audrey, Colby, Elias, Aberdeen, Owen, Taeven, and Teacher Alexa.

The kids had spirit week and this was "dress like your teacher day." Ava was Prof. McGonagall and Coen was Brent.

Check out this huge spider Brent found in our living room. We re-homed him, outside.

We're going to skip over our Redwoods trip since that will get its own post. We traveled Friday through Tuesday. When we got back into town, the kids had no school for Spring Break for the rest of the week so they did things like read, watch movies, play legos, etc while Brent and I worked. Audrey did go to her babysitter's one day which was helpful, and I got this cute picture:

Coen looked like Andrew my bother so I sent a picture to show him:

One evening we were invited to "Grandma Audrey's" house (from our ward) to play a monthly mystery game, this one was based in Canada. So we had Canadian food for dinner and then played the game while the kids watched Cars. 

And that wraps up March! Very busy with movies, interviews, dinners, and also not pictured as much- Brent and I working. It was much better than February, luckily!

February 2023- A Black Eye for Ava

**Sorry the videos aren't working! They're good ones! We'll see if Blogger will fix and I can upload them soon.** 

Audrey really loves her Olivia days! Sometimes I receive a picture of the girls during the day, always having fun. Audrey is always sad to leave!

Brent had film club on a Thursday evening, when he normally stays on campus until 5pm. So we drove to meet him and got Subway for dinner just for fun before his film club. The kids were very happy!

Ava's face when watching Full House- haha. I think this was the episode when the babies were being born and she was completely in to it.

At Coen's basketball game, there was a poodle with a pony tail sitting next to me. I had to get a picture obviously.

Video of Coen making a basket:

I decided Brent and I needed a date! We had Ben come (they love him!) and we went to see A Man Called Otto. It was good and my eyes may be a little teary in the picture.

Coen wanted me to play the Dogman game with him. I'm trying to be better at leaving the dishes or the laundry and giving the kids some quality attention. I want to remember this cute little 1st grade boy and his love of Dogman phase.

We went to the library and Audrey loved the trains they had out.

We found a new rug for our playroom at Costco. Yay! It's so soft and exactly what I was looking for.

Audrey was talking on her phone to "Brent." If I could freeze her at this age a little longer, I would. Three year olds are so funny and cute!!

Audrey helped me make cupcakes for her half birthday. You can tell by her face, she was SO excited! It took her a couple days, but I think she got the hang of it, that she's 3 1/2 now.

Ava started Acting class now that her Song & Dance class is over. She goes on Wednesdays from 4-5:15. We had a really nice sunny day, so after we dropped Ava off at drama we went to the big park nearby. I love the view of the rushing river (you can see behind Coen in this picture).

The kids love sliding down the hill on cardboard.

Audrey had a fever in the nights for a couple days, but felt OK in the days. One night Brent slept with Audrey downstairs so I could get some sleep.

Picking the kids up from school- Coen loves penguins and Audrey loves Coen!

Work started getting crazy and Audrey still couldn't go to preschool because of her fevers/cough. She watched TV while I worked, and I took a break to play with her. She likes to pretend like I'm her baby. Here I am holding her special stuffy as she's "putting me to sleep."

I found a feather when I was laying on the couch, and wondering if our couch pillows could be down, I said, "A feather! Where did that come from?" Audrey replied, "I don't know. Maybe a bird." It made me laugh so much because I wasn't expecting an answer to my rhetorical question!

It was a really hard day of work and when the kids got home from school they were fighting as usual as I was trying to get my work done. I felt like I was about to lose it! So I took Audrey on a walk outside to get some fresh air. It was a beautiful sunset and we stopped at a Little Free Library and got a couple of books, and the world seemed better.

We had a ward Valentines party at the church- the youth babysat the kids while the parents had dinner, played the Newlywed game, and then danced.

At the end of the dance all the kids came in and everyone danced together.

Puzzle with dad!

We went to Ava's friend's birthday party at the rec center. When we got there, we discovered there had been a mix-up and the person reserving the pool reserved the wrong date. The parents were so gracious about it and stayed calm- I was so impressed! We had the first half of the party as planned in the room next to the pool- the kids liked painting their cookies with edible markers. After the party room we went outside and played at the playground. The rec center said they'd schedule a time when everyone could come back to swim. I thought about how the parents had such a good attitude and everyone still had a great time at the party- none of the kids cried or complained.... until Audrey started crying as we drove home, saying, I didn't swim!!!

Since the kids were in their swimming suits, we had a fun big bath when we got home.

This description is written by Coen: Brent is teaching Coen when all of the movies came out. He already memorized PIXAR DREAM WORKS and DISNY. He thinks he will do ILLUMINATION next. Brent makes him a paper with the years on there .

In case you didn't catch that, Coen is totally a mini-Brent and now practices writing when all of the movies came out.

We took pictures of our new carpet to show our friend that we bought our house from. I love our house so much and am so grateful to live here!

Our preschool teacher friend left a Valentines surprise on our doorstep. The kids were each excited about their new little dogs:

On Valentines we had a late start (2 hours late for school to start) due to the snow/frost. You can see how much snow we got, but they're very careful to drive in any sort of ice here.

Ava was so excited to dress all in pink for the holiday:

I invited the moms of the 3 year olds from our ward for a Valentines get together. We exchanged Valentines, decorated cupcakes, and played. 

That evening for dinner we got pizza and the kids and Brent each got their heart with reasons why I love them. I love my little family!

Our Valentines date after we put the kids to bed- just happy to snuggle on the couch and watch something together!

Coen at basketball practice:

The next few days were really stressful for me as I discovered that my coworker had actually not been doing the work I had assigned him and he had said was getting done. The audits were due soon and this meant we were in bad shape. I worked a LOT the next few days and Brent was so helpful in doing things like taking Coen to basketball practice, doing dinner, and cleaning up. 

On Thursday I was texting with my friend and I told her what was going on. On Friday, I felt much calmer. The kids were better behaved. I took time to play with Audrey outside at lunch (and she loved that a ladybug landed on me):

On Friday night we had been invited to a friend's house for dinner. I stayed home to work while Brent and the kids went. Brent made me dinner and I just plowed through my work efficiently despite being tired by Friday night. I even turned on Meghan Trainor to keep things peppy! Despite my sad picture haha!

On Saturday my friend asked how I was doing and I told her I had a much better Friday. She told me all these things she had specifically prayed for, like that the kids would be happy and good, and that I could have the energy to work. I thought it was so sweet that she had prayed for specific things, and that I had been blessed with them. 

On Saturday Brent went to Coen's basketball game! He was so proud of Coen despite his protests that he hates sports. Afterward we went to Costco to return the carpet we did not use for our playroom. We had bought both because we couldn't tell until we got them home what would look better!

That evening my friend Lauren and I had planned a Galentines party at my house. I worked for a few hours in the afternoon and then got ready for the party. I had invited about 20 + people, but only like 6 came, so that was kind of a bummer. We still had a nice time together and did a game with our Favorite Things.

Brent took the kids to Dickie Joes for hamburgers, and then to the mall to use some Valentines money:

Tulips from Costco! They made me happy all week.

On Sunday morning, Ava said she didn't feel good. We asked if she wanted to stay home, but she insisted that she was fine - this girl does not like to admit she's sick! Long story short- she ended up throwing up at church in the bathroom and I brought her home and then ran back to teach Primary with Brent. That Sunday I ended up working 5 hours- I've only ever worked on a Sunday once before in this job, but this was a bit of an emergency! I worked about 45 hours instead of 20 hours this week.

The next day was President's day and I had tons of work to do, so I paid Coen to "babysit" Audrey while Ava stayed quarantined in her room. Coen did a good job! 

On Tuesday I was debating whether to send Audrey to Olivia's house, because what if Audrey got sick while she's there? I had so much work to do and decided you can't live in fear, so I sent Audrey.

Coen had said his head hurt, so he stayed home from school, and Ava was still quarantined in her room. An hour after Audrey went to Olivia's house, Coen started throwing up. Ugh! I called my friend and went and picked Audrey up because I just felt bad and didn't want to spread germs, especially if Audrey was about to go down! 

Audrey came home and watched lots of TV, and took a break to be my nurse. I kept taking breaks from my work to get Coen ice chips, and change Audrey's show. Oof. 

The good thing is that Audrey stayed happy and healthy all day. What a blessing! As I was working, I heard her grunting in the other room, moving things around, and saying "just doin' my job." I peeked at her and saw she was stacking pillows on our couch. She was taking it very seriously and looked at me and said, "just doin' my job mom!" 

Video of Audrey giggling at dinner- she made this day better!

Poor Coen was sick all day. He watched lots of movies in our play room. 

The next day when we were driving somewhere, Audrey somehow found (or brought with her?) a washable marker and went to town on her hands and legs. When we got in the house and I took off her leggings, I showed Audrey how the marker had leaked through and her legs were all spotted. She said casually, "yeah, that happens."  She keeps saying that too, if she has an accident. That marker washed all the way out of the pants- thank goodness for washable!

Coen had an assignment to make a picture with 100 of something for their 100th day of school. We decided on popcorn kernels and he wanted to make pigeon, of course! He's still obsessed with pigeon and draws it all the time. He drew this all by himself and I put the glue on as he put each popcorn kernel on. 

On Thursday morning Coen had been better for a day and a half, so I was debating sending him, but he said he had a bad headache (which is what he says when he's going to throw up). So he stayed home and I gave him tylenol, and gave him a bath. He got dressed and demanded to go to school because he felt better. 

Audrey was home with me and we played and I got some work and laundry done. She was so happy about her Gabby's Dollhouse puzzle!

Usually the kids walk home from school (I'll pick them up at the park near the school if it's raining), but on this day I knew I had to go to the school to get the kids because Ava wasn't going to know that Coen actually did go to school, and Coen can only leave with Ava or me. I left Audrey watching a TV show and ran over to the school. 

I was standing outside Coen's door when I saw Ava walking, looking like she was about to cry. I then noticed her head looked weird- like the side of her face had a lump? I called to her and she ran over to me. She started sobbing uncontrollably and I asked if she was hurt. She nodded yes, but I couldn't understand what had happened. She said she bonked her head. We picked up Coen, and walked to the car- me holding her up and steadying her. She then told me that she had run into another boy at PE and fallen face first on the gym floor. She said everything went really black, and she heard some kids say, "wow that was really loud," because she said "my head hit SO hard and loud." When she opened her eyes, everything was blurry and she couldn't see very well. She kept telling me that before she hit her head there were 10 kids playing the game, but after, there were only 2. I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but it seems that time passed and she was confused. 

I asked if her PE teacher saw, and she said that she didn't think he saw or knew it was so bad. He asked if she was OK, and she said she didn't know what to say. She said, "yeah" even though she was confused about not being able to see. She sat out the last couple minutes of class, and then the bell rang, and that's when I *happened* to be standing outside her door. I'm so grateful that I was there that day to comfort her and she didn't try to walk home alone! To me, it was a way of seeing God's hand in our lives, since I so rarely go to the school to pick up the kids.

I was really upset that her face was noticeably swollen and the PE teacher had obviously not walked up to her to see if she was actually OK. She had laid there, confused and in pain, and then had been released for the day. It made me so sad that no one had helped her! I called the school and had a nice talk with the assistant principal :) From now on if the kid takes a bonk to the head, they will go to the school nurse to be checked as a precaution.

Here's Ava's lump:

We watched her for concussion symptoms that evening. After crying for about one hour after school, she never complained about her head again. She is a tough cookie! I checked on her at midnight before I went to bed and woke up at 5am and went to check on her because I was worried about her. I don't think she had a concussion, and the lump turned into a nice black eye. 

Here are my girls helping unload the dishwasher:

Coen's class celebrating 100 days with 100 gumballs in their gumball machines. Coen is in the middle row wearing a mask (since he had been sick a couple days before.)

On Saturday morning I woke up sick with the bug. Our friend Tammy was so nice to volunteer to take Coen to his basketball game! She sent me this video:

Ava's black eye. She didn't seem to be self conscious about it at all.

On Sunday morning Coen casually told me that he threw up. He looked completely fine and I thought, there's no way- he just threw up a few days ago! I thought maybe he meant that he spit out mucus in the morning, so I sent him to church with Brent and Ava. I stayed home with Audrey since I was still recovering and I thought Audrey shouldn't go to Primary as she could get sick any moment. 

Brent told me during sacrament meeting Coen looked at him with the strangest look on his face. Brent asked if he was ok and told him to go get a drink. Coen came back and then told Brent he felt like he was going to throw up. Brent picked him up and ran out of sacrament meeting, running down the hall to the bathroom, where Coen almost made it to the toilet. Oops. Poor Coen had another sick day, and Audrey never got sick- what in the world? I kept the wrong kid home from church! 

The next day Coen felt better, but couldn't go to school again. I thought these two looked cute:

It started snowing like crazy one night! It only stuck for an hour or so and then all melted. Just the way I like it.

Tammy took Ava on a date for her birthday. Ava chose Jamba Juice. I took Coen and Audrey to Dairy Queen because ever since we went the previous month, Audrey has been begging me to go back to the ice cream restaurant! 

These two little sweeties were very good. I don't often take the kids by myself on outings like this because I prefer to wait for Brent so I'm not outnumbered, but now that the kids are older, they're much easier.

And that was the end of February! Phew- we were glad to be done with that month.

Things to remember: 

Audrey calls pepperoni "peppa- monee." She calls the Cinderella movie, "Cinderella scary cat."

Coen and Ava both lost a tooth this month. Ava lost her lost tooth for like the 4th time -that girl loses everything! This time it accidentally went down the drain in our bathroom. Audrey could not stop thinking about the tooth down the drain and asking me so many questions about where it is now. I finally pulled up a picture of a water cycle on my phone and taught her about how the water goes down the drains and eventually ends up in a river or reservoir etc. Every couple weeks Audrey looks down the drain and asks about Ava's tooth.  

Audrey also developed a fear of the tooth fairy during this time! One day she asked me where she could put her new watch before she was going to sleep. I told her she could put it on her bedside table. She said, "no!!! The tooth fairy will take it!" Another day she told me she was scared to go to sleep because she didn't want the tooth fair to take her teeth. I said, "The tooth fairy will only take your teeth if they fall out and you put them under your pillow. She won't come take them out of your mouth." She was so relieved and said, "Oh!!!"

Coen got a birthday party invitation and the party was on Sunday. I felt so bad, because this was the third time in a row that it's happened- why can't they have the party on a Saturday? Ava told him, "You can't go because it's on a Sunday." Coen said, "But the party is after church!" I was tempted to think about it, when Ava replied, "It doesn't matter if it's after church. Sunday is not only for church. It's also for thinking about Jesus and being together as a family." Ok then, she said it!