Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Update

It's been a long, long time since I have blogged and I really want to start up again. I have tried a few times but it just hasn't happen for over a year. I can't believe that I only have 1 post for last year. Crazy! Anyways I thought I would do an update first on the kids.


Some things about Ava:
  • When she was 3, she made up some imaginary friends. It first started with Lulu. Lulu was pretty big in our house. Any animal or thing that needed a name was Lulu too. Then she added Leaf, Braid, and Handbag. The four of them became her sisters. She still brings them up all the time.
  • I get asked a lot now days if Ava and Milen are twins. Ava gets pretty upset at the idea of Milen being so close in size to her (and being the same weight). She is pretty insisted that she is older and bigger than Milen.
  • She is so smart. She is remembering everything now days and amazes me all the time when she makes connections and understands how things work without me telling her anything. She says the funniest things and is always making me laugh.
  • She loves school so much and is so sad preschool is over. A few days after school finished she got so mad at me because I wouldn't take her to school. She isn't happy about having to wait until fall to go back. 
  • Ava started singing at a young age and would sing all day. I didn't think she could sing any more than she did, but somehow when she turned 4, her singing increased dramatically.
  • Loves princesses, dress up, jewelry, and make up. Also loves drawing, legos, picnics, and play doh.
  • Loves Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, Ghostbusters, TMNT, Moana, and Frozen.
  • Ava is a good helper and loves to cook with me. She also loves to go shopping, particularly the grocery store, with Mason. She is such a good big sister and so sweet, but can also be so stubborn.
  • Loves going to her grandparents. Also always wants to be with her cousins and friends. Such a social girl! She is often making cards or pictures for her cousins. They just rarely make it out in the mail.

Some things about Milen:
  • Obsessed with cars. Milen always has to have a car in each hand everywhere he goes. He always has to sleep with a good handful. He is pretty funny about having to line up his cars and have them just so. He also likes trains, planes, dinosaurs, dragons, dogs, lions, and other animals but cars is definitely his number 1. Milen is so excited when Mason buys him a new car.
  • Didn't care about talking until he turned 18 months. He would say a few words but would refuse to repeat after us. Now that he is 2 he is started to say sentences and talking lots. He will once in awhile repeat after us especially if it's animal noises.
  • He is all boy. Milen is so wild and always on the move. He is always getting messy and getting into trouble. He thinks farts and burps are funny. Starts so early! He wants to go everywhere and climb everything. He can be so stubborn and refuse to listen to me. I used to have to strap Milen in a stroller so I could drop off Ava at preschool. Then he got clever and escaped one day. I got a shock when I was helping Ava and turned around to find Milen running towards me. Luckily Milen got better at holding my hand to walk into the school to drop off and pick up Ava. We still had problems every once in awhile when he wanted to run to the slide on the play ground or he didn't want to leave the toys in the classroom. 
  • He loves slides. Ava took awhile to like slides and it was just recently that she started going down the tunnel slides. Milen on the other hand has no fear. He doesn't care how big the slide is.
  • I thought we were doing better with Milen holding my hand and not running off. I thought that maybe we could try going camping with the kids this summer. One Sunday we got to church. I unloaded him out of the stroller and he went bolting out the door into the parking lot. The next week, we went and got shakes at Article Circle. After he was done with his ice cream cone, he ran out the door (strong guy!) and went running for the road. Yikes! So I decided we will have to wait another year for him to go camping. Ava and Mason are going on a daddy son/daughter camp out in a couple of weeks. Ava is so excited! She has been obsessed with camping for a couple of months.
  • The few moments he calms down, he is full of hugs and kisses. He is so sweet! When he is tired he loves to cuddle and be held. I think it is pretty funny that he loves to be held the same position that he was in when I wore him in the wrap when he was a baby.
  • Loves bugs. He likes to pick them up and then try to give them to me. Not thrilled about that.
  • When he doesn't have problems with his asthma, he is the best sleeper. Put him in his crib with a stuffed animal, a blanket and some cars, maybe some milk, and he lies right down.
  • Like his father, Milen loves milk. We go through so much milk. Such a daddy's boy, even though he usually calls Mason mommy, haha!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Birthday Questions

I've asked Ava some questions right after she turned 3 and put the answers she said even though I probably wouldn't have put those answers. She might have watch one of the old Star Wars the other day with Uncle Brad.

1. What is your favorite color? Pink 
2. What is your favorite toy? giraffe, kitchen
3. What is your favorite stuffed animal? red cat (ugly doll) 
4. What is your favorite thing to sleep with? red cat and owl pillow
5. What is your favorite fruit? orange
6. What is your favorite cereal? Star Wars (she likes anything with marshmallows)
7. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? waffles
8. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? chicken nuggets
9. What is your favorite dessert? cupcakes
10. What is your favorite drink? orange juice (She has been calling apple juice orange juice. I asked her about chocolate milk and she said no. I asked if she was sure and she replied "just put what I say." haha!)
11. What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? chicken nuggets
12. What is your favorite animal? cat
13. What is your favorite book? owl
14. What is your favorite song? jingle bells 
15. What is your favorite game? Daddy game ("it's super!")
16. What is your favorite TV show? cookie monster
17. What is your favorite movie? Star Wars
18. What is your favorite thing to do outside? run
19. Who is your best friend? O-Z (Zoey)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? like a baby


Here is what I posted on Instagram.



My sweet, funny, and clever girl turned 3 today. I've been thinking about her birth a lot this month. 3 years ago she took her sweet time making her appearance, but once she made up her mind, there was no stopping her. She is still the same today. I can't believe she's so big now.
Here are some things about Ava. 1- She says her L's as W's (Laila is Way-wa) and she doesn't say Y's or Z's at the beginning of words (Yoshi is Oh-she and Zoey is O-Z). 2- Cinderella is her favorite princess. Belle following close second (even though she has never seen the movie😂). She also loves strawberry shortcake and my little pony. Don't let that fool you though. Although Ava is a princess girl and loves dressing up, she also loves boy stuff like Legos, ghostbusters, and monsters. She likes to pretend to fight bad guys and loves pretending that she's "a super!". 3- Ava wants to be a doctor, a mommy, and just like Milen when she grows up. She loves playing with Milen, helping me with everything I do, and loves going places with her daddy. Happy Birthday Ava! ‪#‎AvaPrincess‬ ‪#‎avabirdie‬ ‪#‎happybirthdayava‬ ‪#‎3yearsold‬@spacemason


Monday, December 14, 2015

Mason's Birthday

Mason decided that he wanted to celebrate his birthday at an arcade. So he invited his family and a few friends. We grabbed some pizza and met them there. I guess they added some more arcades when Mason had gone to ask if he could hold a party there, so when we got there they really didn't have room for us to set up a table. So we ended up setting it up outside which wasn't ideal, but at least it wasn't too cold. Once we were done eating and opening presents, we headed inside to play.






Kim and I walked over to a cupcake place and bought some cupcakes near the end of the party. Mason's family left and the rest of us went back to our place to eat the cupcakes and play some more games at home.

I had "Happy Birthday Mason!" on the chalkboard but hadn't finished coloring it all. Brad decided he would finish it for me and make some changes. 


Then Mason added a few more things.

A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on




A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on

I can't believe Mason is getting so old (haha!), but he really is a kid at heart and knows how to stay young!

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Thanksgiving Break

We had a great Thanksgiving break. David and Melody were able to come visit for a few days. Percie and Rob also came up for the weekend.

The first thing the girls did was dress up of course. Laila was Sleeping Beauty and Ava Cinderella. I'm pretty sure they watch Cinderella every day.

We bought some baby food with turkey in it for Milen so he wouldn't be left out. He loved it!

Mason made yams for our feast.


After our yummy meal, the kids played. Milen tried to devour this baby. David and Brad played Star Wars Battlefront.
We forgot to put on a bibdana this day, oops!



I have decided that I want to start the tradition with my kids that after Thanksgiving, they get their Christmas jammies and a Christmas book. It never made sense to me to open these things on Christmas Eve. I always thought that it should be enjoyed all of December. So this year I got thinking and decided why not have a tradition to open them on the day after Thanksgiving or December 1st. Well I had quite decided but my mom gave each family a Christmas book (signed too) and so that took care of the book. I decided that I officially would do this as a tradition every year. Unfortunately I didn't wrap up the jammies like I wanted to (I bought them on clearance after last year's Christmas), but I just put the kids in them the next night.

The girls played all day and then it came time for bed. Ava wanted to sleep over, but we decided that it would be a better night the next night because Mason wanted to decorate the tree.
Saying a prayer before Laila went to sleep.
We brought Milen's regular jammies that night.

The next morning I went and did a little shopping. I met my sister-in-laws and mom for lunch at Cafe Rio. Then Mason's sisters, Percie and Annie, and Rob came over to help decorate the tree. Unfortunately Ava and Milen fell asleep and missed most of it.

Pic by Percie

Pic by Rob


I just watched them decorate and then made some more baby food. Milen ate all this up within a couple of days. I have been making much more baby food for Milen than I did with Ava, but I still can't keep up. I enjoy making baby food but it's hard to find time to do it.


Ava woke up and wondered where Aunt Percie and Auntie Annie went.

Such a silly girl.


We met David, Melody, Brad, Kim, and some friends at Crown Burger. Then we headed to my parents to watch Intersellar. The girls watched Cinderella of course.

I dressed the kids in their Christmas jammies and Ava was going to sleep over night, but she decided that she wanted to go home with us after all.

The next morning I got pictures of the kids in their jammies by the tree.

A photo posted by Mason Allen (@spacemason) on

I also got Milen's 8 month picture that day.

My boy has turned 8 months. Sorry this update is long. Milen mastered crawling fast and is into everything he can get his hands on. He loves to shake his head no while saying "a-ya-ya-ya" and loves saying "dada." He is starting to get stranger danger. While he loves food, he is starting to figure out what he does and doesn't like. He loves to feed himself puffs and Cheerios. Milen is still very cuddly and is a stomach sleeper. He is such a happy boy and we love his smile.#chillinmilen #chunkymonkeyMJ

I watched the kids along with Brad and my Dad. Everyone else went to a movie and Mason went shopping. Before Mason left I got this picture.


The kids made a disaster of the playroom.

At church the next day, Milen fell asleep which is pretty hard to get him to do these days at church. Luckily they had a guy singing Christmas songs that lulled Milen to sleep, but not before Milen tormented the guy sitting in front of us by constantly grabbing his chair.

Mason and the kids matched. This isn't the best picture, Mason was eating a donut. The donuts and cider our ward handed out were so good though.


Monday was the last day before Melody and David left to go back home. There was a free day at the aquarium so Melody and I took the girls there and left our boys with David and my mom.

It was so cold waiting in line. Luckily the line went pretty fast. The girls didn't do a good job at looking at the camera the whole time. They were too busy having fun.


pic by Melody

We went just before lunch time and these girls were starving. The ate through my whole goldfish supply.


When these girls aren't fighting, they can be really sweet.


Melody and I were surprised when we took the girls to cross the bridge, Ava was the one to go in like it was nothing and Laila got scared. I had to reassure Laila that I would be right behind her. Ava went in so fast that she tripped and landed on her face. I thought it would scare her but she got up like it was nothing and continued on. The past few times we visited the aquarium Ava wanted nothing to do with the bridge. It was nice to see her attempt it this time.

pic by Melody

I tried to get in one last good picture before we left. Didn't work. They were bouncing off the walls.


Came home to this sleepy guy.


I put Clark down for his nap, so his parents could grab something to eat.


We ordered pizza that night and then I played some Diablo 3 with David and Mason.

We had a great Thanksgiving break and it was great to see some family from out of town.