At the Military History Museum a few weeks ago

 You can't tell, but his eyes look like sapphires.

 Levi likes to play in the mud, but he needs a rag to wash his hands off...

GO!

Levi: “Hey, Lincoln, do you want to give Peter the Holy Ghost? He will sit in a chair and we will put our hands on his head and refirm him.”

Lincoln: “No.”

Levi: “We can refirm him when you have your white shirt, black pants, and your tie on. I can help you!” (As he pulls off Lincoln’s pajamas and Lincoln screams…)

Levi has also decided that he must have a witness to baptize Peter. Standing at the corner of the font. In other Levi news, he learned how to tie a square knot. As a result he’s been tying knots all week and giving them away.

One of my fears about this house happened today: Levi tripped on our wood stairs at the top and toppled all the way down to the tile floor waiting below. Thankfully, only his lip is hurt; I think he bit it? It swelled up quite nicely, but he’ll be okay. Strong little dude.

Levi and Lincoln belted “Choose the Right” all through the grocery store

The music leader in nursery loves Lincoln (of course); he’s suddenly become an active participant—especially where music is involved. The music leader told me that she came to class with a list of birthdays that they missed. When she told the kids about her list, Lincoln lit up, pointed to his face with both hands and said, “Me! Me!” Then he proudly stood before the class as they sang. He loves “Happy Birthday to You” and often sings it to himself. On Tuesday we brought cake to someone I visit teach and they all sang cheerfully, “Happy birthday, dear MARY!” She melted. She isn’t around kids much yet would like to be. We were happy with our little gift to her.

Lincoln experiments with his voice. He’s been growling, “LEVI!” then reverts to his sweet sound, “Levi is?”He builds “guns” and “airplanes” with Legos. He carries his drill and hammer everywhere he goes. I’m impressed at all of their concentration and determination when they decide to do something.

Keller is a sick little drool face. Wes caught a cold, Lincoln always has something, then Keller and I wanted to share. He sniffles and blows bubbles from his nose. He seems mostly entertained aside from interrupted sleep. He can almost roll from back to front.  His favorite thing is still one-on-one conversation. When anyone comes close to him and talks, Keller kicks his legs, coos, and eventually joins in will full out squawks. He has a lot to say, given the opportunity.

We’ve been making a lot of mud in the backyard. And doing a lot of laundry. We finally bought a rug for the all-tile toy room. Wesley jumped into his Young Men duties; we’re all very excited about the new boys in our lives. Last night we hosted part of a ward dinner group thing—but only one of the couples came, so we have a ton of food left. This is fine since we went to the temple all day yesterday and the week has worn on us. Wesley’s professor was appointed to a new energy position and asked Wes to team teach one of his classes in the fall. I’ve been working with Aunt Jeannine on Mary Wright’s journals (everyone should get an electronic copy of 1978 to peruse soon—send your revisions!) I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and recommend it for the cool experience. And I started reading The Highly Sensitive Child—which pretty much reverberates with me and a little with our kids. Wes said, “We didn’t need a book to tell us that you were highly sensitive…”and he’s right! My goodness. What an awesome life we live!