We felt ambitious (hopeful? Spirited?) on Monday when we put up the Christmas tree for FHE. After a lesson on how the tree points heavenward and remains evergreen and thus points us to Jesus and how we can become like Heavenly Father, we reinforced the importance of tree safety. The ornaments are not balls. They are not Frisbees. They are not dolls. They are not puppets. They should stay on the tree and not be hidden around the house. The tree is a special decoration; therefore, no climbing, shaking, or general rowdiness around it. Did we cover everything? Probably not thoroughly enough. The deal was that if the tree got hurt or became dangerous we’d move it from the living room to our bedroom. Deal. They danced giddily around it. They did pull off and hide a few ornaments. Keller climbed the tree and tried to wrap himself in the ribbon. Levi loves the ornament he made his first year in nursery, so he spent a lot of time taking it off and putting it on. Everyone remained generally gentle—the tree and the stockings even made it through book group on Thursday night!—until last night. The weather dropped this week from 83 to 28, so the last few days have been a lot of shivering inside time (Texas homes are not made for heating!). Inside = crazy. The stockings were pulled down the stair banisters. The flag football stuff (including grass and sweaty man remnants) dumped all over the living room floor. The cloth nativity from Rosey scattered in various corners of the house. In the middle of baking a zillion rolls for the ward Christmas party, I found Lincoln yanking on the tree ribbon (too late). Crash goes the tree. Thankfully no one was hurt and only a few ornaments broke. The tree lives in our room now. Wesley’s surprised that it made it this long. I guess I need to adjust my expectations because I felt weepy while I vacuumed up the needles. This morning when the boys ran in our room Levi lost it over the tree’s new location. Lincoln sheepishly smiled then said, “But I pulled it over. The tree fell. So it can’t be downstairs.” Having it upstairs may make the home a bit more peaceful. Maybe we can even put presents under it without concern of thorough destruction. Maher-shalal-hash-baz: destruction is imminent. Maybe we should have added that in the naming? Haha. Life with boys; I always wanted adventure!

We went to the doctor on Monday for Keller. He had a rattling cough for over ten days and I wanted to make sure he was okay (last time he had a double ear infection). To our relief, he’s fine aside from a bad cold/allergies that turned into teething. Teething means lots of diarrhea, drool, congestion…so the fun continues at a mild level. Lincoln had a low fever on Monday and Tuesday. He’s been recovering all week. Moving slower seems to annoy him a lot. Surprise!

Most of what happened this week included all three musketeers. Something clicked between them. They’re all heavily involved in pretend and play. We all bundled up and ran to the park (Keller squealing in delight) when the temperature dropped. Wesley left for mutual Wednesday and Lincoln dumped out all the Legos so he and Keller could attack each other with the bucket. Meanwhile, Levi decided to rebuild the vacuum—which resulted in the filter/bucket emptied all over the kitchen floor. I note these things because they have become normal. At the end of the day I try to figure out what happened and what survived. They know how to battle hard: prepared for the last days! I’ll count my blessings.

Keller walks all over. He walks about ten steps, plops, starts over. He gleefully joined the full fun in nursery. He sings, and sings, and sings. Due to the added rest song today, he made it all the way through sacrament meeting. He loves pens and he loves throwing things. In church he really loves throwing pens and rushing to get them before he’s removed from the premises. I think people are starting to gather around our pew for entertainment.

Lincoln still runs around saying, “I’m killing_______” [everything] and has added, “I’m going to destroy ________” [everything]. I’m grateful for boys. What would I do with a princess? I’d have to put her in armor and teach her sword fighting before she could crawl. I found a stash of toy screws and nails in his pockets in every load of laundry this week. Despite the weather, Lincoln insists on shorts. He wore bright red shorts and cowboy boots to the ward party last night (“My boots will keep me warm. See? I’m a cowboy.”) My hopes of this teaching him that he needs to dress for the weather didn’t quite succeed this time!

Levi said the prayer in Primary today. He wanted me to stand there prompting him because other moms do. He loves being in front of a crowd, but I think he felt a little nervous for this. Super cute. He woke early (5:30ish) and excited on Monday, rushing to get ready for the day because he had a “meeting” he had to get to on time. Hilarious. In his spare time he plots out his checkers moves. “I’m going to try harder and beat Dad again!”

Yesterday morning we shopped to supplement a family’s Christmas. The boys loved it. This is one of my favorite traditions. I’m glad that the boys look forward to it as well. We followed that by tithing settlement, Wes working, people over for writing stuff, ward party, and falling into bed.

This week was crazy for Wesley. On Monday he taught an OpenStudio workshop at 8 a.m. On Tuesday he picked up the seminar speaker (Tariq Samad who he has met a few times at conferences) and helped him around campus. Tuesday nights he tutors. Wednesday was mutual and an attempt to research. Thursday was the department seminar that Wesley completely organized. The president of a lobbying company who is a Chemical Engineer, Stu Van Scoyoc, visited from Washington D.C. Wesley had people lined up to meet with him all day, plus during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus his seminar. Coordinating all of this took a lot of time and effort—all well worth it. Van Scoyoc is very warm, open, and friendly. Wesley learned a lot about policy making and how science funding (etc.) works on the Washington end. He intended to work all Friday grading his student papers (it takes about three days), but a new family moved in Friday at 10. Wesley will serve and sacrifice whenever there’s a need. It’s a good thing he went because only he and one other man could help them move a houseful and 30 years of accumulation up three flights of stairs. In 30 degree weather with ice warnings. He meant to be home at 11. When the boys and I returned from visiting teaching coordination stuff, he wasn’t home. I started calling at noon. No answer. No answer. By one I had worked myself up into a fit thinking he might be smashed and alone and frozen somewhere. Maybe I need to calm down? He was two hours late and hadn’t answered a lot of calls, though. Poor man. I’ve repented of my screechiness. Bless him for forgiving me.

We also heard this week that Wesley has been selected as a finalist for the NREL Director’s Fellowship. He almost didn’t even apply for it! They want to make a final decision by the end of December, so he’ll be flying out there soon to interview. We’re not sure of the details yet. Exciting stuff!

We carry on! Love you.

Cole Crazies