Why is Jan 7th already here?

Christmas break was more than anything I could have hoped for. We didn't go on our trip but we enjoyed so much needed family time that it was perfect. Then out of nowhere Monday, January 7th had to show up and take Travis back to school; miss him already. 

Thankfully, Maddix has been an extremely good boy today and I have loved every minute we've been together. So far he's helped me with the laundry, ate his breakfast with no mess (a nice change), built radiator springs (from Cars) in my room and raced around while I cleaned. He's spun in circles and danced to the entire disney soundtrack on our i-tunes, had a pillow fight, played a learning game to help him with his colors, he ate all his lunch including all the veggies on his sandwich and half an orange, went potty on the toilet all but once so far, and then identified every letter 't' in all the books we read before his nap:) He has really just been a joy, although right now he is bouncing around in his bed instead of sleeping. He was so tired during lunch and I think he knows if he stops moving he'll be out like a light.

Here was Radiator Springs and he was hiding in his "hole," as he kept calling it.

 So with the new year has brought good and bad events, and its only been a week. Travis already says he can't wait for the year to be over; I can't blame him, however, he has a lot on his plate between major finals, and everything else (which I will post about later once it's all taken care of). Nothing is wrong though, so don't stress, we're not. We're quite happy these days. We're rejuvinated from our Holiday break, Maddix has entered a new level of learning and understanding that has made him more fun, and we've made some wonderful friends (as previously mentioned) that have really brightened up my days. Life is good, and we're so grateful for all we've been given. 

Lately we've watched a lot of BYU basketball, gone for many walks in our beautiful weather, since we seem to have switched winters with Utah! We've been having the Elders over a lot for Pday games, or dinners on other nights. Last night they came over for dinner and Maddix was out of control until I noticed the noise stopped. I looked over and he was in his chair covered in potatoes, almost asleep:) Everyone found it humorous so Travis tried to move him to bed but he snapped awake and then found a second wind and ran in circles the rest of the night singing the words to Something 'bout a Truck, until bedtime when he then fell asleep in 5 minutes. Lately he's been hitting his a head a TON; I'm really wondering if he will need glasses or if he's just really unfocused. He has also entered a stage of putting EVERYTHING in his mouth (never did this as a baby); yesterday alone he put money, a NAIL, and a pen cap (which he did choke on) in his mouth... I'm at a loss as to why this started. Other than that we've just getting back onto some schedules since the last few months have been chaotic... and lazy. Here are a few pictures of things Maddix likes to do during his days: 

He loves to read, but he is especially fond of his McQueen book he received for Christmas

A picture in the book showed McQueen getting a paint job, so Maddix wanted to paint a picture just like the book

                                                                                                                                                                 I thought I had more photos but I guess not. He's just a funny guy. Hopefully our good days won't roll to a stop with Travis now back in school and focused on upcoming tests. So if anyone wants to shoot me an email on how their life is going, or update their blogs, or anything really, I'd love to hear from you; helps me miss home a little less. Thanks!
p.s. Maddix's bag of "goodies" arrived from the states today so next post I'll tell you all about it!