Honesty

The other day I saw a lady trying to park her car and she hit another car as she was pulling into a parking spot. She finished pulling into the spot and sat in her car and drank a pop or something (I was speculating on exactly what she was drinking) and then just got out of the car and walked off. I rolled down my window and without any tact whatsoever yelled, "Hey, I saw you hit that car!" She turned around and started yelling at me. Of course, I am sure she was already shaken up or upset over what she had just done and then I called her on it and it just set her off. As I sat there, dumbfounded, and she proceeded to walk into the store, the owner happened to walk out of another store. Anyway, I told the owner she had just gotten hit and pointed out the lady. I hated to "tattle tale" but I really didn't know what to do. I didn't want the lady who got hit to have to pay for the damage and I would hope someone else would do the same for me. Anyway, I could have done a better job handling it, but I have never had great tact. So, that was my good deed for the day, only I didn't feel quite so hot after doing it and getting yelled at.

Stinker and a Half

Recently Maddox has come alive. He constantly has to be entertained. I have no free time anymore unless he is sleeping, which he is doing less and less of these days. Whatever I am doing while he is awake, he has to be doing too. It is fun to spend so much time with him and see him learn and grow, but sometimes I just really need to sweep the kitchen BY MYSELF. With him helping, somehow the broom ends up sweeping the carpet in the living room and then I find broken straw pieces all over the carpet for the next day or two. As seen above, he loves computers and my brother. He helps me wake up Brian in the mornings.

And he loves to cook too. If I am ever in the kitchen, he is always at my feet hanging on me until I put him on the counter. Then he will just sit there and watch and try to help out by stirring or stabbing whatever I am doing...or eating it. Here he is eating grated cheese. And no, I never leave him there by himself, not even for a second. If I move to another part of the kitchen, he comes with me.
He also LOVES the bathroom, specifically the toilet and toilet paper. Gross!

He also loves to carry around pens, pencils, and anything that writes. Just the other day he finally learned these awesome toys have a purpose besides just looking so pretty!
The culprit escaping from the scene of the crime.
But regardless of the handful he is becoming, he is so so so fun! We love him so much. He is so happy and generally on very good behavior. Recently he has taken to hitting people shorter than him on the head. He thinks he is being affectionate. Also, if you are laying on the ground and he wants you to stand up, he will pull your hair. That means, "Get up and play with me!" Too bad the little girls I babysat the other day didn't know that. I felt so bad! He is learning, though, and really just the sweetest baby ever!

January Overview

We had an ice storm hit us last week. Talk about crazy and dangerous! It was amazing to see, but really did a lot of damage to the trees.
I can always tell when Maddox is getting tired because he will lay down on the couch cushions.
Lately Maddox has taken off after I change his diaper and runs around naked until I catch him. Just the other day he ran into the bathroom and stopped, then peed all over the floor. It was so funny. He had no idea what was going on and just stopped and looked down. And yes, those are tampons scattered around the floor. He likes to pull everything out of the drawers, including them.
My little sweeper!
Above: We were playing the most awesome game in the whole wide world (Ticket to Ride) and Maddox woke up early from his nap, so I got out the flour and a couple spoons and let him play away. I had no idea it would come to this, but was happy to clean up the mess after I won the game!

For the past couple weeks I have noticed Maddox's toys have been disappearing. The other day I went to take out the trash and this is what I found.

His basketball in the trash. Little did I know that he had been throwing them away! Ahhhh!

We had dinner at a friends house and Maddox discovered the stairs! And just when we thought he had the hang of them, he decided to walk right off the top step. He got a scrape on his nose and a slight fear of the stairs but other than that he was fine.
Maddox playing with his buddy, Greg.
Thanks to my dad, Maddox is now obsessed with light switches. He will climb up to them and sit and turn the lights and fans on and off. He thinks he is so funny!
Maddox's new favorite yoga position. We do yoga together everyday. This is his first successful attempt.

Just kidding. Not sure why he does this, but he does it everyday. Silly boy.

My brother, Brian, came to live with us this month. He drove his car back from MT with Jeff after Christmas. It has been so fun having him here. I am not lonely anymore and for the first time in eight years I am living near/with a member of my family. He cooks, he cleans, he watches Maddox for me, runs my errands, and keeps me company.

Maddox has stopped growing so much physically and is taking amazing strides mentally. He got his upper laterals and first year molars in, can carry on a conversation with you in fluent "Babble," finally feeds himself and prefers "real" food, and still loves balls. This is Brian's filing system that Maddox fell in love with. Now his dilemma is does he pursue a career in basketball and fulfill his need to throw things or does he become a business man?

The determination...It's all in the tongue.

His collection of balls.

My New Haircut

While in Indianapolis a couple weekends ago I got a new haircut from the most fabulous hairdresser ever! She is so awesome and I can definitely see why people pay her $100 just to blow dry their hair! Because she is distant family, she gave me a discount, as well as a ton of tips. As most people know, I am terrible with hair and make up and fashion. I have none. So she cut my hair and styled it and taught me how to do it and told me exactly what I needed to buy to make it look this good again.

Two weeks later I have still not straightened it again because I am waiting on my straightener in the mail, but I am excited! What do you think? Aside from me not having any make up on and it being like 11:00 at night...Curly or straight?

Shoveling the Roof

While in MT, I got snowed in and my flight canceled for a few days while it dumped snow outside. Here is Maddox watching me shovel outside.
Jarrett and Bret, my brother's friends, and me shoveling the roof. There was a good three feet of snow up there and it took all day to shovel. I only lasted a couple hours. That is hard work!

I bailed out after a couple hours. Here is how I got off. It was so fun!

Home Sweet Home

Right now blogger is really annoying me. Everything I type is underlined and it keeps bolding everything I write too, as well as not allowing me to change the order of pics I post. It keeps wanting me to hyperlink this picture. This is why it has taken me so long to post my pics...I keep getting upset with this dumb program and don't know how to fix it. Anyway, I can't put posting the holiday updates any longer, so if anyone knows how to fix this, please help.

Jeff and I got to take a half day to ourselves and go skiing/snowboarding together on Whitefish Mountain. Here is Jeff with "my" valley in the background.We also took off and went ice skating for a day. My sister had a bum shoulder and so she was a handicapped skater.


Nothing beats Montana at Christmastime. While Jeff and I were there, we had a few snow storms that dumped plenty of snow for winter for some fun outdoor activities. Here are some pics of the area around my house in the beautiful winter snow!The ski mountain, just a few minutes from my house.

The little crack in mountains in this picture is the entrance to Glacier National Park. If you haven't been there, go! It is amazing.

This is a picture of our property. You can barely see our house. We have ten acres.
Driving up to go ice skating during a snow storm.
Our backyard.