Birthday FUN!!!

I get hit with the double whammy every year with two birthdays that are 1 week apart. It's not the hassle of planning two parties that I mind, but rather the realization that BOTH of my children are growing up! So Happy #5 to Carter-man and Happy #3 to Princess Kelsey! They are truly our world!!

Let Us Love One Another....

In the midst of the big "Snow In", I had to atleast prove I could post a little to the blog while we are confined to the house. I must say, we've loved the family time together!

It's been so neat to watch Carter and Kelsey grow so close together. He is beyond protective of her and she can't stand it when he's not around.

Kelsey was not feeling good recently and she specifically requested to 'cuddle with carter'. Her big brother LOVED this and rubbed her head for as long as she'd let him!



This is a video of Carter's classroom at his Christmas party. His teacher graciously let Kelsey participate with this class. She tries so hard to keep up with a song she's never even heard before.

Not Forgotten

I wince at the number of days, weeks, months that have gone by since my last blog post. But, the 'blog update' guilt cloud hangs over me not so much because I haven't shared with my readers what is going on in the Galbreath home. It is more painful knowing that because I've kept all these sweet moments and stories of my children to myself, they may just be forgotten in the days to come. A very scarey realization for a mother -- that no matter how large God created her brain, she simply cannot tuck away every word, laughter, hug, facial expression, and "first" in a mommy memory vault. Hence the common phrase I hear, "please say you wrote that down!"

So here I go, onto my virtual journal and scrapbook, so that these sweet sweet days I have with a full of life two year old and a stunning and sensitve four year old .. are .. not... forgotten.

Of Carter -- I do not want to forget that

- He asked me last week as we were saying his goodnight prayers, "When is God going to start praying to ME, Mommy?"

- It takes him more than twice as long to get over one of Kelsey's spankings or time outs as it does Kelsey herself.

- He has become somewhat of a clepto, uh, I mean "collector" I honestly do not understand how he runs around with the contents in his pockets -- coins, leaves, sticks, ROCKS, bottle tops and other 'treasures' (aka trash!) I thought this was going to be a short lived phase but he's hanging on pretty well at this. You'd think the child has no toys to play with the way he covets an old rubberband dropped on the floor of Target. (PS he is dying for a metal detector from Santa so he can pick up even more lost treasures!)

- He can flat out HIT a BASEball! And the fact that we ended up in the ER with a bloody nose from a flyball did not stop him getting back on the field again the same week. He got his first in the park homerun this season and batted a double left handed! (yes Phill is that dad/coach that suggests to his 4 yr old that he switch hit in a game) His focus during a TBall game makes us so proud!

Of Kelsey, I do not want to forget:

- The way she looks randomly at Phill out of the corner of her eyes smiling and says, "You awesome Daddy."

- How she likes to instruct, teach and conduct an audience. She just needs a small stool or box to stand on and people to obey her commands and listen to her. If Kelsey is singing, it is very important that you not join in until told to do so. She does love to hear herself sing.

- When I tuck her in to sleep, her #1 delay tactic is to say, "Mommy WAIT, " I come closer, "Tell me something Mommy" That is code for her wanting me to tell her all the things that she is going to do when she wakes up. The next few minutes (or longer) consist of her asking me if she can take bunny ... and baby... and pillow.. (all the items in her bed) to the places we will go. She will not truly let me leave the room unless she has said, "night night" on her own terms.

- She is still a very picky eater. But a game of family 'I Spy' at the dinner table has done wonders as she has to take a bite before she takes her turn. She gets so excited as to what she picks in her eye spy game that her turn goes like this, "I Spy with my lil eye ... sumfin that is PINK ...... (we try to start a guess) .. MY SHIRT!!!"

- Potty Training has been fun with Kelsey. Yes I said "fun" and "potty training" in the same sentence. She has really taken initiative in this and has been especially good at going #2 on the potty. However, her amusement stems from the surprise shape of her creation in the potty. This week she came running in from the bathroom saying, "Mommy, I poopied a SNOWMAN!!" Yesterday she told me she pooped a rock at school. Whatever works, right?

Ahh, now my mommy brain is a bit unloaded and hopefully I can go forward and be better to update the blog regularly. The next post will have more pictures -- I promise!

A Plug for What's Good for You ...

I am pretty sure most of my readers know I am a distributor for Juice Plus. I've taken the product for about 8 years now and I believe in it %110! So why not blog about it?! There is truly nothing you can dispute it for - its pure and simple 17 different fruits, veggies and grains in a daily capsule form. Probably more than I love taking the product myself, is that I can give my children the Juice Plus gummies. Oh the comfort of knowing that are putting some real goodness in their mouths at the end of the day - and I don't' even have to bargain for it!

Speaking of Juice Plus and KIDS ... here's good news if you don't already know.

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When Your Heart Bursts with Pride . . .

Our little guy often gives us that feeling that parents get when your heart literally feels like it's swelling with pride. Not a feeling better in this world! Carter has been such a blessing to us. He's just such the rule follower and has a work ethic that is fueled by a passionate heart. He truly lives life to the fullest and I love it!!

I actually just told a parent today at Carter's school that I wish I could take 'parenting' credit for his behavior and demeanor ... but I believe God formed his little heart this way and its only my job to steer his passions in the right way and just let him be who God created him to be - a strong heart with tender words and actions.

Carter has been most passionate about BASEBALL lately. He just finished his first TBall season and he finally 'gets' the game. He is either playing Wii baseball (VERY passionately of course.. to the point we've had to turn it off several times b/c he starts to cry when he thinks he might lose), or he's outside with Daddy playing catch, OR he's in front of the tv watching Braves baseball. Yes, we have to now record EVERY game so that he can watch it the next day since he obviously cannot stay up to finish all the games. And when I say he watches it as a 4 yr old, he is not merely glancing at it as he colors or runs around and plays. This kids has eyes glued to every single pitch. We have to pause it for him to go use the restroom.

Of course his passion and leadership spill out in school as well. So today my heart did swell as I watched him on stage singing at his preschool end of the year ceremony. (I wish you could have seen the whole performance and stage to know just how 'on point' Carter was compared to the other kids in his class. The class above his row are older kids by the way)

Thank you God for letting us parent this child - so fun!!

ABC'S

This is Daddy and Kelsey's little acomplishment. They work on it every night when he puts her down for bed. Kelsey has been a little behind on her speech - most likely due to many many months of ear infections in her short life so far. So we are trying to really work with her to speak clearly! She's so proud of her ABC's. Next we will work with Daddy on learning his ABC's- since he skipped right over "J" and "K" without a blink of an eye : )

Spring is in the Air ....

We feel Spring set in motion. Between egg hunts, Tball games, and lazy afternoon play in our driveway, it feels so refreshing to be outside. And I must say with Kelsey at 2 yrs old and Carter at 4 yrs old, days are getting so much easier and FUN! We are counting down until the pool opens. In the meantime, we definitely are enjoying any sunshine we can get!

These next pics are taken on one of those 'after nap play in the driveway until daddy gets home' days! The neighbors usually congregate and it makes for such a fun way to spend those dreaded hours for a mom at the end of the day waiting on dinner and daddy : ) [Speaking of Daddy, he bought me this new amazing camera for our 7th anniversary this month - I love it!]

Kelsey quickly insists on being "too hot" in the sunshine so she just takes off her shirt. I mean, that is the logical solution, right mom? She loves watching Carter play 'bay ball' and swings her bat around next to Carter.

Go Nationals! Carter (and whole family) are deeply invested in TBall this year. Who would have thought that a 4 yr old would have to be at the park up to 3 times a week with practices or a game. He takes it seriously though - as you can see with that tonque out!

(Again, shirtless Kelsey - we'll work on that. I promise I did buy her shirts this year)

And the "look." Oh how many countless times a day do we see this look. Actually in this picture she had just fallen down outside while trying to push her babydoll in her stroller. So this look is really saying, "do you really think I want you to take my picture right now Mom?" Phill just calls it her prima donna look.