Happy 4th Birthday Carter!

A few days ago, Carter turned 4 years old. And I'll tell you what - we are certainly not the same without those 4 years of having him in our lives. This kid knocks our socks off! I am so proud of the little person he is becoming - seeing the qualities God rooted deep in his being, begin to really grow!

In honor of the #4 birthday, I have chosen 4 qualities in Carter that we adore:

1- First and foremost, he has the most compassionate heart I've ever seen in such a young boy. Here is a quick story to display that: Last weekend, Carter and Kelsey decided to have a little popcorn picnic under the kitchen table after church on a rainy day. Phill and I were busying around the house. Carter comes up to me and says, "you know what, Kelsey was trying to eat one of these Mommy!" (as he holds up a popcorn kernel). "Oh no," I say, "yeah, don't let her eat those Carter" (knowing that she does usually spit them out if she ever gets one in her mouth). Phill walks in the kitchen and hears a "clink, clink, clink". Fast approaching the sound, Phill becomes aware of his two little picnic buddies putting popcorn kernels down the floor vent. Afterwards, with a quivering lip, Carter starts to explain his motivation for the unacceptable, you-know-better, behavior. "Daddy," he says, "you know the whole reason I was doing that with Kelsey?. . . . I was just trying to keep her from eating those kernels"

(picture of Carter with Mary Laine - he loves holding 'babies')

2. His humor. This is a quality that is quickly developing over the past year. I started to realize that so many of the preschool class mom's were consistently saying that their child loved Carter because he was "so funny"! He has his father's love of slapstick comedy I do believe and at a preschool level, he has been known to put on a little comedy show for us in the evenings. Laughter does soothe the soul.

3. His competitive nature. Again a quality from his dad and one I've already written about. I hope this is channeled more in sports than anything else. But I must say the boy weaves a good competition into all aspects of his life. Even the smallest of tasks. For example, Pops will ask Carter if he needs to go potty (usually from obvious physical "gotta go pee" signs he is displaying). Carter will say, "No, I don't have to." To make the truth come out, all Pops will say is, "I bet you can't go tinkle by the time I count to 15 ... one.. two.. " Promptly we hear the sound of pattering feet towards the bathroom and the potty lid banging open. : )

4. He's a rule follower. We cherish this quality of course as parents - especially since Kelsey was born and we realized not all children are born rule followers : ) He's been this way all his life -- at 18 months we told him to not ever get out of his big boy bed without mommy or daddy coming to get him. Rule explained, rule followed. In his little basketball league this year, coaches told him to stay in his "zone" for defense and hold his hands up. This was the one rule Phill had to try to break all season - so that he'd actually get out of his "zone" and run to get a loose ball. And everytime I put the kids in the car to just go down the street and tell carter he doesn't have to buckle his carseat all the way since we are just going a few houses down, he always says, "oh but mommy, I sure hope there is not a policeman on the street." Thank you Carter for your honest and simple obedience (in most things, he IS still a kid!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER MAN!

Birth

One Year Old

Two Years Old

Three Years Old

Four Years Old!!

Christmas Photo Shoot

We believe ...

Christmas this year was one to remember. Not just because mommy and daddy were giddy shopping down the toy aisles multiple times, but because we had a little boy who believed with all of his being in the spirit of Christmas. The "spirit" of christmas, to me, was Carter this year. He came down the stairs every single day in December with a sense of anticipation - searching for "Elfie" and putting up another ornament on the advent tree. Carter was just as amazed in the story of Santa Claus riding thru the sky with his reindeers as he was in awe of the wise men following a star to find baby Jesus in a manger. In fact, on Christmas morning Carter busted in our bedroom saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Santa came.. He really did!" .... then in almost the same breath he said, "oh, I almost forgot to tell Baby Jesus Happy Birthday today" I know that Santa Claus can sometimes taint the "true meaning" of Christmas .. but to see a little boy completely wrapped up in ALL of it - the sweet gift of Jesus and the FUN tradition of Santa Claus - was what brought our family the Spirit of Christmas this year.

Kelsey of course loved all of her GIRLY toys that Santa brought. Daddy insisted on waking her up to open gifts on Christmas morning. She is a little under the weather as you can tell - but enjoyed every bit of it all the same.

We had our annual Christmas Day brunch with Mimi, Pops and Uncle Jon. Carter asked ONLY for a Hungry Hungry Hippo from Santa. And despite GI Joe's, swords and a Leapster -- he'll tell you that Hungry Hungry Hippo was his favorite : )

Sillys

Starting to debate the Vitamin C and Cold remedy - considering the incredible amounts of orange slices Kelsey has consumed this month and she's had a cold for over 2 weeks. She's happy nonetheless!

Before you report me - let me explain. We do not normally make Carter eat his dinner alone and NAKED at the table (and Kelsey spectate from her STANCE in a chair). However, on this particular night Carter had spilled his water all over himself. He's a slow eater anyways - so by the time we gave him a new plate, took off his wet clothes, etc - everyone else was finished. Carter insisted on finishing his meal at this point and bathtime was soon to follow - so naked he sat at the dinner table. We promise we won't let him do this when we have dinner guests! : )

This isn't a great video of how the "knock knock" rendition usually goes down in our household. Basically Carter is cracking himself up with his own made-up knock knock jokes lately (things like "knock knock - who's there? - chair - chair who?- chair potty car" Phill and I do the appropriate fake "ha ha" to give him a thrill. But we also noticed Kelsey was playing her part quite well too. Turns out, he totally cracks her up everytime!

Halloween 2009

A Moment to Document . . .

I really wanted to take the time to document some things about Carter, quickly approaching 4 yrs old, and Kelsey, quickly coming upon age 2. The blog is just the best way for me to do it. So as it stands now . . .

Favorite Foods:
Carter - Eggs or Pizza
Kelsey - Eggs or Fries

Favorite Songs:
Carter - Berenstein Bears theme song (this is a family ritual. At approximately 7:30pm every night you can find the entire Galbreath family on the couch - milk in hand, pjs on - singing the theme song to Berenstein Bears. Daddy and Carter don't miss a word. Kelsey and Mommy are close behind : )
Kelsey - anything you are singing to her at the time. She truly loves music like Carter does and she'll keep tune with the best of 'em.

Favorite Treat:
C and K - Lollipops!

Least Favorite Things (aka "what really bothers them right now"):Carter - When things are out of place (thank you Phillip for passing on this trait) - like when his sippy cup (though empty) falls over or heaven forbid when his cheese stick is in the same "compartment" as his grapes on his plate. He dislikes spills very much too. If something gets wet on him, we must change it immediately.
Kelsey - When Carter touches her. She is very much a proponet of her own personal space lately. If Carter repeatedly picks at her, it is not uncommon to see her scowl, roar with anger, then lower her head and flat out charge Carter in a tackle/stomach bite. Ouch! Carter then will proceed to back off. This girl will no doubt hold her own.

Our "Works in Progress":
Carter - learning how to lose. IF you know Carter at all, competition is a huge part of his being (we race to finish our dinner, buckle ourselves in the car, get dressed, etc --- another trait that can be found elsewhere in our family, hmmm) This is something that really works to my advantage as a mom trying to get a 3 yr old to accomplish daily tasks. HOWEVER, coming in second place is not alway received well. So we are working on this.
Kelsey - oh the whining... this is especially prevalent when Phill comes home at night. NOT because she doesn't like Phill but Kelsey gets extra clingy to her mommy. We have made a plan to ignore this behavior and in the meantime, even Carter is going crazy with the "mooooommmmmyyyy" whines.

Favorite Article of Clothes:
C - his PJS. For some reason, Carter is really into what PJ's he wears at night. He likes to pick them out and gets excited when he puts a 'really cool' outfit together. Like the other night, his 'bear pants' with his old soccer jersey (#6). He woke up the next morning and came downstairs saying, "mommy.. guess what? #6 just woke up at #7!"
K - SHOES SHOES SHOES! Since 18 months old, the girls knows exactly what pair of shoes she wants to wear each day and if that particular pair does not go on her feet by her mommy, she makes sure I know it. She even loves wearing her shoes after we put her pjs on at night. I wish she felt the same way about bows in her hair!

Favorite Game to Play with Mommy or Daddy:
Carter - the good ol BOY games. He loves playing "special agent Oso" or Batman. Saving people and killing people. Amazing how God enstills that burden to protect in boys, huh? I love it.
Kelsey - she loves to go push the refridgerator toy that plays music, then grabs both my hands, and does the best all out little toddler jig she can muster up -- stomping her feet fast and laughing the whole time. and doing it again.. and again.

Most Proud of:
Carter - loves to do anything that we tell him will MAKE US PROUD. He will clean his plate no matter how full he is or how long it takes, just because he revels in the moment of hiding his clean plate behind his back and whipping it out to surprise us that it's clean (by this point he usually has to come find us in the house b/c we've been done eating for several minutes)
Kelsey - she's pretty self-sufficient in tasks like getting in the car and into her carseat by herself (she'll even attempt to buckle herself in). she also stands on a stool and brushes her teeth by herself - this occurs about 5 times a day.

OK, the novel is done for now. But whether anyone reads this or not - its ok by me b/c atleast I have these fun traits documented of my children. Traits that I know will change in a few months!

September 2009

So sorry that it has come to providing only monthly posts that really don't do our busy world justice. My guilt lies more in not documenting the precious moments of Carter and Kelsey than it does to my readers (sorry) -- but my goal will be to get back on track this fall!!

As you can see, my kids are really growing up. I feel like Kelsey officially went from baby to toddler this month ... and Carter from toddler to boy!

We had a fun visit with Webb recently. Molly (Webb's mom) became one of the closest friends I'll probably ever have in college. I admire the heck out of her and I pray Carter keeps loving on little Webb his whole life. Webb has full rights to fall in love with Kelsey too : )

Wish we would have gotten the picture of Carter after Webb suddenly spit up his lunch on him. He stayed pretty calm, but was very willing to let Webb go back to his mama!

(Shh.. please don't tell Kelsey she has a bow in her hair. RARE occasion before she pulls it right out. I'm failing at the mother of a girly girl so far! Of course our bow training had been a little delayed since Kelsey's mullet is just now bidding its goodbye.)


More than a few "boo boos"! Carter came literally face to face with the concrete a week ago. His hardcore determination to win a race and show his daddy who can run the fastest is not well combined with CROCS!!! (Note: Mother clearly advised Father to remove crocs and exchange for tennis shoes. Advisory ignored by Father. Result, see below)

Among other excitement this month, I turned the Big 30! My actual birthday night was spent with these two loves of my life!! Nothing better. Of course Phill did not drop the ball - I just returned from a weekend SPA getaway at Reynolds Plantation!

Our Labor Day was spent with our good friends and neighbors at the Atlanta Zoo. It was a great day to be there.

P90X !! Phill (and sometimes me) have recently started doing P90X. I'm so proud of Phill for doing it - it's not easy that is for sure. Carter and Kelsey love joining in with us on Saturday mornings!