Christmas Traditions: Letter To Santa

Aunt Erin surprised the kids and picked them up from school one day and brought them home to play and write their annual letters to Santa. I was surprised to see how into it Addie was. She was pretty much on top of her Aunt Erin making sure she wrote everything she dictated to Santa. Afterwards, she insisted on signing her own name, "except can you write the two D's Aunt Erin?"

Addie asked for a Strawberry Shortcake house and a karaoke machine to sing on.

This was a super big year for Carter because this was the very first year he wrote his OWN letter. Yes, we may have spelled out what he wanted and didn't worry too much about spacing but all in all, we are so proud of his first real letter he wrote to Santa.

Carter asked for a red and black bike and Transformer Play-dough set. 

It's Almost Christmas.

Dear Carter,

It's 9:41 PM on December 18, 2011 and pretty much five years ago to the minute, we welcomed you into this world, after nearly 15 hours of active labor. Knowing you as I do now, I don't think you were just being stubborn on that special day, rather you just wanted to enter on your own time. It really does fit your personality.

As I sit here and think about you right now, it is a flood of mixed emotions that I don't even know if I can articulate well. Before now, based on what I thought I knew about the age of FIVE, half of me says NO WAY, you aren't what I pictured a five year old would be. You aren't old enough or big enough to be starting elementary school in eight months and you are still so sweet and kind and loving and timid at times. I don't know what I had in my mind that a five year old would be like, but I will take you a million times over what I had in my mind.

I love how you want to be with me, your dad and Addie every second of every day if you could. Your healthy independence is definitely there, but if we are in the same place, you want to hang around us and for that I am beyond grateful. (Of course that does exclude the times your cousin Sean or Marshall are within a 500 foot radius!) ;)

I'm pretty sure I say this each and every year but your are absolutely amazing and make me proud to be your mommy every single day, no joke.

This past week at our regular conference with your teachers, they told us one of your biggest strengths is being a natural leader. You probably don't even understand what a positive power you have but Erika gave us multiple examples of how you are positively influencing your friends in your class every single day. They say that they can count on you to listen and follow instructions and as soon as you start doing something, they notice those around you start to do the same thing, taking your lead. Carter, this is a wonderful characteristic to have as an adult, to be a silent leader sometimes, and I hope you always nurture this trait.

This is a big year for you. Today, you embarked on your 6th year of life. You will learn to tie your shoes, start elementary school and perhaps play your first full round of 9 holes in a game of golf with your dad. Whatever may come in between these highlights, I pray I continue to take a moment every day to stare into your HUGE dark chocolate pudding eyes tell you that I LOVE YOU.

I love you to Pluto planet and back,

Mom

Turning around in the car and taking time to remember my little FOUR year old on the eve of turning FIVE....

On your actual birthday, the three of us cooked  a special birthday breakfast for you, as we do every year.

We all played your new Golden Tee Golf Game as a family and you and daddy had a special outing to Monster Golf, where you had SO MUCH FUN!!! YaYa, Grandpa, Uncle August and The Perkins came over to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy some ice cream cake.

Your new Transformer sleeping bag from YaYa and Grandpa!

Carter's Top 10 at FIVE Years Old (#1-3)

# 3. Learning!
This one has reappeared in the last 6 months and since Carter changed schools. He comes home every single day telling us what he did that day, what experiment they tried out, how many guessed which outcome it would have and even more exciting, he tells us what he is doing the next day. He's so excited to go to school each and everyday.

At home, it's the same thing. His very favorite books are these kid-like encyclopedias that Meme finds that answer questions like, "Why do cats pur?" or "Why do owls only hunt at night?" Combine this with his favorite show Wild Kratts and Carter is a walking random fact machine and he is always wanting to share what he learns. Sometimes, he gets frustrated because he has to take turns with Addie each day on the way home from school telling me what he did. He doesn't care much for the fact that Addie has just as much to tell me.

His fact quest continues each night, with Blake's customary night time regimen of answering his latest questions. Last night's was, "Daddy, do they use sand and dirt to build houses in Africa?"

#2. Anything with a motor.
I thought this came a little early at FIVE years old but in the last month since Carter received a toy car from Sean, Kaylee and Rose... this seems to be the kind of toy at the top of his list.

This shot was a perfect example/memory of how much Addie wants to be with you. Even in a picture with a car.

Soon after this came Meme's birthday gift of a motorized Police boat. So many nights after bath, this is the scene in our bathroom.

# 1. It's pretty cool to be able to confidently say that SPORTS is Carter's #1 because at eight months I could have pretty much said they same thing. This little guy isn't partial to just one either... he will take them all. It really does depend on what season it currently is and with basketball in full swing with his once a week practices already at school for the past month, he's ready for this real team to start up in just a couple of weeks. This will mark FIVE year old Carter's 3rd season of basketball, already. My fondest sports memory in just the past month has to be watching Carter lay with his daddy at the lake and work on his addition and subtraction while watching the President's Cup and Bubba Watson make a birdie. I walked in the room to hear this...

Carter: "Yes, it went in!!!"
Blake: So... that was a _____?
Carter: "Birdie"
Blake: So what is his score now?
Carter: "Minus Two."

I'm pretty sure my chin might have hit the floor, hearing my four year old son comprehend the game of golf way better than me.

Carter's Top 10 at FIVE Years Old (#4-6)

As we continue this snap shot of Mr. Carter Brown, we can't help that notice that this year's list is different than years past.... it's not filled with "things" or just people, rather, we've seen such a little personality take shape these days.

#6 - Carter's spontaneous and sweet side has become even more evident. Just today, his teacher Mrs. Andrea was saying she wanted to take him home. She said he was playing a board game with three little girls and he kept winning all the pieces. A couple of girls became really sad to be loosing and Carter would look at them and lean over and say, "I'll throw in some pieces for you so you can stay in."

A couple of weekends ago, on our long drive home from Dallas, the kids got to take turns choosing DVDs. When it came to Carter's first choice, he choose The Princess Movie because he, "knew it would make Addie happy."

Every day, Carter does something thoughtful or amazing that makes me gleam with "mommy & daddy proudness." He is such a naturally kind and thoughtful little boy and I am happy to say it becomes more and more evident each year that goes by.

#5 - Staying on the personalty topic, we have seen a huge growth in Carter's sensitivity. I remember the days where he couldn't walk into a new house filled with people for a birthday party without needing to hide in a room for a while to get used to the environment. Don't get me wrong, he still has his occasional bury his head in mom's legs, kind of moment however they much farther in between. Just this month during our kitchen renovation, the kids got to eat dinner at McDonald's and Carter saw that another child got a different toy in the Happy Meal that he preferred. I told him if he wanted to go stand in line all the way at the front and ask the cashier if he could exchange his toy for a different one, he could. I was blown away when he jumped off the stool and confidently marched up and stood in line. I was so proud of him and know that 6 months ago that would have never happened.

But don't be fooled, we still have an occasional emotional breakdown over something completely minor and silly, like this when he was told he had to wait till after bath to open a birthday gift.

#4 - His mommy, daddy and Addie. It's neat that I can still put these three people on this list because I wonder if in a few years he will go through a stage of not really wanting to be around us all that much? But as for now, even with his FIVE year old independence, he would much rather be around the three of us.

The questions he is constantly asking us, everything he wants to show and tell us and just the time spent lounging on the couch or on his bed reading books, is where Carter wants to be.  I pray it will always be like that but I have a feeling there will be a stage of sports, friends and one day, GIRLS, that will take his attention away from us so for now we will take as much of it as we can get!

Carter's Top 10 at FIVE years old! (#10-7)

As a refresher, take a peek at the past Top 10 lists over last three years to see Carter evolve. This list doesn't encompass Carter over the last year, rather, right now as a snap shot in time. Just a little tradition  I have liked to do each year and a fun way to in essence hit "pause" in time.

#10. Everyone has little mannersims that are their own. Carter is starting to have his own that are we are regularly noticing. One of the biggest ones is how he LOVES to lace his hands together behind his head. We started spotting it while he was laying down watching TV but one night this week, he did it after he was all done with his dinner.

#9. Personalty at this age: He loves earning money and being a true helper. At recent trips to the lake this fall, he begged Grandpa to take him to the "man-cave" they are building so he could sweep up dirt and earn money. At one point when I checked in on them, Carter was the hardest working guy there of the five grown men.

Tonight, it was all about helping daddy with some chairs...

#8. He is definitely more into computer like games. About a month ago, he was obsessed with a Buzz Light Year game that his cousin Marshall passed down to him. It had became the most annoying sound Blake and I ever heard and somehow the batteries disappeared one day. The old saying of, "Out of sight, out of mind," holds true because it has now been replaced my his Leapster Explorer. This is how I found him tonight before dinner...

#7. Superheros, in general, are still cool to this five year old. Remember it started out with Spider man man a couple of years ago and then progressed to Batman, Green Lantern and brief mention of Captain America but now there is one confident answer when you ask the FIVE year old Carter Brown, "Who is your favorite Superhero?" SUPERMAN! "Why Carter?" He is the strongest of all superheros. Superman is the best because he can hold up the entire world!!! That's what my friend Kai told me at school."

Getting Sentimental...

It's probably that I'm just days away from my first born turning FIVE but over the last month, there have been some things around the house that I have realized will be gone before I know it. For so many years, these little things have been such a big part of our daily lives and now I'm suddenly realizing that we really don't need them anymore. It's a fact of life that kids grow up and get bigger but it makes us mommies a little sad when we overnight realize how fast it really is happening.

So just a few shots around the house to remember this transitional time for our family. A couple of these items are already gone but several will remain for a while.