Happy 6th Birthday Carter!

Ok, since we're getting caught up, another wonderful event happened... Carter turned 6 on February 19. Happy Birthday big boy! With a baby a month old, we gave Carter the choice to have a small party at the house with 3 friends, or to go somewhere and he could bring one friend. He chose chuck e cheese with his friend and cousin Isaac. We ended up bring cousin Ben too b/c when I went to go pick up Isaac and bring him to chuck e cheese, Ben got on his shoes and started out there door until Shandra told him only Isaac was going. His little cute face was so sad and he looked like he was about to cry, so I brought him too (someone for bryce to buddy up with anyways).
Carter's favorite ride there is the helicopter that you peddle and go up and down. He harder you peddle, the higher you go. But his most favorite part is getting tickets. It doesn't matter the game, as long as he gets a good amount of tickets, that is where he is. A nice man on freecycle gave us a bunch of his old tickets his son was saving but had outgrown so we already went in with about 3000 tickets! Crazy! Carter was at the prize stand for a good 20 minutes trying to decide how to spend his tickets.
For his presents, we did a bike theme and he got a kickstand for his bike (which he's been asking for forever), a bell, a new spider man helmet and a bike bubble blower thing so when you peddle it shoots out bubbles. He also got a spider man plate set from grandma and grandpa Petersen, a leapster game and outfit for his ee-oo which had to have been one of his favorites.
They had a great night of games, prizes, pizza, presents and cupcakes.
Carter is into....everything. He switches back and forth from obsession to obsession but doesn't forget about the previous one, he just adds on. :) He is determined to be a store owner and has 6 stores so far he will own. Among them are a toy store, car store, train store, boat store, pet store, stuffed animal store. He likes to make books about these stores and get "information books" from the library to study up. He then copies them by hand into his own "book." He loves to make his own books as well drawing pictures and either writing words himself or an adult write what he dictates. He loves his stuffed animals and they have taken over his bed and room and sometimes the house.
He always tells us that things in his store will be only one dollar for us, but free for Aubryn b/c he "loves her the most."
On days he doesn't have enough money to buy what he wants or hears us talking about saving up for such and such (minivan, trip to Idaho...) he says, he'll make his store a free store and give away cars to people who don't have cars and give away toys to kids to don't have toys. Along those lines, he always asks me to bring him to a shelter to give his toys and clothes away to the children.
He is very compassionate and sensitive in nature. He is going to walk in a juvenile diabetes walk at school and opted to not receive prizes, but instead either "give my prizes to the sick kids or just give them the money help find a way to make them better."
He is becoming quite a good little reader and writer and I love to see the pride on his face when he does either of those things.
He is a sweet, kind big brother to his siblings, especially to his baby sister. He and Bryce are great buddies riding in the jeep together, or playing trains, cars or dressing up like "super-hero's."
Carter almost every fast and testimony meeting either wants to or does bear his testimony. It's typically about either attending the Twin Falls, ID temple open house and how he felt the spirit, or about how he loves the scriptures and knows they and Jesus are true, or this last week he colored a picture of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, showed everyone from the pulpit and talked about how he knew JS is a prophet and true when he saw God when he prayed.
Carter, true to form for the oldest child, loves to lead a game or be in charge of things. He likes to have responsibilities to be helpful and feel big. He likes to keep busy and play with friends.
According to Carter:
Favorite toy: Geo-trax
Favorite song: Follow the Prophet
Favorite book: Nobody asked me if I wanted a baby sister
Favorite food: Sausages
Favorite color: Green
Favorite thing to do: Riding in the jeep
Favorite thing at school: train center and math center
Wants to be when he grows up: Carter: "can we do a lot of things?"
Me: "Sure."
Carter: "Train store, pilates store, boat store, candy store, swimming pool store and that's it."
I asked him anything else? His response: "I like playing outside, and playing on our play structures, I like to play tennis." (we got them tennis rackets for Easter b/c we have a court in our backyard) "I believe Jesus and Heavenly Father are true."


(birthday breakfast in bed)