Happy 4th of July!

We had a wonderful day yesterday, full of friends, food, and feelings of independence! It all started at our 9:00 parade. Brady loved the firetrucks and the marching bands the most. Then we went to our neighbors for a barbecue in the afternoon, then we had our old neighbors over for dinner and fireworks viewing (the view from our new house couldn't get any better). It was a wonderful day! (and perfect that it was a Friday!)

My boys at the parade

This was a great high school band (not sure where they were from) that stopped right in front of us and performed about 5 songs. They even had great dancers!

This is the float from Brady's new school. Brady's handprint is on the blue sign as his class made that poster on Thursday.

This was a pilgrim band playing flutes and old drums (songs like Yankee Doodle) Very patriotic!

Brady on his favorite perch

All of us together

First Day of School

Today was a big morning in the Foster household as Brady headed off to school! He's going to The Woodlands Young Learners Academy, which is very near our house and was just opened at the beginning of the school year last year. We went in and took a couple pictures, and then his class was out at the playground, so we took him out there. He immediately ran to the equipment and began playing with the kids as if he'd been there a million times. We wondered whether or not we should disturb him to tell him good-bye, but we did call to him, and he ran right down, gave us each a kiss, waved, and then went right back to playing. We were so proud of him, but a little forlorn, too, at the thought of how big he's gotten so quickly!

Here he is in his uniform and backpack, all ready to go!

Here we have arrived and are just about to go find his room.

Pic from Father's Day breakfast at The Black Walnut

Brady fell asleep on the floor this weekend with his ham & cheese sandwich in his hand!

Here he is with his dinosaur outfit from Grammie and Papa (wish he could wear this to school instead of a uniform...oh well)

'Court!'

So one morning this week, we were just getting started for the day. I was still in bed, Brandon was getting ready for his shower, and Brady was playing at his train table. Suddenly, I heard this little voice shout, 'Court...where is the top of the mountain?' I thought I must have mis-heard, so I didn't answer. Then it came a second time, only louder and more insistent, 'COURT! Where is the top of the mountain?' It was Brady (of course). He's a clever little bugger...though he's never said my name before, apparently he's heard Brandon say it and made himself a mental note.

Sorry - no pics to accompany this little Foster Fun Fact.

Brady reads his first book!

This morning, Brady and I were playing, and suddenly I realized that he was sitting down 'reading' through a book that I haven't read to him in weeks! I was able to get some of it on video with my cell phone.

It's long (mostly for grandparents), so just shut it off when you get bored.

Holy Haircut Batman!!

Yesterday, Brady and I took the morning off to go get his haircut. We went back to Cartoon Cuts, which is the same place I took him last time. Unfortunately, this time we got the woman who is rumored to have recently butchered Brady's friend Lucas' hair. Before I knew it, the buzzer and the texturizing shears were zipping around, and there was a mound of beautiful sandy-colored hair on the floor. Un like me, Brady was a champ, he didn't move or make a peep through the whole thing.

I knew I had to keep my composure in front of him, but everytime I looked at Brady later in the day, I just wanted to cringe....how could I have let this happen!? Luckily, by this morning his new look had grown on me a bit, so I took a few pictures of him while he helped me in my office.

My aunt Marilyn used to always refer to getting a haircut as getting your ears lowered...I think Brady's ears might fall off if they got any lower!

Oh well...this is just preparation for when he's older and does something to radically change his appearance...he's still the same sweet kid even though he looks different!

Baseball game, Big Kid Bed...you name it!

Tonight is a big night in the Foster household...it's Brady's first night in his 'Big Boy Bed'! Brady hasn't climbed out of his crib yet, but he's just getting so big that the length of his body barely fits in there anymore! The other day I entered his room just as he had one leg swung up on the side. Upon seeing that, I decided that it was time to haul this 'Pier 1 Kids going out of business bargain big kid bed' out of the garage!

I asked Brady to stand next to the bed, but he let me know that he would prefer to show in pictures how a Big Kid Bed really works!

His face is red b/c our house is very hot today! I think we may have an A/C problem upstairs. I am very thankful that the downstairs is cool as that's where our bedrooms are. What are the odds that this would be the first time I've cooked dinner here since Brandon's been out of town for 1 1/2 weeks!

This is Brady last week. When I looked at him with his little Chuck shoes on and shorts, he looked like he was all grown up! I couldn't believe it! So I had to run and get the camera. In this picture, he's demonstrating how his sword from the rodeo works.

Here Brady is at Minute Maid Park (or Red Choo Choo Baseball as he calls it) when Uncle Nate and Auntie Erica brought us to the Astros game. It was such a fun night! Brady was a trooper and really enjoyed himself! The game started at 7:00, and since he goes to bed at 8:00, I figured it might be a short evening. We ended up staying until almost the 9th inning, and I think he could have stayed longer!

Here's Brady and daddy at the game. Even though Brandon's eyes are closed, Brady's smile was too cute for me to pass up posting this!

Random picture...I find myself strangely intrigued by giraffes lately. This is one that we saw while at the Zoo with Uncle Nate and Auntie Erica....look at that tongue!! (it's the long thing that ends with a yellow spot)

Here are all the Foster boys before our trip to the Blue Bell Creamery. We had so much fun with Nate and Erica, and not a day has passed that Brady hasn't mentioned, 'Uncle Nate?' He always says Nate's name kind of sounding like a question...maybe he's suspicious that there could be a whole 'nother person on this planet that looks so much like daddy!

Thanks for reading!

Magical Days

Brady and I have had a couple magical days, and I wanted to share them! Brandon is out of town for two weeks, which I always envision is going to be terrible, and in reality, Brady and I usually have a pretty good time.

Yesterday morning, when Brady woke up, I brought him into 'the fort' or my bed. We were snuggling (I was hoping he'd fall back asleep) when he asked me for 'big hugs', so I put both my arms around him. Then when we all arranged like that, he asked for 'more kisses', so I gave him a bunch of kisses all over his face. He kept asking for more and more kisses, and finally I said, 'why don't you give me more kisses', to which he promptly abliged. We did 'big hugs' and 'more kisses' for about the next half hour. Very sweet!

Then tonight we went out to eat together at Market Street. That's an area of The Woodlands where there are shops, restaurants, fountains, etc. After our yummy meal, we walked around a bit, and then went into a 'chocolate lounge' called Truffle. We each picked out one truffle and enjoyed them together. Brady loves chocolate, so this was a huge hit.

When we got home, we played ball in the backyard together until dusk. We just finished the day with a 'turtle nap' - me laying on Brady's turtle next to his bed until he falls asleep.

I could not be more fortunate.