Easter

We had such a great Easter Sunday just hanging out with family. It was a great day of reflecting on the fact that our Savior is alive and what amazing gift we have in salvation. Our pastor Dusty preached "The Worst and Best Easter Message Ever". If you have a minute definitely check it out! 

We were a little tired after just getting back from vacation, but that didn't stop Emma Kate from thoroughly enjoying her first Easter egg hunt! We went out to my parent's house after church and she spotted the eggs in the backyard as soon as we got there. My dad made the mistake of taking her out there just to look around before we ate lunch...needless to say she didn't eat much lunch that day! She was way too worried about going back outside to get more eggs! And we started a new tradition this year (I hope it's a new tradition at least!! :)) My dad hid money eggs for the "grown ups" and I got $50!! My poor sister who is a college student only got $9...she has some really embarrassing pictures on facebook, I'm just grateful that none were taken with my camera! Let's just say I was a little excited about finding so much money!!

Already reaching for the door!

She loves her Aunt Maddie!!

Checking out her loot!

And of course she's more interested in the bag than anything else!

Aunt Maddie got her some new reef flip flops, she didn't know what to think at first...

Then she started dancing around!

She didn't know what to think about us running around crazy!

Shamu, Shopping & Shows

Last week we headed to San Antonio with our good friends the Hutson's.  I was a little leery of traveling that far with Emma Kate, seeing as how our last several trips with her haven't been all that smooth, but she did GREAT! Overall it was such a fun trip and I'm already dying to go back! 

We left early Wednesday morning and with only 2 trips back to the house to get stuff I had forgotten we were on our way. We stopped in Coleman for some good 'ol Dairy Queen and let the kids run around. They were so funny...you would have thought they had been in the car for 5 days straight. Emma Kate was of course her loud self and said hi and bye to everyone who dined there that day! And she quickly became fascinated with Will's climbing skills. :) We got to our hotel around 4, unpacked and then headed down to the Riverwalk to check things out. It was so great staying right on the river! First of all, it's just beautiful down there, definitely nothing like it here in the flatlands, and it was so nice to be able to just walk out our hotel and be right there where everything was going on. 

Will really liked Emma Kate's baby!

Ahh...sleeping babies!

Thursday we woke up early and were off for a fun-filled day at Sea World. I have been to Sea World several times, but being able to see the fascination and excitement in your child's eyes as they experience things for the first time made this visit by far the best! We made it around to all the shows we wanted to see, the boys got to ride some rides, and we even splashed around in the little kiddy waterpark before the day was over. Emma Kate LOVED Shamu! She stood up in my lap the entire show and just danced and clapped the whole time, and when Shamu would go under the water she would hold her hands out and say "Go?" in the sweetest little voice! 

She wanted OUT of the stroller!

Waiting for the dolphins to come by

She loved looking at all the fish!

And then we made the mistake of letting her down! :)

Jimmie Johnson's #1 fans! HA!

Shamu!

Whoa!

Will loved running around at the Sesame Street Show

Emma Kate slept right through it!

She LOVED the water!!

Friday Will and Emma Kate had a play day with their dad's and Denae and I went to San Marcos for a full day of shopping at the outlets! We got some great bargains, and my sister Stephanie drove over to see us as well which was an added bonus!! It was really good to quickly catch up since I hadn't seen her since Christmas, unfortunately we were kind of in a hurry because we had lots of stores left AND after all our husbands has been flying solo all day! :) While we were shopping the guys took the kids to see the Alamo and to the Children's Museum, fed them lunch and even put them down for long afternoon naps! I was highly impressed, but they both agreed that they didn't want to become stay-at-home-dads anytime soon! Since they were nice enough to let us go shopping they went to see movies (right up Brice's alley!) 2 out of the 3 nights after the kids had gone to bed...I would say it was an even trade! :)

The Alamo

I was so impressed that the guys actually posed them for pictures!

She loves her daddy!!

Saturday morning Denae took some really great maternity pictures for me down on the Riverwalk. We attempted some family pictures at the Alamo, but it was starting to rain and really chilly so we decided it was time to pack up and head home. Before leaving town however, we had to stop at ONE more mall - La Cantera. It was such a neat mall and I wished could have spent the whole day there!! On our way home we stopped in Fredricksburg where my sweet sister waited for almost 2 hours just to see Miss Emma Kate. She said it was worth it, but I have to say she has more patience than I do! Overall it was such a great first of many (I hope) family vacations!! 

Be sure to check out Denae's blog for her review of the trip, and of course pictures that are TONS better than mine!  

Picnic and a Praise!

On Tuesday at school Emma Kate had her Parent Picnic. Brice took an early lunch and met us at school for the festivities. She was so cute sitting on the picnic blanket eating her lunch! I was really surprised that she was actually sitting down eating considering she wasn't restrained, but about half way through lunch she realized she had the freedom to get up and walk around and it was pretty much down hill from there. She did lots of entertaining...and eating off other's plates (or trying to at least!). I just love getting to see her interact with the other kids in her class!!

And on Wednesday I had to go in for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I took the one hour test last Wednesday and failed miserably. :( I had to take the 3 hour test with Emma Kate, but then I was only borderline on the one hour test. After a VERY long and boring morning I called and found out that everything came back normal, PRAISE GOD! :)

Happy Spring!

I know it's not technically Spring until tomorrow, but these pictures just screamed "Spring" to me and I thought I would share! We got this headband at Target quite a while back and Emma Kate just loves to play with it. She usually doesn't leave it on for very long, but she was playing for a really long time this morning with it on, so I decided to put her tutu on as well! She was dancing and running all over the living room just cracking up at herself!!

(doesn't she look SO big in these pictures?!)

Another fun thing about Spring and the warm weather is all of Emma Kate's cute new Spring clothes! She wore this adorable outfit for the first time yesterday so I had to get a picture. I have decided however, that standing in the chair isn't the best idea. Right after the last picture was taken she did a nose dive right over the side...luckily I caught her by her ankle and tears were spared! 

And these last pictures were taken last weekend at lunch. Emma Kate has a new found obsession with lemons! Anytime we go out to eat she goes crazy until we give her the lemon from our water. I didn't think she would really like them, but she will eat all the way down to the rhine and then beg for more!

I'm Back!

I have been on a bit of a blogging hiatus, but I'm back!  I felt like the Lord was calling me to fast from TV and the Internet this week, so that is what I did. At times it was really hard, but I was able to really focus on prayer, and being a wife and mother without any distractions, so over all it was great. 

And seeing as how my last several posts haven't been much an update, I thought I would update on the happenings in the Foster family. :) The last several weekends we have been able to hang out and catch up with lots of great friends that we don't get to see very often. First of all, we had a little get together with my old teaching friends at Brooke and Wade's new house (which is beautiful I might add!!). It was so great catching up and it was also really fun to watch the kids all playing together. Emma Kate was a little out numbered with the boys, but she was a trooper and even stayed awake until 10:30 (which is WAY past her 6:30 bedtime!). It had been way too long since we got together, and the only thing missing was Tom, Monica, and Katie Lynn...maybe next time y'all can make a trip from the Big-D! :)

(she really thought those boys were too funny!)

Oh yeah, I took my yummy black bean dip, that I take pretty much everywhere, to our get together. Everyone is always asking of the recipe so I thought I would just put it on here:

2 cans black beans (rinsed)

2 cans shoe peg corn

1 small red onion finely chopped

2 tomatoes diced

2 avocados diced

2 jalapenos finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

lime juice

It is so easy to make, and it's always a huge hit!  

The next weekend, Emma Kate and I decided to head south to good old San Angelo for a girl's weekend. We stayed with Jenny, one of my best friends from college, and Macy, one of my old roommate's and her little girl, Bliss, were in town also! It was so great catching up with them, and getting to meet Miss Bliss, who is adorable!! We had such a fun time, and the girls played really well together. I wish I could say that Emma Kate was a trooper for this outing too, but she isn't much for traveling. She decided that since it was a "girl's weekend" that that really meant it was party time from 12-4 AM, and then she was of course exhausted the next day! I have decided she just does so much better in familiar surroundings and when she sticks to her schedule. Saturday of that weekend was our annual Phi Lamb Alumni Luncheon. This was the first year I had been able to get back since the first one. It was great getting to meet all the new girls and seeing a few old faces. Unfortunately there wasn't a huge turn out, but maybe with better communication next year more people will be able to come (especially all you girls that still live in SA!!! :)). 

Other than that we have just been hanging out. We enjoyed a week of nice Spring weather and are really ready for it get here and stay! I couldn't believe how cold it got this week...and wintery mix, only in West Texas can it go from 70 one day to wintery mix the next! Oh well, I guess it's to be expected since we had such a mild winter. 

In Easton news, everything has pretty much been smooth sailing once again. (Praise the Lord!) He's definitely a mover and a shaker like his sister was, but I'm not complaining, I absolutely love feeling him move around. Actually I think it was one of the things that I missed most about being pregnant after having Emma Kate, so I'm really trying to enjoy every bit of it this time around. I just looked at my little ticker thing and I can't believe in 94 days or less we will be a family of FOUR! I have my last sonogram in a week and a half so I will definitely post more pictures then of our growing boy. 

I guess that's about all the updates for now...Happy Spring Break!!