more cousins.

{Pickles seems to think he is a fierce attacking tiger lately.}

cousins.

The kids got to enjoy their favorite two weeks of the summer right after school was out. 

Their Houston cousins! (and Aunt Kristin... they like her, too.) =)

Aunt Kristin liked experimenting with all my Norwex products. She's a good houseguest to have around. =) 

What is it with boys? They're sitting here together so nicely...

Then they see me...

And freak out on each other...

Getting ready for s'mores...

Aunt Kristin thought the BB gun was fun, too...

 {I love the hand on the hip pose.} =)

 {Classy...}

baseball.

We've been spending lots of evenings  out on the baseball field lately... 

This little miss usually entertains herself pretty well at his games...

Sophie does a fair amount of this... 

We moved him backwards a bit this year. (best decision we've made this summer, I think.)
He played on a machine pitch team during the spring, with the intent of moving up to Mustangs (kid pitch) in the summer. His coach asked all the parents about the idea of keeping them together in a machine pitch league (through a town 30 minutes away) instead of moving them all up to Mustangs.

The decision was easy.
* The opportunity to keep him with this coach. (Seriously the best coach he's ever had... teaching all the boys some great skills and techniques and never once losing his patience. I've been so, so impressed with him! Really, really hoping he's still principal when Lawson is in high school!)

* The group of boys. (Just a good, good group of boys. Most of them are a year younger than Lawson. Only 1 goes to our school. But he's made some good friends that have good parents that will be great to know when they all get in middle school together.)

* The confidence. (This kid went his whole season last year without a single hit. There were some wild pitches, one that nailed him really good, and his confidence was so shaken. He would get up to bat, just praying that they would walk him. He's gotten so many hits this year and is getting better every game!)

 The plan is for the coach to move this whole group of boys up to Mustangs next year. We're really, really happy with that idea. 

We've had some really, really COLD games. (They were playing tag and running laps with one of the assistant coaches, just trying to keep warm. The parents were all huddled together in front of the restrooms, trying to find a place out of the wind.)

{This was back at the end of April. Pretty sure we're past the cold now.}

We've had some really, really WET games... (no lightning, so they didn't cancel, but we just sat in constant drizzle. Not my favorite.) 

And one ALL DAY tournament...

{The rows of tents everywhere made me smile. So colorful. =)}

That ended up like this... 

 {2nd place medals!}

So, so thankful for these goofy boys and their families... and the baseball memories we are making this summer.