Water Play

I haven't had the umph this summer to go out and plan activities for the kids.  We pretty much survive.  :)  I kind of let Kayla take care of fun outside activities when she's here once a week...but now Kayla has to go back to school...something about a real job and I was inspired to set up a water slide for the kids. 

Turns out Drew was not a fan.  Ha!  He's a little more reserved than his sisters were about new experiences.  He cheered them on and after 30 minutes he demanded a bubble bath...much more to his liking as far as water play was concerned!

Only Drew

Our boy is full of personality.  He's always making us laugh!

One morning he decided he needed to wear sister's cleats around the house.  And he did for a good while!

He really doesn't wear hats much so we were surprised and cracked up when he thought he should sport Ava's pink Astros hat one day!

And then there was the time he fully embraced his country boy roots and went commando while playing in Grammy's front yard with his water toys!

He only gives hugs on his terms but when he does...be prepared b/c he give full body hugs!

Even a simple lunch can be cause for a comedian performance!

Still More Softball

As if spending the whole week playing softball wasn't enough, we drove home Friday afternoon and came to see Coach Jeff for a hitting lesson.  When you spend your week watching tball game after tball game...Drew decided he just had to show them how to do it!!

Carli was scheduled to play in a local tournament on Saturday and Ava, Drew and I had planned to stay home most of the day to recover!  But one of the girls on Carli's team got hurt and it was hot!  So they called and asked if Ava wanted to come play with them!  Sure, why not?!  So off we went to the softball field again!

Carli had a great tournament and it was fun to watch some 8u ball over tball for a change of pace!  Ava held her own in right field, backing up first and not letting anything get by her.  She made contact with the ball at every at bat.  She did an awesome job!

They ended the day winning it all!  They got gold rings and championship shirts!  What a way to end an incredible week of softball!

Then there's always the inevitable...you have to feed them dinner but man, the smell of those socks...

Playing in Waco

We had a few hours to burn since Ava's ball games were only in the evenings!  So we checked out some fun places around Waco! 

It made sense that we should check out the Dr. Pepper Museum...

She's a girl after her Momma's heart.

And we went to the Mayborn Museum on Baylor's Campus.  It was similar to the Discovery Science Center we have in Tyler...only on a much bigger scale!  Braleigh got to join us for our morning of fun!

Carli was pretty stoked to be the only kid big enough to do a sewing project!

State Tball Tournament

Ava's Troup Thunder Team is headed to the state tball tournament in Axtell (basically Waco), Tx.  It was like packing for a small army trying to get everything together.  We could have been there two days or a whole week...turns out, we were there basically the whole week!

Our girls surprised us by coming out for their first game and taking the win 20 to 19!  No one really thought we'd win a game, much less our first one!  We had some pretty excited little girls!

A big thanks to Ava's cheering section last night!! We are blessed with an amazing family!

Since we have the day off from playing ball, we are did a little swimming and Mickey Mouse watching!

For our second game on Wednesday, we came up short but the sun went down and we played ball the second game. Pulled out a win and we survived to play another day!  Ava had her own mini cheering section again, Uncle Andy, Logan and Eady came for both games and Uncle Tone made it for the 2nd game. We are super thankful Grammy and Pa kept Drew tonight so he didn't melt away in the heat!

Thursday came and our girls were ready to play.  No one thought they would have made it this far!  It was so hot and the odds were not in our favor.

But placing in the top seven in the whole state of Texas isn't a bad place to be at all!  

We had an amazing year!  And went so much further than anyone thought our group could go!  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this hometown crew!

Sibling Love

Drew is getting big enough to voice his opinions and hold his ground these days!  He LOVES that his sisters are home for the summer and he gets to play with them all day long.  Most of the time the girls appease him...most of the time!  :)

Drew loves to play outside with his sisters.  He and Ava play in the dirt a lot and occasionally the girls will allow him in on their softball games.  :)

He's never been interested in coloring or writing but  Carli has been working on him all summer and finally he will color with her for a few minutes at a time - his favorite things to color are big trucks and ducks.  :)

Up All Night Tournament

After Ava winning 1st place in her tournament, Keith drove from Quitman to Nacogdoches at midnight last night to watch Carli and her Sassy Slugger's play in an all night tournament. And it was so worth the effort. They started playing at 6:30 on Friday night and finished up at 8:30 this morning! After playing 7 games, they won second place, only losing in the championship game by one run. I didn't get to be there and cheer them on in person, but I am so thankful to Amy, my Dad, Courtney and Keith for sending me updates through the night. What an amazing experience! I am so anxious for Carli to wake up to tell me all about it!! In the meantime, the challenge is on to keep Ava and Drew quiet enough to let Keith and Carli sleep!