Spring

 The absolute best thing about springtime in Texas is the wildflowers!  Nothing beats fields of bluebonnets and indian paintbrushes.

 

 

Next best thing, turning big boxes into front yard forts.

These boxes kept the kids entertained for an entire Friday afternoon and evening.  They even put a tarp over it during a rainy night but the wind ripped it up the next day.  There were tears when all the materials went into the recycling.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful morning at church together.

And Easter afternoon was a fun time to hunt eggs in the backyard!  Some of our friends couldn't make it but that just meant more candy for each kid :)

Inspecting his spoils...

...and the disgusting mix of candy he nibbled from for the rest of the afternoon.  Skittles with malted eggs?  I'll pass...

Alex has enjoyed this spring weather because we've explored lots of new playgrounds and parks while Ben is at tutoring.  He was particularly proud of this accomplishment.

Play Ball!

It's that time of year again!  We're making tracks back and forth to the baseball fields several times a week to cheer on our favorite Cardinal and Blue Jay this season.  It's been an absolutely gorgeous spring and such a nice time to be outside.

After really struggling through coach pitch last season, Ben has done SO much better this year!  In my favorite game ever, he was up to bat when the team was rallying to try and get their first win.  They were still down three runs and had two outs in the last inning.  Ben got a nice hit and an RBI, then got to score the winning run just a few pitches later.  It makes a mother's heart so happy to see her child get to celebrate a win like that with his team, knowing he helped make it happen!

 

 Getting on base has been such a great thing this year!

He still loves playing in the outfield (I think because he has a lot of time to plan what to do with the ball before it gets to him) but did pretty well with a turn at pitcher.  (And we're loving the mystery scoreboard behind him this year.  Is the score 8 or 9?  11 or 14?  It's a surprise!)

The 8-year old Blue Jays celebrating their first win!

 I need to get more pictures of Alex's games but I haven't been able to sit and enjoy them as much, either going to get Ben from his tutoring or dealing with team mom work.  This was a great, muddy win over the weekend.  Alex was sliding in the muck and just barely made it to first base on his feet.

Running in to home was the same story, but he ran hard and just managed to avoid getting tagged out!  The moms were cringing but the kids didn't complain once about the mess.