Rachel is Back at Home

Morry, Evan, and Noah enjoyed the nice weather today. They went to the park and ate lunch and dinner outside in the backyard.

I'm back home. My flight got into Austin around 8pm tonight. We picked up Chipotle for dinner on the way home from the airport.

When we got home we put the boys to bed and then Morry and I ate our dinner.

I had a really nice time in Chicago. Here are a few pictures.

It's late. I'm exhausted. More tomorrow.

All Boys

Note: For some reason this didn't publish last night. Here is yesterday's post.

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan came out of bed a few times last night. I think the nap is what made him not stay in bed. It took him a while to go to sleep and then he was up early this morning.

It was just boys today since Rachel is in Chicago. We got up and played in the gameroom some. Then we all got dressed and came downstairs. I put on a movie for a bit and then we went to the park. At the park, Evan was climbing on everything and doing very well. Noah went up to two boys (at separate times) that were a little bit younger than he was. One actually was his height though and was only 17 months old. He was a large kid. Each time Noah went up to these boys, he'd say "Hi baby". It was very cute. I let Evan hang from the monkey bars without holding on to him. He didn't actually go from one bar to the other but he hung there.

We were going to get smoothies after the park, but Evan was bad as we were getting in the car and then yelled "No" at me so we didn't go. I made sure he knew the reason we weren't going was him.

For lunch, both boys ate well.

I put Noah down for a nap and Evan played quietly in the gameroom.

For dinner, we picked up Little Caesar's. Evan again ate well but Noah didn't eat anything. I had promised Evan if he ate well we could get Dairy Queen. So we drove out to Dairy Queen. Noah ate all his ice cream and served himself - with his left hand. I'm pretty sure he's right-handed so I was a bit surprised. Evan ate about 3/4 of his ice cream.

We came home and I gave the boys a shower in my shower. It was a bit easier than giving them baths by myself. In fact, since it was easier and there is no standing water, I wondered why we give kids baths at all. It seems safer, I could wash them better because they were standing up and they had a great time.

They are now in bed. I'm going to watch Inglorious Basterds which I got at Redbox. We'll see how it is.

Until next time...

Mommy in Chicago

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We continued the good stretch of Evan in bed last night. He came downstairs once because he said he had a paper cut but other than that, he stayed in bed and went to sleep.

He is getting up early now, but I guess I'd rather him go to sleep earlier and get up earlier.

We got up early this morning because I had to take Rachel to the airport. She's going to Chicago for her cousin Jordan's wedding. It's a black-tie affair and so no kids are allowed. That's why the boys and I are staying home. Just before Rachel came downstairs, Evan got up and came down with her. I got him breakfast and turned on Curious George for him. Gabby came to the house and Rachel and I left for the airport.

At 12:30, Blanca came and took care of the boys for the rest of the day. She made them lunch and put them down for naps.

I got home around 5:30. We played some Wii and then went to McDonald's for dinner. The boys were fairly well behaved there. Evan ate all his food. Noah just had his apple juice and french fries. He didn't eat his nuggets.

After dinner, we went outside and played on the playground. Some other kids came out and played too. All the kids got along.

We came home and I got them ready for bed. Evan has come out once to go to the bathroom. I can hear Noah making noise. Hopefully Evan continues to stay in bed.

School for Evan, Park for Noah

This morning I started the stew in the crock pot.

I dropped Evan off at school and then Noah and I met Bradford and Clayton at the park. Clayton is a little over a year old. Noah and Clayton didn’t really play together, but they both enjoyed being at the park. The weather was nice.

Noah and I ate lunch at home and then picked Evan up at school. All the kids were on the playground at pickup. Evan and Noah wanted to stay out there and play more.

At home I put Noah down for a nap. Evan and I went in the backyard for a little bit to look at Evan’s peach tree. It has a lot of flowers on it. We are hoping to finally get peaches on it this year.

Evan did not take a nap, though he did play quietly in the game room so that I could rest some.

For dinner, we had stew and salad. Evan and Noah had macaroni and cheese.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. Evan is downstairs now complaining about his thumb hurting. We think maybe he got a paper cut? Hopefully, he’ll go to sleep after this.

Lizzy’s Surgery

Lizzy, our dog, had a lump on her side that the vet removed today. It was a fluid filled mass that they believe is benign. Everything went well and she is at home resting now.

For lunch I took the boys to a nearby park to play and have a picnic lunch. The weather was great when we got there. It was sunny and in the 70s. Evan and Noah played some and then we sat down at a picnic table for lunch. Both boys ate pretty well. Just as we were finishing a cold air blew through and it started to rain. I quickly got our stuff and the boys in the car. By the time we got home (5 minutes) it had already stopped raining and was sunny again. That’s Texas weather for you.

For some reason Evan and Noah did not nap. I would have thought they would have been tired. Around 5pm Evan fell asleep in the hallway upstairs, but only slept about 30 minutes.

We had leftover chicken from the other night for dinner. I made a salad to go with it and chicken nuggets for the boys.

Evan and Noah are in bed now. Noah is still talking. Evan seems to be quiet. He actually stayed in bed last night. Let’s see if he can do it again tonight.

Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away

Yea! Sun at last! Today was a very nice today. It was in the upper 70s today.

This morning I dropped Evan off at school and Noah at Alena’s.

I had a check-up appointment with my family doctor. I needed to have some blood work done. She also gave me some probiotics samples to try for my stomach issues. The last time I saw her was when I went to have my lump checked out. She seemed happy with the way I looked and felt after everything.

After the doctor, I stopped at my friend Julia’s house. She and her family are moving to Seattle soon and I wanted to see her before they left. We hung out for about 30 minutes. We both had places to be.

Then, I went to the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch at Cypress Grill. It was a nice lunch and I enjoyed talking to the other women without Noah distracting me.

I picked up Noah and then Evan.

For some reason neither Evan nor Noah took a nap today.

I had a change of tutoring schedule today and Blanca wasn’t available. I dropped Evan and Noah off at Alena’s house on the way to tutoring and Morry picked them up on his way home.

I tutored 2 students and then came home for dinner.

Last night Evan actually stayed in bed all night. He must have been really tired from the trip. I’m really hoping he’ll do that again tonight. We’ll see what happens.

Back from Florida

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We are back from Florida. It was a good trip for three generations of Belkin men.

Some highlights:

• We went to a fair at Mixon's which is a fruit farm as well as took a tour. On the tour, Evan was the first volunteer to have a snake put around him. Everyone cheered for him after it was over. He got to pet a baby alligator as well.


• We saw two baseball games. We had good seats to both games. Evan also got to eat popcorn and cotton candy. And he hugged and high-fived the Pirates Parrot. And of course, he got some Pirates gear while we were there.


• We got to play two rounds of miniature golf. Evan was very good and he really enjoyed it. One of the rounds, there was absolutely no one on the course so Evan played each hole at least twice. He also insisted that the two of us hit our ball at the same time which added an interesting handicap to me.


• We got to go to Pirate City which is a training area for the team. Some of the minor leaguers walked by us and said hi to Evan.


• We ate dinner on the Manatee river where the restaurant had a DVD player for Evan to watch while we ate. He got to pick out a movie and he chose the Clone Wars

All in all it was quite and eventful trip and Evan was incredibly well behaved. He enjoyed seeing Zayde and I know Zayde enjoyed seeing him.

Evan was excited to see Noah when we got back and the two boys hugged each other. Then we went to Evan's sports class where he played more golf. Honestly, I don't know how Evan had energy.

When we got back to the house, I saw how much Rachel had cleaned. She went through the toys in the toy box and cleaned up the game room and Noah's room.

The boys are now in bed. Evan really needed to get to sleep. Hopefully he doesn't come out of his room.

Until next time...