Another week done

After I took Noah to school I had an appointment with my rheumatologist.

He went over the test results with me from last time.  He said everything looks good and there's not sign of arthritis or autoimmune disease (of the ones he checked for).  He said he checked for a lot.  He doesn't have a diagnosis for me.  It could be neuropathy.  He working on a combinations of drugs to help me feel better.,  He added a few to the mix of things I can take as needed.

Today, at Noah's school it was show and tell. He chose to bring his baseball trophy into school.  He's very proud of it.  Noah was in a good mood after school.  We stopped at the HEB pharmacy (which took forever) and the bank on the way home.

Morry walked to get Evan from school.  Evan had asked Morry to pick him up today.

The boys played outside in the backyard this afternoon.

For dinner we picked up Blue Bamboo.

Morry is reading to the boys now. They are all ready for bed.

Little Gym With Noah

This morning Noah and I went to Sam's Club.  We came home for just a little bit and then went to the Little Gym.  Noah had a good time.

I got a corned beef bagel sandwich for Morry at Wholly Bagel.and brought it home for him.  He had a lot of work to do today and couldn't come with us to the Little Gym.

Noah stayed at home while I got Evan from school.  Evan was in a good mood.

I tutored one student today at the library.

For dinner Morry and I had burgers.  The kids had various things including some fruit we got at Sam's Club today.

Evan finished his homework and read.  Noah helped me quiz Evan on his spelling words.  Noah would read the words aloud and Evan would spell them for us.

The boys are in their rooms now ready for bed.

School Day for Both Kids

Today Noah slept until about 9am.

I took him to school and then I had a meeting.

I came home in time to eat lunch and then it was time to get Noah from school.

Morry and Noah went to get Evan from school while I tutored.

Gabby came over while I was gone.

I just had one student today and got home around 4:45pm.

For dinner we had pasta.

Evan just finished his homework.  We'll get the boys ready for bed soon.

Gray Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I felt well enough to take Evan to school this morning.  It was cold and Evan told me he wanted me to drive.  He was in a good mood though.

Noah got up a little after I got home.  He, too, was in a good mood.

Around 10:15, we had an air conditioning guy come to look at the system.  Our downstairs air conditioner is not turning on unless I unplug the thermostat and re-plug it in.  Then it will run for a bit.  It seems to work for heat though.  He told us we didn't have enough refrigerant and added some and checked for leaks.  He also felt like we needed a new thermostat.  So we're in the market for a good thermostat now.

Rachel made lunch for Noah and then he was supposed to go to Cole's.  For some reason he said he didn't want to go.  I don't think he's feeling 100%.  He said he wanted to just play sports.  I suggested he take the football to Cole's so he did.  He also wanted me to come to drop him off so I did.

Rachel picked up Noah, dropped him off at the house and then went and got Evan.

Rachel had to tutor late tonight, so after I paid Blanca, I took the boys to McDonald's.  They were well behaved and ate their entire dinners.

We came home and Evan did his homework.

They are in bed now.  Until next time...

Outdoors

This morning I walked Evan to school so that Morry could sleep in some.  When I got home I went for a run.

Noah got up on his own and dressed himself while I was out my run.  Morry, Grandma, Papa, Uncle Mike, Maya, and Aunt Jen were still at home.

I took Noah to school and then came back home and ate breakfast with everyone.

Shortly after that Grandma and Papa drove back to Dallas.

Michael, Jen, Maya, and I walked around Town Lake and then had lunch at Freebirds.  We picked up Noah from school on the way home.

After being home for a little while, Michael, Maya, and I walked to get Evan from school.  Evan was very happy to see Uncle Mike and Maya.  Evan held Uncle Mike's hand some of the way home.

Gabby came over.  Morry took Michael's family to the airport and I left to tutor.

Morry gave the boys dinner.  I got home around 7pm and we ate leftovers for our dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Here are some pictures from today.

Wreck-It Ralph

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan has asked me several times in the last week if we could go see Wreck-It Ralph.  Last night, I looked at the showtimes for this morning.  There was an 8:55 at one theater and a 9:40am at another theater.  The second theater was at the mall and I was hesitant to go there.  The other times would have conflicted with the Steelers game.  I got up early this morning.  I had to wake both boys up.  I had told Noah that if he wanted to go he needed to go to sleep early last night.  When I woke him up, the first thing he told me was that he had gone to bed early the night before.

We were the first ones to buy tickets this morning.  The box office opened a few minutes after we got there. (though they were supposed to open earlier than when we got there)  I had coupons for free Icees with the purchase of a popcorn.  So each boy got popcorn and an Icee.  Evan seemed to really enjoy the movie.  Noah got a bit antsy and had to go to the bathroom at one point, but he liked it.  The movie was very clever.  It was one of the better movies that I have taken the boys to.

We came home just in time for the Steelers game.  The game was not fun.

After the game, Papa took the boys out to play baseball, while I worked some.

Tonight, we had leftovers for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time..

More Family Fun

Today we had a more relaxing day.  We went out to brunch/lunch at Waterloo.

Late in the afternoon Leah's family and Aaron and Christina came over.

We picked up dinner from Home Slice Pizza.

Evan had a great time playing with Leah's "boys".  Jacob, who is 23, was worn out by Evan and Noah.  They were really tackling each other.

Evan loves playing with the older boys.  He's been having a great time hanging out with older cousins.

Here is a picture from today of Evan and Noah with Leah's boys (Stephen, Jacob, and David).

More Thanksgiving Fun

We had another day of Thanksgiving fun.  Uncle Jay's family came over today.  It was so fun seeing all the kids together.  Ryan played baseball with boys outside for a while.  Everyone had a nice time.

We picked up Rudy's barbecue and ate other Thanksgiving leftovers.

Here are pictures and a video from the last few days.

Happy Thanksgiving

We did it!  We had a fun, successful Thanksgiving.

It was a long day.  The day still isn't over and there's still a lot of cleaning to do, but it was a lot of fun.

We'll post more pictures later.

We had 24 people here. 

Evan had a great time playing football with his cousins Taylor, Carter, and James.  Noah had fun with all of the kids too.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Maya (and Michael and Jen)

We spent a lot of today getting ready for the big day tomorrow.

Grandma and Papa went grocery shopping at HEB.  Grandma did a lot of cooking.  We all did things around the house.  We were pretty busy today.

The boys and Papa played baseball outside for a while.

Papa picked up Jen, Michael, and Maya from the airport and then came back to our house.  It was Evan and Noah's first time meeting Maya.  They liked making her smile.  She was very alert and liked watching the boys and Lizzy.

For dinner we went to Santa Rita.

Soon, we'll get Evan and Noah ready for bed.

The First Guests Arrive

While Evan was at school Noah and I ran some errands.  We got the car washed and then went to Sam's Club.

When we got home Cole came over.  The boys played board games together and then ate popsicles outside.

Cole left and I drove to pick up Evan from school.  He was in a good mood and was acting silly.

Grandma and Papa got here a little while later. The boys were very excited to see them and right away asked Papa to play baseball with them.

Before dinner we bought a Futon (for the downstairs office) and loaded it in the back of our van.  The boys rode with Grandma and Papa in a separate car and then we all went to eat at Hula Hut.

We are getting the boys ready for bed now.

Noah's Thanksgiving Party

This morning Noah went with me for my run.  I pushed him in the stroller.

When we got back I took him to school.

I got stuff done around the house and then Morry and I went to Noah's school around 1pm for his Thanksgiving party.  They had all kinds of pies to chose from (cherry, apple, pumpkin) and ice cream, but Noah didn't want any of it.  I don't know why.

We came home and I got ready for tutoring.

Morry took Noah to get Evan at school. Gabby came over to babysit.

When I got home we ate dinner and then I went back out again to tutor.

I got home around 8pm and then we put the boys to bed.

Tomorrow is Evan's last day of school before Thanksgiving break.

Nada

This morning we took it easy. In fact, the whole day we pretty much took it easy.  We stayed at home today and took advantage of a day with nothing planned.

In the afternoon Evan went over to Jack's house.  Noah and I played some baseball while Evan was gone and Morry worked.

For dinner we had corned beef.

The boys watched some of the Steelers game together.  We just put Evan and Noah to bed and now Morry's watching the rest of the game.

Close to Home

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

For the most part, we stayed close to home today.  The boys got up earlier than us as usual on the weekends.  Rachel was scheduled to tutor at 10:45 this morning, so we got up around 9:30 and Rachel left at 10:15.

After Rachel left, the boys played baseball in the backyard.  Then I took them to Smoothie King to get smoothies and pick up dog food for Lizzy at Healthy Pet.

When we came home, I made lunch for the boys.  I made fried matzoh for Evan and me and a hot dog for Noah.  Rachel came home just after lunch.  She ate a quick lunch, while we had a catch out in the yard and then Rachel took the boys to a birthday party at Lifetime Fitness.

The birthday party was for Evan's old friend Kevin.  They had a bunch of things going on there, some sort of scooter and they played freeze tag.  Evan played basketball with Rachel there a bit.  On the way out, Evan bumped into his buddy, Carter, from his baseball team.  Evan was super excited to tell me he saw Carter when they got home.  That seemed to be the highlight of the afternoon.

For dinner, we went to Brick Over Pizza.  The food was served super fast and the boys did really well there.

We just gave the boys showers and about to put them to bed.  Until next time...

Also, please note - if you are looking to get the boys gifts for Hanukkah, there is a list to the right of things they would like.  If you have any questions, please let us know.

Haircuts and Big Shopping Trip

Today Morry tried to wake up Noah to come with them, but he was sound asleep.  Noah was upset when he woke up later, because he though Morry forgot to wake him up.  Morry had to explain to him that he tried, but Noah just kept sleeping.

I dropped Noah off at school and then got things done around the house.

Later I picked up Noah from school and he was in a good mood.

I walked to get Evan from school.  Evan was also really happy after school.  Jack and his family were walking home too, so we walked together.  Of course, the kids had lots of fun.

We ate pasta at home for dinner and then went out to run some errands.

First, we got the boys haircuts.  Then, we had a very large shopping trip at HEB.  We had a long list of stuff we needed for the kids and for Thanksgiving.  We were there quite a while. When we got home it took a while to put everything away as well.

The boys are ready for bed now, but still playing in their rooms.

LIttle Gym

Noah came with Morry again to drop off Evan.

Noah didn't want to take a walk with me this afternoon and since Morry had a meeting, I wasn't able to take a walk anyway.  So, we stayed home until Noah's gym class.

Morry met us at the Little Gym. Noah did well and had fun.

Noah stayed at home this afternoon while I drove to get Evan from school.

I tutored one student at 5:15. 

When I got home we ate leftovers for dinner.

The kids are upstairs now and we'll get them ready for bed.

Busy

This morning Noah came with Morry to take Evan to school.

I took Noah to school and then got things done around the house.  I had a hair appointment at noon in Round Rock. 

After the appointment I didn't have enough time to go home before tutoring, so I ran some errands and made a Starbucks stop.

While I was gone Morry picked up both kids from school and Gabby came over.

I tutored and got home around 6:30.

For dinner we had chicken and couscous.

The boys are in the rooms now, but not asleep.

Sleepy Noah

It was cold this morning (upper 30s) so Morry drove Evan to school.'

Noah woke up around 9am and got into our bed and went back to sleep until about 11am.  When he woke up he was in a good mood.  I guess he just really needed sleep.

Noah and I ran some errands.  We went to Bed Bath and Beyond and Academy Sports.  Then, I dropped Noah off at Cole's house.

He had fun.  They played board games together. 

Noah came with me to get Evan at school.  We drove since it was still a little chilly.

Evan and Noah played at home until Blanca came over.  I left to tutor.

When I got home we made dinner - egg drop soup and a Chinese frozen dinner.

Evan just finished reading to Morry.  Now, we'll get the kids ready for bed.

Monday Night Football

 Evan got up and went to the game room to watch the MLB channel.  He was pretty quiet in there.

Noah slept until after 9am.  He got up on his own and seemed to be in a good mood, but then all of the sudden he got cranky.   He didn't realize Evan was home, I think.  I'm not sure what exactly made him cranky, but then it got even worse when it was time to get ready to go to school.  He threw such a fit that Morry came to help me and ended up taking Noah to school.  He hasn't done that in a while.  I hope he's not getting sick.

Evan was invited to play at Nathan's house, our neighbor down the street.  I took him over there at 10am and picked him up at noon.  They had a good time together.

I got Noah from school and the boys played together until Gabby came over at 2:30.  I left to tutor.

When I got home we made pizza for dinner and then Morry put the Steelers game on.  The boys watch some until it was time to put them to bed.

Both boys are in their rooms now, but not asleep.

Getting Stuff Done

We were able to relax this morning and sleep in.  Evan slept until about 8am, which is late for him.  Noah got up a little while later.

Later in the morning we went to Home Depot.  There are a few things we have been needing, but we have been so busy the last few weeks, we didn't have time to go.

When we got home we had lunch. 

This afternoon Morry had work to do.  The boys played together and watched baseball movies while I did some cleaning.

For dinner we had pasta.

Morry and the boys just went over to the neighbor's house. She's selling cookie dough for a fundraiser and we said we'd buy some.

When they get back we'll get the boys ready for bed.

Evan does not have school tomorrow, but Noah does.

No Games

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

As Rachel mentioned yesterday, we had nothing scheduled for today.  Absolutely nothing.  We didn't have to get up early for a sporting event or a birthday party.  It was nice.  Rachel was going to run the San Antonio half marathon tomorrow but given how busy the fall has been, we decided to take it easy.

The boys slept in a bit.  I think I heard Evan around 8am.  Noah got up closer to 9am.  Rachel and I came downstairs and Rachel made Pillsbury cinnamon buns while the boys played MLB Power Pros on the Wii.

Rachel then went to tutor.  I stayed home and did a little bit of work while the boys continued to play Wii.

When Rachel got home, I left to go to Wings To Go.  Rachel thought I might be able to get more work done out of the house this afternoon.  They had free WiFi there and I could get wings.  They also had college football on.  Despite all of that, I was highly productive.  It was nice.

Meanwhile, Rachel made the boys lunch.  Then they went to the Wildflower Park to play on the playground and they brought their bikes.  The playground in a square in the middle of a neighborhood. So it's a big block but you can see the sidewalk from anywhere in the park.  Rachel had hoped that she could just sit there while the boys biked around.  Evan did well, but Noah needed to be pushed up the hills on his bike with training wheels.  He also was scared on some of the downhills.  He went around once.  Nevertheless, it was good having him get that experience out there.

I got home and played with the boys some.  Then Rachel and I got ready to go to dinner.  Blanca came over to watch the boys while we went out.

We went to a place called Casa Columbia.  It was pretty good.  Rachel got a fruit drink made of this fruit called Soursop. We had it when we were in Costa Rica - the fruit, not the drink.  I had a sip, it tasted good.  The food seemed authentic to me.  It reminded me of food in Costa Rica.  It was good.  We'd go back.

We decided rather than eat dessert out, to go to HEB and buy a frozen pie and cook it here while watching a movie.  The boys were going to bed as we got home.  They were very hyper, though, when we got home.  It seemed like they had a good time with Blanca.

Now they are in bed and we are going to sit down.

Until next time...

Yes! It's our first free weekend.

Today Evan chose to walk to school with Morry.  Morry said Evan was in a good mood.

When I went to go for my run Noah said he wanted to come with me.  So, I pushed him in the stroller and did a shorter run.  I'm glad he wanted to come with me. Normally, he wants to stay at home.

I dropped him off at school and he seemed happy to be there.

I got stuff done around the house and then picked Noah up.  He had a good day at school.

A little while later Noah and I walked to get Evan from school.  Both boys were excited to see each other and had fun walking home together.  They would race up ahead and wait for me at each street crossing.

I made shaved ice for them at home for a snack.  It's been pretty hot here.  I was in the 80s today.

We ate flank steak at home for dinner and then went to HEB afterwards.

We just got back and are getting the boys ready for bed.

This weekend is our first free weekend in a while.  We don't really have anything planned.  I'm tutoring one kid tomorrow and Morry has work to do, but we don't have a lot of games or practices to go to.

A more relaxed Thursday

This was our first normal Thursday in a while.

Noah didn't wake up early.  He got up around 8am.

We stayed at home until Noah's gym class.

Noah had fun in his class.

We came home for a little bit and then I walked to pick up Evan from school.  Evan was in a good mood.

We did not have to run out to football or baseball practices.  We took it easy this afternoon and ate dinner at home.

Evan just did his homework and soon we'll get the boys ready for bed.

Good Noah

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I titled this post Good Noah.  I thought that we used to title posts Bad Noah or things like that but Noah has been really good for months and he deserves to be called out for being really well behaved.  Last night at the baseball party for Evan, Noah was out there playing with all the kids with no problems.  In the past, Noah would probably be overwhelmed and stay with me and not play with the other kids.

Last night, Jack's mom, Randa called us to ask if she could drop Jack and Audrey off at our house before school because she had an early flight and Jack's dad has a long commute to work.  It's really no problem so we had them over.  Randa dropped them off about 10 minutes to 7.  Evan and Noah were wide awake and playing around 6:15am (Picture me shaking my fist at the time change).  So they were awake and happy that Jack and Audrey were here.  Rachel got up with me and the six of us walked to school.  Well, four of us (all under the age of 10) ran the whole way to school.  The other two walked behind them.  Again, Noah was right in amongst everyone.  Evan had the biggest smile on his face the entire way to school.  I think they all enjoyed being together this morning.

Noah then ran home as well.  We guessed he ran close to two miles.  Rachel came home and got ready for a run of her own.  She then took a quick shower and brought Noah to school.

Around 12:30, Rachel went out for a hair appointment so I picked Noah up from school.  He was in a good mood.

I also got Evan from school.  He was really excited to see Noah and introduced Noah to his friend Cole.

Gabby came over after we got home and watched the boys while I worked.

I made dinner for the boys and they were eating and then Rachel got back from tutoring and I got dinner ready for us.

While I cleaned up, Rachel gave the boys showers and now the three of them are reading.

Until next time...

Friends

This morning Noah was up early again and went with Morry and Evan to Evan's school.

Later in the morning Noah, Lizzy, and I took a walk.

Cole came over around noon.  While he was here I got some cleaning done around the house.  Our little arrangement really works out well.  The boys love it and the moms love it.  :)

Noah came with me on the bike to get Evan at school.

We took it easy this afternoon.  My tutoring scheduled changed some this week and I didn't have any students today.

Tonight, Evan's baseball team had a party at Rudy's.  I stayed at home because I was feeling really tired.  I think the weekend was finally taking it toll on me.  Morry said the boys had a great time.  Evan really likes the kids on his team and they all had fun together.

Morry's helping the boys get ready for bed as I write the blog.  Hopefully, they'll go to sleep soon.

Back to normal

Noah woke up early this morning and rode bikes with Morry and Evan to Evan's school.

I took Noah to school and then went to HEB.

Noah had fun at school.  We came home for a little bit and then I rode the bike to get Evan at school.  Evan was in a good mood.

When we got home the boys played outside some until Gabby came over. 

I left to tutor and stopped at Target on my way.  I tutored 3 students and got home just now, a little after 8pm.

Morry and the boys had dinner and now Morry is reading to them.

I'm going to go eat my dinner now.

Championship

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Try telling the boys that it was "fall back" today.  I heard them playing at 6:45 this morning.  Of course it really was 7:45 in their internal clocks.  We were hoping that the long day yesterday would cause them to sleep in some.

We finally got up and got ready to go to the Race for the Cure.  We signed up for the untimed portion which meant that we could walk.  We were able to park right by the start line because they reserve a special garage for survivors.  We brought the stroller in case Noah wanted to sit.  Evan walked the entire 3.1 miles.  Noah rode in the stroller for maybe a mile of it, if that.  He did well walking and walked fast.  It was downtown and I think the boys liked all the things to look at.

When we finished most of the swag had been given away already, although, to be honest, it looked like there were significantly fewer vendors there than when Rachel and I ran it two years ago.

We came home and had lunch.  We had about an hour until we needed to get to the fields for Noah's warm ups.

Noah hit well during warm ups.  He was very excited for the game.  One of the boys on Evan's team had a younger brother on the team playing against Noah's team.  So Evan and the boy from Evan's team, Anthony, played together until they needed to go to their warm ups.

For the championship game, the game is 6 innings untimed.  There were two umpires.  In the top of first, they had Noah at third base.  They said that this team hits mostly to third base and they wanted Noah there to start out the game.  They also shifted the shortstop much closer to third.  Noah played along the line.  One of the kids turned on the ball and hit a shot on the ground down the line.  But since Noah was standing almost at the line, he just put his glove down and stopped it.  It ended up taking a bounce and hitting Noah in the body, but he was not going to let that ball go past him.  It was a great play and Noah got lots of cheers.  Noah got hits in all of his at bats.  One of the times up, they overthrew first and Noah ran to second.  He runs well and listens so well.  In the third inning, Noah's team held the other team scoreless.  That turned out to be the difference and Noah's team won.  Noah was really happy about it.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a pizza party with a pinata after the game.  Rachel stayed with Noah while I watched Evan who took the field right after Noah's game ended.

Evan was playing a team they had beaten earlier in the season.  But somehow this team came alive since then.  They were hitting the ball all over the place.  Evan seemed to be very tired.  He did get a good hit in the bottom of the second.  And his fielding was good.  But he didn't quite seem as lively.  That seemed to be true of the entire team actually.  The other team won which meant that Evan had to play a second game right after.

A parent on the team bought sno-cones for all the kids.  Rachel got a Powerade for Evan as well.  That seemed to perk up all the kids.  Evan had a great game in the second game.  He doubled in one of his at-bats.  When he was playing third, a boy crushed a ball at Evan who knocked it down and fired over to first.  The umpire called the runner safe, which seemed questionable.  The third base coach for the other team was quite impressed and high-fived Evan.   A couple batters later, a kid hit a ball down the third base line.  Evan dove to his right and grabbed it.  He got up and threw the ball to first although a bit too late.  Again, it was just a tremendous play.  He was pretty pumped by it.  Unfortunately, Evan's team didn't have another comeback in them and they lost, finishing the season in third place.  Evan seemed ok with it.  The coaches told Evan they are going to try to get him on their team in the spring.  I think that would be wonderful.

Rachel took the boys home.  I went and picked up Rudy's.  We gave the boys showers and then put them to bed.

Until next time...

Sports...All Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The day began at 7:45.  I woke up and woke Evan up.  Normally he gets up before 7am but it's been a big week.  We came downstairs and had breakfast and drove to the football fields for warm ups.

Evan's football game was actually a playoff game.  If they won, they would play at 10am.  However, Evan's team is terrible, so I felt safe that he'd only have one game.  The thing was that Evan needed to be at the baseball fields at 10:30.  Amazingly, in the first half, they stayed in it.  I was slightly nervous.  But one of the worst things was they were one player short so they had Evan play both offense and defense for the almost the entire game.  He finally came out at the end for 3 plays.  That was it.  On one hand, it's an honor that they chose him to play the whole game.  He is really good.  On the other hand, I wanted him to conserve his energy.

They did lose and we left and went on to the baseball field.  Evan went through warm ups while I threw the ball to Noah.  Noah's fielding has gotten so much better and his throwing as well.  He's starting to step when he throws and follow through.  It's amazing to see how much better he's gotten over the course of the season.

Evan's game was tight.  The other team was winning for the first two innings.  Evan came up in the bottom of the second with the two men on.  He hit a fly ball to short left center field.  I haven't seen anyone catch that ball all season long but a player raced forward and caught the ball.  The two runners were not paying attention and not listening to the coaches and ran.  The play ended up as a triple play.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Evan was playing right center.  A ball was hit between right and right center and went to the fence.  Evan got to the ball quickly.  Unfortunately, he had visions of throwing the runner who had been on first out at third and decided to throw from the fence to third base rather than hit the cut off.  He actually got it all the way to the shortstop position - but not one was really there.  It was a good throw but he should have thrown it to the cut off man.  Going into the top of the 5th, Evan's team was leading by 4.  Since you can only score 5 runs an inning, they needed to score two runs to go up by 6.  The first two batters on Evan's team hit home runs and Evan's team had a "walk off" win.  By winning that allowed Evan to play at 4pm rather than 2:30pm.  So...

We went to McDonald's picked up food for the boys and had Evan relax at home.  We put on a movie for the boys to watch.  At 2:50, we left for the field again.  Noah and Rachel stayed home for a bit before coming to the field.

Evan had gotten a second wind.  He was excited for the second game.  In the top of the first, Evan was playing third.  The first two balls were hit to him.  The first was a slow roller that Evan fielded and threw to first but didn't get the out.  The second ball, Evan threw to first and got the runner out.  Amazingly, of all the innings he played third, those were his first two throws across the diamond.  He got them easily to first in both cases.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Evan lined a shot between short and third base.  It rolled all the way to the fence.  Evan did not appear to be running as fast as normal. I could tell he was trying as hard, but the speed wasn't there.  He turned it into a double, but in a normal circumstance, I think he would have had a triple.  Unfortunately, he was stranded at second.  The other team took the lead in the bottom of the second and held it for most of the game until the last at-bat for Evan's team.  They were down by three and needed to score 4 runs.  They did it.  You would have thought Evan's team had already won the championship.  The boys were screaming and jumping around.  They really have a good bunch of kids.  So that saved Evan from having to play a game at 5:30.

So tomorrow, Noah's championship game is at 1pm.  Evan plays on that field right after Noah.  If Evan's team wins, they go into the championship game on Monday.  If they lose they have to play another game on Sunday to make it to the championship.  I can tell you Noah is really excited for his game.  He can't wait to play.

So tomorrow, we'll be right back where we spent much of today.

We're about to eat dinner now.  The boys are in good moods.

Until next time...

Hoover

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan wasn't in a very good mood this morning. I think he was very tired.  It took him a while to fall asleep last night.  He was so wired after his game that it was some time before he calmed down.

Noah, who had been getting up somewhat earlier than normal when Zayde was here, slept in today.  Rachel went for a run and then took him to school.  After dropping him off, she ran some errands.

In the early afternoon, Rachel picked Noah up and he was in a good mood when he got home from school.  Rachel got Evan and he, too, was in a good mood.  He was actually kind of hyper.  He told me that he read three chapters of the Captain Underpants book that they have at school.  He was very proud of himself.

I took the boys to the baseball field at 5pm.  Noah's game began at 5:45.  Noah was doing well warming up before the game.  In the bottom of the first, Noah was playing 2nd base.  Noah fielded all three balls that were hit to him.  The other fathers/coaches started calling Noah, "Hoover".  Unfortunately, I didn't see them at all.  One of the kids on Noah's team got sick and didn't end up playing so I was re-arranging the lineup for the 4 innings and trying to make sure that everyone got into the infield.  It's required that every player be in the infield at least once in the first three innings.  I was pretty disappointed, actually.  Noah got a hit in the top of the second and again in the top of the third.  He ran really hard both times.  The one coach turned to me after Noah's second hit and said "You've really got a baseball player there."  I think Noah really enjoyed himself during the game.  He listens so well to the coaches.  They love having him on the team.

After the game, we went with Jack's family to Nutty Brown Cafe.  They had live music playing outside and a huge sandbox.  Evan and Jack played football there with some older boys while Jack's older sister, Audrey, played with Noah.  Audrey is in third grade.  We had a really nice time with everyone.

We came home and put the boys to bed.  Hopefully Evan gets a good night sleep.  He's got a big day tomorrow.

Until next time...

Bye Zayde

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was another easy one as Evan was almost hyper after I woke him up.  Evan as we were leaving and he had to say goodbye to Zayde since Zayde was leaving while Evan was in school, Evan teased Zayde about it.

I came home and started to work.  Around 8am, Noah crept down the stairs to try to scare Zayde but Zayde saw him.  Then in a loud whisper I heard Noah say "Let's scare Daddy." I pretended to be scared.

Rachel, Noah and Zayde went to Panera for lunch.  I had a meeting and couldn't join them.  From there they went to Noah's gymnastics class.  Then they took Zayde to the airport.

Rachel got Evan from school today.  When he got home, he told me was "on fire" today when they played football at recess.  He plays with Jack and a boy named Cole from another class.  Other kids join in.

Rachel went to tutor.  I made dinner for the boys since Evan had his first playoff game.

In Evan's league, they play one game tonight.  The winner goes into a double elimination tournament.  The loser goes home.  That boy Cole from recess was on the other team.  Evan was excited to see Cole.   Evan's team won.  It really wasn't very close.  Evan's team held the other team to no runs in the first and third innings.  Evan was two-for-two with two singles.  He hit well after striking out twice last game.  He played third base twice and had no opportunities.  In the fifth inning he was at the pitcher position and threw out a kid there.  In the top of the second, Evan was in right field and a kid hit a sinking line drive.  Evan came in and was right there.  For some reason, he decided to slide to his knees to get it and the ball went just over top of his glove.  He needed to get in front of the ball, but still I thought he almost had it.  He didn't seem to be upset that he missed it.  He never gets mad at himself which is good.   So Evan's team moves on.  They have a game at 11:30am on Saturday.  If they win they play at 2:30 and if they lose they play at 4pm I think.  If they win one game and lose one game, they play again at 5:30.  And he has a flag football game as well.  He's going to be one tired kid.

The boys are in their rooms now.  Rachel and I are just about to have dinner.  It's 9:43pm.

Until next time...