Another Beginning of the Week

This morning we walked to school and brought Noah's Super Star Poster with us.

After school, Morry walked to pick the boys up and then Gabby came over.  I was out tutoring.

When I got home we got dinner ready.  We had cheesy foldovers, potatoes, and veggies.

Evan's finishing his reading homework with Morry.  Noah's playing Wii.  In a little bit we'll get them ready for bed.

No Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I woke up this morning and I could hear Evan playing MLB2K on the Wii in the guest bedroom.  He seemed to be having a good time.  Noah was downstairs playing Super Mario Brothers.

It rained really hard last night.  When we got up it wasn't raining.  I wasn't sure how the baseball fields would have handled it.  Around 10:30 I found out - the games were cancelled.  Evan seemed particularly disappointed.

At noon the Steelers came on.  Evan watched with me.  Noah watched for a bit.  Right around halftime Rachel took the boys to Noah's friend Cole's birthday party.  If it hadn't rained, Rachel was going to leave the party early to get Noah over to his game.  But now they got to stay for the whole party.

They came home around 4:15.  They started their clean up.  I played MLB2K with Evan a bit later.  Then the boys went back to cleaning up.

We had some leftovers for dinner and the boys finished cleaning up.  We gave them showers and now they are brushing their teeth.

Until next time...

Rainy Saturday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Both Rachel and I slept in this morning.  Last weekend, I had to get up very early on two mornings because of travel, so it felt good to sleep in.  At one point the boys were fighting over the Wii so Rachel got up and dealt with that for a bit but she came and laid back down.

It wasn't raining in the morning but it was supposed to rain.  We just stayed in.

The Pirates game was on.  If they won, they would secure home field in the Wild Card game of the playoffs.  The boys and I watched it.  We had lunch in the middle.  Evan was really into it.

Noah had a birthday party to go to at 4pm.  Rachel took him.  Evan and I stayed at home.

Evan and I made popcorn and watched two 30-for-30 ESPN documentaries - one on the Red Sox vs Yankees playoff series in 2004 and one on Fernando Valenzuela.

Noah had a great time at the birthday party.  It was a combination inflatable/trampoline place.  Rachel said all the parents from Noah's Kindergarten class were very nice.

On the way home, Rachel got McDonald's for the boys and Torchy's for us.

The boys are now in bed.

Until next time...

Trailer Food Night

This morning we walked the boys to school. They both seemed a little tired.

For lunch Morry and I went to Wholly Bagel.

We walked to get the boys from school.  As were were walking home Jack's family was riding their bikes home.  Evan and Jack were excited to see each other.  We invited Jack to come over to our house for the afternoon.

Around 5:30 we walked with Jack's family to the community center for Food Trailer Night.  We all had a nice time.

Here are a few pictures.

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

Cranky Morning

Noah threw a fit this morning the whole way to school.  He wanted us to put the Perry binder in his backpack, but it didn't fit.  He just wouldn't give up on it.  I carried the binder to school in another bag, but for some reason he wanted it inside his backpack.  It was not a pleasant walk to school.

I made pizza dough this morning for later tonight.

We walked to get the boys from school and both were in good moods.

After doing homework, both boys played Wii some.  Noah fell asleep on the couch for a little bit.

For dinner we had pizza and salad.

The boys are back to playing Wii.  Soon, we'll get them ready for bed.

Late night again

This morning we walked the boys to school and then I went to HEB to get some grocery shopping done.

After school Morry picked up the boys and Gabby came over while I tutored.

Morry took the boys to the baseball field and I picked up Noah after his practice at 6:30.  I brought Audrey (Jack's sister) home with us so she didn't have to sit at the field during the rest of Jack's practice.

At home Audrey and Noah played in the backyard some.  Then, Audrey finished her homework and Noah and I worked on his Perry scrapbook project.

Morry and Evan got home around 9pm.

Both boys are in bed now.

A Tuesday in the Belkin House

This morning the boys were good.  We walked to school without any issues 

Later in the morning I went for my massage.

We walked to get the boys from school and it was really hot walking home.  Noah complained a lot.

We didn't have anything going on this afternoon or evening.

Morry played baseball outside with Evan while I got dinner ready.  I just made an egg frittata.

The boys are in bed now.

Morry's Back

 This morning Grandma walked with the boys and I to school.  She drove back to Dallas later in the morning.

Morry was gone in New York for business and got back today.  I picked him up from the airport around noon.

I left to tutor and Morry picked up the boys from school.

Gabby came over to babysit.

For dinner we had pasta.

The boys are in bed now and it actually sounds quiet.

Full Day of Baseball

This morning we went for a walk to the school.  Lizzy had a good time in the pond and playing fetch on the field.

We ate lunch at home and then got to the baseball field around 1:15 for Evan's practice.  Evan's game was at 2:15.  Evan played well and got a triple, but his team didn't win.

We had a little bit of time to kill between Evan's game and Noah's practice so we got snow cones from the snow cone truck.

Noah had practice at 4:15 and a game at 4:45.  Noah did well and his team won.

After the game we picked up pizza from Z Pizza.  The boys are in the backyard playing baseball.

In a few minutes I'll have them come in and get ready for bed.

Hanging out with Grandma

Today we pretty much took it easy. 

Grandma came in town yesterday.

We ate breakfast and lunch at home. 

In the afternoon we spent some time outside in the backyard.

For dinner we met Aaron's family, Lauren's family, and Aunt Susan at Logan's for dinner.

On the way home we got TCBY for dessert.

Rain and a Doctors Appointment

This morning Noah was complaining he didn't feel well.  He's been complaining about having a headache for a few weeks and this morning he said his eye was bothering him.  He's also had some congestion.  We've been thinking it's allergies, but we decided to go ahead and make him an appointment today.

We walked both boys to school.

Morry and I had a meeting today with a client.

After school as we were about to leave to get the boys it started raining, so we drove close to the school and walked the rest of the way.

At 3:45pm I took Noah to the doctor.  The doctor thinks he just has a cold and the headache could be from not getting enough sleep.  If the cold isn't better in a few days we need to get him checked for a sinus infection. 

For dinner we had cheesy foldovers and salad.

The boys just had a bath and now they are in their rooms.

Baseballin'

This morning we walked to school without any issues.

While the boys were in school Morry and I had lunch at Einstein's Bagels.  A new one opened near us.

Morry picked the boys up from school and Gabby came over since I was tutoring.

Morry and the boys were leaving for baseball as I got home.

Around 6:30 I picked up Noah and brought him home.

Morry and Evan should be on their way home now. 

Hoo Hoo

This morning the boys seemed a little sleepy, but there were so complaints on the way to school.

When I was taking Lizzy for a walk our neighbors asked me if I wanted to see the owl in their tree.  There was a little baby owl hanging out in their tree.

Morry and I met Evan for lunch at school. He was surprised and very happy to see us.

After school on our walk home I showed the boys the owl.  They thought it was pretty neat.

For dinner we had leftover chicken with potatoes and salad.

The boys are playing Wii now.  In a few minutes we'll get them ready for bed.

New Week

This morning Noah threw a fit going to school.  He decided he didn't want to walk and let the whole neighborhood know how he felt. 

Morry picked up the boys from school and said they were in good moods. 

While I was tutoring Gabby came over.

For dinner we had grilled chicken and corn on the cob.

The boys are playing Wii now.  Soon, we'll get them ready for bed.

Another Game

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Like yesterday, we took it easy in the morning.  The boys played Wii for a bit and then they went upstairs and play with their Legos.

They both ate a great lunch which was nice.  Shortly after lunch we got ready for Noah's game.

We got to the field and warmed up.  Noah was hitting well.  Then he and Evan starting having a catch while I worked with the rest of his team practicing batting.

We won again.  Second game in a row.  We played the same team as last week so I felt good about our chances.  Noah had a great game as well.  I had him at pitcher in the first inning.  He fielded all the balls that came to him cleanly.  He threw out a runner at first as well.  It was the first time he had thrown out a runner.  In the third inning, he hit the ball harder than I had seen him hit it in any game.  It went right up the middle into the outfield and he wound up with a double.  Noah has made himself into one of the dependable kids.  A bunch of the kids on the team are really improving.  It's nice to see.

After the game we came home and the boys played on the Wii.

Later in the afternoon, Evan and I played baseball in the front yard.

For dinner we had a corned beef and potatoes.  We gave the kids showers and now they are in bed.

Until next time...

Evan's First Full Game

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We really didn't do anything this morning.  I got up around 9:30 and came downstairs and played with the boys.  Rachel came down a bit later.

Rachel did some work around the house and I did a bit of my own work.  Then we had lunch.

After lunch, Rachel got a text from Cole's mom inviting Noah over to Cole's.

Evan and I went to the fields a bit more than an hour before we needed to be there.  We practiced a bunch.  I hit lots of groundballs to Evan and we worked on some hitting as well as fielding at first base.  While we were there, one of the boys from Evan's team in the spring last year stopped by and said hello.  Evan really appeared to perk up when he saw him.

The game went well.  Evan's team won.  In the first he grounded into a force out, but in the third inning he ripped a line drive that easily got between the left-center and right-center fielders all the way to the fence.  When the coach saw how fast Evan was running around the bases, he sent him home figuring that they weren't going to have a play at the plate.  He was right.  One of the boys picked Evan up and squeezed him.  He was very excited.  Evan singled in the fifth and scored the final run on a nice slide home.

I had promised Evan that he could get a Slurpee with a sour candy straw if he hit a home run.  I kept my promise and we stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home and got one for each boy.

We had dinner when we got home and now the boys are both in Evan's room for bed.

Until next time...

Backflips for Friday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning went very well when I woke up the boys until we were going to leave and Noah declared he wanted to ride bikes.  I hadn't gotten the bikes ready so we had to walk and this upset Noah.

Rachel and I came back home and I did work.  Around lunchtime, we went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.

In the afternoon, Rachel went to get her hair cut and I walked to pick up the boys.  When Noah came out, he told me that Jack's class is paired with Noah's class to act as big siblings.  And it turns out that Noah's "big brother" is Jack, apparently.  Noah was very excited by this.  Also, on Friday's, Mr. Valdes has been helping the kids do "backflips".  Noah seems to like this.

We walked home with Jack's family and Evan stayed at Jack's while Noah and I went home.

Around 5, Jack and Evan came over to our house.  Jack left around 6pm.

We went to dinner at Cypress Grill and then walked to Great Clips to get hair cuts for the boys.

We are home now and the boys are both staying in Evan's room tonight.  We'll see how that works out.

Until next time...

Meet Evan's Teacher

This morning as we were walking by Jack's house their dog got out and ran down the street.  I grabbed him. Morry walked him back.  Jack and Audrey walked to school with us while John put the dog back in the house.

The boys were in good moods at pickup.

At 5:30 Blanca came over and Morry and I went to the Back to School night with Evan's teacher.  She seemed really nice and organized.

When we got home we ate dinner, gave the boys showers, and got them ready for bed.

They should be in bed now, but for some reason they are playing in the hallway. 

Baseball Wednesday

This morning we walked to school.

Noah's lunch is at 10:35.  Morry and I met Noah for lunch at school and surprised him.  He didn't know we'd be coming.  He seemed really happy.  He got to sit with us and his buddy Cole at lunch.  Here's a picture.

Morry picked up the boys from school since I was tutoring.

Gabby came over until it was time for Morry and the boys to leave for baseball practice.

I picked up Noah at the field after his practice. Morry and Evan stayed for Evan's practice.  They got home around 9pm.

Both boys are in their rooms and Morry's getting his dinner ready now.

Our day

This morning Morry got the boys ready for school and I walked them.  Morry had a meeting to go to and needed to leave the house around the same time we leave for school.

While the boys were in school I got a therapy massage and went to a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch.

We walked to get the boys from school and they were in good moods.

For dinner we had leftovers from last night.

Morry is on a phone meeting now.  The boys are in their rooms ready for bed.

Another Good and Busy Monday

This morning the boys were good and we had no issues walking to school. 

Morry picked the boy up from school since I was tutoring.  Gabby came over when they got home.

When I got home from tutoring we got dinner ready.  I had put some chicken and rice in the crockpot, so dinner was mostly done when I got home.

Soon, we'll get the boys ready for bed.

Noah's First Game

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today was a big day for Noah.  He had his first game of the baseball season at 3:30 and this morning he had his friend Cole come over for a few hours.

Cole came over around 10am.  Noah and Cole went upstairs while Evan stayed downstairs playing the Wii.  I ran out to Office Depot to get a clipboard for the game.

At noon, the Steelers game started and Evan and I watched the game together.  Shortly after the game started, Cole's mom came and picked him up.  Noah watched a bit of the game with us.

We left the house about 2:25 for the game.  Evan came with us.  I had batting practice before the game.  After seeing how good Noah's team last year, I wasn't that hopeful about today's game.  My goal was really to get each kid an opportunity to play and help learn and enjoy baseball.  As you may remember, a half inning ends after 5 runs or 3 outs.  In the first, our team was able to score 5 runs.  Noah had a great hit that went into the outfield.  I started him out at the pitcher's position in the bottom of the first.  At one point, something happened that I had never seen happen.  The ball was hit to Noah who fielded it.  I saw how fast the boy was who hit it so rather than having him throw to first I had him hold the ball up above his head.  That essentially is like a timeout and the runners cannot advance from the base they were headed to.  What I didn't realize is the kid on first base thought that the pitcher's mound was 2nd base.  I realized that there was a kid standing right next to Noah that wasn't on his team.  Before Noah realized it the kid ran to second.  Now technically, he was out for running out of the baseline but I decided not to push the issue.  You can see the photos of the boys running to the pitchers mound below.  All the kids on our team played really well, considering 7 of the 12 had never played baseball before.  In the bottom of the third, we had recorded two outs.  There were runners on 1st and 2nd.  The ball came right to one of the new kids at 3rd and he picked up and tagged the base for the third out giving us the win.  It was very exciting.  I think all the kids had a really good time.  They all listened really well.  All in all it was a very good experience for everyone.

We came home and the boys cleaned up and then we had dinner.

We're about to give them a shower.

Until next time...

Rain Game

This morning we went to Home Depot.  They had a craft workshop for kids.  The boys each made a football toss game. They seemed to really enjoy doing that. 

After Home Depot we went to Michaels.

We ate lunch at home and later in the afternoon Morry and Evan went to Evan's pre-game practice.

Noah and I got there as the game was starting and it looked like it could rain.  It was really windy.   During the game it started to rain and as soon as they saw lightening they canceled the game.   Evan was upset that he only got to play a little.  He did get a good hit and got to 2nd base.

We ate at home for dinner and Evan noticed a rainbow outside.  We took a few pictures.

For dessert we went to TCBY.

Now we are getting the boys ready for bed.

It's Friday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It took a little while to wake Noah up this morning.  It's not that he was giving me a hard time, it's just that he was very sound asleep.  Once he got up, he was in his normal good mood and excited for school.

We walked to school and while we were walking Jack came up on his bike.  Evan ran with Jack up to the school.

Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.

When we picked the boys up from school, we talked to Mr. Valdes for a bit.  He said that he posted a writing sample of Noah's up on the wall as an example to the other kids of how it looks to write a sentence.  Noah seemed very proud.  Noah also finished his first sticker chart and got to pick something from the treasure box.

On the way home, we saw Jack again.  I walked with Jack's dad while Evan ran and Jack rode his bike home.  

I did some work and then Evan had practice.  Evan played a bunch of shortstop tonight.  He made a nice play.  There was a short pop up that he couldn't get in to catch in the air.  A boy was on first.  He caught it off the bounce and then raced back to second and dove touching the bag before the boy got there.

We had leftovers for dinner.  Then the boys helped me put the license plates I just got on the car. 

Evan has his first game of the season tomorrow night and Noah has his first game on Sunday.

Until next time...

Money Down the Drain

We were going to walk the boys to school this morning.  Both were complaining about it being wet out.  It rained last night, but wasn't raining today.  We ended up driving them to the path and then walking from there.

While the kids were in school we had a plumber come over.  We bought a new faucet for the kitchen sink, but when they got there, they said we also needed a new garbage disposal.  Morry ran out to pick one up and then we got everything fixed.

We walked to get the boys from school.

Before dinner Morry and Evan ran out to the baseball field to pick up a hat for a new player on the team.

For dinner we had pizza.  This time I made the dough and it turned out well.

We just got the boys ready for bed.

Busy with Baseball

This morning was the first morning Noah gave us a hard time.  He said he had a headache and we gave him some medicine.  He is getting over a cold.  But, then when it was time to walk to school he started throwing a fit about wanting to drive there.  We still ended up walking, but he threw a fit most of the way to school.

Morry picked the boys up from school since I left to go tutor.

Gabby game over to babysit once they got home.

I got home just as Morry and the boys were leaving for baseball practice.  Noah's practice was for 5:30-6:30 and Evan's was scheduled for 6:30-8:30.  I picked up Noah after his practice and brought him home.

About 8:00 Morry and Evan came home.  They said there was lightening, so they ended practice early.

It just started raining, hard.

Evan's eating his dinner now and then we'll put the boys to bed.

Back to School Night

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Well, the long weekend didn't make it harder to get the boys going in the morning.  It was very easy to get both boys up for school and, like the first week, Noah was in a very good mood and excited to go to school.

Rachel and I didn't have anything going on during the day.  However, Rachel discovered the source of the smell that we thought was from the sink.  Rachel and I had both smelled what we thought was rotten food in the disposal.  Well apparently, our sink has been leaking.  But, somewhat fortuitously, we actually had a big bin below the sink that we kept some things in.  It was catching all the water and the water was moldy which was the source of the smell.  I carried the entire bin outside and dumped it.  It was gross.  We have a plumber coming to replace the faucet on Thursday.  I'd like him to look at the disposal too and make sure it's not that.

Rachel and I walked to pick the boys up.  It was really really hot.  It was over 100 and very humid.

In the afternoon, Rachel helped the boys with their homework and reading.

Blanca came over a bit after five and Rachel and I walked to the school for Back to School Night.  We have two of these.  Kindergarten and second grade are on different days.  Today was Kindergarten.  It was nice but we didn't learn anything new since Noah has the same teacher that Evan had when he was in Kindergarten.

We came home and ate dinner while the boys played upstairs.  We had Blanca give them food.

Now the boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Labor Day = Shopping Day

This morning we went shopping at Dicks Sporting goods to get the boys stuff they need for baseball.  Unfortunately, it wasn't such a successful trip.  They didn't have what we needed.

We ate lunch at home and then I took Noah over to Cole's house for a little bit.

Later in the afternoon Morry took the boys to Academy to look for the baseball stuff and they were unsuccessful there too. 

Morry picked up Chipotle for us for dinner on the way home.

The boys are cleaning up now.

In a little bit we'll get them ready for bed.

Another Practice

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I came downstairs this morning and Evan was play MLB Power Pros on the Wii.  I did some work on the computer while sitting in the family room while the boys played.

When Rachel came downstairs we decided to go for a walk at the Circle C Park.  We took Lizzy and let her off the leash.  She just loves to be off the leash.  She stays right with us most of the time.  Even when she gets a bit ahead of us she'll look back, see where we are and stop and wait until we catch up.

There's a dried up creek there and the boys looked for fossils.

We came home and had lunch.

Then we went early to the fields for Noah's practice.  Evan had wanted to play at the fields all day and was disappointed that we didn't go there when I work up this morning.  We worked on hitting for a while.

When everyone else came, we got on the fields and worked on fielding as well as hitting.  The kids made great strides between Thursday and Sunday.  We have some fast kids on the team.  That may help us out.

We stayed another hour and a half after practice with some others from the team.  One of the boys on Noah's team has an older brother who is Evan's age.  It turns out they know each other from school and were having a good time playing with each other.

We came home and ate dinner, gave the kids baths, and they are in bed now.

Until next time...