Family Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We had a really loud and violent storm at around 4am.  It scared Lizzy.  Evan said he woke up to it.  Amazingly, Noah slept through the entire thing.

This morning, though it was super nice.  We decided to take a walk around the lake as a family since we didn't have baseball this weekend.  We brought Lizzy.  Lizzy was so happy to go on the walk.  At one point we let her in the water.  We had a hard time getting her out.

On the way home, the boys wanted bagels from Wholy Bagel so we stopped there and then went across the street to get smoothies at Smoothie King.

Later in the afternoon, Evan and I went to play basketball at the Circle C Park.

For dinner we went to Uncle Maddio's.

The boys will be getting ready for bed soon.

Until next time...

TGIF

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

After walking the boys to school this morning, I went to Kick Pleat to set up the POS hardware at the Austin store.  They'll probably switch it over some time next week.

I met Rachel at Wholy Bagel for lunch.

We walked to get Noah in the afternoon.  Evan went to Wade's after school.

After picking Evan up at Wade's, we went to Trudy's for dinner.

We did a big shopping trip at HEB on the way home from Trudy's.

The boys are in bed.

Until next time...

More Baseball

This morning we walk to school, like usual.

I went for a run.

Morry had a lunch meeting.

I did some work during the day and got some things done around the house.

We walked to pick up the kids from school.  Before heading home, we went in the school for the book fair.  The boys picked out a few books and Evan insisted on buying a book for one of his teachers.  He picked out a novel for his teacher to keep in the classroom.  The teacher was at the book fair so Evan handed him the book as we were leaving.  He seemed surprised and thanked Evan for the gift.

We walked home.

A little while later, I needed to leave for tutoring.  Since Evan had a baseball lesson with Chris, Noah had a choice to come with me or them.  He chose to come with me to tutoring.

We all got home around the same time and then made dinner - grilled chicken and couscous.

The boys are in bed now.

More Baseball Practice

Today, we walked the kids to school.

I did some work during the day for Kick Pleat.

We walked to pick up the boys from school.

Audrey came over for tutoring and Morry and Evan left for baseball.

They got home around 8:00.  It sounded like it was a good practice. We gave his dinner and now we will get our dinner ready.

Another Monday

This morning we walked to school.  It was pretty muggy outside.

I went for a run later in the morning and did some things around house.

Morry went into Aaron's.

We walked to school to pick up the kids.

Evan and Jack played outside at Jack's house for a little while before we got home.

Later in the afternoon Morry and Evan played outside.

For dinner we had spring rolls and stir fry.  We made our own spring rolls.  It was kind of messy, but the boys enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from dinner.

Another Long Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan's teammate Carter came over this morning around 7:20.  His brother was playing a baseball tournament in another part of town so they dropped Carter off for me to bring him to the game.  Evan, Carter and I stopped at Donut Taco Palace on the way up.

Rachel and Noah stopped by Aunt Susan's to see Sherah, JW and her kids before coming to see Evan play in his game.

The Bucs won the first game today.  It was a good game as we came from behind.

Rachel and Noah left after the first game and went back to Aunt Susan's.

In the second game, Evan played very well.  He made a beautiful throw over to get a runner out.  He fielded the ball almost on the third base bag and throw such a perfect throw to first that he beat the runner by about 3 or 4 steps.  In the final inning, Evan raced to get a foul ball near the dugout and dove in a way to avoid hitting the fence.  He just missed catching the ball.  Unfortunately, the other team was able to squeak out a win in their final at bat.

We had Coke ham for dinner.

After dinner, we went to Sweet Caroline's for shaved ice for the first time this year.

The boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Passover 2016

This morning Evan had a baseball game out in Taylor (1 hour+ away).  Morry and Evan left the house around 6:30am.  Evan's team won the first game and lost the second game.

While they were gone, I dropped Noah off at Grandma and Papa's house and went for a run.  After the run I helped them get some things ready for the Passover seder.

Noah and I came back to the house in the afternoon for a little bit.

Around 5pm we all (about 50 people) came to Grandma and Papa's house for the seder.  We had a really nice time.  Morry played the part of "God" during the seder.  He spoke from the upstairs playroom and threw props down for the plagues.  The kids really enjoyed that.  I think Morry enjoyed that part too.

We got home around 10pm.

Here are some pictures from the seder.

Noah Back to School

This morning Noah was feeling better and was able to go to school. We all walked there.

I went for a run this morning and then made a ton of matzo balls for the Passover seder tomorrow.

Morry and I went to Wholy Bagel for lunch and stopped at HEB on the way home.

We walked to pick up the kids from school and Wade came home with us.

Evan, Wade, and Nathan played in the cul-de-sac for most of the afternoon.

Wade was picked up around 5:30.

We ate dinner at Cypress Grill.  Evan ate very well.  Noah didn't eat very much.

In a little bit the boys will get ready for bed.

Non Stop

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Noah stayed home from school again this morning.  We probably could have sent him, but I think it would have been pushing it.  He hadn't eaten in more than 24 hours.  We wanted to see him take it easy for one more day.

Meanwhile, just as Evan and I were about to leave to go to school, the skies opened up.  We drove and parked out front and ran in.  Even in that short distance, we got pretty wet.

Later in the morning, I went to get my hair cut.  After that I went into Aaron's to go over some things.

From Aaron's, I met Coach Chris, the coach who works with Evan sometimes for lunch at Austin Pizza Garden.  During the day, Chris works at a startup tech company.  He had some questions for me and wanted to talk about potential projects.  It was a good lunch.

Rachel walked to get Evan when I got home.  She hadn't been out of the house all day.

Rachel left to go tutor later in the afternoon.  As she was leaving the family cancelled.  Rachel went to Walmart to get some things she needed (she had some coupons).

Evan and I left just as Rachel was coming home to go work out with Coach Chris.

For dinner we had pasta.

The boys will be getting ready for bed soon.

Until next time...

Sick Noah

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning it started to rain just as we were about to leave.  We heard thunder so we decided to drive.  I called the boys down and Noah said that he couldn't come downstairs.  He couldn't walk.  When Noah doesn't want to do something, this is the excuse he often gives.  He said he was dizzy.  I didn't want to hear it and I yelled at him and made him come downstairs and get in the car.  Then we ran from the car down the trail into the school.

At 8:30, the phone rang and I saw on the caller ID it was someone from school.  I had a bad feeling.  The nurse was on the phone and she told me that Noah vomited.  I went and picked him up.  This was literally the first time in his life he had ever vomited.  He's had a stomach of steel up until now.  Unfortunately, there is a bug going around school.  Both of Noah's buddies were home today with a stomach bug.  Once Noah left, 7 of the 20 kids were home with a stomach bug.  Evan is not allowed anywhere near Noah.

I stayed home all day.  Rachel stayed home as well.

I walked and picked Evan up while Rachel stayed with Noah.

With all the rain, we weren't able to practice at our normal field.  So we practiced at the elementary school.  We didn't truly have a field so it was mostly throwing, pitching and conditioning.  The boys loved it.

For dinner, we had flank steak and corn on the cob.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.  We'll see if Noah can go to school.  He hasn't eaten anything but he's had a bunch of Gatorade.  He says his stomach is not bothering him and he's not dizzy.

Until next time...

End of Math Pentathlon

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rain was predicted for today but it held off all day long.  We were able to walk to school this morning with no problem.

Rachel went for a run this morning.  Later she had another call with the Point of Sale people.  She's creating a cheat sheet for the Houston store.

I stayed home all day long.

Rachel had her long tutoring today so I went by myself to get Evan.  Noah had a Math Pentathlon party after school today.  This was the last event for it.  Next Tuesday, he'll come home like normal.

I dropped Noah off with Grandma on the way to batting practice.

Evan had a good batting practice.  He had fun with his friends.

The boys are about to get ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Austin Flooding

This morning school was delayed 2 hours.  There was a lot of flooding in the Austin area from the overnight storms.  Luckily, around us we were fine.

We drove the boys to school, since it was raining.

We were able to walk to pick them up since it had cleared up some.

Later in the afternoon it started pouring down rain again.

For dinner, we had leftover pizza and salad.

Evan is playing video games and Noah is working on a project for school.

Baseball Cancelled

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan's second day of the baseball tournament was supposed to start with a 10am game.  The fields are about an hour south of us and we needed to be there by 9 for warmups so we were planning to leave around 8.   When I woke up around 7 it was raining.  But we hadn't gotten any word from the tournament organizers that it was cancelled.  So I got up and got dressed and Evan put on his uniform.  I made lunch for Evan and got his water ready.  At 7:50, we finally got word that baseball was cancelled.  Luckily it happened before we started the drive down.

I went back to sleep for a while.  Evan said that since we weren't playing baseball, he wanted to see Batman vs Superman.  Rachel had taken Noah a few weeks ago but Evan hadn't gotten to see it.  Noah wanted to come along.  Rachel left to go to HEB and after that she was tutoring a student.  After she went to HEB, we left for the movies.

After the movie, we came home and the boys cleaned up.  Because of all of our busy weekends, the boys hadn't cleaned up in a while so it was a big one.

For dinner, we ordered Papa John's and had a movie night.  Evan bought the movie Creed with some of his birthday money.  The boys and I had seen it in the movie theater but Rachel hadn't seen it.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Noah - Math Pentathlete

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today was the day of Math Pentathlon.  Noah has been going every Tuesday in preparation for today.  He had to play all 5 games.  There were around 25 elementary schools from around Austin represented.  We left the house at 7am to take him.   Rachel and I took separate cars.  Rachel dropped Evan off with Darius because Evan had two baseball games today.

The actual Pentathlon was in northeast Austin at a basketball gym shared by several Austin high schools.  The kids were on the floor and the parents were up in the stands.  There was one "monitor" for every two kids.  The monitors were parent volunteers.  They did not act as a referee but rather handled a "challenge" where one of the players felt their opponent violated the rules.  Noah and I got there at 7:30 but we really didn't start until after 9am.  It was a lot of waiting and getting set up.  Each game was scheduled for 30 minutes although if the game was completed in less time, the kids could come back to the stands.

Noah lost his first game.  He came up to me and he put his face in my chest and cried.  I felt so bad for him.  We talked about it and I said it's just one game.  And he can't think about it any more.  I don't know if that made him feel any better or not.  But he went and crushed the kid in the next game he played.  I think he took 5-10 minutes in beating the other child.  This time he came back and he was very happy.  He won the next two games as well.  Both fairly easily and he was really happy. In the fifth and final game, he tied.  The game is very much luck and it's a long game that almost never completes in the 30 minutes.  Most times that game ends in a tie.  Each win was worth 3 points, a tie was worth 2 points and a loss was worth 1.  Noah ended with 12 points.  That got Noah a bronze medal.  He was so happy.  They had an awards ceremony where they called each kids name grouped by their point total.  So anyone 10 points and under got a certificate.  Eleven total points got them a certificate with an honorable mention.  Twelve points was a bronze medal and a t-shirt.  For 13 points, they got a silver medal and a t-shirt.  Fourteen points was a gold medal and a t-shirt.  And 15 points, which was perfect, got them a gold medal, a t-shirt and a "Hall of Fame" declaration of some sort.  There were probably 400 or more kids there.  It took a long time.  But Noah was really really happy and we were so proud of him.

Meanwhile, Evan played two games.  He told me he played really well in both games.  He got one hit today and walked every other time he came to bat.  So he was on base every time today.  The Bucs lost the first game, but Evan walked to drive in the winning run in the second game.  He was so excited to get a "walk-off walk".  He told me his friend on the team, Carter, pretended to interview him after the game on his game-winning walk.

He and Darius' family stopped at Whataburger on the way home.

For dinner, we just had pasta.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Houston and Bagels

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday we went to Houston.  Rachel had an check up with the doctor.  All went well.  I also set up the point of sale and Rachel taught the sales people how to use it.  It was a successful day.  We left the house at 5am and didn't get back until 8pm thought.  It was a long day.

We walked the boys to school this morning.  It was somewhat cool but nice out.

Rachel ran to Wholy Bagel today.  I drove and met her there.

Evan went over to Wade's after school so just Noah walked home with us.

We picked up Evan and Jack from Wade's and dropped Jack off at his house.  Then we went to Costco to get some things.

We stopped at Maudie's on the way home and got dinner for ourselves.

We're about to sit down and eat and the boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Kick Pleat

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel has been doing quite a bit of work for my client Kick Pleat.  She was up last night finishing up entering all their products into the new Point of Sale.   I set up the hardware here and she went through training today on doing a sale and a return and other stuff related to that.  She's also been printing out the bar codes for the products.

Last night was a late night because of baseball.  Rachel and I didn't get to eat until close to 9pm.

While Rachel was going through more training today, I ran out to Academy to get new baseball pants for Evan and I stopped at Home Depot to get a new board for the fence.

I went by myself to get the boys as Rachel was finishing up training.

For dinner we had hamburgers from the grill.

The boys are staying at Grandma and Papa's today as we are getting up early to go to Houston.  Rachel has a check up there and I'll set up the hardware for Kick Pleat at their new Houston store.

Until next time...

Non-stop

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Most of the day felt like we were moving non-stop.  In the morning, we had signed up for a 10K and in the afternoon, we scheduled Evan's birthday party.  We got up early this morning, around the same time that we do for school, to get to the 10K.  We left the house around 7am and found parking up South Congress near Home Slice.  We then walked to the start line.

All four of us ran the first mile.  At that point, Rachel and Evan continued running and Noah wanted to walk.  Rachel and Evan ran almost the whole time and finished the race in 1:15 for just under a 12 minute mile.  Noah wanted to run on the downhill and walk the uphill.  If it was flat, he would decide whether he felt like walking.  I don't know what our time was exactly but I think we finished about 15 to 20 minutes behind Rachel and Evan.

We had a meeting spot after the race.  Then we walked back to our car.  We stopped at HEB on the way home to pick up the cookie cakes we ordered for Evan's birthday.  One of them had the Villanova logo on them.

We came home, showered, ate and then drove to the location for Evan's party.  It was a big warehouse with wall-to-wall astroturf.  They provided someone to organize a flag football game.

All the kids played football for the first hour.  Fourteen of Evan's friends were there.  Also there were four siblings who played too. Then we went and had cake.  We came down and the kids played dodgeball.  The one game ended with Noah the last one left on his team.  Unfortunately, he could not pull off a miracle.  Then it was kids vs adults for dodgeball.  The kids demolished us.  I don't understand how that happened.  I thought for sure we'd kill them.  But they were smaller and much more nimble.

Many of the kids didn't want to leave the party.  It was a nice time.

When we came home, we had to do our Sunday routine.  Rachel made lunches and I dealt with the litter and recycling.

We had leftovers for dinner.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Evan's Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Since we couldn't truly celebrate Evan's birthday on his birthday, he had today to pick out what he wanted to do.

He wanted to start at Top Golf.  Grandma and Papa came with us. Normally, we golf for an hour but the computer froze up with about 2 minutes to go.  They came and gave us an extra 30 minutes so we got about an hour and a half.

After that, we stopped at Voodoo Donuts.  Evan got the donut he really wanted.

We came home and relaxed a bit, though Evan went outside and played basketball and then I threw the football to him.

For dinner, we picked up Grandma and Papa and went back downtown to go to Cooper's for barbeque.  It was pretty good.  The flavor is what I like.  It's kind of spicy.  After dinner, we drove to Big Top Candy Shop and Evan picked out candy for himself.

We had to stop at HEB on the way home to get some things for Evan's birthday party tomorrow.

The boys are upstairs.

Until next time...

Food Trailer Night

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel went for a run after we got back from walking the boys to school.  I was home all day.

We went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.  After that, we went to the Palmer Event Center to pick up our packets for the 10K we're doing on Sunday.  There was a really really long line.  It took us much longer than we anticipated.

Evan went to Wade's house after school so just Noah walked home with us.

When Evan got home, we had dinner.  We decided not to each dinner at the Food Trailer Night because the trailers are a bit more expensive and the portions tend to be small for what you pay.  But we were going to get dessert there.

We took Lizzy to the food trailers. She immediately got a ton of attention.  We bumped into Grandma and Papa there.  The boys got dessert and we stayed for a while longer.  Then we walked home.  Grandma and Papa walked with us until they had to turn to go to their house.

The boys are upstairs now.

Until next time...

No Tutoring

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel had additional calls with the Point of Sale company after walking the boys to school.  After that, she went to an event she was invited to for her blog.  When that ended she was close by to the north lunch for the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls so she went there.

I was home all day.  It was a fairly easy day for me.

Noah did his homework when we got home from school.  Later he wanted to watch the new Star Wars that he had ordered for himself with a gift certificate.  Evan played outside with some neighbors and then came in and watched the movie with Noah.

For dinner, we grilled chicken and corn.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Lots Going On

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

After our walk to school this morning, Rachel had a call with a Point of Sale company.  She's learning it for a client of ours.  She's going to teach all the people who work in the store how to use it after she sets it up.

I helped out Mike Gordon with something he was working on.

After that I went into Aaron's.  We had a phone call with a client.  I stopped at Smoothie King on the way home.

Rachel worked on the POS and had more calls with the company all afternoon.  I ended up on the phone with the client that Aaron and I spoke to as well.  So Rachel and I were both on the phone all the way up until we needed to get the boys.

Jack came home with us for tutoring.  Audrey came after that.

Evan and I went to baseball practice.  Rachel and Noah went to the Apple store because Rachel's battery is not holding a charge as well.  Then they went to HEB.

Evan had a good practice.  He was pitching especially well tonight.  He had a good time joking around with his buddies.  The boy who was catching for him kept joking "this is it!  For the World Series!" and then they'd jump into each other's arms.  It slowed down his pitching a bit since this was happening more frequently than it should have.  But Evan was having fun.

We had pasta and leftover Home Slice for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Best Birthday Present Ever

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When Villanova won with a last second buzzer beater last night, Evan started to scream that it was the "best birthday present ever."  He was really happy.  It took him a while to go go sleep last night.  He didn't have any problem getting up this morning though.  I think he was excited for his birthday.

After walking the boys to school, Rachel and I went to Donut Taco Palace and picked up donuts for Evan's class.

We went to the school around 12:15 for Evan's 12:30 lunch.  We brought the donuts.  Grandma and Papa met us.  We sat at the visitor's table for lunch with Evan.  Evan invited Wade and Jack to sit with us.  I think Evan was happy to have us there but he was still busy with his buddies.

Noah had Math Pentathalon after school.  Grandma volunteered and then Noah went home with her.  Rachel and I picked Evan up.  Later in the afternoon, Rachel went to tutoring and Evan and I went to batting practice.

Evan had a really good batting practice.  It was good to see him hit well.

For dinner, Evan asked that we pick up Home Slice.  Rachel stopped there on the way home from tutoring.  Grandma and Papa brought Noah home and stayed for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

The Big Game

This morning we walked to school.

I took it easy this morning and then went for a run.

We had someone come to fix and adjust our sprinklers.  He was here for a long time and it looks like everything is fixed and will keep our lawn in good shape.

Evan had a field trip today to Westcave Preserve.  He said he enjoyed it.  The went for a hike and learned about various trees and birds.

I had two students scheduled for tutoring today and wasn't able to pick up the boys.  Morry walked to pick them up from school.

I got home around 6pm and we make burritos for dinner.

The boys are all ready for bed now and watching the Villanova basketball game with Morry.

Baseball and a Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan had a game today at 10:45 which was the same time as yesterday.  Our morning was almost entirely the same.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace and then got to the game.

The game didn't go well for the Bucs.  The pitching was lacking and for some reason Evan didn't get to pitch.  I wish he had gotten an opportunity.  Perhaps we could have kept the game close.  Evan played second base the whole game and did well.

Rachel and Noah went to cheer for Deborah who was doing a 10 mile race today.  After they saw Deborah, they came over to watch Evan's game.

Evan and I stopped at Popeye's on the way home.

When we got home, Rachel and Noah were about to leave to go to a party for the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls.  Rachel had RSVP'd for both of them because we weren't sure how long Evan would be playing today.

Evan and I went to the park to play basketball.  Apparently Evan didn't play enough sports today.

For dinner, we just had leftovers.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Baseball Games, Movies and Villanova

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning I got up slightly early because Evan had a baseball tournament.  On the way to the tournament, we stopped at Donut Taco Palace.

When we got to the fields, the games were delayed because the umpires went to the wrong field.  The games were delayed by about an hour.  By the time the game started the boys had lost their energy.  The Bucs came out very slow and the other team scored 10 runs in the first two innings.  The Bucs ended up coming back but too little too late.

Rachel and Noah came to the first game after they stopped at Costco.  The only way Rachel could convince Noah to come was she bribed him by promising to take him to see Batman vs Superman in the afternoon.

In the second game, the team played much better.  Evan switched between third and second.  He played well.  He drive in the tying run with a hit to deep short and he beat out the throw.  If he hadn't made it the inning would have been over.  The Bucs ended up scoring one in the bottom of the final inning to win the game.  Evan was very excited.

When we got home, Rachel and Noah were still at the movies.  Evan and I put on the Villanova game.

Rachel and Noah got home and we decided to pick up pizza at Via 313.  I left at halftime to get the pizza.  It took a very long time.  I watched the game from Via 313.  Evan watched it at home.  He was actually texting me during the game which was fun.  Villanova absolutely crushed Oklahoma.  It was amazing.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Noah's Birthday Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It rained overnight but we were still able to walk to school this morning.

Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.  It was good.

When we walked to school, we just picked up Noah.  Evan went over to Wade's house.

At 5pm, Noah's friend Reed got dropped off at the house.  We packed up the car and then picked up Noah's friend Jude, then his friend Lucy and then we got Evan and went over to Blazer Laser Tag.

Noah had 17 friends at the party.  We invited more than we wanted with the assumption that we'd get some people declining.  But all but one kid came said yes.  They played one game of laser tag and then came out and they took a picture.  Then they marched Noah around to try to win some tickets at the arcade while all the kids changed "Noah! Noah!"  Then the kids played another game.  After that, they had pizza and then cake.  After food, they got tokens at the arcade.

Grandma and Papa picked up food from Sap's for our dinner.  We ate it at their house.

Noah is opening up his gifts now and then the boys will go to bed.

Until next time...