Chewie Training

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was a bit hectic as there was an issue with getting insurance documents from a patient.  I was working with my tech team to trying to understand what was going on.

Rachel tutored before she went into the school to teach.

While I was making lunch for the boys, the trainer came to work with Chewie.  She's working with him to not get "triggered" by the garage door and the door from the garage into the house.  By that I mean, he gets especially excited when he sees the garage door open because he knows he's going for a walk.  So she spent about 50 minutes with him opening the door and closing the door, etc...  It's good for Chewie.

In the afternoon, Rachel came home and laid down for a bit and then she tutored the rest of the afternoon.  She and Evan left around 5:45 as Evan catching practice and then he was catching bullpen sessions.  Rachel tutors out there so she brings him, tutors him, then picks him up.

For dinner, I made a spicy grilled shrimp which Evan and Rachel had and dirty rice for Noah and me.

The boys are upstairs playing and Rachel and I are about to sit down.

Until next time...

Monday and Tuesday

 Yesterday the dog trainer came around lunchtime.

I Zoom tutored in the afternoon.

Evan's baseball lesson was canceled.

I made salmon for the boys and me and Morry had bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin.

I was up late last night working on lesson plans.

This morning I Zoom tutored in the morning and then went to school.  I stayed an hour after my classes to give a retake quiz to a student.

On my way home I stopped at Dollar Tree to get some prizes for my students.

I had more Zoom tutoring and teacher in this afternoon.  On Tuesdays, I teach a Hebrew class to 6 kids on Outschool.

Today was Noah's day to work on Hebrew with Grandma too.

Evan and Morry went to baseball practice.

When I was done tutoring, Noah and I walked to Grandma and Papa's house to get some food they had for us.  Grandma had ordered smoked whitefish for Yom Kippur and gave some to us.

We had a late dinner at around 9pm when Morry and Evan got home.

Now Morry and I are going to watch some tv and the boys are playing video games.

Dog Trainer

 This morning I dropped Evan off at his friend's house at 8:30am.  They invited him to go on the lake again.  He had a fun time water skiing and surfing.

At noon a dog trainer came.  She's going to be training Chewie on leash walking.  Today was just the initial consultation.  She seemed nice and Chewie liked her and did well.

After that Morry and I took Chewie to the leashless hiking trail at Emma Long.  He had a great time, of course.

On the way home, we stopped at Black Rock Coffee.

Before dinner Morry, Evan, and I went to H-E-B to pick up dinner and groceries for the week.

We ate dinner outside.

Now the boys are playing some until it's time for bed.

Baseball + Pinthouse

 This morning we took it easy.

Morry, Chewie, and I went for a walk.

Around 1:15 Morry and Evan left for Evan's baseball game.  I left a little bit later and met them there.

I had planned to stop by to pick up the race packets for the Cap10k that was canceled in April.  They had packet pick-up for anyone that still wanted the t-shirt and medal.  A friend of mine was going to pick up hers and offered to get ours too, so that was nice.

I stopped at her house on the way home from the baseball game to get the race packets.

For dinner, we picked up Pinthouse Pizza.  Grandma and Papa ordered from there too so we got their food and dropped it off at their house.  We brought Chewie with us and he enjoyed seeing them.

We ate our pizza outside.

Now the boys are playing video games and we will watch a movie.

Very Busy Week

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It's been a very busy week.  At work I've been very busy as we've been adding new customers and I've been helping the customers and the clinicians.  Also we're trying to raise money right now.  Rachel has been tutoring quite a bit.  All but one tutoring session is online, but still Rachel is busy on top of teaching at school.  The one thing that has made this week a bit easier is that Evan's hitting lesson on Monday and practice on Tuesday were cancelled.

The boys have just finished up their third week of virtual school.  They are doing well.  We're lucky in that the boys are very disciplined and we don't need to micromanage them.  I do think they're learning.  For us, I think the virtual school is going well.

Today, I had a dentist appointment.  I hadn't been to the dentist since last December.  The next appointment was supposed to take place in June but obviously it was delayed.  It went smooth.  Nothing wrong with my teeth.

Today is the 11th anniversary of Rachel's cancer diagnosis.  We always try to do something a little special on this day to really celebrate life.  I couldn't be with Rachel at lunch but on her break between classes she went to the lake and ate her lunch.  For dinner, she felt like Hula Hut so we picked up dinner from there.  She also picked up a cookie cake.

Right now the boys are playing on the Playstation.  We're about to sit down to watch some tv.

Until next time...

More Rain

 Today we had more rain.  It was raining most of the day.

I didn't teach today, so I was home, but I still had tutoring.

For lunch, the kids had pork tenderloin meals we got from H-E-B.

At 4:00 I Zoom tutored a college student.  I have tutored her since she was in middle school and the mom recently contacted me because she needs help with her college Algebra class.

At 5:00 I Zoom tutored the girl whose mom found me on Facebook.  I meet with her twice a week for 30 minutes each.  She's in 8th grade.

After I was done tutoring, Morry and I went to H-E-B to pick up some groceries for the week.

When we got home we got dinner ready. Morry had leftover Chinese food.  I had a chickpeas/rice/cauliflower prepared meal, and the kids had pasta.

Before dinner, Evan and Noah played basketball outside with our new neighbor, Riley who is Noah's age.

Now the boys are playing video games until it's time for bed.

Beautiful Weekend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was a beautiful weekend here Austin. Both Saturday and Sunday were in the low 80s and sunny with a nice breeze.

Yesterday, Evan and I enjoyed the outside in Liberty Hill, TX where he played two baseball games.  It was actually on the "cool" side when we got there.  It was around 71 degrees.  The sun came out and made it a perfect day for baseball.  Evan caught all of Game 1.  He also batted second in the lineup and knocked in the first and third runs of the game.  The coach was really pleased with Evan's approach at the plate and I thought Evan did a great job calling the pitches for the pitcher.  In game 2, Evan played third base and didn't get a whole lot of action there.  All-in-all, Evan was 1-3 with a walk, two RBIs, and two runs scored on the day.

We came home and Rachel, Evan and I went out to a restaurant for the first time since June.  We went to a restaurant called Abuelo's.  We sat on their patio.  It was really nice.  Again the temperature was great.  We felt very safe as we were not close to other people and the server was really good.  It was a good time eating out.

Today, Rachel and I went for a walk on a trail that is only a 5 minute drive from our house.  We didn't know it existed.  On the hike is a really big pond.  We brought Chewie and he loved it. I think we'll go there quite a bit more since it's so close.

For dinner, we picked up Hunan Lion today and ate out on our back patio.

Everyone is about to get ready for bed.

Until next time...

End of Week 2

 Hello everyone, this is Morry.

On Friday's, Noah has what they call "C" day.  All of his classes are asynchronous learning.  That is when he is supposed to do work that is assigned to him from the classes. If a teacher wants to run a synchronous class to make up for something the teacher can do it during the time that the period would be.  Noah didn't have anything synchronous today, so he just did school work all day.

Evan had normal school and Rachel had to go in to teach.

Before lunch, I had to take Pixel in for booster shots for her vaccines.  You can't go in the vet.  I just had to bring her and sit in the car.

After school and after I was done work, we went to HEB to get fruit and food for the weekend. Right before we left though, Evan and I stood back-to-back.  Can you determine who is taller?

We all had separate things for dinner.  After dinner, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk.

We're about to sit down to watch a movie.

Until next time...

Our Thursday

 This morning I did Zoom tutoring from 8:45am-9:15 and then left for school.

Morry took Grandmom/Marilyn to her doctor's appointment.

After school, I stopped by the compounding pharmacy to get my progesterone.

I tutored again at 5:00 and 5:30.

The boys had their virtual school and then Noah met with Grandma on Facetime for Hebrew.

For dinner, Morry made grilled chicken.  We ate outside.

We took Chewie for a short walk.

Now the kids are playing video games and will get ready for bed soon.

Outdoorsy Day

 This morning I tutored on Zoom from 8:15am -9 and then went to my school.  

I was there from 10am - 2pm.  I have a two-hour break from 11-1 each Wednesday and Friday.  During that time today, I went for a run on the trails near the school.

Here are a few pictures.

When I came home Morry was heating up Evan's chicken for lunch.

At 4:45pm I tutored on Zoom and then took Evan to his baseball practice.

From there, I went to tutor in-person at a nearby house.  This family lives right on the lake.  We sit outside on their covered porch with a view of the lake.  Not bad!

When Evan and I got home, we all had dinner. Morry made dirty rice and shrimp.

The new Playstation is available on pre-order now and Noah's been trying all night to try to order one.  The websites for Target and Amazon are slow now with everyone trying to buy one.  I'm not sure if was able to get one or not.  I'll find out tomorrow.

Many Meetings

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

With the new virtual learning, Noah is getting up before me.  When I leave my room, he's up and getting ready for the day.  It's weird to see him up when I'm up.  Since the pandemic started, I've always been the first one getting up.

I had several meetings today.  Tuesdays are long days for both Rachel and me.  For some reason, Tuesdays are now the days that I have the most meetings. But it's also the day that most of Rachel's students requested tutoring.  So it feels like we're both on the computer all day.  Rachel did go in to teach in the morning but from there, she's got several tutoring sessions in the afternoon through the early evening.

Evan also has baseball practice on Tuesdays.  I drove him to practice.  He had a good practice.  Today he spent more time working on defense at third base.

After we got back home, I cooked ribeyes for the boys and me.  Rachel made herself fish.

Rachel and I are about to sit down and watch a show.

Until next time...

First Monday

 Today was the first Monday back to school.

I don't teach on Mondays, so it was nice having a day to plan lessons and get ready for the week.

I went for a run.

At one point, we heard Noah jumping around upstairs for his P.E. class.

I Zoom tutored at 5pm and then we went to HEB.

We stopped at Chipotle to pick up dinner on the way home.

After dinner, Morry and Evan went to Evan's baseball lesson.

They are home now and the boys will be getting ready for bed soon.

A Weekend Day without Baseball

 Today we took it easy.  We had no plans.

Morry and I took Chewie for a walk on the greenbelt trails in the neighborhood.

Then, Morry went to watch football at the Manti's house.

This afternoon we were all home and took it easy.

For dinner, we had leftovers and watched the movie, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

The kids are finishing their schoolwork that they couldn't do on Friday because the internet was down.

It was nice to have a day with nothing planned.

No Internet + Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday was a fairly normal day.  I did get up early to smoke a pork butt/shoulder to make pulled pork.  I started working.  The boys got up and got on the computer at their designated time for school.  Just before Rachel was going to leave to teach, Evan came out of his room and yelled that the Wifi was down.  Then Noah came out and yelled that too.  Then I noticed on my computer that things weren't working.  So I got up and I rebooted the modem. When it booted up it was blinking as if there was no internet connection.  So I rebooted again.  Still nothing.  So then I went into the garage where the line comes into the house - that was blinking red.  Then Noah yelled down that some of his friends were down too.  It appeared that Google Fiber was down in our neighborhood.  Except, as it turns out, it wasn't just our neighborhood, but most of the city.  Anyone with Google as their service provider had no network.  What made it especially bad is then everyone was trying to use their phone to connect to the internet so even that network became almost unusable.  As it turned out, the internet was down, for us, until 9:30 at night.  For some in the neighborhood, it was still out today.

After school should have ended, Rachel, Noah and I took Evan to his friend's house.  They were going to the lake to go do something like wakeboarding on a bigger board.  He was gone for most of the evening. After we dropped Evan off, we went to HEB to do some shopping for the weekend.

Today, Evan had a doubleheader.  His team is now considered a high school age team and there are no youth tournaments going on right now for high school age teams.  So they spend the fall just playing doubleheaders against other organizations to keep in baseball shape to prepare for high school tryouts in January.  Evan played third for most of the first game.  He was 1 for 2 hitting with a single to drive in the tying run.  In the second game, he caught the whole game.  He batted once and got hit with the first pitch he saw.  He looked pretty good today.  He's mostly working on consistency at catcher and third and to improve on hitting.

We came home and relax a bit.  Then Rachel and I went out and got dinner.  We picked up Subway for the boys and got pizza from Via 313 for us.

After dinner, we dropped Evan off at Reid's house. Then we took a walk and now we're about to watch a movie.

Until next time...

Rain + School Day 2 and 3

We have had a ton of rain the last few days.  It cooled off and we had a high in the 60s today.

I had to move my last class indoors yesterday because it started to thunder and lightning.

School is going well for everyone.  The boys aren't complaining too much.  Noah gets lots of long breaks, which is good.

Today I tutored in the morning and then again in the afternoon.

I'm considering selling my blog and got a preliminary valuation of my site.  Tonight I spoke on the phone with a friend who sold her site last year and she gave me some great advice as well as the agent she used.

After dinner, Morry and I took a short walk with Chewie.  We saw a couple of deer running around and then saw a car hit one of them!  It ran off, so I hope that was a good sign.  

Well.. not much else is happening around here.

First Day of School 2020

Today was the first day of school for Evan, Noah, and me.

Evan and Noah had online classes and my school started back in person.

Noah's first class was at 8:15am and Evan's first class was at 9am.

I tutored a student online at 8:45 and then went to my school.  I taught 2 classes today from 10am-12pm.  My school set up tents outdoors so I was able to teach outside. I hope to do that as much as possible.

Today Papa had his hip replacement surgery. It sounded like everything went as planned, but he's spending the night in the hospital to manage the pain and some other post-op issues.

I got home around 1pm, ate, and did some blog work.

Then starting at 4pm I tutored three students and taught my Hebrew class.

I've been teaching online through Outschool.  You create your own classes and use the platform to post them.  You determine how long the classes last, the number of students you will teach, and the price.  I decided to create a Hebrew alphabet class and have 6 students in my class that meets once a week for 8 weeks.

Evan had baseball practice tonight.

When Evan and Morry got home we ate dinner.

Both boys were pretty exhausted today.  It sounded like it went well, but it was just a long day sitting at the computer for both of them.  Evan didn't have that many breaks.

Back to School + Crazy 2020

 Hello again... after a long, long time.

I kept thinking I should write on the blog again, and here we are.

So, here's what's been going on in the last several months.

On March 12, the Thursday before Spring Break, Morry and the boys were looking forward to their annual Spring Training Florida trip.  We were starting to hear about more and more COVID-19 cases and by the end of the day, Spring Training was canceled.

On March 13, we got an automated call from the school district saying all schools and offices would close that day in order to remain vigilant and healthy.

So, pretty much everything started shutting down after that.

Spring Break was extended and the kids went back virtually on April 3.

Since then, we have mostly stayed at home except for occasionally shopping and outdoor activities.

Evan went back to baseball and they had several games and practices this summer.

We also got a kitten. A friend of mine need to quickly find a home for a kitten and we volunteered to "help". 

Here's Pixel.

Over the summer, instead of going to Europe as planned, we updated our kitchen and some other areas of our house.  We added wood floors in the kitchen, removed the half wall between the living room and dining room, removed our old kitchen island and column, and replaced it with an counter-height island.  We also had the cabinets painted and other walls in the house painted.  Oh, and we put tile in the laundry room and bathroom.

Before:

After

Tomorrow, we go back to school.  The kids start their online school. Evan is now in 9th grade at high school and Noah is in 7th grade in middle school. 

My school is going back in person tomorrow.  I'll be teaching two middle school math classes.  I'm hoping to use the outdoor classroom as much as possible.

That's it for now.  I took videos and pictures over the last few months and will add more of those later.