Coach Evan

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, the organization that Evan plays baseball at, TRPD was putting on a clinic for a recreation baseball league in the area.  Evan's coach asked Evan to help coach the the clinic.  I took Evan to get donuts and then dropped him off at the field.

I came home and then Rachel and I got Chewie and drove out to Hamilton Greenbelt for a hike.  Chewie just loves it there.  For the first few minutes of the hike, he was pulling and barking.  Then we saw people with a dog on a leash coming the opposite way on the path.  Chewie and the dog smelled each other and Chewie calmed down.  It was as if he just wanted to see another dog.

After our hike, we drove to the baseball fields to get Evan. We asked him how it was working with younger kids.  He said the first group of kids were in a line in the drill he was running.  Somehow, one of the kids cut in front of another kid.  Evan did not think it was on purpose.  That caused the kid who ended up behind to cry.  Evan said he thought to himself, what am I supposed to do.  But Evan was very proud of himself and told us he got the boy to stop crying within 30 seconds and they were back to doing the drill.

On the way back, we stopped at Goodwill to drop off some donations.  Then we drove to Black Rock and got some drinks.

Rachel and I ate our lunch outside on the back patio.  Then we talked a bit more about what we want the backyard to look like.

When dinner time rolled around, we decided to pick up food from La Posada.  That's what the boys wanted.  Rachel, Chewie and I went to pick it up.  We also picked up food for Grandma and Papa.  We dropped it off for them on the way home.

We just ate dinner.  The boys are now upstairs playing video games while Rachel is vacuuming.

Until next time...

Championship Sunday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning when I got up, Reid's dad, Tony, had texted me inviting us over for food and to watch the NFL Championship games.  So we agreed to go over there.  Rachel offered to make cookies.

So, Rachel made sugar cookies and icing. The boys helped decorate them.  Since Reid and his family are Yankees fans, Evan made a Yankees logo on one of the cookies.

Noah decided not to come with us.  We went over and watched the game.  We ordered pizza to eat.  Evan and Reid didn't watch much of the game.  They were playing football in the back or doing other things.  Tony and I watched the game together while Rachel and Mandi hung out.  It was a really nice time.

Rachel left after the first game. We had driven separately so that Rachel could leave when she wanted.  I stayed for the first quarter and went home.  Evan stayed there.  I left so that Rachel and I could go to HEB and shop.

After shopping, we drove back and picked Evan up.  Then we dropped off food to Grandma and Papa that we had picked up.

Rachel is now doing some work while the boys play on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Professional Baseball Player

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today was a pretty standard day.  It had started to lightly rain when I got up.  Rachel came downstairs not too long after me because she was tutoring this morning.

The boys had school all day while Rachel went into teach at ATA in the morning.

I interviewed a person today for a job with us.  The 30 minute interview went for more than an hour so it was pretty good.

After I finished work, Rachel was tutoring some more.  I made a marinade for boneless chicken thighs and put it in the fridge.  Then Evan and I went to Marucci Clubhouse to get some hitting work in.  Evan's tryouts for high school baseball are Friday and Saturday.

When we got there, we look at the schedule on the monitor.  A guy who was drafted in the first round by the Mets from Lake Travis was going to be there at the same time as us.  Evan got very excited.  While Evan was practicing, we both took a peek to see how he hit and things like that.  It was pretty cool.  Evan said that the video game, MLB the Show, did a good job of making the video game version of the guy look like the real player.

When we got home, I grilled the chicken thighs.

Now, Evan and Noah are upstairs playing on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Chewie Gets Attention

 Today the boys didn't have school, but Morry still had to work.

Around lunchtime, Morry and I took Chewie to walk around the lake.  Chewie got lots of attention there.  Several people smiled at him and said hi to him.

This afternoon I got stuff ready for the week including lesson planning.

Noah met with Grandma (over Facetime) for Hebrew.

I only tutored one student today.  The others didn't want or need tutoring since they didn't have school.

For dinner, we had steak and potatoes. 

After dinner, Morry and Evan went to Evan's baseball lesson. They are still out there.

I'm still working on lesson planning.

Full Week

Hello everyone, this is is Morry.

We had a full week this week.  On Monday it was back to meetings for me.  Evan and I went to HEB after school and work to get food for the week.  It was crazy crowded at the store.  We had dinner at home and then Evan had a hitting lesson with Justin.

On Tuesday, I took Grandmom to have an endoscopy.  Rachel taught.  Luckily Evan's baseball practice was canceled in the evening which helped.  Rachel still had a long afternoon and evening of tutoring.

On Wednesday, Grandmom stopped by to bring the boys a Playstation 5.  The boys wanted one for Hanukkah and Grandmom was able to get one from eBay.  In the afternoon, Evan went and coached the younger kids.  I stayed out at TRPD and had a meeting and talked to my siblings.

Thursday was a little easier.  I had fewer meetings and we didn't have any baseball.  Rachel did have a very long stretch of tutoring that started at 3:30 ended at 7:30.

On Friday, after work, I took Evan to Marucci with Josiah and his dad John.  After that we picked up pizza from Austin Pizza Garden which is going out of business after 27 years.

Yesterday, Evan had bullpens at TRPD.  Rachel and Chewie came with us.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace and then took at walk on the Hamilton Greenbelt after dropping Evan off. 

We came home and had lunch and then I took Evan to the park to play baseball with Reid.  He stayed over Reid's house last night.  For dinner, we had Cypress Grill.  Papa picked it up for us.

Today, I went golfing with a bunch of dads from Evan's baseball. I played much better this time.  Our team came in second out of three foursomes.

I picked up Evan on the way home.

Rachel, Evan and I went to HEB for food.  For dinner, we had Torchy's.

Rachel is cleaning now and then we'll sit down.

Until next time...

Big Snow

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday was a nice day.  The high was in the 50s.  In fact, most of the day it was sunny without any clouds.  If you had seen yesterday you would not have guessed what was coming today.  In the morning, Evan had bullpens at TRPD.  In the afternoon, Rachel and I went to the Domain to take her computer to the Apple Store for support.  We stopped at Whole Foods as well to get some things for a sandwich class today.  We picked up Hula Hut for dinner.

The weather forecast said that snow was likely for today.  But what does that really mean?  Everyone was pretty much just guessing some snow flurries.  When I got up this morning it was raining.  About 30 minutes later, I heard the boys tell Rachel they saw some snow.  Evan came running downstairs and out the door to look at the snow.  Noah went out too and Rachel and I followed a bit later.  It was more of a sleet than a snow.  Occasionally you'd see a big snowflake come down in it.  But within 30 minutes the sleet had turned into snow.  Thirty minutes after that, there were big massive snowflakes coming down and coming down hard.  

We'd be out for a little bit and come back in after we had seen the variations in the snow.  Each time, we brought Chewie out with us.  The boys would run with Chewie down into the cul-de-sac. Chewie loved it.  When the snowflakes were big, he tried to eat it.  At one point, Noah made a snowball.  He was holding it and Chewie tried to eat it.  

Neighbors and kids were all out looking at the snow or playing in the snow.  I think we ended up getting about an inch of snow in total.  Maybe slightly more.  By late afternoon, though, much of the snow in our yard was gone.  Between the boys using much of the snow for snowmen and the melting snow, there wasn't much left.  There was snow on the rooftops and on cars still.

Rachel and I had a couples sandwich class at 2pm.  A company that offers memberships to couples to participate in online events and take online classes reached out to her.  They offered us this free class to take in exchange for a social media post.  There were 4 other couples on along with the chef who was in New York City.  He talked about the history of sandwiches, we debated about whether the hot dog was a sandwich and he showed us how to make an Instagram-worthy sandwich.  He was very personable and led the couples in discussions.  We enjoyed ourselves.

For dinner, we just ate leftovers and the boys had sandwiches from the meat we had bought.

The boys are upstairs playing now.

Until next time...

Cold Outside

 Since one of the teachers at school has a wife that tested positive for COVID, I'm being even more cautious and trying to spend as little time as possible inside.

Normally on my long days, I spend some time during my lunch break in the teacher workroom area (with a mask on) doing work.

Today, I didn't want to spend time there so I stayed outside pretty much the whole time.  

I went to Home Depot to look for more ligustrums, but they didn't have any.

Then, I walked around the nearby park and then ate my lunch outside at school.

During class, I usually allow 15 minutes or so at the end of class for the kids to work on homework or ask me any questions.  In the first class at 10am, the kids were cold and wanted to go inside after the lesson.  So, I let them work on homework inside, but I stayed outside.

For my 1pm class it had warmed up enough and we played a game, so the kids were okay staying outside.

I Zoom tutored a student at 5:30 today that canceled yesterday.

Morry and Evan went to Marucci to practice baseball.  They met Josh and Chad there.

For dinner, we had takeout from Simply Pho.

Now Morry is putting together our new stools we just got delivered today.

Hebrew

 Today I taught my two classes and then came home.

Starting at 3:30 I had online tutoring and classes until 7:15.

Noah had Zoom Hebrew with Grandma today and I taught a new Hebrew class on Outschool.  The one last semester went well, so I listed another beginner's one this semester.  I have 7 students signed up for the 8-week class.  

For dinner, we had pork tenderloin and couscous. 

Then, Morry, Chewie, and I went for a walk.

Last Few Free Days

 Today the boys enjoyed one of their last two days before going back to school.  They mostly played video games all day.

I went for a run and Zoom tutored one student.

For dinner, we had grilled chicken and potatoes.  Then, Morry and Evan went to his baseball lesson.

After they left, I went to H-E-B to get my medicine and the Dollar Tree to pick up a planner for school.

They just got home and now Morry and I will watch more of Cobra Kai (tv show).

First Weekend of 2021

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We had a pretty laid back start to 2021.  On Friday, Rachel and I took Chewie to Lady Bird Lake.  We walked around the trail there.  Chewie gets so excited when we get there.  He barks and pulls on the leash.  But into the walk, he's fine. 

On the way home, we stopped at Black Rock.  I got a smoothie and Rachel got some coffee.

For dinner, we did fondue again to use up the remaining meat we had.  After dinner, we watched Coming to America.  The boys really liked it.

On Saturday morning, Evan had bullpen sessions at the TRPD facility.  Rachel, Evan, Chewie and I went up there.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace and got donuts for Evan and a taco for Rachel.  We dropped Evan off and then went to the Hamilton Greenbelt and went for a hike.  Chewie really loves that place.  About a minute into the walk, we saw a deer.  Chewie seemed to want to play with the deer.  It was cold (around 39 degrees) when we began the hike, but it warmed up quickly.

We took it easy in the afternoon, just doing some small things around the house and really just doing nothing.

For dinner, we picked up pizza at Pizza Cave.  We also picked up pizza for Grandma and Papa and dropped it off with them.

This morning, Rachel, Chewie and I went on a walk on the greenbelt by our house.

After lunch, Rachel and I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to look for a fire pit and some ligustrums to plant.

Before dinner, we went to HEB and got food for the week.  We just made food at home for dinner.

The boys are upstairs playing on the Playstation.

Until next time...

Goodbye 2020

 Today Noah and I made 2 apple pies

I was supposed to tutor a student at 4:30, but they canceled.  I had a feeling they would.

For dinner and dessert,

we had fondue.

We watched the movie, Love and Monsters.

Then, we had our sparkling juice and a slice a pie at midnight.

Here are pictures from today.