Evan's Birthday, Noah's track and Cap10k, Galveston

 Over the last few weeks, we celebrated Evan's 16th birthday at the Round Rock Express game.  Noah is on the track team and ran 300-meter hurdles in a couple of track meets.  Noah also ran the Cap10K with his school group.

Over Easter weekend, we met the Edwards in Galveston and had a fun time.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Evan's Birthday + The Last Few Days

This week we were all busy with our different obligations.

I worked teaching, tutoring, and with blog/influencer stuff.  I was on a local news show on Wednesday (see the video here) and had a food blogger event on Thursday.

Morry started his new job as CTO of a startup called Answers Now.

Evan and Noah had sports practices.

Today was Evan's birthday.  He's 13 now!

This afternoon Noah had football practice.  We picked him up a little bit early in order to get downtown to pick up our race packets for the Cap10k on Sunday.

Then, to celebrate Evan's birthday we went to Big Top Candy Shop and then Tarbouch for dinner.  Grandma and Papa met us for dinner.

Now the boys are getting ready for bed.

The Final Week

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We had a full weekend.  Evan played in five baseball games over Saturday and Sunday; we had dinner with Rachel's cousin, Evan, who is in town as an intern for Apple; Rachel and I celebrated our anniversary on Sunday night; Noah spent Sunday with his friend, Anelio; we saw the movie Solo on Monday morning; Rachel took Chewie to the dog park on Sunday and both of us took him on Monday afternoon.

Today, however, marked the second to last day of school.  The sixth grade went to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch a movie as part of a field trip.  Evan didn't even bring a backpack to school today.  Noah didn't do anything special today, but he has a fourth grade party - during school - for the last day of school. 

Rachel gave a final to some of her kids today.  Then, she took the kids to get donuts.  The school paid for this outing.

I went into the office and worked for a while.

Rachel tutored in the afternoon.  After that, she went to the school to see some presentations.  Finally, she met Grandma, Papa and Aunt Susan at Tarbouch. 

Noah and I took Evan to baseball practice.  It's his last practice of the season.  Noah and I went to a coffee shop during the practice.  On the way home, we stopped at HEB and picked up food for dinner.

The boys are now getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Valentine's Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Noah stayed in Evan's room last night again.  The boys are doing pretty well with it.  Noah is still staying up too late, but he does that in his own room.  He's not keeping Evan up which is the important thing.

When I came in to get Evan up this morning, Noah woke up.  I asked him if he wanted to sleep on my side of the bed in "Mommy and Daddy's room" and he said yes so I carried him in there.  He fell back asleep and didn't wake up until around 10.

A couple weeks ago, a girl in Evan's class, Chloe, was walking into the cafeteria where the kids wait for their teacher to get them.  She waved to Evan.  Evan just looked at her and raced to their line to beat her there.  She saw that he was going to run and started to run too and actually had the right position.  However, Evan dove to the ground sliding in and beating her.  Well this morning, as we walked into the cafeteria, Chloe was about 15 feet ahead of us.  Something caused her to turn around and see Evan.  She then taunted him because she was about to be in line before him.  I'm not sure Evan liked it that much.

Rachel took Noah to Mandola's for lunch to meet the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls.  Rachel said that he was really well behaved and very talkative with the adults.

I went to Evan's class party for Valentine's Day.  Evan seems to be doing really well at school.  He seems very comfortable there.  The party ended at 2pm and they get out of school at 2:45.  Some parents just took their kids home at that time.  But Evan told me wanted to stay the rest of the day.  Rachel ended up walking to pick him up.

We went to HEB and picked up some already made food.  We got some fruit and vegetables too.  There were a lot of people buying last minute flowers.

We ate our dinner when we got home.

The boys are in bed now.  Until next time...

Buddy Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was rather uneventful in taking Evan to school.  He slept on the bottom bunk this morning so it was a bit easier to get him up than when he sleeps on the top bunk which he had been doing previously this week.

I had a conference call in the morning.  As the call was winding down, Noah came into my office and asked if I could bring him to school.  When the call ended, Rachel and I drove Noah to school.

Rachel had her pilates class around lunch and then picked Noah up from school.

Noah decided to stay home with me rather than go with Rachel to get Evan.

When Rachel went to tutor, Gabby came over.  Gabby, Evan and Noah went to the end of the cul-de-sac.  Evan was riding his bike and Noah was riding his big wheel.  There was another boy from the neighborhood, Jackson, who was riding his motorized scooter.  Gabby told me at that Evan and Noah did have a collision but both boys were ok.  When I came out and said it was time to go home and let Gabby go, Noah said "Daddy, can you push my bike back home so I don't have to do anything?"  That's a classic Noah quote.

The boys and I went to dinner at Wendy's.  Then I stopped by HEB to pick up my allergy medicine.  And finally I got gas.

Last night we found out from the little league that Evan will be playing on the Rockies again this season.  Several of the boys he played with last year will be on the team.  I think he's really going to enjoy the season.  I got his baseball bag ready for practice (which might happen on Saturday) tonight.  I'll be traveling starting tomorrow so if he has practices, I'll miss it.

The kids are in bed now.

Until next time...

Chuck E Cheese's and the Super Bowl

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The boys were good this morning and let us sleep.  They were very quiet in the game room.  Actually what got me up finally is that Noah opened the door into the garage because he was going to put a box in recycling and the alarm was still on.  I turned it off, but it scared him and he was crying.  It was just the warning alarm that let us know we had 30 seconds to turn off the alarm so it wasn't a big deal.  I told him he had done a good thing by trying to recycle that box.  He just needs to look to see if the alarm is red or green.

Rachel made blueberry muffins from scratch.  The boys, for whatever reason, didn't like them.

This afternoon, Evan's friend Ben had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's.  He only invited 4 other boys.  Noah was also invited.  The parents had hoped that since it was Super Bowl Sunday it wouldn't be crowded.  Unfortunately the weather was not on their side because it rained.  When we got there, it was hard to just find a parking spot.  It was absolutely crazy inside.  The boys seemed to have fun though.

We came home and had the boys calm down for a bit in the game room.

When the Super Bowl started, I let the boys come down.  We had dinner with the TV on.

Rachel had to tutor tonight.  She left around 7 and returned after 9pm.  She normally tutors this family on Wednesdays but they canceled this week because they were sick.

The boys are in bed after watching the whole Super Bowl with me.  They were both happy that the Patriots lost.  They are well aware that the Patriots are cheaters.

Until next time...

Nothing Fun Today

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel had a physical therapy appointment this morning at 9am.  She got up early and left for that.  The boys played really well - first in the game room and then in Noah's room.  In Noah's room, they each were playing with their Leapsters.

Rachel came home a little after 11am.  We had lunch shortly after that.  It was kind of a gloomy day and it was threatening to rain so we decided to stay in.  We put Mary Poppins on for us.  It's a long movie.  Both Rachel and I hadn't realized it's over two hours long.  The boys got bored towards the end of the movie and didn't want to watch it any more.  We told them it was time for their "naps".  Evan was upset because he said that we didn't do anything fun today.

Shortly after Evan went upstairs, we got a call from the mother of Evan's friend Jack.  She asked if Evan could come over to play with Jack.  I told her about what Evan had said regarding the "no fun".  She said Jack had said the same thing.  Evan rode his bike over to Jack's.  I walked with him.  He was there for a couple hours.  I guess they rode their bikes back to our street to ride around in the cul-de-sac.  Evan said he had a really good time.

For dinner we went to Dickey's Barbecue Pit.  They are having a "Kid's Eat Free" special.  The boys ate fairly well there.  When you go there, you get free soft-serve ice cream.  The boys were excited by that.

We had to stop at Petco on the way home.

Right now, Evan is reading to Rachel.  We're working with him some more on reading.  He's getting pretty good.

Until next time...

First Ever Movie Night

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When I woke up today, I decided I'd take the boys to the Wildflower Park.  I wasn't sure if Rachel would come along or not.  But she got up shortly after me and the four of us went to the park.  As soon as we got there, Noah told us he needed to poop.  I drove Noah back home while leaving Rachel and Evan.  We got home, went to the bathroom and Noah said "Daddy, I was just tricking you.  I don't need to poop."  Needless to say, I did not take this revelation well.  I told him he needed to stay on the toilet until he went.  After about 15 minutes of him screaming and crying, I told him I was going back to the park without him and pretended to leave.  He freaked out and told me he would go to the bathroom.  He told me he'd "try my best".  He did go and we went back to the park.

Evan and Noah had a great time while we were there.  They were playing Star Wars.

When we got home, Evan and Noah went in the backyard where Noah pitched some more to Evan while Rachel and I made lunch.

When we were finished lunch, we went outside and Evan did very well riding his bike.  Here's some video of it:



Next we had nap time.  Rachel had an idea that after nap time that we offer having a movie night where we eat dinner while watching a movie of their choice, maybe they would clean up without a fight.  She was right and they cleaned up the game room and their rooms with little problems.

They said they wanted to watch Cars 2, so I reserved it at a Redbox at the Walgreen's near us.  I went to pick it up and the touch screen wouldn't work.  Several of us who were trying to get movies worked on it to no avail.  One lady even through the breaker that the box was plugged into.  It must have had a battery backup because it didn't shut down.  I called the phone number on it and they credited my account while saying they'd have someone out to look at the kiosk within 24 to 48 hours.  So I drove over to HEB and picked up the movie there.

I grilled chicken when I got home while Rachel got food ready for the boys.

We pulled out the TV trays in the game room and watched the movie there.  The boys sat on a towel and ate on the floor.  We had a good time.

The boys are now in bed.  They were pretty tired.

Until next time...

Busy Morning

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, I had the StoredIQ office manager come over to the house to help me get some QuickBooks stuff in order, so I could generate 1099s for the people who have been helping me.  Because of that, Rachel planned to take the boys out. She arranged to meet one of the moms from the Mom's group, Jodie.  Evan and Jodie's son Allen went to preschool together for the first two years of preschool.  Jodie has another boy Thomas, who is a year older than Noah.

Pamela, the office manager, got to our house around 9:30.  Rachel told Noah that she'd be getting him dressed when she came back upstairs.  Of course, Noah threw a massive fit for the entire time Rachel was gone and even more when Rachel came back upstairs.  She ended up putting Noah into the car naked.  When they got to Jodie's, Rachel sent Evan in while she dealt with Noah.  After a little while there, Noah calmed down.  Rachel said that Evan and Noah played together mostly, but all the boys were talking during lunch so they all played together after lunch.

When they got home, the boys and I played some Super Mario Bros, and then it was nap time.

After naps, Evan and Noah first played Angry Birds on the computer, and then they went outside.  Noah's throwing has gotten good enough that he pitches the ball to Evan who hits it.  It's nice that they can do that.  Maybe Noah will turn into a pitcher.

We went to a place called the Bakehouse for dinner.  The boys were mostly well behaved there.

We just put the boys to bed.  Evan is playing Angry Birds in his room for a bit.  But both boys are quiet.

Until next time...

Thunderstorms

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Last night, around 2am, we had thunderstorms roll in.  It was loud and lasted until after 7am.  I woke up.  Rachel said she heard the rain but now the thunder.  It was still bad when I got up around 6:20.  I was planning on getting Evan up at 6:30, but apparently the thunderstorms woke him up too, so he came in our room when I got up.  He didn't seem scared though.

Because he got up early, we were ready early for school.  I drove him over there and parked in front since the path was probably going to be muddy.  Evan was the third kid in the cafeteria.  I don't think anyone from his class showed up for another 10 minutes.  I waited with him until his friends came.

When I got home, I laid down for a bit until Rachel's alarm went off to get up to take Noah to school.

Noah was good until Rachel wanted to leave.  Then he started throwing a fit.  He said that I hadn't taken him to school in a long time.  So I went with Rachel to take Noah to school.

When we got home, Rachel laid down for a bit before she left to go to a Pilates class.

On the way home from Pilates, Rachel picked Noah up and went to CVS to buy some things.  They were having a sale on things we needed.  Rachel also picked up the first Cadbury Creme Eggs of the season.

Rachel stayed at home for a bit before leaving to get Evan.  Noah stayed home with me.

When she got back, she gave the boys haircuts.  They wanted her to do it.

Rachel went to tutor and Gabby came to babysat.

After I finished worked, I took the boys to deposit some MB Squared checks.  Then we went to McDonald's for dinner.  After that I had to stop at Office Depot to pick up some 1099 forms for people who have done work for me.

We came home, played a bit of Super Mario Brothers, then I got the boys ready for bed.

Until next time...

Parents' Getaway

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

For Hanukkah, Grandma and Papa paid for a Parents' Getaway deal that through Plum District for the Horseshoe Bay Resort.  The deal included two nights at the hotel, dinner for two one night, breakfast both mornings, a massage for each of us, and dessert delivered to the room each night.  So Grandma and Papa came on Friday afternoon when Rachel was picking Noah up from school.  Noah was very happy to see them when he got back.  Then everyone except for me walked to pick Evan up from school.  When they returned, Rachel and I packed up the car and left.

Grandma and Papa took Evan and Noah to Mangieri's for dinner.  They had tried to go to Waterloo Ice House but there was an hour wait.  The boys ate well.  Evan informed Grandma and Papa that there was an ice cream place next to Waterloo.  So they went there afterwards.  The boys got bubblegum ice cream but then decided they didn't like it.

On Saturday morning, they went to Dick Nichols Park.  They walked around the trail there which is about a mile. Noah and Evan each walked.  Then they went to Circle C Park for a picnic lunch.  The boys played on the playground there.

For dinner they went to Cheddar's.  They were seated fairly quickly.  The waiter came and took their order.  When the food was delivered, Grandma's food was wrong.  They took it back to get her the right meal.  Unfortunately, everyone finished their food and she never got her meal.  The manager, apparently, took a while to handle the situation right.  At first she wanted to "comp" the meal - which made no sense considering the meal had yet to be delivered.  Eventually they got the food to go.

Today, Gabby came to take care of Evan and Noah while Grandma and Papa went to Hillel.  Everyone got home around the same time - about 3pm today.

I made pasta for dinner for the boys and me.  We called the boys down for dinner and only Evan came.  Noah threw a fit and didn't want to come down.  Eventually it go quiet upstairs.  Noah feel asleep in the game room.  After dinner, we tried to move Noah to his bed but he woke up in a terrible mood.  Evan is in bed now, but Noah is downstairs eating his dinner.

Until next time...

Saturday and Sunday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Again I was delinquent in writing the blog.  Again, I was doing work last night until late.

Yesterday, when the boys got up, they woke Grandmom up so they could get her iPad and iPhone.  I could hear Evan yelling and cheering with excitement as he played with the games on the phone.

I went over with the father of one of Evan's friends to sign him up for tee ball.  We were trying to get the two boys on the same team for this year.  Additionally, there is a third boy from Evan's class who wants to play with Evan.  As I was in line to sign up, one of the people who was helping to get the boys registered was the father of Evan's friend Benjamin from preschool.  I talked to him about having Evan play with him.  It sounds like Evan will probably have lots of friends on his team.  It's exciting.

For lunch, we went to Which Wich.  The boys ate well there. Evan finished his whole jelly sandwich.

Then we went to the shoe store, 1379.  Evan and Noah each got new sneakers and Evan got new cleats for baseball, as well as a new bat.

Later in the afternoon, Matt, Rachael and Max came down.  Max is very cute and was having a good time playing with the toys here.  We went with them to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

This morning, we decided to take Evan and Noah to the park to get them away from the iPhone and iPad.  Evan was doing very well with the monkey bars.

We had brunch at Jim's Restaurant.

We stayed at home in the afternoon.

For dinner, we decided to meet Rachel at Fresh Choice.  She was coming home from Dallas and that's in North Austin.  We figured we could eat dinner earlier.  Unfortunately, Fresh Choice went out of business so we ended up at Manny's Uptown Kitchen.  The boys ate well there.  Rachel brought Noah home and he fell asleep in the car.

Both boys are sleeping now.

Until next time...

Thursday and Friday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel went to Dallas yesterday so the responsibility of the blog fell on my shoulders.  However, I forgot to write it last night.  In my defense, I was up late working.  I realized when I got into bed that it hadn't been written but I was too tired.  So today's blog will encompass both days.

Yesterday, I took Evan to school.  It was really windy.  I put both a sweatshirt and jacket on Evan because I knew it would be cold walking the path.

After lunch, Rachel and I took Noah to sports class.  They are playing basketball now.  They use the same kids basketball hoop that we have.  Noah did a very good job.  The teacher even asked us if we had the hoop at home since Noah was doing so well.  The teacher also said that Noah sings the loudest.

When we got home, Rachel packed up and left for Dallas.  I took Noah to pick up Evan from school.

We came home and I did some work and then we left to pick Grandmom up from the airport.  We went to Cypress Grill for dinner.

I had a 10pm meeting last night.

This morning, I took Evan to school again.  It was actually colder than yesterday but the wind wasn't nearly as bad so it felt much better.

Grandmom took Noah to school while I did work.

For lunch, Grandmom and I went to Applebee's and then we picked Noah up from school.

Grandmom took Noah to pick Evan up from school.  I told Noah he was the boss and would have to tell Grandmom what to do and where to go to pick up Evan.  I think Noah liked that.

Before dinner, we went to Toys R Us tonight and got GeoTrax for Noah and Legos for Evan.  Then we picked up Chick-fil-A for dinner.  The boys couldn't eat fast enough because they wanted to play with their toys.  They played with them until they fell asleep.

Until next time...

Parents Night Out

Hello Everyone, this is Morry.

Last night I dutifully set my alarm to get up to Evan to school in the morning.  I woke up this morning and it was still dark so I rolled over to make sure that I had my alarm set.  I did, so I rolled back over.  Then it hit me, what time did that say?  Well I had never changed the time for my alarm back to what it needed to be now that school is back on.  It was 24 minutes after I normally get up.  I jumped up, got dressed and woke Evan up.  He was very tired.  He's been staying up late during the break so I think two straight mornings of getting up early got to him.

Evan said he wanted to walk to school.  To get there on time, he was going to need to run like he did for Rachel yesterday.  The only problem was that he was moving very slowly and not running.  Evan is very competitive so I had to challenge him to a race.  The two of us ran more than half of the way and we got to school on time.

When I got home, Noah was up.  I got some breakfast for him.  Rachel took him to school.

Rachel went for a run after dropping Noah off at school .  Then she made a run to Sam's Club run.   While there, she got a Roomba.  The flooring people recommended that since the hardwood shows more dirt.  They suggested just letting it run once a day or so.  It seemed to pick things up well.

Noah stayed home while Rachel went to get Evan.  He said he was tired.

When Evan got home, he thought the Roomba was really cool.  He came up to tell me to look at it.

Tonight, we had planned a double date with our friends Will and Bradford.  We had signed Evan and Noah up for a Parents' Night Out at the Little Gym.  We dropped them off at 6:30 and met Will and Bradford at Z'Tejas downtown.  We sat outside because it was in the 70s today.  It was a beautiful night.  The food was good.  After that we walked to a bar called the Kung Fu Saloon.  They have all these old arcade games there and free Skeeball.  Will and I played some video games and played foosball as well.

We picked the boys up and are getting them ready for bed.

Until next time...

Beautiful First Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Well the "sleepover" was a success last night as Evan and Noah both slept well in the game room in their sleeping bags.  I don't know what time they got up because they let us sleep but I think it was a bit later than normal.  I don't think I heard any noise until after 8am.  We did put them to bed early tonight given that they were up so late last night.

When we did get up, we saw that today was a beautiful day.  It was supposed to be sunny with a high of 65.  We decided to drive to the lake and walk around the trail.  We brought Lizzy.  When we got out, we forgot to grab a tennis ball for Lizzy so we didn't end up letting her swim.  We knew she'd just bark at us to throw her a ball but we didn't have one.  The walk was very nice and everyone enjoyed it until Noah declared he was too cold near the end.

When we got home, Noah and Evan had quiet time until the Steelers game started.  Evan watched the whole game with me and Noah watched most of it.  During every Steelers game, Evan has me throw the football to him.  Today he drew on a piece of paper a play that he wanted to run.  We recorded it so you can watch it.  It's very funny.



For dinner, we just had leftovers from last night.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

San Antonio

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, we drove to San Antonio to go to Anika's 11th birthday.  The party was at 11am so we left around 9:45am.  Traffic was very light so we got there in under an hour and a half.

The boys really enjoyed themselves.  The party was at the same place that it was last year - a pavilion in a nice park.  The boys played on all the various playscapes there.  They loved it.  They didn't want to leave when it was time.

Rachel did not feel well on the way home and ended up being sick when we got home.  She thought it was just some nerves but now she has a fever.  She originally felt fine afterwards and she went to a gathering of Pink Ribbon Cowgirls.  The Pink Ribbon Cowgirls is a group for young breast cancer survivors.  One of them passed away yesterday.  She was only 34 with a young boy.  She was a participant in the bra fashion show that Rachel participated in last year.

When she got home, Rachel started to feel bad again.  So I drove the boys to McDonald's and we picked up some food for us.  Evan ate really well.  He's turned into an eating machine.  Noah didn't eat so well.

I gave them baths and put them to bed.  They did not go to sleep right away and Noah and I had a major battle over that.  He told me "they are going to put you in jail" when I told him that I couldn't wait to see him tomorrow but I didn't want to see him the rest of the night.  I don't know who "they" are, but I'm not too worried.

Evan has two days of school this week, so only two mornings of getting up early.

Until next time...

More Rain

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When I woke up this morning, it was raining again.  It's been raining, in some form or fashion for most of the last two weeks.  The times it has rained in the last few days aren't hard.  It's been lots of drizzle and misting.  I'd argue, that's probably better for us.  We need lots of rain and if we got a big downpour, we'd probably have lots of flooding since the ground is so dry.

I had to make a decision, though, because of the rain on how to take Evan to school.  Since it wasn't a big downpour and it was only drizzling, I decided the path would be ok to walk on.  So we drove to the path and walked that way to school.  It really wasn't too bad.  There were a couple areas where there were puddles but they could be avoided.

I came home and Noah was up.  I put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for him and got some breakfast for him.  When Rachel got up she took Noah to school.

At 10am, the guy came to repair the windshield.  It only took him 10 minutes.  Since it was just a chip, he was able to do something to fix the windshield and not replace it.  There is still a mark there but I guess they guarantee it won't spider.  That's all that matters to us.

After that, Rachel and I went to a toy store, called Lions, Tigers and Toys.  We got some Hanukkah presents for Evan and Noah.  We then went next door to Play N Trade and got some Wii games for them for Hanukkah.  From there Rachel met the Mom's Group for lunch at Mandola's.

Rachel went to Target after lunch and then picked Noah up from school.

When they went to get Evan, Rachel and Noah were going to walk.  Unfortunately, it started to drizzle again so they walked back to the house (they were just around the corner) and drove to get Evan.

Rachel had to tutor tonight so Evan, Noah and I had a "buddy party".  It's something I started with Evan in the summer.  We get a movie to watch, order pizza, and eat it at the coffee table while watching the movie.  I picked Kung Fu Panda 2 up at Redbox and we ordered from Papa John's.  Unfortunately, the boys weren't that well behaved so the party didn't go well.

I got them ready for bed and now they are in their rooms.

Until next time...

The Stomach Bug Strikes Back

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was the first morning back to "normal".  I was going to take Evan to school and return home.  Both mornings that I was in town last week, I went from dropping Evan off to going to and working at StoredIQ.  Then, of course, when I was gone, Rachel took Evan and she had to wake Noah up as well to go.

When I went to wake Evan up, I only turned on the little lamp as I normally do.  It was still pretty dark.  I could hear Evan breathing.  I saw some white sticking out of the sheets and he was wearing a white pajama shirt.  I rubbed the white and said "Evan wake up", but it felt really odd.  I realized that Evan's stuffed Yoda was sticking out of his sheets and I had just rubbed Yoda's back (it was Yoda's white robe that I saw).  Evan was sleeping completely under the covers head and all so I never saw him.

Taking Evan to school was uneventful.

Noah woke up shortly after I got home.  He seemed to be in a good mood and didn't give Rachel any trouble when she took him to school.

Rachel and I both did MB Squared work until Rachel needed to get Noah.

Rachel walked to pick Evan up from school.  When she got home, she made them shaved ice.

After that, Noah told Rachel his tummy was hurting.  Rachel laid down for a nap and Noah climbed up on to my side of the bed and slept for a couple of hours.  He must really not have been feeling well if he slept that long.

I made leftover chicken for dinner and made macaroni and cheese for Evan.  I also made popcorn for both boys.  Rachel brought Noah down and he was complaining more about his tummy.  He didn't want to eat anything and eventually wanted to go back to bed.  He wanted Rachel to get him ready for bed but Rachel was leaving for tutoring so she didn't have time to do the full bedtime routine.  She said he could pick one thing she could help him with, but he wanted it all and threw a fit so Rachel left.  Eventually I coaxed Noah downstairs and gave him some Gatorade.  He ended up eating his popcorn.  After that he seemed to be in a good mood and was playing well with Evan.

Both boys did not give me a hard time getting them ready for bed.  They are not sleeping though.

Until next time...

Hanukkah at Central Market

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel and I slept in until around 10.  The boys played well in the game room, though Noah did come in several times to talk to Rachel.

Rachel met her friend Melissa for lunch at 11am at the Omelettry.  We had never eaten there.  She said it was pretty good.

Meanwhile, I gave the boys lunch.  They behaved fairly well for me.

Close to 1pm I met Rachel at Central Market.  They had advertised they were having a Hanukkah celebration with face painting, arts and crafts, music, dreidel games, etc...  When we got there, one hour after the scheduled start, there was barely anything going on.  There was a band playing with a large Menorah behind them but not one was watching them.  We let the boys play on the playground for a while and finally we saw a lady setting up an arts and crafts table.  The boys made a dreidel and a menorah.  Eventually some girls from some dance team performed and then another band and choir played.  They said there was no face painting and the dreidel games amounted to each child getting a dreidel and two pieces of chocolate gelt.  All in all it was pretty lame and pretty disappointing.

We came home and the boys rested for awhile.

For dinner I made oven-baked fried chicken.

We gave the kids baths and they are in bed now.

Until next time...

A Big, Long Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

As you can probably tell, I'm back from California.  I left the hotel this morning at 5:20am.  Both plane rides were on time and uneventful which was good.

Rachel had to get Noah up for the last time this morning so that they could take Evan to school.  It is difficult getting him up.

Rachel went to HEB while the boys were in school.

When I was driving home from the airport, Rachel and Noah were walking to go get Evan. On the way home, Noah fell asleep in the stroller.  When Rachel got home, she had to carry Noah to his bed where he slept.

Earlier this week, we got an email from the little league that Evan plays in.  The University of Texas Baseball and Softball teams were having a one night camp tonight for up to 40 kids.  The camp included working on baseball skills on the field of the main stadium where the UT baseball team plays.  Afterwards they served pizza and showed a movie and did some arts and crafts.  We decided that this was something Evan would want to do and signed him up.  When Rachel told Evan earlier this week, he was pretty excited.  Before we left to drop him off tonight, he was even more excited.  When we got to the stadium and he saw how big it was, his eyes got huge and he was even more excited.  I wasn't sure if he'd understand how cool this was - that he was going to be playing with a top 25 baseball and softball team.  He seemed to understand it more than I had given him credit for.  We signed him in and walked him into the locker room of the softball team.  It was like a lounge in there was nice couches and a big screen tv on.  Evan seemed excited, gave us a high five and we left.

We went to dinner with Noah.  It was strange only having Noah at dinner.  It has not been common that the three of us have been out together without Evan.  Noah ate his dinner and was very well behaved.  From there we went to Mozart's which is a coffee shop out on Lake Austin.  At the top of every hour they were having a Christmas light show.  We got Noah ice cream there and then the show started.  He loved it and was dancing to the music.  We actually stayed an entire hour and Noah got to watch it a second time. I think Noah had a really good night being the center of attention from both Mommy and Daddy without Evan around.

We drove back to the stadium to pick up Evan.  We had to walk up to one of the luxury suites and get him.  He was making a craft and seemed into the Polar Express which they were showing.  They told us that they worked with Evan on hitting, running the bases, throwing the ball and catching grounders and fly balls.  He also had gotten a UT nylon bag with a string tie.  We thought that all kids had gotten it but the camp director told us that Evan won it.  That he did something special when hitting the ball.  I have not been able to figure out what - Evan said something about hitting the ball the hardest or the farthest.  I don't know really, but what was clear is that this was something special.  He told us they took him into the batting cages and someone pitched to him.  I wish I had video of all this.  The camp was for 4 to 9 year olds and when we dropped him off, Evan looked pretty young compared to many of the kids.  I don't know if they divided the kids up or anything.  Evan said he wants to do it again.  They said they'll be doing another one in January.

We drove home and got the boys ready for bed.  I picked out the book "The Pigeon Wants A Puppy".  Evan sat on my lap.  The first page seemed easy so I had Evan read the first page to me.  He ended up reading the entire book to me with just a little help from me.  I cannot believe Evan is hanging with the UT baseball team, hitting in the batting cage, and reading a book to me.  It's amazing.

Until next time...