Oil Change

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Last night, I had a major coughing fit which kept me up a long time.  It seems fine now.  But I didn't get much sleep so Rachel, despite being very sore from running yesterday, walked Evan to school.  He insisted on wearing his Roethlisberger jersey.

Noah slept in a long time.  It was good because he needed it.  Whenever we travel, the boys don't sleep as well.

Rachel laid down for a bit after taking Noah to school.

At lunch time, we dropped Rachel's car off at Groovy Lube to get an oil change.  I followed her and we went to Zorba's Greek Diner for lunch.  We hadn't been there before.  It was pretty good.

Rachel picked up Noah and a bit later she left to pick up Evan.  She told Noah they'd be leaving in a minute.  When she went to leave, she couldn't find Noah.  She saw the door from the house into the garage was open.  Noah had gotten into the car and gotten into his car seat, buckled himself, and was ready to go get Evan.

After "naps", Evan saw the boys he played football with at the Halloween party outside.  He wanted to go out.  He ended up playing football with them for about an hour.  At the end it was just Evan and the oldest boy, Johnny, who is in 2nd or 3rd grade, I think.  Evan was punting the football and Johnny would catch it.

For dinner, Rachel had leftover soup, I made eggs for myself and the boys had leftover.

Rachel gave the boys baths.  Evan was complaining his throat hurt so we gave him some medicine.  Noah showed us this tiny cut that he got days ago and wanted medicine.  He is still throwing a fit that he wants medicine.  Evan is either sleeping or close to sleeping.

Until next time...

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Many people will tell you football started last week - which is when college football started. Others will tell you that it was Thursday night when the Saints played the Vikings. There is only one official start to football season - that's when the Steelers play. And today was their first game.

The day started our early when Noah got up. It's amazing because I think he was still up when we went to sleep last night. Rachel got up with the boys and I slept some.

When I got up we went to Sam's Club. Noah threw a fit. He didn't want me to get him out of his pajamas. He didn't want to go to Sam's Club. He wouldn't put on his shoes. We finally got him there and got the things we needed.

Then Noah threw a fit because he didn't want to leave Sam's Club. The entire way home, he said "I want to go back to Sam's Club!"

At home, we had a quick lunch and I got in my Steelers attire for the game. The boys put on their jerseys as well. Despite the fact they got brand new Hines Ward jerseys, both boys wanted their Roethlisberger jerseys. Evan and Noah eventually went upstairs to play and then Evan came down when Noah went down for a nap.

In case you are wondering, but honestly, if you don't know the score by now, shame on you, the Steelers won in overtime 15-9.

The boys played downstairs for awhile before dinner. Evan got dressed in his Spiderman costumes.

For dinner, we just had leftovers.

After dinner we took a nice walk. Evan walked most of the way which was pretty good.

They are in bed now, but I can Noah opening up and closing his dresser drawers. Now he is yelling something into the hall. I have a feeling I may have to go upstairs and do some yelling.

Until next time...

Stupid Football

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Amazingly, Evan slept until 8:15 this morning. He came in and got me and I got him some breakfast and set him in the game room as usual. Shortly after 9, Noah started calling for "Mommy". I got up and got the boys dressed. Uncle Mike got up too and we brought the boys downstairs. We watched some TV and played with them.

Around noon, Uncle Mike left to go meet some people for barbecue and then go to the airport to fly back to Seattle. Rachel, Evan, Noah and I went to Jason's Deli at Southpark Meadows. Rachel was going to San Antonio for Erika's (Jonah's, Rachel's cousin, fiancee) shower. The food was just ok there. It was very crowded. Rachel left after a little while and the the boys and I finished up. Evan ate a bunch of watermelon.

I brought the boys home and put them down for naps. Unfortunately, Evan didn't nap. So we put on football and watched that until the Steelers game came on. That game put me in a very bad mood. The Steelers lost the game, the Bears did not win the game. I'm still angry about it. During the fourth quarter, Noah climbed into his high chair. When he does that, he's telling you he's hungry. So I went over, put on his tray and gave him some dried peas. I kept looking over my shoulder at him to make sure he was ok eating. I saw him with his finger in his nose and I got concerned. So I went over to him and sure enough, he had stuck a pea in each nostril. So we are now two-for-two, both boys have stuck food up their nose.

For dinner we just had pasta. Then we went for a walk. Evan wore his new Roethlisberger jersey (Zayde got if for him) all day. He also insisted on wearing it on the walk. He walked for half of the walk and was well behaved.

They are in bed now but not sleeping.

Until next time...

Just Another Sunday

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel is folding clothes while I write the blog.

Today was the last day that Grandma/Lynn and Papa/Lenny were visiting. So we went out to breakfast at Satellite Bistro and Bar. They have a Sunday brunch there. Rachel and I both got ice-cream battered french toast. Evan thought that we were getting ice cream on our french toast and was very interested in what we ordered. However, when it came out, it wasn't quite what Evan was picturing so he didn't really eat any of our food.

When we got home, Evan and I got ready for the Steelers game. I got dressed in my game-day gear. Evan asked me to tuck his new Terrible Towel into his pants like I do. Zayde/Jack got the Terrible Towel for Evan.

Evan actually watched more of the game than he normally does. He seemed upset when I told him that they had to take Roethlisberger to the hospital. He said "oh, he's sick."

After the game, I put Noah down for a nap while Rachel put Evan down for a nap. Rachel asked Evan who won. He said "the other guys". Luckily, he was wrong as the Steelers did win, 31-0.

Tonight, we ordered pizza since Rachel and I both didn't feel like cooking. While we were waiting for the food to be delivered, I fed Noah and Rachel helped Evan play Wii baseball. It's really nice that Evan can actually play a little. He preferred pitching as he seemed to understand what to do.

After dinner, Evan and Noah played with the kitchen set that Zayde/Jack got for Noah. Evan was pretended to make cookies and he let Noah "eat" some cookies. He kept telling Noah what to do and showed him how to do things. It was funny to hear the way Evan was speaking to Noah.

Now they are in bed but Noah is making happy noises. Hopefully he goes to sleep soon.

Until next time...

What Evan Wants

Hi everyone, this is Morry for my weekly post. It's been a while since I last posted since I was gone last weekend. As I'm sure of some of you waited with anticipation for my post, the wait is now over.

So this morning, Rachel went to tutor the old guy for his GREs. They met at the LBJ library on UT's campus. She left the house at 8:15am. So I was with the boys this morning. When Evan and Noah woke up, Evan told me he wanted to go to the bookstore today. I told him we'd go when Mommy came home. Then he said he wanted to watch the Polar Express. So we watched that. I got breakfast ready for both boys while we watched. After the Polar Express was over, Evan insisted on watching the GeoTrax DVD. That DVD is so bad, I've debated over whether to pretend that we "lost" the DVD. Evan wants to watch it over and over and over again.

When Rachel got home, we made lunch and then, of course, we did what Evan wanted. We went to Starbucks. After seeing the Polar Express in the morning, Evan was really talking about hot chocolate. So I told him I'd get hot chocolate at Barnes & Noble and we could share it. So as soon as we got to the book store, he ran over to the Starbucks inside. While we were waiting in line, I noticed all the cookies and cakes in the case. My eyes locked on these sugar cookies they had with red crystals on them. Then, suddenly, Evan said, those cookies look good. He was looking at the same cookies. He was in front of me, so there's no way he saw what I had been looking at. I said, "yeah, I was looking at those too." I told him that we'd get one to share. He said "No, I want my own." We did not give in though. He and I shared the cookie. It was a good one. Evan and I obviously share the same taste in desserts.

Evan played with the trains at Barnes and Noble for awhile. We let Noah crawl around in that area for a bit. Then Noah and I walked around the store together. Noah wanted to grab all the books as I walked by, if I was close enough.

When we got home, we put the boys down for a nap. Evan must have been very tired as he never got out of bed.

Last night, Evan told us he wanted to go to Logan's for dinner, but we couldn't go there. Logan's is a steakhouse where you get peanuts and you throw the shells on the floor. So since we do what Evan wants, we took him to Logan's tonight. He was very excited to go. He kept talking about throwing the shells on the floor the entire ride. As soon as we sat down I opened up a peanut for him, gave him the shells and the peanut itself. He took the shells and threw them half way across the room. He definitely likes Logan's.

We brought cheese cubes for Evan for dinner but Rachel thought Noah might like them. Up until now, the only food that he's fed himself really has been the puffs. So Rachel cut up the cheese cubes into much smaller cubes. Noah had a blast feeding himself. It kept him occupied all night.

After dinner we ran some errands at Southpark Meadows. That's a massive shopping center which used to be a concert venue. We went to Sports Authority, Marshall's and Circuit City. You can get good deals at Marshall's, but man is that place a pigsty. (Note: I looked up the spelling of pigsty. I would have thought it was two words. Weird.) Every time I go there, I feel like I need a bath when I get out. I have bad memories of Marshall's and TJ Maxx from when I was a kid and my mom would drag me along. I also really hate TJ Maxx because they took over where the toy store was when I was 5 or 6. As a kid, it's a no-brainer. If you have a choice of going to TJ Maxx or a toy store, the toy store would win in a heartbeat.

Some other random stories that aren't from today: Evan really enjoyed watching the Steelers game with me the other night. When the game started, he climbed up on the couch and sat right down next to me. Every time Ben Roethlisberger was on tv, Evan would say "There's Roethlisberger!" When they weren't showing him, Evan would ask where he was or point to the player they were showing and tell me, "That's not Roethlisberger." Evan also wanted to play football during the game. He'd throw his little football to me, then I'd throw it back. He'd run around the couch and down the hall and dive onto the floor and yell "touchdown!" Then he'd leave the ball on the floor, run all the way back to me, give me a high-five, run all the way back to get the ball and then back to me where he'd start the process over. And finally, when Rachel got Evan up yesterday morning, he told Rachel that "Roethlisberger wears Number 7." (Yes, I am beaming with pride)

Meanwhile, Noah is really enjoying his crawling. That kid will not stay in one place. He's all over. It looks like he's trying to get up on his knees too.

Until next time...