Errands

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It seemed a little colder on the walk this morning, even though the weather apps on our phones said it was warmer.  It was cloudier and there was more of a breeze.

When we got home, I did some work and then I had to run to the bank and I took my car to get washed.  I can work from the car wash place.

I came home and picked up Rachel and we went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.  We stopped by the post office and Office Depot as well.

We walked to get Noah.  Evan went home with his friend Ethan.  On the way we saw a snake on the sidewalk.  It turns out it was a garter snake.

For dinner, we went to Genghis Grill.  Both boys have been asking us to go there.

The boys are going to bed soon.

Until next time...

No More School

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today was the last day of school.  Waking the boys up this morning was easy.  In fact, Evan was already up, though Evan is never difficult.  Noah was very excited when I got him up too.

We walked to school.  All the parents of the fifth graders were going in dressed nicely because the fifth grade graduation was this morning.  I'm not sure if Lizzy realized this would be her last walk to school for awhile.  I'm sure a bunch of kids are going to miss her over the summer.

Rachel ran some errands in the morning.  She went to the bank, Kohl's and Costco.

When she came home, we had lunch and then went over to school.  Evan's class was having an "Open  Mic - Poetry Reading".  All the kids had to read two of the poems they had worked on over the year. The teacher gave all the kids fake mustaches and berets.  Parents brought in various food and drinks to make it like a cafe.  We brought our Keurig in for coffee.  All  the boys made their readings as short as possible.  We were there until school ended.

Then we waited for Noah to get out of his class.  One of the girls in Noah's class was crying because she was going to miss the teacher.  Noah seemed upset and then he started to cry.  He said that he "was feeling sick".  But the moment we got home and he was doing other things the sickness magically went away.  I asked him later if he was sad to not have Ms. Wenske and tears came in his eyes and he turned away from me and told me to stop talking.  I think it's a good school year when a child is crying that school is over rather than being excited.

We promised the kids we'd take them to see Tomorrowland after school.  Noah's friend Owen and his mom joined us and we picked up Evan's friend Wade and saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse.  We had dinner while we were there.

When we came home, Christian and Connor came over.  They came with us on a little walk.

The boys are out in the backyard now.  They'll be going to bed soon.

Until next time...

Five Weeks Left

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

There are only five school weeks left in the year.  We officially started the countdown this morning.  As of this morning there were 23 days left of school.  We are keeping track on the white board in the laundry room.

We walked to school as normal this morning.  As we were walking, we bumped into a woman with a 7-month old golden retriever.  We think this is one of the golden retriever puppies that Lizzy had seen a few months ago.  Lizzy and the puppy were so excited to see each other.  It's funny to watch Lizzy.  Even after walking away from the puppy, Lizzy walks with a trot and even pulls on the leash some.

I went into Aaron's today.  On the way home, I stopped at Smoothie King, the bank and HEB.

Rachel and I walked to get the boys.  Evan was invited to over to Wade's so Rachel and Noah walked him to the front of the school.  I decided to meet Rachel and Noah on the trail near the Community Center since that's closer to the front of the school.  A whole new set of kids got to meet Lizzy and pet her.

Rachel took Noah out to ride a bike this afternoon when we got home.

Rachel went to tutoring and I grilled steak and salmon for the boys for dinner.

The boys are about to go to bed and Rachel should be home soon.

Until next time...

Austin Bucs

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

While Rachel and Noah are having fun in San Diego, the Austin Bucs were scheduled to play two today for the first day of a tournament.  I woke Evan up at the time I normally get him up for school.  He was pretty tired, but I think he was excited to play.

We had to stop at the bank on the way out and then we went to Donut Taco Palace for our normal pre-tournament breakfast.

In the first game, the starting pitcher struggled in the first inning.  Evan was playing third base.  The runner on third took too big a lead and the pitcher threw over to Evan.  The runner broke for home and Evan threw a perfect strike to get the runner out and end the inning.  The coach put Evan in to pitch in the second inning.  Evan needed 11 pitches to strike out two players and get an easy pop up for a 1-2-3 inning.  In the third inning, Evan went back out to pitch.  The first batter hit a ball between third and short.  The third baseman dove for it and ended up knocking the ball away from the shortstop.  It would have been a tough play even if he had gotten it.  Evan thinks it was an error.  I don't know.  Either way, it was the first base runner that Evan has allowed in 4 appearances dating back to September.  That boy stole second and third and scored on a easy ground out.  Like the base runner, the last time a runner had scored on Evan was 4 appearances ago.  In the fourth inning, Evan went back out there and gave up two solid hits to start the inning.  They were good pitches but the kids hit them well.  It didn't seem to faze Evan one bit and he quickly got the next three batters out to finish the game for a win.

In the second game, we struggled a bit with our pitches.  Darius came in to save us in this game.  Evan had a nice game.  He walked a couple times and scored.  The Bucs won this game to go 2-0 for Saturday.  That should be good enough to give us a bye tomorrow so we can start later in the day.

Evan and I went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.

For dinner, Mangieri's a local pizzeria sponsored the Bucs so we had a team dinner.  We ate outside.  It was just a really nice time.  The kids all were able to run around and play and the adults were able to talk.  The weather was beautiful.  It was a really nice time.

Evan wanted to get dessert afterwards so we stopped at TCBY.

Now we're home and Evan is in bed.  We're just waiting for the final results to be posted to find out our start time tomorrow.

Until next time...

Rain is Back

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

A cold rainy day was predicted for today.  The forecasters were right.  It wasn't raining when we took the boys to school but it was threatening so we drove.

I went into Aaron's for a little bit.  On the way home, I stopped at the bank.

It was raining pretty hard when we went to pick the boys up.  We still drove to the trail, but the pick up required us to go into the school and pick the boys up at their classrooms.

By the time we got back home, it had stopped raining.  The boys insisted on going outside and playing after they finished their homework.

Rachel made pulled pork for dinner and baked potatoes.  Both were very good.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Sick Rachel

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel seems to have a cold.  It could be a reaction from the flu mist she got the other day.  She did come us to go to school this morning.  It was raining (or misting really) this morning so we drove.

I ran some errands around lunch.  I went to the bank, picked up some propane at HEB and went to Smoothie King.

We drove to pick the boys up from school.

For dinner, I grilled steaks and Rachel made her self tilapia.  The boys asked me to make their steak kind of spicy like I make my steak.  At first Evan said he didn't like it spicy but then he ate a ton of it.

The boys took their showers and are in their room.

Until next time...

Stevie

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Last night we had a massive rain storm.  Around 2am, I woke up to heavy rain, thunder and lightning.  It was clear this morning, but from what I heard, it rained between 3.5 to 4 inches over night.

We walked to school.  The path was pretty torn apart. In one spot where the water must have come through the path was about a foot deep and maybe a foot wide.  It was easy enough to step over but I saw a kid hit it with his bike and tumble over.

We stayed at home today though I did run out to Smoothie King and the bank.

It's Evan's turn to bring the class pet home this weekend.  The pet is a guinea pig named Stevie.  We stayed after school with Evan and got Stevie's cage and things (food, treats, etc...) and brought them home.  Stevie is staying in Evan's room and Evan will have to keep the door closed to keep out the other animals.  Calvin does not seem to be a mouser but Flash does so we wouldn't want Flash to get to Stevie.  Lizzy wouldn't do anything other than bark.  But it's just safer to keep the door closed to the room.

For dinner, we had hamburgers and corn on the grill.  As I started to grill, the skies opened up and we're having rain like last night.  Our patio is covered but even so the rain was coming sideways so I got a bit wet as I came out to flip the corn and burgers.

The fields where Noah plays baseball flooded again.  They are closed at least through next week, so Noah won't have a game this weekend or have practice.

The boys are upstairs.  Noah has to do his reading and Evan is with Stevie.

Until next time...

Golf today

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Lizzy has begun to get very excited for school in the mornings.  Evan holds her leash as we walk to school.  Lizzy trots very proudly.

Noah still doesn't sound so good but he looks better and his cough does not seem as bad.  Rachel has gotten worse and she cancelled her tutoring.

I ran out to the bank at lunch.

After school I picked up the boys.  Evan said that there was some "game" that first the teacher asked questions and only the girls could answer and then she switched and only the boys could answer.  Evan said he was the only boy answering.  I guess people took note of that.

After school, I took Evan to golf lessons.  Noah and I sat in the clubhouse.  Noah did his homework while I did some work.  Evan seemed to enjoy it.  The instructor let him borrow two clubs to bring home.

After that, we went to Academy to get some things.

We had a dinner Rachel made in the crock pot.

Now the boys are in their rooms.

Until next time...

Noah's Team

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We walked again to school today.  We've been able to walk every day this week, which has been nice.

I had to run to the bank and I picked up a smoothie at Smoothie King for lunch.

Both Rachel and I picked up the boys from school today.  Noah's friend from school Penelope stayed with us until we walked by the parking lot where her mom had parked.  She then told Noah that she wanted to marry him some day.  It was very cute.

At 6, I had a coaches meeting for Noah's team.  They distributed the rosters and gave us some updates on things.  I brought the boys since Rachel was tutoring.  They played baseball with an 11-year-old.  Evan said the boy taught him how to throw a knuckleball.

We had dinner at Austin Pizza Garden.

The boys are now in bed.

Until next time...

Warm Afternoon

We walked the boys to school.

During the day I went to the bank and HEB.

When it was time to get the boys from school it was in the 80s.  It was a really nice afternoon.

Evan had baseball practice at 6pm.  Morry gave Evan dinner before they left.

Noah and I had dinner here while they were gone.

Morry and Evan got home around 8:30.  We did Hanukkah and then got the boys ready for bed.

TGIF

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning Evan was the cranky one and not Noah. I think he was still tired from practice on Thursday night.

For lunch, Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel.  I guess we go there enough that the woman asked if I wanted my usual.  I did not get it though.  From there, we went to the bank to deposit some checks.

The boys were in a good mood when we picked them up from school.  They played well together when they got home.

When I stopped working, we played some baseball outside.  Then we went to a fundraiser for a client of mine.

We picked food up on the way home and then put the boys to bed.  They both were pretty tired.

Until next time...

Walking and Errands

This morning the boys, Lizzy, and I went for a walk to school.  We stopped there for a little bit and played ball and ate a snack.

While I tutored the boys ran errands with Morry.  They went to the bank and then Smoothie King.

For dinner we had salmon and corn on the cob.  The boys ate well.  Morry grilled a steak for himself.

After dinner we took a walk.

Morry has a phone meeting now and when he's done we'll put the boys to bed.

Errands and the Vet

Today we took Lizzy for a check up at the vet.  Everything looked good.  From there we went to the bank and then Smoothie King.

At home I went for a run and then made lunch for the boys.

Later in the afternoon we went to Great Clips to get haircuts for the boys, HEB, and then picked up dinner from Torchy's.

Morry is reading to Evan now and Noah is playing on his computer.

Smoothies and Errands

Today we had nowhere to be.  It was nice.

Our trainer came 11:30 and after that we all ran some errands together.  We went to Target, the bank, and Smoothie King.

We took it easy this afternoon.

For dinner we had pasta.

Now, we are going to put the boys to bed.

Family Valentines Dinner

This morning Noah and I stayed at home until it was time for his gym class.

Noah had fun at his class.

After that we went to the bank and HEB.

We came home and I had just enough time to put the groceries away and then it was time to pick up Evan from school.

Evan was in a really good mood.  He had his class Valentine's party today and had his box filled with goodies and cards.

At home I let Evan play for 15 minutes, like usual, and then it was homework time.   When he finished his homework I gave the boys 10 minutes to play and then it was clean-up time. 

Morry came home and took both boys to Evan's baseball lesson.  While they were gone I started getting dinner ready.

We decided to have a fondue dinner and dessert.

Once everyone got home we finished getting dinner ready, opened presents, and then ate.

The boys really had fun.  Noah ate steak.  Evan had a ton of shrimp.  For dessert Evan really loved the strawberries dipped in chocolate.  Noah ate a bunch of plain strawberries.

After dinner and dessert the boys wanted to play the treat game with Lizzy.  We hid treats around and then she sniffs around to find them.  The boys and Lizzy love that game.

Both boys are ready for bed, but for some reason Noah's in the game room now.  I need to get him back to bed.

Here are some pictures from tonight.

 

Lizzy in the Shower

From Noah:

This morning I slept late until 9:30.  Then I went to school.

At school I played with Cole.  I went outside to play a race.  And I won the race. And I ate lunch.  I ate oranges for lunch and yogurt and juice box.

Mommy picked me up. We went home.

I played Wii for a little bit.

Gabby came over and we went to pick Evan up from school.

At home we played the dog game.

Then Daddy came home.

With Daddy we went to the bank and CVS.  I was good at CVS and that's how I got the Skittles.

Then, Mommy came home.

Then we had dinner.

For dessert I had Skittles.

Then Lizzy went in the shower with me and Evan and we gave Lizzy a bath.   We washed her.

And now we are writing the blog,.

Here is a picture and video.

Texas-Style Sledding

This morning both boys slept lats.  Noah woke up a little before 9am and Evan woke up about 9am.  That's pretty late for Evan.  I think they were still recovering from New Year's Eve.

We dropped Noah off at school (his first day back), and Evan came with me to tutoring.  The house where I tutor has a little girl in kindergarten. 

At my tutoring, Evan started out just playing with their Legos while the girl played in her room, but later they went outside and next thing I knew they were playing baseball.  I'm sure that was Evan's idea.  It seemed like they had a good time and the family said they would like me to bring the boys tomorrow too while I tutor.

I told Evan we could get a special snack after tutoring if he was good. He wanted to go to Rita's but when we drove up they were closed (not open yet).  We went across the street to a frozen yogurt place and Evan picked out his on concoction of sour apple frozen yogurt, fruit, and a few candy pieces. 

We can home for a little while, but I could tell Evan was bored.  He kept asking what/where we could go.  I decided to take him to the park and try sledding down the dry hill on cardboard.  I had done that before as a kid and thought maybe he would enjoy it.

He loved it!  We did that until it was time to get Noah.

After picking up Noah we went to the bank so the kids could put their own money into their bank accounts.

At home Evan and I ate lunch while Noah played Wii.

We took it easy this afternoon.

Morry got home around 6:30 and we made dinner.  We had pork tenderloin, couscous, and veggies.

Morry and the boys are reading now and then they'll go to bed.

Here's a picture and video from today.

Another week done

After I took Noah to school I had an appointment with my rheumatologist.

He went over the test results with me from last time.  He said everything looks good and there's not sign of arthritis or autoimmune disease (of the ones he checked for).  He said he checked for a lot.  He doesn't have a diagnosis for me.  It could be neuropathy.  He working on a combinations of drugs to help me feel better.,  He added a few to the mix of things I can take as needed.

Today, at Noah's school it was show and tell. He chose to bring his baseball trophy into school.  He's very proud of it.  Noah was in a good mood after school.  We stopped at the HEB pharmacy (which took forever) and the bank on the way home.

Morry walked to get Evan from school.  Evan had asked Morry to pick him up today.

The boys played outside in the backyard this afternoon.

For dinner we picked up Blue Bamboo.

Morry is reading to the boys now. They are all ready for bed.

Our Friday

Let's see... it was pretty much a usual day.

I went for a run and then took Noah to school.

When I picked up Noah from school he and Cole were playing with some musical instruments.  Noah was playing the triangle.

After that we went to the bank and Noah choose a blue lollipop.  I think he likes those because they turn his whole mouth blue.

Morry picked up Evan today from school.  Noah wanted to come along too.  So, Morry and Noah rode the bike to get Evan.

This afternoon Morry played baseball in the front yard with the boys.

For dinner, we picked up Torchy's Tacos and ate at home.

Noah is calling to me to come down and read with him.  He loves doing that.

Soon, we'll get the boys ready for bed.

Cole's Birthday

Noah was very excited this morning that it was Cole's birthday today.  He couldn't wait to get to school.

Morry and I dropped off Noah at school and ran a few errands.  We went to the bank, UPS store, and Smoothie King.

Noah was happy at pickup.  Cole's party was scheduled for 3:30 and Noah wanted to go right then.

We came home for a little bit.

I got Evan from school.  We came home and then left for Cole's party at Hoppin' House.

Evan was invited too and there were quite a few older siblings there for Evan to play with.  He already knew some of them. 

Both Evan and Noah had a lot of fun. They were running around the whole time.

We came home and Morry made pizza for dinner.

It started to rain.  Evan's supposed to have a football game tomorrow afternoon so we'll see what happens.

Morry is reading to the boys now.