Thanksgiving 2018

We had a fun week celebrating Thanksgiving with the family.

Sherah's family stayed with us from Wednesday through Saturday.

Thursday for Thanksgiving we went to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Marvin's house.

Friday night we had dinner at Grandma and Papa's house.

Saturday lunch was also at Grandma and Papa's.

Today, we mostly took it easy.  We had been petsitting for Luna and her family picked her up last night.  This morning we petsat for Nikko, our neighbor's Golden Retriever, while they moved to their new house.

Morry and I took the dogs on a long walk.

This afternoon the boys decorated shirts and a hat.

Then, they watched the Steelers game.

For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant with Grandma and Papa.

Now we are getting ready to go back to work and school tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

At The Office

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today is President's Day so the boys didn't have school.  We did have a student-led parent teacher conference for Noah today.  Rachel, Noah and I went over to the school.  We talked with his teacher for a little bit and then Noah showed us his work.  After we looked at Noah's work, we spoke more with Noah's teacher.  She really loves him.  She said he's very helpful.  In fact, one day when they had indoor recess because of rain, Noah volunteered to help her rather than whatever recess activity they were doing.

After the conference, Evan, Noah and I went into the Touch To office.  Rachel went to school to teach.  The boys enjoy just being at the office.  They played on their iPad and phone.

For lunch we went to Popeye's since there is one down the street.  The boys really love Popeye's.

When we got home, Evan went outside and played basketball for a bit.

For dinner, we had leftover Chinese food from last night.

Rachel is now tutoring and the boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Almost Nick Foles

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This weekend was a very busy sports weekend.  Evan played four baseball games and two football games.  Yesterday, his games were at 12:30 and 2:15, so we were able to sleep in.

Rachel, Noah, and Aunt Susan came to the first game.  Evan played very well.  He doubled and walked.  He played first base the whole game and the coaches asked him to be a coach on the field.  It's so nice seeing him step up into that leadership role.

Noah stayed for the second game.  I was scoring the games and he was a really big help.  I hope he starts coming to more games and can help me out.  Evan played well in that game including crushing a ball with two outs and the game on the line.  The team ended up losing both games but Evan did his part to try and win.

From there, we stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods, and then met the Ramati's at the Moviehouse and Eatery to watch the Black Panther.

Rachel had what she hoped would be a relaxing evening at home, but Chewie was kind of wild so she didn't get to relax too much.

This morning, Evan and I left the house at 6:15 for his 8:30 game.  He again played well in the first game.  In the second game, he came into pitch after the first pitcher couldn't get an out.  Evan struck out the first batter on 3 pitches but then he lost the strike zone.  I've never seen him struggle so much pitching.  It wasn't that he was getting squeezed by the umpire, he just was overthrowing.  I felt so badly for him, but there was nothing I could do.  The team ended up winning and he came back into the game at catcher and played well.  He also walked and scored a run.  So he contributed.  It just wasn't up to his usual stuff.  He seemed unfazed and said the he was getting comfortable on the mound because it was muddy and he'd pitch well next time.

The game ran late so we were late getting to Evan's flag football game.  He got into the game right away and immediately started contributing.  If his team won the first game they'd be in the championship.  He had the craziest play in the game.  The opposing quarterback throw low and behind the receiver.  The ball seemed as it would just hit the ground and go incomplete but it hit the receiver's heel as he was running shooting the ball right into Evan's arms who ran the ball back for a pick six.  His team won and made it to the championship.

Just before the championship game, they found out the quarterback went home sick.  They turned to Evan to quarterback the game.  He hadn't really practiced the position and had never played it fully in a game before.  But he almost brought the team back to win.  They were down 20-7 at the half and Evan played his heart out in the second half.  He got really good at moving away from pressure, finding the open receiver and making a good throw.  I don't know what his completion percentage ended up being but it was high.  In the end, his big mistake was the difference.  He threw an interception in the team's own territory on a throw that was a little behind the receiver that led to the winning touchdown for the other team.  But he really played his heart out.  The coach actually gave him a hug at the end for playing so hard and really giving the team a chance to win.

After the game, Evan hadn't had enough and went outside to play with the neighborhood kids.

Rachel and I took Chewie to PetSmart to get food for him.  Then we picked up Chinese food for dinner

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Football Practice

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was around 56 degrees walking the boys to school today.  It was a bit chilly but I'd rather than the really hot temperatures.

When we got home, Rachel went for a run.  She came home, showered, and then had a hair appointment.

I met Rachel at Wholy Bagel when she was done.  Then she continued her busy day and drove up to HomeAway to go to a meeting with Aaron up there.

She and Deborah stayed at the Domain and saw a movie there.

I picked Noah up from school.  Evan went home with Wade.

After I finished working, I took Noah to football practice.  He had a good flag pull and he also caught a pass.  Overall, he had a good practice.

Rachel picked up Chinese food on the way home for dinner.  I picked Evan up.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Weekend of Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This weekend was the first tournament of the spring for the Bucs.  We had games scheduled for 5:45 and 7:30 last night.  Unfortunately, all the games were running behind.  The first game didn't start until 6:30 and the second game didn't start until after 8:15.  The Bucs won both games and Evan did really well.  In fact, in the first three games of the tournament, he went 7 for 9 hitting.  He made several good fielding plays at second base, third base and center field.  So we didn't leave the fields until 10:00 last night.

The reward for winning both games last night was to play as the 4th seed at 7:45 this morning.  The tournament was in Round Rock which is 45-60 minutes away.  So we got home around 11pm last night and I woke Evan up at 5:45am this morning to get up there.  The tournament had 18 teams in it and after the results yesterday, they broke up the teams into three brackets.  By winning both games, the Bucs ended up in the top bracket with teams that are classified as AAA and Majors.  The Bucs are classified as a AA team.  In fact in the top 5 teams, the Bucs were the only AA team.

The game started at 7:45 and immediately, the Bucs jumped out in front.  Evan hit the ball well.  And he made a sliding catch of a ball in center that was tailing away from him.  The Bucs were winning by 2 going into the top of the last inning.  The other team scored 3 runs to take the lead.  The Bucs came up in the bottom of the inning.  The first batter laid down a great bunt which surprised the other team and he beat it out for an infield single.  Evan came up and laced a ball towards second which ended up hitting the runner so Evan took first and the runner was out.  Evan stole second.  The next batter struck out.  So now there were two outs and the tying run at second.  The next better got down 0-2 and swung at strike 3, but the ball got away from the catcher.  The batter ran to second and the catcher threw to first but the first baseman dropped it.  The runner was safe and Evan came around to score to tie the game.  The runner on first stole second.  Then the batter hit a single to right and the runner from second came around to score and the Bucs won the game.

We were then scheduled to play in the semifinals at 1:15.  So we all went to lunch at Rudy's.  It was a nice time.

Noah and Rachel stayed home.  Rachel was not feeling well.

After Rudy's the team played again.  The Bucs jumped up 5-0 in the top of the first.  But the other team matched with 5 runs of their own.  No matter, the Bucs came right back with three in the top of the second.  Unfortunately, the other team matched again.  In the top of the third, Evan led off the inning.  The other team put in what appeared to be their best pitcher.  This kid could throw really hard.  I'm guessing he threw 55-60 mph.  His first pitch got Evan right in the thigh.  You could hear the ball hit.  Evan was able to make it to first, and to show the other team, that it didn't bother him, he stole second on the first pitch.  The pitcher settled down and struck out the next three batters unfortunately.  The Bucs didn't give up a run in the bottom of the third.  In the 4th, which was the last inning, we got a runner to second against the kid, but no further.  The other team scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to win the game.  The Bucs played their hearts out this weekend.  I was really proud of them.

Evan ended the weekend 7-10 with one hit-by-pitch, and no strikeouts.

Noah had a birthday party in the late afternoon.  With Rachel feeling badly, a mom of one of Noah's friends took him to and from the birthday party.

We tried to take Rachel to an urgent care facility to test to see if she has strep, but apparently, urgent care facilities close to us are closed on Sundays or close early.  We would have had to drive across town.  We'll probably go in the morning.

For dinner, Evan and I picked up Chinese food.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Cold and Wet

I was a cold and wet day. This morning we drove to the community center and quickly walked the path into the school.

For lunch Morry and I went to Wholly Bagel.

It was raining at pickup time so we also parked at the community center this afternoon.  We had to pick up the kids at their rooms since it was rainy day dismissal.

The boys played Wii this afternoon.

For dinner we had Chinese food from China Dynasty delivered.  It was our first time trying the place and we liked it.

The boys are in their rooms now ready for bed.