The Home Stretch

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The boys went back to school today.  They are in the home stretch of the school year.  After today, they just have 50 days of school remaining.

After walking Noah to school, Rachel and I took a longer walk.  Chewie liked going for a longer walk.  He got to see and play with two dogs on the walk, including his buddy, Nico. 

Rachel's school has off for two weeks for Spring Break so she stayed home today.  I went into the office for a little while.

It was warm when we walked to get Noah from school.  On the way home, we bumped into a family who lives on our street that has a dog a bit older than Chewie.  Rachel and Noah took Chewie over to their house for the dogs to play in the backyard.

Rachel and Noah made cookies to bring to school for his birthday tomorrow.

Evan came home and was here for a bit before he went over to Grandma and Papa's where he had dinner.  Noah went outside to play with Brody.

Brody's family was going to the Circle C Park for Brody's sister's soccer practice.  Noah went with Brody to play.  Rachel and I drove over later with Chewie to get Noah. 

On the way home, we stopped at Grandma and Papa's to get Evan.

Then Rachel, Noah and I ate dinner.  Noah, Rachel and Evan also iced the cookies.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Walk

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Last night, Evan was invited to sleep over at Wade's house.  Noah ended up sleeping at Grandma and Papa's while Rachel and I went out to dinner downtown.  We then walked to a coffeeshop where they let you cook s'mores at your table.  It was nice.

This morning, Rachel walked to get Noah close to noon.  Evan came home just before that.  Wade's mom dropped him off.

We had lunch and then went for a walk around the Costco shopping center.  It was 95 degrees out.  It's a fairly short walk - a little more than a mile so we brought Lizzy even though it was hot.  Somewhere around half way, Lizzy just stopped and refused to walk.  We had brought water for Lizzy but it was back at the car.  We figured we'd make it around and then let her drink.  So Rachel, Evan and Noah ran up ahead to get the water for Lizzy and bring it back.  Lizzy and I slowly walked going from spot of shade to spot of shade.  We got the water for Lizzy and put it on her belly and gave her some to drink though she didn't drink that much.  We tried to get her moving again but she had laid down and looked comfortable and flat out refused to move.  Evan, Noah and I went back to the car.  We had parked at Smoothie King and we had promised the boys smoothies.  So we went in there and got smoothies for the 4 of us and then drove and picked up Rachel and Lizzy.  Lizzy is acting completely fine.  I think her not walking was more out of being stubborn and not wanting to walk when it was that hot than her not feeling well.  But we didn't want to take a chance by making her walk any more.

When we got back, Rachel made cookies for the block party tomorrow.  The boys and I watched Die Hard 2.

We got Papa John's for dinner.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

3rd of July

This morning we hung out at home and then went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.

Around 1:00 Uncle Marvin, Leah, and John came over.  Leah and John are in town for a few days. They all hung out at our house for a little while.

We ate dinner at home and then went to the potluck block party in our cul-de-sac.  We brought an American flag cookie cake that I made along with some other cookies and drinks.  We had a nice time hanging out with neighbors.  At 9:30 we were able to see the fireworks from the nearby golf course.   We stayed out until about 10:30.

The boys are in their rooms now ready for bed.

First Day of Summer Break

Hello Everyone, this is Morry.

I got up first this morning to start work.  Evan came down shortly after followed by Noah.  There was only one fight between the boys this morning.

Rachel and the boys made cookies in the morning.  Noah was having Cole over and they were going to decorate cookies so they were getting the cookies ready.  Evan was invited to Jake's house.  Jake is Evan's friend from baseball.  Jake and his family are moving to Albany so Jake invited a few friends over.

A little after 11, an arborist came to the house.  The peach tree we had bloomed flowers in spring but then never got leaves.  Unfortunately, she said it had died.  She said that peach trees have a short life span.  There was also evidence that insects had gotten to it.  She found "sawdust" on the ground and places where sap had come up where insects had gotten into it.  Also, we had a freeze after it had blossomed and she said that was bad for peach trees.  They are coming to remove it in about 10 days.  We are letting Evan pick out a new tree.

After the arborist left, I took Evan over to Jake's.  They were pulling out a slip and slide and so Evan had a bathing suit on.

Cole and Noah had a good time.

When I picked Evan up, they had a baseball game going in the cul-de-sac where Jake's house is.

Later in the afternoon, I played with the boys out in the front yard.

Rachel made pancakes for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Evan's Room is Clean

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Noah was a bit cranky when I woke him up but after that, both boys were fairly good.   Noah, who normally walks kind of slowly, wanted to beat Rachel so he and I walked pretty fast.

Rachel did some cleaning in the morning.  Around mid-day, she started the Big Project - cleaning Evan's room.  We have clean up nights and Evan basically just picks things up off the floor but the room needed an organization - not to mention it looked like a toy bomb exploded in his room.   Rachel worked for quite a while and then took a break.  Later in the afternoon, she started back up.  After Evan finished his homework, he went up and helped Rachel.  It was a massive task, but I'm happy to announce that the room is clean.  Not only can you walk into the room without stepping on a Lego and screaming in pain, you can see the top of his desk, dresser and nightstand.  It's amazing.

We had a quick dinner.  Rachel also baked cookies for the block party tomorrow and after dinner, the boys helped Rachel decorate.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Ranch

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today we had no where to be in the morning.  We had nothing that needed our attention and cause us to have to wake up early.  It was a nice feeling.  I think Evan got up after 7 and went downstairs to play MLB Power Pros on the Wii.  Noah got up sometime after.

We both woke up around 9.

I played Wii with the boys while Rachel continued to make cookies.  We had a potluck party to go to today and we were bringing cookies.  We made sugar cookies the other night.  Rachel baked chocolate chip and meringue cookies this morning.

We had a late lunch after Rachel had finished baking everything and we cleaned up.

Around 3pm we started to get ready to go.  The potluck party was hosted by our friends Will and Bradford.  They recently bought 200 acres in Driftwood, TX which is where the Salt Lick is.  It's past the Salt Lick from our house.

The property was really nice.  It butts up to a small river or large creek.  They had hired life guards and rented an inflatable water slide.  They also build a three story tree house on one very large tree as well as installed a zipline from that tree.  Evan had a blast on the water slide at first while Noah liked climbing in the tree house. Evan also really enjoyed the zipline.  Will is a fire fighter so I really could tell that everything was especially safe.  We never actually swam in the river/creek but nevertheless it was a nice late afternoon/early evening.

We came home and gave the boys showers.

Until next time...

Last Day of School

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

At 4am in the morning, the smoke detector began to beep every 30 seconds to tell us we needed a new battery.  Considering that we sleep less than 8 hours a day, you'd think that the smoke detector beeping while we'd sleep would happen only 1/3 of the time.  I'd say it happens 90% of the time that it decides to let us know.  I think the other 10% happens to be during a Steelers game.  I think that's what someone needs to invent - a smoke detector that starts to beep during normal business hours.

I took Evan to school.  He brought in some of the cookies that we made last night to give to his class.

Noah slept in a while, which was good.  When he got up, Rachel and Noah went to HEB to get fruit and things as well as stuff to make more cookies.  Rachel wanted to make some for some of our neighbors.  From there they stopped at home to put away the refrigerated goods and then went to Noah's gymnastics.

I went to Evan's class party.  They had four stations to do things.  At one station, they made holiday cards for someone.  At another they made snow.  They took some powder and added water and it turned into what looked like fake snow at the mall.  Another one they had to say make a chart of how many ears and feet if you had 1 through 20 reindeer.  Basically it was a counting/addition issue.  The last station was counting of Skittles where they had to make a bar chart of number of Skittles by color and then made math sentences out of certain groups.  Evan seemed to have a really good time.

I came home and did a little work and then Noah and I went back to pick Evan up.  It was 42 and super windy this morning.  I put Evan in a t-shirt with a long-sleeve shirt underneath.  I did get him to wear a sweatshirt into school but he gave it to me to take home.  This afternoon it was in the high 50s.  Everyone whose last name wasn't Belkin was all bundled up waiting for their children.  When Evan came out he had taken off the long sleeve shirt and was just wearing a t-shirt.  I think people thought we were crazy.

For Hanukkah, Evan got a private baseball lesson.  I took him to it today.  The place was very nice and I was really impressed.  The guy started Evan hitting right away.  The guy asked Evan if he was right-handed or left-handed.  Evan said he was a switch-hitter.  The guy took him at his word and Evan did bat from both sides.  Afterwards the coach said that Evan was a lot better than he had anticipated.  We scheduled another lesson in two weeks.

When we got home, I made pizza while Rachel and the boys finished up the latest batch of cookies.  Noah and Rachel just delivered some to Blanca and her family.

We're about to put the boys to bed.  Until next time...

Cookie Making

Today the boys had good days at school. 

I took Noah to school and picked him up.

Morry and Noah got Evan at school.  Gabby came over to babysit while I tutored.

When I got home we made sugar cookies and after dinner we decorated them.

The boys are pretty much ready for bed.  Morry is reading to them now.

The Mall

This morning Noah and I went to the mall.  I had a few things to buy.  It wasn't too busy, but there was a little bit of traffic making the turn onto the street where the mall is.  Noah was very well behaved so we bought cookies on our way out.

After that we went to the Little Gym for Noah's gym class.  Towards the end of the class they had the parents come in so the kids could show us some of what they have learned.  We did "Smash The Cheese", a game both of our kids have always liked at the Little Gym.

Noah and I came home and a little while later we went to pick up Evan. 

I thought I was going to tutor today, but it got canceled so we stayed home this afternoon.

For dinner we had leftovers.

Morry is reading to the boys now and then they'll hopefully go to sleep.

Evan's Blog

I woke up. And then I ate food for breakfast. And then I went to school. I went in Daddy's car to school.

I played football at recess. I did good. At centers I played on the computer.  Next, I did iPad and iPods.  I played Stack the Countries.   I colored in my square last. I colored it green because I did good.

After school, Daddy picked me up and I went to the gas station with Daddy.

At home, I made cookies with Mommy and Noah.  I used frosting and sprinkles and stars to decorate the gingerbread guys. 

Mommy went to tutoring and Daddy went to a meeting.  I was with Nathan's sister, Ana at home.

Mommy came home and then we finished making our cookies.

We had dinner.

I played Star Wars Wii and then I had to do my homework.

After I finished my homework I looked at a card from Grandma and Papa.  And then I ate a cookie.  And I'm writing the blog right now.

And now, I'm going to go to bed.

Tomorrow is Friday and then it will be the weekend.   I will have fun on the weekend.  I might play with Noah.

Instant Winner!

This morning Noah and I mostly stayed at home.

Noah had a playdate at Cole's house at 12:30. Before going to Cole's we stopped at the bank and then HEB. When Noah put his Buddy Buck in the machine he got "instant winner". We went to the customer service desk and he got to pick out a prize. This is the second time he's gotten that. He picked out a Go Fish game. Noah was very excited.

Noah had a great time at Cole's house. Cole's mom said they played very well together.

I picked up Noah from Cole's and then picked up Evan from school. We parked at the trail and even the short walk was pretty cold. Noah and I both had our hats, gloves/mittens, and coats on. Evan put his gear on on the walk back to the car. I think it was about 40 degrees. That's cold for us.

Morry left for California tonight. He's going to an HTML conference for a couple of days.

I had to tutor and Blanca wasn't available to babysit. I dropped the boys off at Clubhouse for Kids. I brought dinner for them to eat there.

When I picked them up we went to the mall. I ordered some shoes from Finish Line online, but they didn't fit so I needed to return them. While we were there the boys talked me into letting them ride the train and getting cookies.

Evan and Noah are now in bed and it seems to be quiet up there.

Anyone want a cranky 2 year-old?

This morning I got up early and met some friends at the school at 7:15am. We ran 6.27 miles. Woohoo! That’s the longest I’ve run. Before that my farthest was 6.2 miles when we did the 10k a few years ago. It was a good run and I enjoyed having company. It went by faster. I had to walk just a little bit on a few of the hills.

I got home a little after 8:30 just as Noah was getting up. Morry and Evan left to take Lizzy to the vet for her yearly check up. Everything looked good for Lizzy, but I was left with the cranky kid. He cried most of the time.

Noah is usually pretty demanding and can be cranky, but for some reason the last few days have been really tough. Last time this went on for a while another mom suggested maybe he had an ear infection. Sure enough, he did. I’m hoping he doesn’t have one now. We may need to get him checked out if this continues.

When Morry , Evan, and Lizzy got back we went to the gym. We put the kids in the child care and Morry and I relaxed in the hot tub for a little bit.

Leaving the gym Noah threw a big fit. He was upset because he didn’t want to leave and wanted to eat lunch there. Morry had to carry Noah out the car.

We got home and ate lunch. Then we put Noah down for a nap. I was able to nap too.

Morry left the house around 5pm to go to the UT football game. That’s when Noah woke up from his nap.

He was cranky from the start, but then got really upset and threw a full out tantrum. Noah didn’t want to eat his bread and wanted me to put it back in the package. Instead of putting it back I gave it to Evan, who wanted more bread. This set Noah off for some reason. He calmed down a little later, but then got upset again when he saw me packing the diaper bag for dinner. He wanted the watermelon right then.

Before dinner, we went to Barnes and Noble for a little bit. I let the boys pick out cookies to have for dessert after dinner. Evan picked out a sugar cookie and Noah picked a chocolate chip cookie. Noah got upset again because he wanted his cookie right then. Then, leaving the bookstore and all the way to dinner Noah was throwing a fit in the back of the car.

We got to Galaxy Café and both boys were being kind of wild while I was trying to order. We sat down and then Evan got really upset because he didn’t want the juice I brought him. He wanted his own fountain drink. He kicked off his shoe and threw one at the table next to us. Luckily no one was sitting there. I finally got him to calm down by taking pomegranate out of the diaper bag. That kept both boys occupied for a while and then they finally calmed down and ended up eating well.

On the way home I let each boy have half a cookie.

We played for a while when we got home and then I put both kids to bed. It seems like Noah is asleep, but Evan just came down and is talking to me.

Whew!

Star Wars Shoes

This morning Morry let me sleep in. While I was sleeping Morry folded the mounds of laundry that had piled up. What a good husband!

Evan really needed new shoes so we went to Stride Rite in the mall. They had Star Wars shoes, but not in his size. We had to order a pair for Evan from another store. They’ll come in the mail in a few days. Stride Rite was having a buy one get one half off sale, so we got shoes for Noah too. Noah did need new shoes. They measured him at a size 8. He was wearing size 7 shoes. Noah got light up fire truck shoes. We liked a differed pair better, but Noah said he wanted the fire truck shoes.

On the way out of the mall we got cookies and on the way home we stopped at Petco to get food for Lizzy.

We ate lunch and the put Noah down for a nap. Noah didn’t sleep.

During the time Noah was in his room. I got some party planning stuff done.

For dinner Morry made chicken nuggets and couscous. I also had some soup.

After dinner all of the boys watched some of the Steelers game.

We gave Evan and Noah baths and they are in bed now.

Shmevan and Tutoring

Evan and Noah slept late this morning. Evan woke up around 8:30 and Noah got up about 9:30. For some reason Evan gave me a hard time getting ready for school today. He was fighting everything. I had tutoring at 10am and needed to leave the house. Gabby came at 9:30 and then plan was to leave right then, but Evan wasn’t ready.

I had to struggle with Evan getting out of the car to go to school. It was raining and he didn’t want to get out of the car. He said he didn’t want to get his hair wet. Between all of this and the weather I was a little late to tutoring.

After tutoring I went to Target, the bank, and Postmark’d.

I got home about 1:00. I got the laundry started and made my lunch. Then Noah and I left to pick up Evan. Evan was in a good mood when we picked him up from school.

When we got home Noah took a nap. I ate my lunch and Evan watched TV.

For dinner we made pasta. I put veggies in with mine. Morry and the boys just had butter and salt with theirs.

After dinner we made cookies (from refrigerated cookie dough). Morry and the boys are cleaning up now and then we are going to put them to bed.

Play date and Grocery Shopping

This morning we went over to the house of someone in the South Austin Jewish Families group. A play date was scheduled for this morning, but we were the only ones that replied. Faye has a 1 ½ year old daughter. Evan and Noah enjoyed playing with her building blocks. Evan then figured out how to use the mallet from a toy drum set as a golf club. He was playing golf with a little ball and hitting it between the towers he had built with the blocks.

We stayed for about an hour and left to do some grocery shopping. I asked Evan where he wanted to go and he said Newflower, because he gets cookies there. On the way to Newflower it started sleeting. It wasn’t bad and since the temperature was in the upper 30s nothing was sticking to the ground. Evan and Noah were very good in Newflower and they got their free cookies at the end of the shipping trip.

At home we had lunch and then I put Evan and Noah down for naps.

Blanca came at 4:15 so I could go tutor. I tutored 2 students and got home around 7:15. For dinner we had chicken and French bread with roasted garlic that I got at Newflower.

We gave the boys baths and put them to bed. Evan is now sitting on the stairs talking to me while I’m trying to write the blog.