Kevin the Handyman

 This morning I Zoom tutored and then went to school.

While I was gone Kevin, the handyman, came over and installed our new porch light fixture and put a keypad on our door.

Chewie's trainer also came.

I went for a walk in the afternoon and then Zoom tutored some more in the afternoon.

Noah and Grandma had their Facetime Hebrew session today.

Today was the last day of the Hebrew class I was teaching.  We had a fun class today and the kids seemed a little sad it was over.  They asked if I'd create another class for them.

Josiah came to our house before baseball practice and Morry took both boys to practice.  Josiah's mom picked him up at our house after practice.

For dinner we had leftovers.

Now the boys are playing video games before bed. 

Everybody Loves Lizzy, Part 2

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was very overcast on our walk to school this morning, though it was still warm.

I stayed home all day.  I didn't have a meeting or go into Aaron's.

For lunch, Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel.  We didn't get to go last Friday.  It was good to get back there.

We went to pick up Noah from school.  Evan went over Wade's house.  Wade's mom dropped Evan off at home around 5:30.

We had pasta for dinner.  Then we went to the Food Trailer Night for dessert.  We brought Lizzy again.  It was much more crowded this time.  The weather was cooler than a month ago.  I think that helped.  As soon as we got there, four girls surrounded Lizzy petting her.  She was very happy.  Later, we stopped for a second to decide where we were going to go.  This little girl holding a plate of pizza walked directly in front of Lizzy.  There were only inches between the girl and Lizzy's face.  The problem was that she was the right height for Lizzy's mouth.  The pizza on the plate passed just in front of Lizzy's mouth.  She opened to grab it but I noticed and I yanked her back at the last second.  Luckily the girl didn't lose her pizza to Lizzy.  We also so Yenis and Kevin.  Kevin was Evan's friend when he was 2 and 3 years old.  Evan didn't really remember Kevin but they walked around together.

We stopped at Grandma and Papa's on the way back.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

UT and a Birthday Party

This morning we went to campus. The University of Texas Children's Research Lab was looking for some kids to take part in a study. We have participated a few times in the past. Evan and Noah both did a study involving puppets to see how children relate to people who are similar to them. Each study took just a few minutes and the boys got to pick out a prize from the toy box. Noah got a mini chalkboard and Evan got a dinosaur figures pack.

After that we walked around campus a little bit. We bought some Texas stuff at the Co-op (bookstore) and got a bite to eat at Einsteins Bagels.

Morry dropped us off at Kevin's birthday party at a jumpy place. He met someone for a lunch meeting. Towards the end of the party Morry came to pick us up. Evan and Noah had a great time and were worn out.

We took it easy the rest of the afternoon and evening. For dinner we picked up Blue Bamboo and made pasta for kids.

Morry and the kids watched a little bit of the Longhorns football game and then we got them ready for bed.

Zayde

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

They have been predicting that a cold front would come in today.  Even last night they said that today's high was going to be 62.  When I got up I got dressed warmly to take Evan to school.  There was only one problem.  The cold front did not arrive until 5:30pm.  It was still in the 70s this morning.

I took Evan to school.  When I came back I mailed a letter at the mailbox.  As I was walking back to the house I saw Noah looking out of the gameroom window waving to me.  I got breakfast for the two of us and then I went to work.

Rachel got up and ended up going for a walk with Noah (after Noah got over throwing a fit that he didn't want to walk).

Rachel then cleaned, mopped the kitchen floor and straightened up.

We had lunch and then we left the house to go to Noah's sports class.  On the way, my cell phone rang but I didn't look at it since I was driving.  Then Blanca called Rachel's phone to tell her that the front door was open to the house and the alarm was going off.  The missed call was from the alarm company.  I quickly dropped Noah and Rachel off and got home as the police were pulling up.  Since the front door was open, they police wanted to check the house.  It was crazy - like TV.  They went in each room yelling "Austin Police" and then checked it real quick.  The only difference was their guns were not drawn.  Lizzy really liked them.  I had been concerned that Lizzy might leave the house but she hadn't.  When Rachel mopped, she went out the front door to dump the water.  Noah went with her.  We think that Noah was the last one in and he probably didn't shut the door well and definitely didn't lock it.  I guess the wind blew it open.  It must have closed enough that we could turn the alarm on.

After sports class, Rachel and Noah went and picked Evan up from school and then met Yenis and Kevin for frozen yogurt and they played at the park.

They came home and we left to pick Zayde up at the airport.  The boys were excited to see him.

We ate at Logan's for dinner and we got home late.  The boys said they were tired.

Now they are in bed and quiet.

Until next time...

Morry’s Birthday Eve

This morning playgroup was cancelled so I called a few people and we had a little playgroup here. Evan’s friends Cayden and Kevin came over to play. I enjoyed talking with the moms and the boys enjoyed playing together. Noah played with the big kids some and hung out with us a little.

After playgroup Evan and Noah ate a little bit more and then I put Noah down for a nap. He didn’t sleep though. I kept trying to put him back in bed, but for some reason he didn’t want to nap.

Evan brought down his Toy Story costumes. So, Evan and Noah dressed up as Woody and Buzz. Noah only kept his costume on for a few minutes. It’s a pretty hot costume.

When Morry got home we got ready to leave the house for dinner. We had made reservations at Benihana.

We had a great time at dinner. Evan and Noah really enjoyed the show and they actually ate well. Noah ate shrimp and fried rice. Evan ate his shrimp and some salad. I told them it was Morry’s birthday so they sang a song and gave him some dessert.

We got home a little while ago and put the boys to bed. They are both still awake. Hope they fall asleep soon.

Evan's First Soccer Class

Hello everyone, this is Morry. Rachel's folding laundry so I'm writing the blog tonight.

Today was Evan's first soccer class. This is Evan's birthday present from Grandmom. Everyone has been excited for it. This is the first sport that we have signed Evan up for, and we were curious to see what it was like. It's an indoor soccer facility. They had lots of drills and little games for the kids to play. At first they had a game without any soccer balls. Evan was trying to figure out why they couldn't play soccer. So he left the game, walked over and picked up a soccer ball and kicked it into the goal. He seemed happier once they started to play soccer. He had some difficulty listening to instruction but caught on. He also kept wanting to use his hands. He was more interested in scoring goals than dribbling the ball. After 45 minutes, he ran over to me and told me he was "all done." He said he had fun but i think he was frustrated not being able to use his hands. Overall, I think the class was good and Evan enjoyed it.

After soccer, we went over to Yenis and Kevin's for lunch. Rachel and Yenis made spaghetti.

When we got home, we put the boys down for naps. Evan didn't sleep as long as I thought he would have, given how hard he played today.

We decided to go to the Oasis tonight to listen to salsa music. It's the band that Rachel used to go see all the time. We stopped on the way and picked up a Happy Meal at McDonald's for Evan. We also got an extra thing of nuggets in case Noah wanted some or Evan wanted more. Noah ended up eating two nuggets.

Everyone enjoyed the Oasis. Evan danced with me for one dance and danced with Rachel later on. We watched the sunset. Noah liked listening to the music as well.

We got home very late so the boys went down without too much of a fight. It's quiet up there now.

Until next time...

Starbucks and School

This morning I dropped Evan off and school and turned in his application for school for next year. Evan is going to continue going part-time on Tuesdays and Thursdays next year. They told us as long as the child stays in the same program they are guaranteed a spot for next year. Apparently, there were some parents at the school in line as early as 3:30am this morning. One of the moms from Evan’s class was one of them. She wants to change her son to M,W,F. I can’t imagine getting there that early. I hope we don’t have to do that if we ever want to change Evan’s days.

After dropping Evan off at school I met Yenis for coffee at Starbucks. We had a nice time talking, but Noah was very cranky for some reason. I think it was a combination of his runny nose and being tired. On the way home he fell asleep in the car and I was able to put him down for a nap when we got home.

I downloaded Skype on our computer, but I still haven’t tried it out. If you have Skype and would like to chat, let me know and we can try it out. We have a video camera on our computer so you would be able to see the boys.

When I picked Evan up at school he didn’t want to leave. He got really upset when we were leaving. He was trying to tell me he wanted something, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about. Somehow the teacher understood and we realized he wanted to take home the art he made today. Evan told me he used the fire truck to paint. I guess they dipped the wheels of cars in paint and rolled them on the papers. All of the papers were hanging up to dry so we took Evan’s down and he asked if we could hang it up at home. When Kevin saw Evan with his art, Kevin wanted to take his paper home as well. We put Evan’s art up on the fridge when we got home.

Blanca came at 3:00 and I went to tutor. I got home around 7:30 and ate leftover Salt Lick bbq from Sunday for dinner.

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

Freezing

So, this morning it was in the 60s when I dropped of Evan, and when I went to pick him up from school a few hours later it was already in the 40s. Now, at almost 9pm it’s 32 degrees outside.

Yenis told me when she brought Kevin in the classroom this morning Evan ran up to them and said he was a firefighter. He had a hat on and was pretending to be a firefighter. When I picked Evan up he was a doctor. He came up to me with a thermometer and wanted to check my ear.

While Evan was at school Noah took a short morning nap and cleaned upstairs. We ate lunch and that was pretty much the end of the morning. Then, it was time to pick up Evan.

Blanca came at 3:00. I was supposed to tutor until 7:30 tonight, but ended up just going until 6:30. One of my students didn’t have homework and therefore, didn’t need my help. That was good since I was worried about driving home in bad weather. I wanted to get home before it got below freezing.

For dinner we had pasta and green beans. Evan didn’t eat much for dinner. All he ate was 2 cups of applesauce. Noah ate well though. He had cereal mixed with applesauce, baby food veggies, regular veggies, hot dog, a little bit of pasta, and cheese.

They are saying we may get some sleet and ice tonight. We’ll see what happens.

Evan answered the phone

When we got to Evan’s school today, Wendy (the teacher) was reading a book to a few kids. Evan ran in and said, “Hi Wendy!” He was so happy to be there.

After I dropped Evan off at school, I took Noah with me to HEB, Kohls, Babies R Us, and Hobby Lobby to return a few things. It was a lot of in and out of the car and having that infant car seat made things easier even though it weighs a tons. It’s so easy just to pop the car seat in and out and make quick trips. It will be harder when we move him to a regular car seat.

I did some cleaning up around the house, fed Noah, ate a quick lunch and then it was already time to pick up Evan.

At home, I was changing Noah in the office downstairs and Evan was in there with me. The phone rang and I thought it would probably be Morry so I asked Evan to pick up the phone (he’s never answered the phone before). He picked it up and I told him to say hello and that I was busy and I’d be there in a minute. I think he managed to say hello, but he wasn’t saying anything else. I asked Evan who it was and he told me it was Kevin’s mommy. I finished changing Noah and sure enough it was Yenis, Kevin’s mom. :)

I tutored for 2 hours this afternoon and Blanca babysat.

Nice day at the lake

In case you didn’t notice, at the bottom of the page are the most recent YouTube videos. I added one yesterday of Evan at school.

Evan loves to use nicknames. He called Mottel “Mottlenose” and Lizzy “Lizzygrowls”. Noah is “Noahknees”. Evan even sings “A, B, C, D, Noahknees.”

Today we met Yenis and Kevin (almost 3 yrs old and in Evan’s class) at Town Lake. We walked around the 3 mile loop. Evan and Kevin walked about half of the trail. They were very good and stayed with us most of the time. They both did a lot of running. I brought some bread with us to feed the ducks. We had some leftover white bread from Rudy’s a few months ago that was still in the freezer. When we were getting close to that part Evan asked for the bread. He ate one of the pieces before we Evan got to the duck part. Then when we got to the part where the ducks usually are, there were no ducks, but lots of birds around. Evan enjoyed eating the bread and giving a little to the birds. We asked him to share with Kevin so he would rip little tiny pieces off and give them to Kevin one at a time. Evan loved being so close to the birds. He even touched at least one before I could stop him. Toward the end 2 big swans swam up as well. Noah seemed to like looking around as well. Normally the walk takes about an hour, but this time it took almost 2 hours, but that’s ok. We had no where to really be.

We stopped at Jamba Juice on the way home. I usually get a medium sized drink and they pour some of it in a little cup for Evan. He loves having his own smoothie.

We had a Mediterranean dinner tonight. We made Kofta Kabobs, Saffron Rice, and Tabouli. It was all pretty good. We decided we’d definitely make it again some time. Evan really liked the tabouli. Here are the recipes we used. http://www.recipezaar.com/170045 http://www.recipezaar.com/113983 and http://www.recipezaar.com/8758

We use recipezaar a lot.