Matzoh Balls!

This morning Chewie was up around 7am.  I got up with him and fed the animals so Morry could sleep.

Then, I made the 80+ matzoh balls for Passover for tomorrow and some chocolate matzoh.

Morry went into the office.

Evan got home around 10:30am and then I took Noah to Jude's house at 11:15.  Jude was having his birthday party today and Noah was getting a ride with Jude's family.

When I got back, Evan, Grandmom and I went to meet Morry for lunch.  We sat in a lot of traffic both directions.

We picked up bagels from Rockstar Bagels and ate at the office.

Around 3pm I picked up Noah from Jude's house.

Noah had football practice this afternoon.

For dinner, Morry, Evan, Noah, and Grandmom went to Rudy's.

Now the boys are getting ready for bed.

Fit Family

This morning we got up early and did the Brain Power 5k.  We left the house around 7:15am.  The 5K race started at 8:40.  All of us ran.  Evan ran up ahead, but I could still see him most of the time.  He finished with a time of 31 minutes and 40 seconds.  He came in second place for girls ages 10 and under.  Yes, I said girls.  A friend of mine gave us their race number since they couldn't go.  I looked up the results and figured out Evan would have still been in second place for boys his age.  Noah did well too, he finished with a time of 40 minutes 27 seconds and was 8th in his age group.

After running we walked around the booths for a little bit.  The race benefited the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation for Brain Cancer.  Marnie was the sister of a friend of mine.  I saw her mom there, so I went to say hello.  She seemed very happy to see us and gave us some Run for the Rose t-shirts.

After that, we met Aunt Susan for brunch in at Cafe Java.  We had a nice time.

Evan and Morry went to a baseball scrimmage from 1pm - 4pm.  Noah and I went home.

At home, I was busy cleaning and getting stuff ready for the week.  Noah and I also played a game of Monopoly.

For dinner we went to Grandma and Papa's house.  Papa picked up Rudy's for us.

The boys are getting ready for bed now. We all had a long day.

Here are some pictures.

Back Home and Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I got back from Minneapolis late yesterday.  It was good to be back.

Evan had two baseball games starting at 12:30.  I slept in.  The boys got up and played in the Wii for a while.

Rachel and Noah came out for both games today.  Evan was really happy to have Noah there for both games.  In the first game, Evan played second base the whole game.  He walked in his first at-bat and had a solid groundout in his second at-bat.  The Bucs won fairly easily.

The second game was different.  Evan started in center field in the first inning and played second in the second inning.  He singled in his first at bat.  In his second at-bat, he had probably the best hit he had in a while but the shortstop made an amazing play to get Evan out.  Going into the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Bucs were losing 6-4.  Evan came in to pitch.  It took him 5 pitches to get out of the inning.  He looked great.  The Bucs tied it in the top of the 4th.  In the bottom of the 4th, Evan again was pitching well.  The shortstop and second baseman each made errors that led to one run scoring but Evan got out of it with just the single run.  Going in to the top of the 5th, the Bucs were down 7-6.  We got two runs to take the lead and loaded the bases for Evan at the plate.  Evan got a single scoring 2 to break it open.  He came back out to pitch the bottom of the 5th to hold on to the win.  Again he only need 5 pitches to end the inning.  He looked great.  Evan was walking on clouds after the game.

For dinner we had left over Rudy's from our dinner last night.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Big Weekend and Evan's Birthday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

On Thursday night, Grandmom flew in.  Friday the boys didn't have school.  Noah had a playdate.  Before that, we went to Wholy Bagel.  For dinner, we met Matt, Rachael, Max, Tristian, and Maddie at Phil's Ice House.  It was a nice time.

Yesterday the Bucs had a one-day tournament.  Evan and I left the house at 7am and stopped at the bank and then went to Donut Taco Palace.  We got to the fields at 8.  The first game was at night.  In the first game, after one inning we were winning 3-2.  We broke it open in the bottom of the second with 4 runs.  Evan came in to pitch the third inning.  He walked the first batter he faced, then struck the next two batters out and got a weak grounder to end the inning.  He got the first batter out in the fourth, walked the second batter and then got the next two out to end the inning.  The Bucs ended up winning the game.

We had a bit of a break and played the second game.  This one wasn't as close.  The Bucs took this one easily.  Evan walked several times and stole several bases.  He played catcher for most of the game.  He did well.  By going 2-0 in a one-day tournament, the Bucs were assured of a spot in the championship.

We had a bit of a break and played the championship.  After the first inning, we were winning 3-0.  In the top of the second, we broke it open with 20 runs.  That's right, 2-0.  After we had batted around, we stopped having the kids steal.  We never took more than one base on any hit, even if the ball rolled to the wall.  The other team just got down and they started making really bad mistakes.  It was tough.  We tried to be good winners.  After the game, the boys from the other team were smiling and the Bucs got gold championship rings.  The boys were really happy.  Evan asked to play another game.  We didn't get home until 7:05 pm, twelve hours from when we left the house.

Today was Evan's Birthday.  He wanted to go to Top Golf, so we went there for brunch.  Evan was even better than when we went on Noah's Birthday.  He scored a 106, increasing his score by nearly 33%.  From there we went to Rita's because we had a free Rita's water ice coupon for Evan. Evan really wanted to go there.

We stayed home in the afternoon, though Noah went to a friend's for a easter egg hunt.  Then we went to Rudy's for dinner.  Evan enjoyed the brisket.  He wanted to go to TCBY for dessert.

The boys are in their beds now.

Until next time...

Getting Ready and Welcome Maya (and Jen and Mike)

This morning Noah woke up early around 6am.  He was sleeping in the game room.  We are thinking Flash probably woke him up.  Evan got up soon after.

Later in the morning we did some grocery shopping.  Morry dropped me off at Costco and then he and the boys went to Randalls.  They came and picked me up after they were done.  That was when it started pouring.  Costco was crazy busy, especially out front where everyone was waiting to load up their cars.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and getting ready for everyone to come.

Michael, Jen, and Maya got in around 5:30 and picked up Rudy's on their way over to our house.   Aaron and his family came over for dinner.

We had a great time with the everyone.  The kids enjoyed playing together.

Our boys are in bed now and I believe Maya is in bed too.

Another Monday

This morning the boys were in good moods.  We walked with Lizzy to school.

Morry and I also walked to pick them up from school.

For dinner we had leftover Rudy's from the other night.

The boys played outside while we cleaned up from dinner.

The boys are finishing their desserts and then we'll get them ready for bed.

The Boys are Back in Town

Yesterday we picked up Evan, Noah, Grandma, and Papa from the airport.  It sounded like everyone had a great time in Seattle.

Morry and I enjoyed some alone time, but we did miss the boys.  It's nice having them back home.

Today we went out to breakfast at Kerbey Lane.  Grandma and Papa drove back to Dallas from there.

I tutored in the afternoon and Evan went over to Wade's house for a little bit.

For dinner we had leftover Rudy's.

We just got back from a walk.

The boys will get ready for bed soon.

Baseball Party

This morning we walked the boys to school.  Later in the morning I had a muscle activation therapy appointment.

Morry picked up the boys from school and Gabby came over.

I tutored and got home around 4:45.

We met Noah's baseball team at Rudy's for an end of season party.  Morry gave the kids certificates and baseball cards. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Now, it's time to get ready for bed.

Championship

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Try telling the boys that it was "fall back" today.  I heard them playing at 6:45 this morning.  Of course it really was 7:45 in their internal clocks.  We were hoping that the long day yesterday would cause them to sleep in some.

We finally got up and got ready to go to the Race for the Cure.  We signed up for the untimed portion which meant that we could walk.  We were able to park right by the start line because they reserve a special garage for survivors.  We brought the stroller in case Noah wanted to sit.  Evan walked the entire 3.1 miles.  Noah rode in the stroller for maybe a mile of it, if that.  He did well walking and walked fast.  It was downtown and I think the boys liked all the things to look at.

When we finished most of the swag had been given away already, although, to be honest, it looked like there were significantly fewer vendors there than when Rachel and I ran it two years ago.

We came home and had lunch.  We had about an hour until we needed to get to the fields for Noah's warm ups.

Noah hit well during warm ups.  He was very excited for the game.  One of the boys on Evan's team had a younger brother on the team playing against Noah's team.  So Evan and the boy from Evan's team, Anthony, played together until they needed to go to their warm ups.

For the championship game, the game is 6 innings untimed.  There were two umpires.  In the top of first, they had Noah at third base.  They said that this team hits mostly to third base and they wanted Noah there to start out the game.  They also shifted the shortstop much closer to third.  Noah played along the line.  One of the kids turned on the ball and hit a shot on the ground down the line.  But since Noah was standing almost at the line, he just put his glove down and stopped it.  It ended up taking a bounce and hitting Noah in the body, but he was not going to let that ball go past him.  It was a great play and Noah got lots of cheers.  Noah got hits in all of his at bats.  One of the times up, they overthrew first and Noah ran to second.  He runs well and listens so well.  In the third inning, Noah's team held the other team scoreless.  That turned out to be the difference and Noah's team won.  Noah was really happy about it.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a pizza party with a pinata after the game.  Rachel stayed with Noah while I watched Evan who took the field right after Noah's game ended.

Evan was playing a team they had beaten earlier in the season.  But somehow this team came alive since then.  They were hitting the ball all over the place.  Evan seemed to be very tired.  He did get a good hit in the bottom of the second.  And his fielding was good.  But he didn't quite seem as lively.  That seemed to be true of the entire team actually.  The other team won which meant that Evan had to play a second game right after.

A parent on the team bought sno-cones for all the kids.  Rachel got a Powerade for Evan as well.  That seemed to perk up all the kids.  Evan had a great game in the second game.  He doubled in one of his at-bats.  When he was playing third, a boy crushed a ball at Evan who knocked it down and fired over to first.  The umpire called the runner safe, which seemed questionable.  The third base coach for the other team was quite impressed and high-fived Evan.   A couple batters later, a kid hit a ball down the third base line.  Evan dove to his right and grabbed it.  He got up and threw the ball to first although a bit too late.  Again, it was just a tremendous play.  He was pretty pumped by it.  Unfortunately, Evan's team didn't have another comeback in them and they lost, finishing the season in third place.  Evan seemed ok with it.  The coaches told Evan they are going to try to get him on their team in the spring.  I think that would be wonderful.

Rachel took the boys home.  I went and picked up Rudy's.  We gave the boys showers and then put them to bed.

Until next time...

Morry's 36th Birthday

Today is Morry's birthday.

Noah had sports class today, but after that we went out to lunch at Rudy's. I packed a lunch for the boys since there isn't much they eat there.  They were good and Morry enjoyed his bbq.

This afternoon Noah gave Evan a bloody nose.  We aren't sure what exactly sparked it, but Noah punched Evan in the nose.  Evan is fine now, but at first he was pretty scared.  So were we since we weren't sure if his nose was broken.  He bled a lot at first, but it stopped pretty quickly.  Noah spent the rest of the afternoon in his room.  We aren't sure what to do.   Noah keeps hurting Evan.  We had another serious talk with him tonight.  I don't know what else to say or do to get it through to him. 

For dinner Morry wanted to go to Home Slice, but the main restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.  We thought we would eat in their pick up building (there is some seating).  But, it started to rain and we were worried it would be too crowded there.  Morry chose Texas Land and Cattle instead.  We'll go to Home Slice tomorrow.

We are home now.

The boys are allowed to watch a few minutes of the baseball game and then it's time for bed.

Lauren’s Shower

Today we had Lauren’s bridal shower. This morning Sherah and Aunt Susan came early to help out.

The shower started at 11:30am. Everything went smoothly and the food was really good.

Papa took Morry, Evan, and Noah to the airport.

We hung out at the house during the afternoon. Leah, David, Sam/Jay, and Hollis came over for a little bit. They happened to be in town so they stopped by the house.

For dinner, we had Rudy’s at the house and had leftover salad and desserts.

It has been a really long day. It was a nice day, but we are all really exhausted.

Here are the pictures from today.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelkbelkin/LaurensShower#

Evan’s New Underwear

After I dropped Evan off at school, Noah and I went to Target. Evan needed some new underwear. Not only was it getting too small, the underwear was falling apart. Strings and elastic were coming off of them. We got them at Kohls, so I didn’t want to go there again and get more that would fall apart.

Noah and I got a few things at Target including some new underwear for Evan. In the dollar section they had some footballs so I also picked one up for Evan. I wanted something to give him along with the underwear. I thought he might be disappointed if I said I bought him something and then he only got underwear.

When I brought Evan home from school he was throwing a fit about not wanting to go upstairs for a nap. I told him I bought something for him and it was on his bed. He was very excited and ran upstairs. He was happy to see the Batman underwear and the football. In fact, he wanted to wear his Batman underwear for nap. Normally he insists on wearing a pull up to bed.

Evan and Noah took good naps this afternoon.

For dinner, we ate leftover barbeque brisket from Rudy’s.

After dinner we took a walk.

The boys are playing now while Morry talks to his mom on the phone. In a few minutes we’ll take them upstairs and put them to bed.