First Day of School

The boys started school today.  Evan is in 12th grade, and Noah is in 10th.  

Jackson's parents gave them a ride to school this morning.

The boys had a good day.  Evan went bowling.  Yes, during school.  He has an off period, so he and Josh went bowling.  Since he's a senior, he's allowed to leave campus.

Here are some pictures from today.

The News, Golf, Rabbi, and Football

This morning Morry and I walked Chewie as the boys walked to the bus stop.

At 10:30 I went to the Fox Austin News studios to film a segment for BRCA and Breast Cancer Awareness.  The segment will air in October and I'll let everyone know the date and time when I find that out.

From there, I stopped by a new Team Survivor class that was nearby.  They just started weekly golf/putting lessons and games.  The class is from 10-12 and I got there around 11:30. I still learned a little bit today and was able to play a little bit of golf.  It was fun.

Right after the boys got home, Evan had a video conference with the Rabbi.

I left for tutoring after that and Morry took Noah to his football practice.

Morry and Evan ate dinner at home.

Then, Morry picked up Noah from football, dropped him back off at the house, and Morry went to bowling.

I got home a little bit after Morry left and Noah and I ate dinner.

Now the boys should be getting ready for bed.  I need to go check on them.

In the last week...

In the last week, we've been busy even though the kids didn't have school.

Noah had cooking camp last week and really enjoyed it.  His team won the cooking competition on the last day.

Evan had his last baseball tournament for the season last weekend.

This week Noah will have his middle school transition camp.

Tonight, Morry took the boys bowling.  Morry and Evan joined a bowling league with some other baseball friends.  Noah came along and bowled with his friend Tony while the league was bowling.  It sounds like everyone had fun.

Rachel Speaks and a Very Cold Baseball Weekend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday, Rachel left the house early.  Texas Oncology was having a symposium and they asked Rachel to be a speaker.  She led two breakout sessions during the afternoon.  Her topic was "Telling Your Story" to encourage cancer survivors to tell their story and help people who may be going through what they went through.  Grandma and Papa went to the symposium and attended Rachel's first session.  They said it was well-received and people really participated.

Evan and I went to the second session.  We wanted to go to see Rachel before we went to his baseball game.  Both Evan and I really enjoyed it.  Noah didn't want to join us and he stayed home.

It was cold when we got to the baseball fields, but it only got colder.  At some point it began misting.  We didn't leave the fields until close to 9pm.

Evan's team lost their first game in the bottom of the final inning.  Evan caught that game and was really good behind the plate.  His coach told him it was the best game Evan had catching in a while if not ever.  Not a single ball got past him.  The other team only attempted two steals on him.  One of them was after Evan blocked a ball.  He threw from his knees and came within a hair of throwing the runner out. 

Evan rested in the second game for two innings but came in at third base after that.  He hit the ball hard in that game but had some bad luck.  Overall, he looked good.

The team had a 9:50am game time today. It was quite cold, probably colder than last night.  In the top of the first, Evan's team scored 14 runs.  Evan reached on an error in his first at-bat of the inning and then crushed a ball to right center for a double in his second at-bat.  He scored twice.  He got hit by a pitch and scored the team's 20th run in the top of the second.  The mercy rule applied and Evan's team won 22-1.

Most of the team went to a bowling alley and had lunch there in between games.

By the second game, the temperature had dropped even more and the wind had picked up.  It was really really cold.  Evan batted in the first inning with a runner on third base.  He crushed a line drive that was about 2 or 3 feet over the second baseman's head.  But the boy jumped as high as he could and somehow caught it.  It was really hit hard.  He played third base in the field, but came into pitch in the second inning.  He really pitched well not allowing any runs in 1 1/3 innings.  In the top of the fourth, Evan came up to bat with no one on and one out.  He crushed the first pitch he saw well over the left fielder's head for a double.  It may have landed about 10 feet in front of the fence which was 250 feet away.  He hit it directly into the wind.  It very well may have been a home run if there wasn't any wind.  Unfortunately the team came up short.

We left and met Rachel, Noah, Grandma and Papa for dinner at Me Con Bistro. Rachel had just picked Noah up from Sunday School.

The boys are playing right now.

Until next time...

Lots of Activities

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today I had to join a training class at HomeAway for the group I help out with.  It was an all day training.  I really was not looking forward to it so I guess the bar was super low.  It wasn't as bad as I had thought, though I still think I'd have been better of not going.

Because of that, Rachel was the full-day chauffeur for the boys.  She took them bowling.  Evan seemed upset as he didn't bowl as well as he normally does.  Both boys said they had fun though.

Then Rachel took Noah to an appointment.  From there, she took Evan to his baseball.  Rachel and Noah went to a coffee shop while Evan was playing.

Evan said he hit better than he ever has today.  He was very happy with his performance.

For dinner, we had grilled chicken.  We let the boys pick out the spices for each of the five breasts we grilled.  That seemed to make it a hit.  We finished everything.

After dinner, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk.

The boys are upstairs playing now.

Until next time...

Bowling

This morning we took it easy.

I asked the kids what they wanted to do today and they both said, "bowling."  They always want to go bowling.

We went to the bowling alley for one game of bowling.  The kids had a good time.

When we got home we ate a late lunch.

Morry came home around 2:15 from a meeting and then dentist appointment.

Then, he took Evan to his baseball practice.

They got home around 5:30 and Evan played even more baseball outside.

We had corned beef for dinner and then took Chewie for a walk.

Soon the boys will get ready for bed.

HomeAway and Play Date

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan was invited to have a play date with one of his friends from the baseball team.  His friend lives across the city - not too far from HomeAway.  Rachel and I had a meeting at HomeAway this afternoon, so we arranged for Evan to go over to his friend's house today.

Before that, though, I had a phone meeting with a potential client.  Mandy and I were on the call.

We dropped off Noah at Grandma's, then drove up north and dropped Evan off.

We were at HomeAway early so Rachel and I worked out of a conference room.  The meeting was pretty boring and useless.

We drove back, picked up Noah, and hung out at the house.

Then I drove back up north, ran to Best Buy to exchange something, and picked Evan up.  Evan's friend, Matthew, had also invited two other boys over (both from Matthew's school, though Evan had not met them until today).  First they went bowling (Evan won both games) and then they came back to the house and had lunch.  Then they went to the local elementary school and played.  Evan said they had a really good time.

For dinner, we had leftovers.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Swimming and Bowling

This morning I went to get my blood drawn.

At 11am the boys and I met some people at the pool.  Lorena got a bunch of entering 3rd grade boys together to meet a new kids coming to the school.  We stayed at the pool until 2pm.

Around 4:45 we met a friend of mine and her sons for bowling.  The kids had a good time.

For dinner we had leftover grilled chicken and then went for a walk.

The kids are playing Minecraft now.

Here's a picture from today.

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday I took the kids to our community pool.  They had a good time.  They were there for 4 hours, and even after that, still didn't want to leave.

Today, we met Lorena, Owen, and Liam at the UT campus.  We took the kids bowling at the UT student union and then ate at the food court there.  We walked around campus a little bit and went into the bookstore.

From there, we went downtown for Voodoo Donuts. The kids really enjoyed that!

For dinner we ate at Hula Hut.

The kids had fun playing together at home tonight.

They are getting ready for bed now.

Here are some pictures of our day.

Goodbye Zayde

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan and I took Zayde to the airport this morning.  Evan really wanted to come which was nice.

When we got home, I laid back down for a little while.

Later, I went and got my hair cut.  Rachel took the boys bowling.  Evan said he got a strike on his first roll.  They played two games.  Rachel said the boys argued a lot.

We watched the movie Home in the afternoon.  Then the boys went outside and played with the neighborhood kids until dinner time.

Rachel, Evan, Noah and Lizzy are out for a walk now.

Until next time...

Noah's Big Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Rachel and Noah got up early to run the Race for the Cure.  Noah was able to run the entire way again.  He stopped just to get water at the water stations.  At one point there were high school cheerleaders.  They formed a path for the Rachel and Noah to run through and they were really cheering Noah on.  Rachel said Noah got lots of high fives on the way as well.  He was pretty happy.

At lunch time, Noah and I went to a bowling party that we were having for the Bucs on UT's campus.  Evan came with Josh's family.  Noah was just one of the guys bowling with the rest of the Bucs.  He seemed to be having a really really good time.  They were able to bowl several games as well as play air hockey and foosball.  We also had pizza for the boys.

We were supposed to have a tournament but the fields had some damage from the storms a few weeks ago.  The tournament was postponed until next weekend.

After the party, we went to Smoothie King on campus.  Darius and his dad, Daniel came with us.  Miles was getting a ride home with us so he came as well.  All four boys really had fun together eating their smoothies.

For dinner, we had our leftovers from last night.

The boys (and Lizzy) are showering.  Then they'll get ready for bed.

Until next time...

Park and Bowling

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Evan went with Rachel on a run.  This time, though, he didn't run, he went on his scooter.

When they got back, Rachel packed everyone a lunch and she and the boys went and had a picnic at the park.

They were only home from the park for a short time before they had to leave again.  They planned another time bowling with Owen and Lorena.  Evan invited Darius so Rachel picked up Darius on the way to bowling.  Darius came back to our house after bowling and played here for a while before Daniel picked them up.

I grilled ribs for dinner while Rachel tutored.  The boys ate very well.  They really like when I make ribs.

We walked to Grandma and Papa's after dinner.  Unlike the last two nights where we had to take care of something over there, this time the boys insisted that our walk take us over there so they could play in the backyard for a bit.  Lizzy enjoyed running around the backyard.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Fun Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning I got up before everyone and did some work.  Rachel got up shortly thereafter as she had a conference call.  I then left to go to HomeAway.

Rachel and the boys met Uncle Billy, Leslie and Aunt Susan for brunch at Magnolia Cafe.  They seemed to have a good time.

From there, Rachel and the boys walked around Lady Bird Lake.

After that, they met up with Lorena and Owen and went bowling.  They were able to get two games of bowling in.  And then the boys used gift certificates they had gotten for their birthday to get ice cream at Amy's Ice Cream.

When I got home, I took the boys to HEB to get some stuff.  Rachel stayed at home.

We had some leftovers for dinner and then took a walk.  We went by Grandma and Papa's new house.

Until next time...

Lots of Football

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We took it easy this morning.  The boys watched a movie we had gotten at Redbox last night.

After lunch, Evan had a football game.  Rachel and Noah went to a Wonders and Worries party at a bowling alley.  Noah had his face painted and got to bowl.  Rachel and Noah had their picture taken, and Noah made filled a jar with small Nerds-like candy in layers of color.

Evan's game did not go well.  His team, unfortunately, is not very good.  Evan caught a few passes and had a nice run.

We came home and the boys cleaned up and then went outside and played with Connor and Christian.

We all sat down to watch the Super Bowl, though Rachel didn't watch the whole thing.  Evan was upset about the result of the Super Bowl.  They are now in bed.

Until next time...

Fire Butt and Farting Dog

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, all of us slept in.  It was nice.  Evan, Noah and I got up at 4:30 Eastern yesterday to come home.  We really needed the extra sleep.

The boys played Wii and Legos in the morning.

At 1pm, Noah had baseball practice.  Noah did well and he seemed to enjoy it.  He told me that he thought it went by very quickly.

While we were at baseball, Rachel took Evan bowling.  She explained to Evan that you can come up with different names to enter into the computer to keep score.  Evan came up names for the two of them.  Evan would be Fire Butt and Rachel was Farting Dog.  Evan had a good time.

When we got home, my childhood friend Maggie Poulos came to visit.  She's in town for SXSW.  I enjoyed spending time with her.

We ate at home for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Bowling and Gumbos

This morning we went bowling.  The kids had fun and were well behaved.  On the way home we got smoothies.

We took it easy at home this afternoon.

Deborah came to pick up Calvin.  We'll get him when we get back from Dallas.  The boys seemed ok about him leaving.  We weren't sure if they would be upset.

For dinner we went to Gumbos.  It was nice and the boys were well behaved there as well. We wanted to get frozen yogurt after dinner, but everything was closed.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Evan Bowls and Noah Plays Baseball

This morning we took it easy.  Morry did work though.

We had lunch at home and then Morry took Evan to a bowling birthday party of a kid in his class.  While they were gone Noah and I played some baseball outside and then we played Wii together.

When Morry and Evan got home the Steelers game was about to start.  The boys watched the game together with Morry.  They had Morry throw a football to them during the game.

For dinner we had pasta.

The boys cleaned up their rooms tonight and then we got them ready for bed.

Morry is reading to them now.

Dmitriy

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Both boys slept for a while this morning.  Noah slept in a bit later but got up in time for school.  He ate breakfast fine but then decided to be tough when it came time to take his medicine.  It seemed to be tied into who was taking him to school.  He agreed to allow me to give him his medicine and take him to school.

Later that morning we had a parent-teacher conference for Noah.  The school has two scheduled a year.  The second one used to be in May but they pushed it back to July.  Basically it's an end-of-year wrap up.  She told us some things that we didn't know.  She said that Noah spends time with a group of kids and that when he spends time with them, he's the leader.  She said that he is independent, in that, if he doesn't want to do what they are doing, he just doesn't do it.  She said that she felt like even that was a leadership quality.  We were pleased to hear that.

The boys seemed excited to be reunited when Rachel picked Noah up from school.

Today is my friend Dmitriy's 40th birthday.  So we had Gabby come over at 6 so we could go to a little party for Dmitriy.  He had it a Highball which is a combination bar/restaurant/bowling alley.  You reserve a lane, you don't pay per game.  And they have a waiter that brings you a food - as you order from a full menu.  There were several people from StoredIQ there.

When we got home, the boys were in bed.  Noah was sleeping and Evan was close to falling asleep.

Until next time...

Locomotion with Evan

Today was Noah's first day back at school. Evan and I dropped him off and had plans to go bowling.

The bowling alley was packed, mostly with a seniors league. They only had 3 lanes for groups not with the league and those were taken. They told us the wait could be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. We waited a little while, but decided not to wait any more.

Evan wanted to go to a jumpy place. Across the street was Locomotion so we went there. First, we went to Starbucks. I got coffee and Evan got a smoothie and a cake pop. We spent the rest of the time at Locomotion before it was time to get Noah. Evan had fun, of course.

Noah was happy to see us.

When we got home Evan and I had lunch and shortly after Noah asked for nap time. During naps I did some mbsquared work.

Gabby came at 4pm and I tutored.

Morry made pasta for dinner.

After dinner, Evan, Lizzy, and I took a short walk.

Noah is in bed and Morry is reading to Evan now.

Movies

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today is Veteran's Day so Evan did not have to go to school.  That allowed me to sleep in until I got up for my "commute" to work.  It was nice.

The boys still got up before 7 though.  I heard them talking and playing.

I got up and did some work and Rachel and Evan took Noah to school.  From there, Rachel and Evan went bowling followed by picking up smoothies at Smoothie King.

When they got home, Evan went around on his scooter outside for a bit.

We all had lunch outside together and then I did some more work.

But I had promised the boys that I wouldn't work this afternoon and Evan and I would pick Noah up from school and go to see Puss in Boots.  We drove over to Noah's school.  The teacher and another mom told me that Noah had been talking about Puss in Boots, San Antonio and popcorn.  They assumed that we'd be driving to San Antonio to go see Puss in Boots.  I had to explain they were separate things.  We were about to go to see Puss in Boots, but that we were heading to San Antonio for the marathon and staying at a hotel where they have a popcorn machine.  Everyone got a good laugh at that.

The boys and I enjoyed our time at the movies.

When we got home, Rachel suggested that we go out together and drop the boys off at Clubhouse for Kids.  We bought a couple certificates for pre-paid hours from one of those group deal sites.  So we dropped the kids off and went to see Tower Heist.  It was only the second time in my life that I went to the movies twice in one day.  The movie was very good.  It was definitely entertaining.

For dinner, Rachel and I went to the Texas Chili Parlor.  Rachel had their chili, of course.  They had a special for a NY Strip so that's what I had.  The food was good.

We picked the boys up and now they are in bed.

Until next time...