It is hard to believe that Rowen is starting kindergarten this year. He has been counting down the days for about a week now. Yesterday they had open house at the schools so you could go and meet the teachers. I think he is going to be one of those "shy at first, but warms up quickly" kinda kids. Elora jumped right in and showed him around his room.

Elora's teacher seems pretty nice. She seems like the kinda person that might be able to channel Elora's sense of organization into works of good. I have to fill out an information sheet about Elora that introduces her. That could be a book. :) Really, where do I begin.

Eilish is starting middle school. She wouldn't admit it, but she is a little nervous about 6th grade. She was glad to find out that one of her friends from the gym is her group at school. So I guess I now have to deal with the "secret life of a tweenager". Yippee.

So, the first day of school is Thursday. The highlights of that days drama should be posted shortly afterward.

Peace and Good Cheers.
Marty

We Are All Still Here.

Realizing that I have not been the best of host, please let me extend a humble apology and say hello to all. I hope all is well with you and yours.

A quick update:

• Eilish is 11 going on 21. She will start middle school this year and compete at level 6 in gymnastics. She also got her first pair of glasses this summer and I'm not supposed to tell anyone. :) She looks really cute wearing them.
• Elora is 8 going on 21. She will be in third grade this year and this will be her first year of competitive gymnastics (level 4). This year she gets to be the big sister for her brother at school. It should be a good change for her.
• Rowen is 5 and just trying to keep up with his big sisters who, as I have stated, are going on "21". He starts kindergarten this year and he can hardly wait. Elora is ready to show him the ropes.
  
• Sedi and Tiger, the cats, are still alive and kicking. They eat, they sleep, and they poop. Nothing new.

I'm doing well to. I'm now the General Manager of my neighborhood Chipotle. Basically and underpaid babysitter, but at least it pays the bills. :)

That is all for now. I will make a concerted effort to post on a more regular basis. Cheers to you all.

Pictures From Spring Break.

My Mom took these when she was here over the kids spring break.

No this is not part of Eilish's bar routine.

This may actually be part of Elora's routine.

Probably part of the Batman training program.

My Zoom Zoom Zoom.

Peace and Good Cheer,
Marty

YEAH For Eilish.

I'm setting at Coffee Zone pondering the start of another work week. At least the coffee is good. For those who were concerned, Eilish qualified for the state gymnastics meet this weekend. She also placed on vault. Now we can go to the rest of the meets this season and just have fun. It sounds like, from the little details that I have been given, she had a good time. She was pretty tired when she got home. Luckily, Elora and Rowen burned a lot of energy at Bonkers so they were all pretty mellow the rest of the evening. Well, I gotta go to work and play nice with the customers. I'll post more later.

Peace and Good Day,
Marty

Picture Time Again.

These are photos that my Mom took when she and my Dad were here for Eilish's 10th birthday.
Part of the fun in posting these is that I then get to comment on them.
I hope you enjoy.

So these are my three little "angels".

Starting at the right, could someone tell me what that look on Rowen's face means.
I have my thoughts.

Doesn't Eilish look nice in the dress she picked out for her Birthday outfit?

Yes, that is a hole in Elora's jeans. No, that is not her best pair of jeans. Yes, they may be her favorite pair of jeans. No, I didn't know she blew the knee out until I saw the picture.

Please Papa Robert please. We promise to blah blah blah blah blah.
Or
Help me! I'm being mugged by three of Santa's elves who have entered the country illegally.

And last but not least, this handsome, young man is sporting his new "Warriors in Pink" t-shirt and looking rather dapper.

I'll try to post again later.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Progress Report for Eilish and Elora.

So yesterday I had my parent/teacher meetings with both Eilish's and Elora's teachers. Both teachers said that the girls were doing very well in school. Especially given the circumstances.

Eilish's teacher said that she was doing well in all her subjects and that she was one of the few students in the class who can do the work without "hand holding". She can tell her,"the answer you have is incorrect". "Can you go back to your seat and think about it and try again?" She will and usually come up with the correct answer. She said that Eilish really had not said much about Christa.

Elora's teacher said that she was right on track with where she needed to be. She did mention that Elora's homework had been spotty and I told her we would be making a better effort of getting it done on time. She also mentioned that Elora could be a "chatterbox" but for the most part was a pleasant and helpful student. Her teacher said that Elora has talked about Christa on occasion and has written stories and drawn pictures about her.

One more thing that Eilish's teacher mentioned to me was that another one of her student's parents had terminal cancer. That was rather shocking. Her teacher has not told the class. I wonder how this will effect Eilish if at all.

Well, I'm calling it a night as I have to work tomorrow.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

In Sports and Health News.

Well the first gymnastics meet is over. ShowMe Gymnastics did very well taking first place in team competition for levels 6-9. The level 5 team took 5th. I am sure that Kathy and Wendy will be using the insight gained from this meet to help all the girls achieve their goals.

Eilish and I spent most of the weekend at the meet. She was either competing or cheering the other girls on. They were definitely the loudest group in the house.

When Eilish and I arrived at Saint Shelly's (bestowed sainthood for services above and beyond the call of duty) we found Elora, Rowen, and Amber burying each other in fallen leaves. Then they started throwing bushels of leaves at each other. It was pretty funny.

So far no one else has been infected with the plague that Rowen brought home. We may get lucky, knock on particle board, and dodge a bullet this time. Yes, I know that because I said that someone will wake up puking. I better have another beer. Just kidding.

I hope everyone is doing well. Blog with you soon.

Peace and Good Cheers,
Marty

Coffee truly is the nectar of the gods, or at least the Flash.

For those who haven’t heard, I’m now an hourly employee again. Today I don’t have to be into work until 10 am. So, what better thing to do than go to Coffee Zone, set down, and enjoy a cup of coffee. Coffee Zone also has free wireless internet (WiFi) which means I can use this time to surf the web or post on my blog. I could get into this lifestyle

Last night we went trick-or-treating downtown in The District. Eilish, Elora, and Rowen transformed into their alter-egos with an extra layer of clothes under their costumes to ward off the cold. We then set off, going store to store, filling their candy bags. We actually ran into Dr. Vandover, the principal at Lee, at the new tea house. She told the kids how nice they looked. The cold started nipping at the kids noses and ears so we called it a successful night after about an hour. Eilish counted her haul at about 100 pieces. I wonder how many I can throw away at a time without her noticing?

Well, the coffee is gone and I have a few things to do before I head into work. I will post again soon.

Good Day and Good Cheer,
Marty

New Blog and Other News.

I spent the weekend developing a new blog. It will be the new home for The Christa Ballew-Matthews Memorial Fund For The Arts. All the news relating to the Memorial Fund such as updates and new totals will be posted there. It is a work in progress so please feel free to tell me what you think of the site this far and what you think the site needs.

In other news, we are going to have a busy week ahead as Eilish has her first gymnastics meet of the season on November 5th. We have to be there at 9 am. We also have to figure out how to fit Halloween into her practice schedule. I think that she will do a short day on Tuesday, the 31st, and then we will go trick-or-treating in the District downtown. I’ve decided that I didn’t want to deal with the little hobgoblins in the neighborhood.

I hope everyone notices that I’m getting this posted well before 11 pm. This may be some kind of record for me. Hopefully I won’t have to go back and do as much editing in the morning to clean up what I posted the night before.

I hope everyone has a good week and Happy Halloween.

Good Scares and Good Cheers.
Marty