USS Razorback

My Dad, Casey, and I went to North Little Rock to tour the USS Razorback from World War II.

We had a great time crawling around the submarine and asking lots of questions :)

Submarines are definitely made for little people. I guess I would fit right in there, hu?

Hall New Year

We spent this New Year in Jackson, TN with Pops and Nana.

It was a very relaxing time for us. Thanks to Andrea's parents, we were able to sleep in, relax, and bring in the New Year in style :) Abby always has a great time at her Pops and Nans's house. She got to help make dinner, play with different toys, run around, and just have a good time.

I think my favorite part was making lego towers with Abby!

Mosquito Old

It's official, I can't hear the mosquito ringtone any longer! With that, I'll share that I'm now 31 years old... and I mean old!

After a really loud ring from a friend's cellphone I remembered about a new mosquito ringtone that supposedly only kids could hear. I tried it out a year ago and I remember being able to hear it.

I downloaded the ringtone from the internet and played it, but to my surprise I could not hear it! Was it a defective mp3? Nope, my young friends proved to me that they could hear it loud and clear and they didn't have to have their heads right up to the computer like I was :)

The New York Times did an article about this ringtone last year.

I told one of my young friends, "If you want to make someone feel old, play that ringtone for them."

myhealthIQ Ribbon Dance

I put good use of the myhealthIQ apron today. Abby and I did some ribbon dancing and Andrea took a short video on our camera. Its funny, slightly embarrassing, and a little scary.

Manor Christmas

This year my parents came to Nashville for Christmas. We were glad that Abby could experience Christmas day in our house.

The night before Christmas we also had my Uncle John and Aunt Susan over for dinner. Before the night was over we took turns reading the birth of Jesus from the Bible.

Carole and Moni (Pawi was home sick) came over Christmas morning to enjoy Abby opening her presents. They got her a Goldfish Dorothy, that she thoroughly loves!

Christmas e-Card

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

With all of the things that go along with pregnancy, we won't be sending out snail-mail Christmas Cards this year, so I have made an e-Card instead. I hope you all understand.

Please continue to pray for us during Andrea's first trimester of pregnancy.

Special Dress from Pops

With the news of baby #2 public, Pops gave Abby a special dress to show that she hasn't been forgotten and is loved!

Big Sister Abby

Well, Abby is going to be a big sister! That's right, we are going to have another child... Andrea is pregnant!

Today was our first appointment at the OB/GYN and baby #2 (name and gender unknown) is 8 weeks today.

The projected due date is July 22, 2008. Whew, I hope its not too hot around then :)

Please keep us all in your prayers as the pregnancy progresses.

Walk Through Bethlehem

Tonight we all went to the Walk Through Bethlehem at the Woodmont Christian Church in Green Hills.

Over 400 church members took part in recreating the Nativity of Jesus. We were transported back in time to the day of Christ's birth to experience the sights, smells, and environment that surrounded the Nativity.

The Walk Through Bethlehem was much more elaborate than I had imagined. I was pleasantly surprise to see the amount of work and detail that was put into the experience.

They had a lot of ways to engage both young and old alike. We had a great time tasting the foods, watching craftsmen weaving, making pottery, pressing olives into oil, stomping grapes into wine, etc...

For more pictures go to my Walk Through Bethlehem Picasa Web Album.

Toy Train Show

John Hall (Andrea's Dad), invited Pawi (Andera's Grandfather), Abby, and I to the 14th Annual Christmas Toy Train Show.

The event was held in the Agricultural Building at the TN State Fairgrounds. There were various operating train layouts setup across the building.

My favorite train layout was an n-scale display that took the operator, his dad, and his brother 1 ½ years to assemble! Now, that is dedication!

If you love model trains, then you would have been drooling :)

Thank you John for inviting us. We had a great time!

Ring the Bells

Abby and I went to the Ring the Bells Christmas Concert at Fellowship Bible Church this evening.

There were performances by Carl Cartee, Ronnie Freeman, Jason Ingram and Christy Nockels plus Tofer Brown, Evelyn Brush, Heidi French, Cheri Keaggy, Laura Licata, Geoff Moore, Cindy Morgan, Erin O’Donnell, Amy Stroup and Three Strand.

My favorite songs were Ring the Bells, Emmanuel, and O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

I think Abby's favorite song was Angel's Lullaby sung by Christy Nockels. During the song a ballerina danced in the foreground. It was quite beautiful. Christy Nockels is one of Abby's favorite Christian artists. She asks for her CDs frequently in the car.

All the proceeds from the concert and CD sales will go to the African mission partnerships of Fellowship Bible Church.

Fellowship Bible Church composed a video that describes the inspiration behind the Christmas project. You can also listen to songs and buy the CD.

December Bible Class

Andrea and Abby got together with three friends for "Bible Class" in December to learn about the birth of Jesus.

They intended to meet four times during the month, but Andrea wasn't feeling as well as she expected, so they ended up meeting twice.

Still, Abby learned a lot from this time. She could tell us all the names of the people in the story and later she built a "stable" with her blocks. She included all the animals, baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and even a star in her construction (all of blocks).

Gymnastics

Abby has started a weekly Gymnastics class at the Green Hills YMCA near my work.

I went to visit her on her first day of class. She had a great time jumping, rolling, climbing, swinging, etc... all over the gym!

For more pictures go to my Gymnastics Picasa Web Album.

Portrait Party

We were invited to a Portrait Party at our friend's house, the Drivers.

For $20 we had 20 minutes of Sally Kent's photography time in a home atmosphere surrounded by other friends. This setup was optimal for Abby to open up to Sally and the environment.

We were please to get some good shots from the experience. As a bonus, we get access to all of the pictures can use or develop them as we please.

For more pictures go to my Portrait Party Picasa Web Album.

Elftravaganza

Happy Holidays from the Manors!

Sit back and enjoy watching Andrea, Abby, and I as we dance in the new season!

Season Greetings.

Mouse Training

Today I taught Abby how to use the mouse.

Here she is showing her new ability after a short lesson.

Maybe I should start teaching her how to computer program next.

Hall Thanksgiving 2007

Andrea and Abby headed on to Jackson during Thanksgiving week and I met up with them on Thanksgiving day.

While they were gone, they surprised Anna, Andrea's middle sister, with a Lua themed birthday party. They had so much fun decorating for it. On Wednesday, Andrea's Mom's family came for and early Thanksgiving lunch. The kids all had fun playing together in the backyard, Abby splashed in some wet puddles for the first time and had a blast!

The next day, Andrea's Dad's side of the family came for Thanksgiving Day (along with me).

There were over 20 people at both gatherings. We had a great time visiting with family.

Memorization

We have been working on a different memory verse every month with Abby in coordination with a teaching program that Andrea has been doing with her. I thought it was about time to get a video of her saying them.

Also, Abby enjoys singing the alphabet song and counting numbers. You can watch her recite those as well.

Racquetball Boys

Andrea's sister, Alissa and her two boys came to stay with us for four days.

While they were here I went with the boys to play racquetball at the local Green Hills YMCA. We all got a good workout running around the court hitting the ball. It was all good, I only hit them a couple of times :)

Abby enjoyed playing with her cousins. While I was at work they all went to the ICE!^TM exhibit at Gaylord Opryland.

Andrea's other sister, Anna and her husband Ron and 6 month old Joshua came and stayed for 5 days. Anna was able to attend two events at Fellowship Bible Church with Andrea, Moms Together and Women at Rest. Abby was so sweet to baby Joshua.

October Preschool

This month we learned about the Fall season.

Andrea and Abby had so many fun activities to do this month.  Their favorite day was today when they got to share some of their favorite activities with their friends who came over for a "Structured Playgroup."  Look at the pictures above with captions to see some of the activities from this month.

For those of you who are interested, you can view the details of Abby's Daily Preschool Program for the month of October.

For more pictures go to my October Preschool Picasa Web Album.

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