New Year

Manchie and I have definitely gotten old. We are sitting here watching the Clemson bowl game on New Year Eve, party animals that we are.

Went over tonight to eat dinner with Holly and Macon. They were the only two home and Macon has been sick so we ate while Macon sat in the living room watching a movie. I got started on watching it with him and did not want to leave it to eat.

We will go to the local annual New Yr day auction tomorrow. One more day of vacation (the last day I worked was the 21st), then one day of "working" at home and then off to NY for two days of meetings on Thursday and Friday. Not looking forward to going to NY during a holiday week and trying to get home on Friday, but the paycheck says I gotta go.

Manchie will stick around here and hold down the fort. Next week I have to go up to Fall River MA Wednesday through Saturday and Manchie & Holly will be going to Atlanta for market that weekend.

Not sure what we will do the second half of the month.

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Holly, David and kids are STILL over here eating, playing a new board game and making us remember how thankful we are.
We had an awesome few days. Manchie cooked the family seafood casserole for Christmas Eve dinner at our house. All of us were together... Holly and her brood, Jonathan with his in tow and Flo & Darrell were able to come. All but Jonathan's went to church for our Christmas Eve service before dinner.
Christmas morning was brunch at Holly's with the same crowd minus Jonathan, Marissa and Griffin. They went to Marissa's parents for Christmas morn. Manchie and I came home so she could cook. (Do you realize how difficult it is to take a nap when someone is banging pots and slamming drawers??)
Late Christmas afternoon Holly and Jonathan with all theirs came back to our house where we ate AGAIN and then opened presents. I did not get much..... just a few little things .....
Absolutely best part of all this is being with the kids. I'm sitting here now with Holly, David, Hannah, Katy and Macon sitting in the floor playing "Mousetrap".
Anyone notice how much of our time revolved around eating?
Manchie and I are heading to Mooresville tomorrow to visit with Frank. We'll include a stop in Charlotte to check on her shop and also go to "Body Works" at Discovery Place. Probably end up staying over in the condo.
Check out the new pictures in Moore's Pictures.

Post Thanksgiving

It is obvious who in our family has the youngest/newest kid and who also has the best digital camera.....

Check out Jonathan's picture link and take a look at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and once again Manchie showed everyone how it should be done. Frank was able to make it down, thanks to Ashley and her family. All the kids and grandkids were there except Knox.

Take a look at the Moore pictures at the Moore Picture link.

Hannah's Birthday

Holly & David (mostly Holly) organized a birthday party for Hannah at the state park near Greenville last Sunday. Manchie and I showed up to help. I cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs.
Kids were well behaved and most had fun on the scavenger hunt in the woods. We did not lose a single kid..... though we tried. Only bummer was that Hannah got sick and is still sick. Something running through the family.

Check out the party pics on the pic link.

We are having our Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday. Frank is riding down from Mooresville with Ashley (Poore) and her family who are visiting in Mooresville for the holidays. With our crowd, that will make 16 people. I'll make sure we take a card full of pictures to post.

Sarah..... thanks for the comments.

November 12

Manchie and I went to Hannah's swim meet on Saturday. She swam one event Friday, 5 (?) on Saturday and some more on Sunday. She is into this big time now.

After we left the meet, we went to Manchie's booth at the antique mall and got good news. Not only had she sold a table that we already knew about, she had also sold another marble top table.

Halloween

Back up to Halloween. I decided to go along with some folks at work and "dress up" for the day. One lady came as a belly dancer (quite conservative) and another came with pumpkin decorations from head to toe. I was the most original. Being the human resource guy I had to do something. My costume was a big smiley face on my chest...... I was a HAPPY EMPLOYEE. Going to work like that was difficult.

Busy Weekend

Manchie and I went to the Metroliner Antique and Collectibles show in Charlotte on Friday. First time for us and we were impressed with all the "stuff" being sold... everything from flea market items to real antiques. Best thing was probably the funnel cake, if I could have had one.

We spent the night in Charlotte and Saturday we went to Macon's flag football game in Greer. Was great watching a bunch of 6+ year old kids running around playing football. Jonathan and Griffin came to the game too. Not quite the same as the Patriot-Colts game, but we did get to see Macon and Griffin (and those other folks.... Holly, Jonathan & David). Holly and Manchie went shopping in the afternoon for gifts. Don't think I was on either of their list.

Sunday was church, yard work and Holly & Macon for dinner while I tivo'd the game.

New York !! New York !!

Manchie and Holly spent Thursday afternoon and all day Friday seeing Manhattan. They got pushed around, soaked in the rain and walked much farther than they wanted, but saw much more than I've ever seen.

Thursday night we went to a Italian restuarant that only served French food. Friday we went to Patsy's, a pizza place. Saturday was Trio night. All good food, but the first night was the best.

Saturday we went on a bus tour of the city and got to see some of the tourist spots. Then we went up the Empire State building and took in the skyline of the city.

Check out Holly's blog for the details.

Today I took the subway down to Canal Street to look at all the knockoffs of the rich and famous goods. Walked up to Chinatown and took the subway back. WAY too crowded. Did happen to see a family from Greenville that was there on vacation. I did consulting work for the man's company in Greenville 12-13 years ago and we spoke about old times.

Lake - Birthday - NY

We were guests of the Wallaces (Marissa's family) at their new lake house over the Labor Day weekend. Found out that the kids enjoy tubing (no surprise there), Holly can still ski with the best of them, Jonathan can do all sorts of wakeboarding and wakesurfing tricks, David learns water sports quickly and Papa/Dad/Bobby can still ski.

We had a dinner for Dad/Bobby/Honey on Friday night. The pictures are from that family gathering.

The excitement grows as Manchie and Holly are preparing to travel with me to NYC this week. The passage is booked..... the apartment is arranged.... the tour bus is scheduled. All that is left is the "drugged" part for the plane. We are going up Thursday a.m. and they are coming back to Charlotte on Sunday. I'll have to work Thursday and Friday then stay over until next Wednesday.

Pictures will be posted when we return.