Old McDaniel Had a Farm...

and it's a great place to walk...and it's really close by. Who knew??

My friend, Amy, called today to see if Caroline and I wanted to visit McDaniel Farm Park, a historic farm that's been converted into a park only a few miles away...so we got dressed (in overalls, of course, because what else do you wear to a farm??): and got ready to go. Caroline was pretty excited when I told her where we were going:

She may not have learned a lot...

but I had a great time exploring the old farm and hanging out with Amy and Bryce...

An actual old outhouse with the moon shaped cutout. I wonder why all outhouses have that same shape cutout in the door?

Bryce inspects the stroller wheels while Caroline continues to snooze.

...and we'll go back...Caroline just wouldn't hear of us not!

Next time, maybe we'll go on a Saturday when all the exhibits are open and take Dad with us!

Home, Sweet Home

Granny's three week stay at the nursing home (that I mentioned in a post last week) was cut short as the quality of care at the nursing home became less and less impressive. My parents and aunt and uncle have decided to help her recover at home, and she is glad to be back! Caroline and I are spending the night at my Granny and Pop's house tonight with them and my Aunt Judy and Uncle Bruce (who are staying here to help them out). It was fun to see Judy and Bruce--it had been a few weeks since we've seen them because they have been in Alaska visiting my cousins (their sons), Prentiss and Damon. (We are SUPER excited about a visit from Prentiss and his family in a couple of weeks!)

Caroline seemed very happy to catch up with her great Aunt Judy (who, by the way, is one of Caroline's namesakes--Judy's middle name, Ann, is part of the reason we chose "Anna" as Caroline's first name.)

She was very interested in what Uncle Bruce had to say as well.

Here's Pop on his laptop chatting online with some of his cyber buddies...Just kidding--but I was able to teach him to use the up and down arrow keys so that he could see this blog and scroll through pictures of Caroline.

When bedtime came, Caroline got to sleep in the cradle that both of my cousins, my brother, and I all used as babies. Now, the next generation of cousins, (Marin and Caroline--and Marin's soon-to-be little sister) use it when they visit Granny and Pop:
But there's an even cozier place that we all slept in as babies...and Caroline got to sleep there tonight too:

"I SCREAM" with a cherry on top...

3 Incidents and a Funeral

We had a full weekend in the Trice family--so full that it dragged into Monday! We were glad we got to spend another day with Dad, but not so glad about the reasons. We got of to a fun start on Friday when we had dinner with the Tipton family, some of our friends from CCA:

and on Saturday when we celebrated our friend, Jeff's, birthday

Jeff cut his tool themed cake with a real knife.

Caroline and Jeff's wife, Courtney, chatting it up after the party.

But things went south on Sunday when I got sick--really sick. I don't remember ever feeling that bad. Fortunately, it was gone in 24 hours, and I am 100% better. But with Daddy in charge of Caroline and a needy Mommy, poor Caroline spent a lot of time in the swing engaging her new favorite pastime, sucking her fingers...


Somewhere in the mix, I had misplaced my car key, (it was only a matter of time before I lost it as it was broken and detached from the rest of my keys...having a new one made was such an ordeal we hadn't gotten around to it) and it was Monday morning before Mike finally gave up on finding it. But with no spare key to copy, the whole car had to make the trip to the dealership...



...and all of this had to be done in time for us to make it to my hometown Monday afternoon in time for the funeral of my dad's cousin, Ted, (whose suffering from ALS ended Friday when he got to heaven) and a visit to my 87 year old grandmother who fell and broke her back last week. Granny is not at all pleased about the mandantory 3 week nursing home stay while she recovers, and we aren't either as the accomodations are not impressive. My mom and aunt have done a lot to make her little room more liveable, but the rest of the facility is nothing short of gross. We even opted to change Caroline's diaper in the parking lot rather than in the building.




But the trip did allow for one of our favorite things, some Ellie lovin'!




And visiting with some of our other favorite folks too...

Caroline thought Grandma Luke was hilarious!

Aunt Sandy got in on the fun too!

And, in the midst of it all, Caroline picked up a new skill: swatting at her toys...


But sometimes she looks like she thinks they might swat her back...

Got Milk?

Yes, Caroline, I do. But, judging from what you just left on each of my shoulders, you no longer do.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho--Off to Work We Go!

Mike has been excited about showing Caroline off to his coworkers so we stopped by his office today to let her meet some of his pals. Here they are in front of his building:
It was fun to see and meet some of the folks I haven't seen in a while and show off our little gal. It was funny to hear so many of them tease Mike about how smitten he is with Caroline...a few comments I heard:

• "THAT is a Daddy's Girl!"
• "Did you file your change of management request?" (implying Caroline is his new boss)
• "Mike used to come by and look at my reports for me at the end of the day, but now he doesn't. As soon as he's finished for the day, he has to get home to that baby!"
• "That little girl is all he talks about anymore!"

I'm very grateful that my baby has a daddy who loves her so much!

Next stop: Mommy's friends at CCA!

Almost Sisters

I don't have sisters, but I do have two old friends who are almost as good. Amanda, Laurie, and I have been best friends since high school. This is a picture of them from the weekend of my wedding (obviously discussing something good!):
The three of us live in different states and are each busy with our own families and lives, but we try to see each other as often as possible. Whenever either of them are in our hometown (I'm the only one still in GA), I always make it a point to be there. This week was a real treat because all three of us were "home" at the same time. Sadly, Laurie's little girl, Annaleigh, was sick and couldn't be around our kids--Amanda and I had to visit with her separately--but we got most of the gang together. Here are some shots of Caroline with her almost aunts and almost cousins:
Caroline had been crying, but stopped to listen when Aunt Amanda took her and started telling her how pretty she was.

Snuggling with Aunt Laurie. Meanwhile...

I got to snuggle with Amanda's little boy, Jackson.

Caroline and Julia (Amanda's baby girl) were fascinated by one another. This is the first time Caroline had a chance to really check another baby out, and she liked what she saw! The two of them were content for quite a while to just stare and reach for each another:

After the staring contest, (at someone's suggestion) Jackson counted to make sure Caroline has enough fingers and toes (he diligently counted each one...and the wiggle worm didn't make it easy for him!)

Thanks for the fun, everyone! Glad you all made it home safely...can't wait for next time!

Misleading Marketing

The picture on the package indicated that it would make baby and mama smile and giggle as they read books, eat peas, and play with blocks. Not the case:

Caroline says the Bumbo is dumb-o. I've heard it takes 10 times for something to become normal for a baby...we're at three. We'll try it again in a couple of weeks.

Proud Papa

A little bird told me that my dad is a regular visitor to Caroline's blog. If you know my dad (or his busy schedule--among other responsibilities, he owns two businesses, is a county commissioner, and is constantly invovled in some kind of project), you know that he's not exactly the blogging type. Caroline (who is, by the way, Dad's namesake--his middle name is Carroll) is very honored that her Papa Jim takes the time to keep up with her online life. These are some of my favorite shots of Caroline and her Papa.

Dad was our chauffeur to the hospital...


Right after her arrival...


Caroline and Papa Jim hanging out...



(Notice Bogey, Mom and Dad's Boston Terrier, in the background. He hasn't been allowed to get too close, but he is fascinated with the curious little crier that comes to visit. He goes where she goes.)

Thanks for reading, Papa Jim!

A Double Grandma Day

Caroline and I took Grandmother and Gogo to lunch today at the Fickle Pickle in historic Roswell. I thought it would be a beautiful day that we would capture in beautiful photos that we would have forever. Well, my little fickle pickle was a little on the sour side and didn't really care about my beautiful photos. This is my happy baby in her pretty dress before we left: (Notice her dress--she is finally wearing some 0-3 clothes--it's a little big, but it works--woo hoo!) She slept happily while we ate, but when picture time came, she didn't want to cooperate. Mom tried to soothe her... And tried... And tried... We finally took a few pictures anyway. When we got home, the pickle was still pretty fickle. If she wasn't being held just the right way or her bow got touched or any little thing at all didn't go her way, she let us know! When Mike got home, we tried the photo shoot again, but no matter what we tried, she just wasn't in the mood. So ironic that once the cameras were put away and Caroline was in her least favorite spot (the pack-n-play all by herself, not even swaddled), she was all smiles and giggles. (Fortunately, the camera is never too far away!)


(Note: I realize this video is probably not terribly exciting to most people, but I could--and do--watch it over and over so I couldn't help but share.)

On a more somber note (speaking of grandparents), one of my closest friends, Laurie, called early this morning with some bittersweet news. Her grandfather, our beloved Papa Moore, finally met Jesus today. I grew up visiting Mama and Papa Moore with Laurie and was fortunate to have been able to spend a lot of time in the home of these sweet, godly people. As a leader in the church, a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, and a friend to many, his influence went far. We will all miss him very much.