We have had a very busy July so far, but it has been good! Here is just a glance at our summer fun!

Cow Appreciation Day!

We have a blast getting ready for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. We are even going to save our stuff so we are ready for next year's event. We all had fun meeting another family up there for a free lunch.

Georgia Aquarium

We visited the aquarium with our Orlando/PC friends, the Jarvis'. We had a great time watching Caroline and Hannah have fun together. Caroline seemed to like the fish and other animals, especially the sea lion. If you want to check out a video from that day, see the Jarvis' website .

Georgia Aquarium July 2008

Farms!

There is a family in the church that has had us over several times to get fresh fruits and veggies! Everything from watermelon and cantaloupe, to squash and corn! Yummy! We went back over this past week because they had saved some peaches for Caroline to pick off their peach tree. She kept saying "ball" and throwing them. (Not exactly great for peaches!) When we tried to stand Caroline up under the tree she wouldn't stand in the grass. You will see in the pictures! Ryan also got a picture of me in the corn rows. Looks like a scary movie!

Picking Peaches and Corn

Cousins' Camp

Our pastor and his wife hold Cousins' Camp each summer for a week. They had 10 grandchildren here with them for this summer's camp this week! Today Mrs. Anne invited me and Caroline to join them for lunch at the Chick-fil-a headquarters (YUM!) and to swim at a nearby pool. We had a great time and not only were able to help her drive the kids, but also got to spend some time getting to know her grandkids! They LOVED Caroline and argued over whose turn it was to hold her. It was quite funny. The picture in the pool shows Mrs. Anne with Caroline and all the kids that swarmed over to her when she got in the pool! Caroline had fun getting some extra attention today.

(Truett Cathy owns the Batman car and costume from Batman Returns.)

Myrtle Beach Vacation

Caroline and I went up to North Carolina for a few days before going on to Myrtle Beach with my parents. Ryan came up later that week to begin our trip. Here are some of the pictures, along with a link to the whole album. There are a few more I'll add later when I get them from another camera.

Caroline enjoyed the beach. She was a little unsure when she put her feet in the sand for the first time, but before long she was playing in the sand and putting sand all over me. (Did I mention that I am not a fan of sand sticking all over me? Oh well, guess all that changes now. :) ) She liked to walk holding our hands down to the water and back to our umbrella. Unfortunately, we didn't find out until the end of our trip that she absolutely loved the lazy river! She would float along holding her shoes. And speaking of her shoes, they are her new favorite thing! Thank goodness for Walmart! :)

Myrtle Beach 2008 Our Camera

Well, it has been over 2 months since I posted on the blog! Wow...so much has happened since then and Caroline has grown so much! Wait until you see the pictures. We have been so busy with youth camp, vacation, VBS, and so much more. Check the blog often, as it will take me some time to get everything updated.

I'll start with...

Memorial Day Weekend and Cousins Birthday Party

On Memorial Day weekend my family came to visit us in the small town of Senoia! (Andy did not get to come because he was on a mission trip.) We had a fun time visiting with them. It was great to see the cousins play together. We even had a combined birthday party for Connor and Caroline, who are only three days apart! Check out the pictures below, then, click on the album to see even more!

Yes, Jeff still wears his high school t-shirt! They just don't make shirts that last this long anymore!

Memorial Day-Mom and Dad's camera

Memorial Day-our camera

All the family left on Memorial Day morning. Ryan, Caroline, and I watched the Senoia parade, walked through the arts/crafts booths, and went to the fireworks celebration that night! We had a great time.

Memorial Day 2 2008

Vacation

We have a great week with Ryan's family here. We had a vacation! We went to the World of Coca-Cola, Georgia Aquarium, The Varsity, and the Chick-fil-a headquarters (where we had free Chick-fil-a lunch and a tour of the awesome facility). We even had a great time just hanging out here and celebrating Caroline's birthday. Thanks for the visit! (Click on the box below to see the rest of the pictures!)

Vermilyea's vist May 2008

Happy First Birthday, Caroline!

Caroline turned one this past Wednesday. It is hard to believe that our little girl is already a year old! We had a great day celebrating her big milestone. Ryan's family was here to celebrate with us. It was a special time! We thank God for Caroline and her sweet spirit. She is such a joy to us!

Here are some pictures to check out! We are also going to try to post a video later of her eating her cake. It is quite funny.

Caroline's First Birthday

Thankful to the Lord

For those of you who don't know, I have been pretty much couch-bound for the past week or so. About two weeks ago I started having some pains and found out last week that I had a pilonidal cyst w/abcess. Because those are on your tailbone, it hurt to move in anyway and to sit down. This past Monday, I had to got to the doctor and have it taken care of, and am now healing from that procedure and the healing process that comes along with it, called "open healing." I won't describe it on here. Nonetheless, it is a healing process that requires not much movement on my part, and a daily visit by a nurse.

I write all this to give praise to the Lord. Throughout this process, which has not always been easy, He has shown His mercy to our family. He has reminded us how much people at our church care for us as they have provided a few meals this week, watched Caroline each day since I cannot, and provided our pastor's wife to be my nurse each day. People have cared for each of us and we are especially grateful to those who have kept Caroline. I am grateful to Ryan for all he has done, from working from home, taking care of Caroline, keeping the house in order, to taking care of me

We are not sure how long the healing process will take, but continue to pray for God to provide people to help watch Caroline this coming week if need be. We are hoping that I will be able to keep her, but we will have to see how things go tomorrow. We also are praying for little to no pain as I have my time with the nurse each day. We are praying for complete healing of this cyst, as it has a chance of returning. I don't want to go through this again. We are also praying that Caroline will continue to go with the flow as she has been in new situations all week. Pray with us, if you would, for these requests.

Pictures of the Day

Caroline looked so cute in her capris. This is what Ryan dressed her in this morning.

Caroline's new entertainment is standing up to play with the straps in her highchair.

Caroline's dinner turned out pretty messy tonight!

Recent Videos
(for those who aren't grandparents, sorry there are so many. but we knew they'd want to see them)

Caroline sat in her highchair on the floor during her dinner so that I could feed her from the couch. Sitting in this new place must have made her really talkative.

A family from church gave Caroline this Winnie the Pooh rocking thingie. Something doesn't sound right when Ryan asks Caroline, "Do you want to sit on Pooh?"

Caroline loves standing in her crib. Every time we go in to get her up, she doesn't come out without a struggle. Isn't she supposed to practically jump out when she has the chance?

Caroline's always loved dancing, and just because she is pulling up to her feet now doesn't mean that has changed one bit!

Garden and Rose Bush

Look how it's grown in a week...you can check out last Saturday's post to see the difference. We love it! I love seeing the rose bush out our living room window. Since I have spent most of my time on the couch each day, it is nice to have something beautiful to look at. If you look closely, you will see too different color roses. There are a lot more blooms on their way too.

We have the MOST amazing baby! She can do pull-ups! However, she gets mighty hungry when she works out. Watch the video below...

Yesterday Ryan took a two hour nap on the living room floor. When Caroline got up from her nap she played all over him, but she didn't get him to get up! When he did get up, Caroline loved laying on his pillow.

Caroline wore this pretty red dress to church today. She was sitting with me when she got home from church and Ryan got her picture. We both looked at the pictures and couldn't believe how big she is getting. Her face looks older to us. Enjoy the pics of our growing girl.

Our rose bush, garden, and strawberry plant!

Look how different they look from last Saturday!

The roses even smell pretty!




Our garden is doing well, except for the cucumbers. I think we are going to have to replant those.

Our strawberry plants are doing well. You can see there is one ready to be picked in the picture. I even ate one yesterday!

Caroline's exercauser turns into this fun s-shaped table. Now that Caroline is pulling up she is enjoying it!

She is pulling up and getting into everything.

I love the face she is making here!