Jules Turns 1 Today!

Today Julia turned 1 year old!

We celebrated on Saturday with a birthday dinner, milkshakes and presents.

Julia celebrated by taking some steps.

We had hats to wear and horns to blow.
Julia loved her little Minnie balloon.
Junior put his Spider-Man birthday ribbon on her.
(It was leftover from his birthday two weeks ago.)
Jules was having lots of fun.

Sylvia brought out the birthday milkshakes.
Julia's had a candle in it. She wanted so badly to grab that candle.
Then she tasted the milkshake.

(Yes, we did take the candle out first.)

She loved the shake!
She didn't want to stop once she got a taste.

We opened her gifts.
The other kids were obviously very excited for her.

Jules did a good job of tearing off wrapping paper.

An outfit from Aunt Chris and Uncle Brent.
Happy Birthday Jules!

The Return from Michigan!

Well, the family made it back from Michigan...and just in time for the annual Rome fireworks show. These are a few of the booms we saw just before the spectacular finale.
They pulled into the driveway shortly after 5 PM Friday night. After dinner we headed over to our standard spot on the Oostanaula River levee. We handed out the traditional glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces, then watched the show.
Earlier that evening, within minutes of their arrival home, the kids had found the wall Daddy had painted as a chalkboard. Seemingly 30 seconds later, they had it covered in chalk artwork.
It's good to have us all together again!

Happy Birthday Junior!

Happy Birthday Junior!

~

Sorry I can't be there.

Have a great day.

~

You're 5 now!

Summer's Passing By

Well, since the family is away in Michigan, without the ability to send me pictures, I'm posting some here so I can remember what they look like.

Syl got a new bike, and the kids wanted to help her break it in.

Junior recently had his training wheels removed and is learning to ride without them.

Syndi is a speed demon on her bike. I imagine she was challenging Mommy to a race in this shot.
Stephen and Julia tried to keep up!
We removed Julia's tray and put her right at the table.
Here she is claiming her new spot!
Junior & Julia
Jules likes to grab people beside her and pull them over for a Bop (a nose to nose touch).
Junior - our self-motivated doer - vacuuming his own room.

Julia loves to climb the stairs, and she's so fast we usually can't get to her before she's halfway up or more.
Junior making proper use of his silly string.
A little game of Mastermind.

Note the length of Syndi's hair.

A few days later, she had a haircut.
She wanted it short for her trip to Camp Barakel.
And finally, just before the crew left for Michigan, they had VBS at Pleasant Valley North Baptist Church. So here they are in their matching tees.

Hurry home y'all! I miss ya.

Jon Passes FE Exam!

Yes, folks, I actually PASSED the FE exam, and am now a licensed Engineer-in-Training! We received the e-mail above (I've marked out the license number) last night, about 3 weeks prior to what we anticipated. Great news! Praise the Lord! He is very gracious.

PVN Awana 2007-2008 Slideshow

This is the Pleasant Valley North Baptist Church Awana 2007-2008 slideshow prepared by Jon for this past Sunday night's closing ceremony. Enjoy!

It is a large file, so may take some time to load. (A lot of time on dial-up.) So you might set it going, pause it so it can load, and come back to it a few minutes later to see if it's partly loaded so you can start viewing it. Let me know if it won't work.

Time's A-Flyin!

The Caruvana family has been so busy lately, we just haven't had the time to update the blog. After Mom's death, we've had the end of the school year, bringing Aunt Lorrie home, arranging Aunt Lorrie's move to Texas, moving Lorrie's things from the house, packing Lorrie's storage unit on a truck to ship to Texas, the close of Awana (complete with hours [days] to create a slideshow video), and preparation for VBS (which starts next week).

Syl is teaching for VBS, so has been working to decorate her room, prepare her lessons, etc. And of course, when we came back from Michigan after the funeral, spring was in full blossom here in Georgia, so the lawn and garden have gone wild with growth, requiring lots of time. Syndi is having school testing done this week, so that takes more time. Jon was on deacon patrol in May, so he had to lock the building up after services.

Yes, it's been a busy month-and-a-half. Syl and the kids will be leaving for Michigan in only a week-and-a-half (right after VBS finishes), so we'll be crazy preparing for that. Jon will have time to post after they leave, but no family members of which to post any pictures. So we'll be back in full swing sometime around mid-summer. Hopefully we'll have the Awana slideshow posted for all to see in the next day or so. It may be large, though, so it may give people difficulty in loading.

Probably, y'all are just as busy as we are, so won't even have time to read this. That's OK. 'Cause I really didn't have time to post it.