Picture day

Today we had our picture taken for our church directory. These were a couple of pics Scott took while I was trying to get beautiful. I also took the girls to see Santa and will put that pic up as soon as I get it scanned. Still working on get Christmas decorations out. The day goes by so fast, I never get done as much as I want. Tomorrow is once again the Soddy-Daisy Christmas parade so Sunday is basically a wash as far as doing anymore decorating. Logan and Jennifer are both in the parade this year. Scott and Meigan will be watching from the side. This year I WILL be wearing my thermals! I was a popsicle by the end!

Halloween and New House Pics

Sorry it's been so long!

Such a tea connisuier!



First of all, I truly had no intention of getting this behind with the blog. Once school started and life started getting more hectic, I guess the blog was the first thing to go! Scott and I are both back to school. He is going for engineering technology and I am going into the medical field. Mid-life career change! With all of us going to school and recently moving we don't have a full plate, we have a full platter!
The pics are from Fall Break where we got to visit Marvin and our favorite dog, Rocky! Mom, Dad the kids and I went on a 4 day cruise from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. It was the kids first cruise and they loved it. The childrens Program on Royal Carribean was awesome and boy did I utilize it! It was a week that went way too fast!
Now here we are in Nov. I have Halloween pics to still post. The kids are growing like weeds as you can tell! We are getting more settled in the house, but still so much yet to do (isn't there always!)
If nothing else, I want to keep pictures updated on here to share and tidbits of what's going on in the Conley chaos. Anyway, it's a start, so enjoy!

Update on Meigan

Before surgery, summer '07
after surgery

I had a hard time trying to find a picture that was a close shot of Meigan's face to compare to her new and improved nose. Granted, she still has some scabbing in the new nostril and we are still very much in the healing process, I have to admit it looks pretty darn cute, regardless! For the last week we have had to keep her new nostril plugged with an ear plug of all things, to let the cartilage take a nice rounded shape. We have bright pinks plugs so anytime we are out she gets plenty of stares. Occasionally I will get a comment from someone saying, "Is she supposed to have that in her nose?" Though I want to say, "No, I never noticed a bright pink plug in her nose!" I politely say she had surgery and nothing more is said. Hopefully, when we go back up to Cincinnati for her appt. Fri., we will get the all clear and no more plugs. Only thing is, she wants it in there and never messes with it. She hates when we change it, which I know has to be uncomfortable, but maybe since she's always had it plugged up, she's used to that feeling? I don't know. She doesn't realize how much better she will breath now.
Tomorrow Logan and Jennifer start back to school. A new school due to something I hadn't posted about, but, (hint, hint, we close next week!) More to come on that:)
Of course will keep you all posted on our Dr. visit as well!

A Wonderful Visit with Friends!

Last week we had such a nice surprise coming home from Cincinnati. Our dear friends, the Schlichter's, from Naples, were returning from camping in the Smokies and though we were afraid we would miss each other due to conflicting dates, we met up with them in Chattanooga and had a Soddy-Daisy sleep-over! It was great catching up and the kids had so much fun visiting with each other just like they had never been apart. Tues. we all went to Rock City and the fun was over way too fast!
Glad you guys made it home safe and you always have a place in Tn.!

Surgery is over!

Meigan had her surgery this morning around 8 am. She did fine and is now sporting a new little button nose:) It's truly amazing what doctors can do. She has slept most of the day and is now up and about and playing in the playroom. The doctor said her septum was severely deviated thus completely blocking her left airway. Right now she has packing in that nostril and will have to keep it plugged for 2 weeks or so to let it keep it's nice round shape. When it's said and done she will be breathing like never before i'm sure. If she does ok in the morning, we can keep her at my parent's hotel right down the street and bring her back Sunday to remove the packing.
We will have to come back in 2 weeks for a post-op visit. The Shriner's hospital is second to none. They have been wonderful and we feel humbled compared to other children we have seen here.

Summer slippin' by!

I looked back at the blog and saw it has been a month since posting! Thank you for not giving up on me though it looked like I had, I know. Truthfully, we have been busy traveling this last month. We went to a family reunion in Ohio and visited with cousins and aunts, uncles, etc.. We spent a few days in Southern Ohio with Scott's family and the girls and I drove down to Gatlinburg and spent a good week and half there. Logan stayed in Ohio to spend more time with his cousin. (He's following in his mother's footsteps!) I took the girls to the pool a lot and Meigan taught herself how to swim underwater! She and Jennifer are like fish now. Course, everthing Jennifer does, Meigan has to do too!
My parents also took us to a Chinese acrobat show which was awesome and Meigan was excited to see people like her. You wouldn't think she would notice that much, but she saw them and said, "Like me!"
Since getting home, I've been catching up on piles of laundry, and being a short-order cook to 3 kids:)
I do have a lot more pics to share. I 've been bad and haven't downloaded them off the camera yet, either.
July I kinda go in a yuck mode. There are 2 wonderful things to celebrate in July, our anniversary, which on the 24th, Scott and I will celebrate our 15th:), and on the 28th, Meigan will be 4 yrs.old. I'm trying not to let Matt's loss in the same month (28th), shroud those 2 things with gloom, but it is hard and as it gets closer I feel myself being pulled under the cloud. There are other issues that we are dealing with that of course are intensified when you hurt. (Don't worry, not marital!)
In 2 weeks, we will once again be heading north for Meigan's surgery. I will certainly be keep you posted on that.
Hope everyone's summer is going well! Until next time.....

A surprise in the mail.....

Yesterday we got the packet from Shriner's in Cincinnati that we've been waiting for since Jan.! We finally now have a date scheduled for Meigan's next surgery, rhinoplasty with cartilage graft from her ear. Doesn't sound pretty, I know, but in layman's terms, the surgeon will be fixing the collapsed part of her nose and basically creating a new nostril and giving her a pretty new nose! It should make a world of a difference for her especially when she is sick since she has always breathed through one nostril.
The date, I almost forgot! She will be admitted on July 30th, (2 days after her 4th birthday), and the surgery is July 31st. They say to plan on a 3-4 day stay. The nice thing about Cincinnati is we will not be far from our travel group friends who live on the Ky. side and my relatives and Scott's family live about 2 hrs. away.
We started our summer off with Logan's surgery and looks like we'll be ending it with Meigan's. This should be it for awhile!
The down side to this though, is for are wonderful friends in Fl.. Looks like we will not be making a trip down there this summer. We're getting hit hard in the gas
tank as are all of us. With an unexpected trip in July now, we'll only be able to travel north instead of south. I was so hoping we could squeeze in a trip back down. I miss you guys!

Happy 11th Birthday, Logan!

After nearly 2 weeks of misery, we are so happy to see that smile on his face again!
And of course a new game for the Wii helped, too!

We're Home!

Logan was released this morning! He's still anemic, but nothing that some liver won't cure! (Ha) Anyway, we're glad that he's home and back on the road to recovery!

Logan update

Just wanted to let you all know that Logan was put back in the hospital last night for some excess bleeding due to his tonsillectomy a week and a half ago. Last night was kinda worrisome in that they were thinking he may have to go back into surgery to repair his throat, but today he seems to be doing better and they took his IV out this afternoon. He will stay 1 more night for observation. His birthday is in 2 days so this was not what he was looking forward to for his birthday:(
Mom and Dad are here so I had a chance to come home and "refresh" before another sleepless night on a hard couch.

What have we been up to?

Logan is almost 1 week past surgery and still pretty puny without Tylenol. It's been hard for him to be homebound so long. We have taken him out for short errands, but he still gets tired easily. Yesterday he and Jennifer had an orthodontist appt. and the poor kid can't seem to catch a break this summer. Looks like probably in July he will be getting braces. Doing it now would mean wearing them for the least amount of time. I don't even want to get into the cost. We may as well be buying a new car.
Jennifer will have to get some teeth extracted soon also. At least she is a few years away from braces.
Scott, the girls and I snuck away to Gatlinburg for the long weekend. Logan enjoyed having his grandma here to spoil him!
The pictures are from this past week at home and at the aquarium in Gatlinburg.

Logan's Update and on another subject prayers needed...

Logan was a trooper this morning and sailed through his surgery for tonsils and adenoids. His dr sent us a pic of his tonsils and needless to say I now know we made the right decision to have them removed. No wonder he has felt like he has. Tonight he has been eating soft foods with little difficulty. We're all a bit tired since we were up at 5 am and left the hospital around 2 pm.

On a sad note I heard tragic news today from one of the nurses about one of my favorite singers, Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. He and his wife have 3 bio children and 3 beautiful little girls from China. Yesterday evening their youngest adopted daughter, Maria, was not seen on the driveway as her oldest brother was pulling up (or backing up) and she was hit and later died en route to the hospital in Nashville. My heart breaks for this family as they endure such a double tragedy. Just 10 days ago she was blowing out 5 candles on her birthday cake.
We just saw Steven Curtis in concert a couple of months ago and he shared many stories of his little girls. His family is his life. His sons were there too playing and singing in his band. Please keep him and his family in your prayers. His website www.stevencurtischapman.com also has info.

Just another week "Livin la vida loca"!

Well tomorrow is the last day of school, hallelujah for now, until they drive me so crazy I can send them to Gatlinburg for a bit!
Logan is scheduled to have his tonsils and adenoids removed Thurs. morning. Yesterday we went for the pre-op stuff. He's pretty nervous since it's his first surgery but looking forward to lots of frozen treats afterwards. Of course will post how he did.
Jenn finishes Kindergarten tomorrow:( I'm not ready to let that go. From here on out out it's more homework and headaches! Well, hopefully not, She loves school where Logan did not as much. I really loved her teacher this year, too.
Meigan finishes Pre-K 3 tomorrow as well. Next year she will spend part of her day with her current teacher and part with the regular pre-k 4 class next door. She still needs a small teacher student ratio class. Her teacher this year is awesome:)
I am doing something I didn't think I would do yet, but I am studying for the Tn. teachers exam so I will have my teaching license just in case. I do love subbing, but if the right opportunity arose I could take it.

You've come a long way, baby...

This picture was taken the first day we got Meigan, a little over a year and a half ago.
This was my Mother's day present from Meigan. Her teacher took a picture of each child and framed it. I am amazed at how much she has changed.

Mall Madness!

There are 5 girls here, but 1 ended up going with her mom and older sister.
Jenn getting strapped up for the bungee jumping.
Enjoying a 2 am ice-cream break!


This Friday night (into Sat. Morning) the Girl Scouts up here had a night called Mall Madness at the biggest mall in Chattanooga. It is a lock-in from 10pm until 5 am. Alot of the stores stay open for this event as it is quite a money maker. Jennifer is a Daisy Scout this year and wasn't about to miss out on this. In our Daisy troop there were 3 moms and 4 girls. We got there around 10pm and the girls had a blast shopping,eating,jumping and even had a star makeover at Libby Lu's (which I had never heard of till we moved). We thought the girls would wear down but at 4 am Jenn and her friends were doing cartwheels around the mall! We got home around 5:45 and slept till noon. The things we do for our kids! At first I wasn't looking to forward to it, but it felt nice to have a girls' night out and get to know the other moms better. Next year we won't stay as long since most of the stores closed at 2 am.

Dragon Boat Races '08

>This weekend Chattanooga had their annual Dragon boat Races to benefit the children's hospital. The weather was perfect and they were fun to watch. Dragon boat racing goes way back into Chinese history. The kids were also introduced to grass sledding. You basically take a piece of cardboard and slide down the hill. Meigan was fearless and started going down head first after a while.

Bon Voyage!

Yesterday my parents,Grandma,and aunt left for a 17 day trip that includes a trans-atlantic cruise to Ireland, England and France. What I wouldn't give to throw all my cares and worries to the sea for 2 1/2 weeks! I was told my grandma played her first ever game of miniature golf today on the ship. Making memories for sure.
On the down side,
I once again had Logan at the urgent care last night for his throat. He has strep again, I'm beginning to wonder if he ever got rid of it a couple of weeks ago. This time he had to get 2 shots and boy was he upset with me. God willing, we will make it to May 22nd without a dr. visit each week until then!
Trying to think happy thoughts!!!!!

Yikes! I guess it's been awhile!

"Who's the princess?"
"I am!"


I just noticed that I last posted right after Easter! The last few weeks we've been dealing with a lot of sickness. Mainly with Logan and Jennifer. Logan has had the worst of it and is scheduled to have his tonsils and adnoids removed on May 22nd. This was something we were in a wait and see mode with ever since he was so sick when we came home from China. Our Dr. in Naples told us it will probably have to be done and our new Dr. agrees. Not something Logan is thrilled about, but he's tired of being sick all the time with a sore throat.
Jenn and Meigan are doing ok. Meigan's teacher called me this morning to tell me Meigan fell and hit her head in the bathroom. She's got quite a knot, I guess. I talked to her on the phone and she said , " I hurt my head. I fall in the bathroom. I Ok." I love listening to her talk. Her speech and vocabulary keep getting better all the time. We're now at about 75-80% intelligibility with speech. Some things mommy understands that others don't. As you can see in the pictures, she is such a princess thanks to big sis's help!
Sorry again for the long delay:) I want to at least get updates in twice a month.

Spring Break and Easter Pics:)

The kids and I had a great week in Gatlinburg doing WonderWorks, shopping and the Ripley's Aquarium. Back to school this week and way off our routine once again! Is it summer yet?

Happy St. Patrick's Day:)

Our three Leprachauns!

The kids are on Spring Break this week so we are spending the week in Gatlinburg:)

May you all be blessed with the luck of the Irish!!!

Happy 34th Birthday, Matt

Your family and friends love and miss you so much.

Never a Dull Moment!

First piece of evidence, black hair all over the sink!
Imagine my surprise when I went to throw something away! This is what was lying in the garbage! Thought she could dipose of the evidence!
Beautician in training! She chopped part of her bangs, they are now much thinner, and one side of her head, a portion that covered her ear is now much shorter!