Birthday pics and a special visit

We had a great time this weekend in Ky. celebrating Meigan's birthday. We had lots of cousins and family come to celebrate.
On Sunday we drove up to some friends of ours who live outside of Cincinnati on the Ky. side. We became good friends in our China travel group last year. They live on a dairy farm and the kids had a blast feeding calves and seeing all their cows and horses. Next summer Logan will spend some time up there helping on the farm. He's anxious to milk a cow even though it's all done by machines now.
Marci and Eddie's little one, Maddie, is so cute and like the energizer bunny, she goes and goes and goes! That's why it was nearly impossible to get any pics of the girls together!

Hi, Out There, We're Back!!!

Our view from our deck! It so beats the view we had in Naples!


Hello from Soddy-Daisy, TN!

Well we have been up here now for almost 3 weeks. I really missed not having my computer. It didn't make the trip. Yesterday we got a new one so at least I am up and running again. We are all doing well. Scott leaves for work at 5:30 a.m. every morning but he's off at 2:30 so that is nice. Logan has made a new friend named Gio. He's a year older and they are together either here or his house down the street everyday. His parents have a garden so he's always bringing us fresh veggies! They are Florida transplants, too,from the east coast.
Jennifer has taken up with the neighbor girl who is fourteen. She loves playing with the girls and I've used her for babysitting already when I had to go to the DMV.
It definitely is different for us but in a good way. To get to our development you pass horses and cows and Meigan can say cow plain as day. Last week all the cows were up against the fence along side the road and we just stopped and talked to the cows. Could we do that in Naples?
Seriously, though the views up here are really beautiful and we have really fallen in love with our small town. There is a bigger town about 20 min away which has all the stores we're used to. Of course we've scoped out the mall a couple of times already.
The weather is absolutely perfect. Not too hot or too cold. We eat outside on the deck alot in the evenings.
Mom, Dad and Jennifer are in Gatlinburg this week until Fri. We will all be driving up to Ky. to celebrate Meigan's 3rd birthday on Sat. Will be nice to celebrate with lots of family as it is a bittersweet day as well. It can't be a coincidence that she shares that date with her uncle Matt's passing.
Something kinda strange today, too. I went and got my Tn. plate today. The only three numbers on the plate were 728. Believe it or not....

Happy Readoption Day, Meigan Samantha Li Conley!

Yesterday we went to court for Meigan's readoption and she is now officially, Meigan Samantha Li Conley! The readoption process is something that many adoptive parents don't worry about for awhile. Chinese adoptions are finalized in China and Meigan has been a US citizen since we have had her, but in order to a get a birth certificate that looks just like what you would get from the hospital, it is another legal hoop you have to jump through. In our case, even more so because unbeknownst to us while in China, None of Meigan's documents had her American name on them. This was something her province was supposed to do, but didn't. Needless to say because of that we had to apply for SS card under her Chinese name. We had nothing legally with her American name. Generally the only way to get the name changed and the birth cert. is to hire an attorney and go to court for a short hearing. Thanks to a wonderful family here in Naples who have adopted from China twice, we represented ourselves and saved possibly $3000 dollars! They had the paperwork needed to do this and all I did was retype the petition with our info, and turn it into the clerk of courts office. I called to get a hearing date and that was that.
The judge asked a few questions, we gave him the court order to sign and took some pics. Afterward Scott, Meigan and I celebrated with ice cream, yum:)
We missed the rest of the family, but they are in Gatlinburg and we'll see them soon!

Birthday Party Fun and Happy Birthday Logan!

Having fun in the pool!
Jennifer and Dom, BFF
Liam and Logan
Logan's Shrek cake
Happy 10th birthday, Logan!


I'm a little behind, but I wanted to post some pics of our weekend of birthday fun! Saturday we celebrated Jennifer's friend, Domonique's 5th birthday with a big pool bash and Sunday was Logan's day of fun in the sun at the lake. He celebrated his birthday with his friend Luk and by Sunday night we all crashed early!

Big News!

Well, Scott and I are back from Houston. We had an awesome time visiting my cousin and her husband. The big secret was though that I had an interview for a teaching position there and we were seriously considering moving there. The crazy twist though was that the day before we left, Scott got a call from City of Chattanooga about a job he had interviewed for a month ago. Not having heard from them until then, we pretty much figured he didn't get it. Well, he was offered the job and we had until Monday to decide. After finding out I would have more certification hoops to jump through, Scott accepted the job in Tn. which is where we ultimately wanted to be. My parents are now in Gatlinburg most of the time and Chattanooga is 2 1/2 hrs. away. So, Scott is to start work July 9th! That leaves us a month to get out of Dodge! We will be heading up there in a couple of weeks to look for a place. Crazy, I know, but considering in less than a year we have had just about every major life event happen to us, I guess we are ready to take the leap of faith and build our wings on the way down:)

Our friend, Samantha

Saturday we had the opportunity to visit with a family who was in our travel group to China. They are from the east coast and their little cutie patootie's name is Samantha. She is 1 1/2 and just plain adorable! The kids had fun playing in the water and sand and we had fun catching up on our busy lives!
Scott and I are gone until Mon. so will be back posting next week:)

2 Down, 1 to go!

Graduated from the 2 yr. old class and potty trained to boot! Woohoo!
I Love my teacher!

Well, I've got 2 done with school and 1 more to go! Logan gets out next week. Busy week next week. Scott and I are looking forward to our trip to Houston, (without the kiddos!)

"The Dance", A Tribute, Carnival Valor 5/21-28 2006

I've had this made for awhile. It was my first attempt at a slide show with music. The picture quality isn't the greatest, but unbeknownst to us, it truly was a trip of a lifetime. Never forget to tell your friends and family how much you love them:)
Marvin, Connie, Shruti, and Scott, love you guys! Matt, thanks for not letting us miss the dance. It was worth every minute.

Showin' the Love

Happy 1st Birthday, Rocky!

You would have made your daddy proud, Rocky. You snore like him, kill us with your silent but deadlies, and love to sleep!

Jennifer's Graduation Day!

Yesterday was Jennifer's graduation from Pre-school. (Can't say she was her usual smiley self in the pics. The cap kept sliding off her head.) She is now offically a Kindergartner! Where does the time go? I feel like I just went through this with Logan and he's now as tall as me, nearly!

Cheer Banquet

Meigan and Rocky

Jennifer waiting for her trophy (with her side kick!)




Why do the weekends always have to fly by? Scott and Logan have been at church camp this weekend. They came home exhausted, but had a good time.
Last night was Jennifer's cheerleading end-of-the-year banquet. We stayed and partied till after 10:00, which we paid for dearly when I had to get all three of us up and ready for work by 7:45 this morning! Ugh!
As you can see from the pics Meigan received a trophy, too. I guess she was the mascot?

Water park fun!

Yesterday afternoon was Scott's County picnic at the new water park. The kids had a blast as you can see from the pictures. Couldn't seem to catch Jennifer this time, but was glad to finally get Logan in there. He's a very proud big brother, and cared less about hanging out in the kiddie pool when he could've been doing the slides instead.
Off the subject, but cute, went shopping tonight with the girls, all of a sudden Meigan breaks into her loudest rendition of Barney's "I love you" song.

Yikes, Another week has snuck by!

This is what a day of school, a 2hr. speech eval., and potty-training will do to you! She literally crashed last night!





We have had our usual busy week this week. Meigan has been doing better with potty training, though I would like to just take the word potty out of my vocabulary. I have lost track how many times I must say it in one day!
Everyone has been well so far, too, which is a blessing! It was nice to have a day when we didn't have to be anywhere. Course, I used it to clean up the house. No fun!

National Champions!

Proud of her medal!
Hard to see, but this is when they announced the 1st place team and Jenn's team receiving their medals.
Took this one just to show how big the stadium looked and how little they look!
Jenn is the one at the top of the pyramid, yes my heart stops every time!




Yesterday was Jennifer's last cheerleading competition for the season. It was in Tampa, Fl. at the Sundome. The place was huge! I really thought the her team would be overwhelmed by the size and all the people, but they did great and took 1st place out of 8 other teams in their division (4-6 yrs. old)! There were teams from all over Florida and out of state. I was holding my breath and squeezing the heck out of Scott's hand as they announced the places. Scott is nearly deaf from my screaming:) Can't help it, those little ones worked their tails off !
We also enjoyed watching the bigger teams as the stunts get more difficult. I would be a nervous wreck with some of the things those kids do!