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!

A Visit to Pointe Park

This picture was taken at a historical park atop Lookout Mtn. A lot of Civil War history happened on this mtn. We were there a couple of weeks ago and the kids enjoyed the monuments and cannons.

Birthday Singer for Hire!

And if you're lucky, she'll throw in a name! I just happened to catch her singing her favorite song while she was taking her bath. Usually she starts in the car and of course I don't have the camera and couldn't get her while driving anyway! I can't help but think just over 6 months ago or so, she was barely putting 2 words together. She uses sentences now,(granted not always intelligible), but what a long way she has come! We can always understand, "I want to watch Cinderella"!

Way to go, Lolo!

Logan and his classmate, Ben before the speeches. Both of them were so nervous, poor things!
Logan accepting his ribbon from the UTC 4H coordinator.
first, second and third place winners!

Logan had his Hamilton Co. speech competition last night. There were I think 20 4th graders from different schools around Chattanooga that were in it. Logan did awesome and placed 2nd in the county! We were very proud of him standing up in front of all those strangers and telling them about our journey to Meigan. His missed 1st place by 2 pts., but honestly, we are relieved because he would've gone on and I don't think he or I could handle the nerves! He gets so flushed and I know his stomach was turning flipflops! He's proud of his ribbon and took it to school today to show it off:)

Cinderella

How much Cinderella is too much? According to Meigan, you can never have enough of the princess, Cinderella. She watches the DVD on a daily basis and sometimes more than once (but it's so peaceful)...
Her favorite thing to do is dress up like Cinderella and watch the video as seen in the picture:)

Dodged the storms!

Yesterday was pretty nasty and at one point we were in a tornado warning. The worst part was I had put Meigan on the bus and not more than 5 minutes later, they put up the warning! She made it to school safe and sound, but had me unnerved to say the least! The tornadoes around Nashville were about 2 hrs. north of us. I guess the worst of the storms hit Tn. The devistation reminds me of what we are used to seeing with the hurricanes. Hurricanes you have some warning though. Tornadoes truly scare me.
Also I heard on the news today about a school shooting/stabbing of a teacher in Portsmouth, Oh. I did my student teaching at this elementary school. A teacher's estranged husband walked into the school and did this to her during her class of 5th grade. This is not how I like to hear my old hometown making the big news. So far, the teacher is in critical care in Huntington, WV and the ex took his own life after fleeing to his house. My prayers go out to the teacher and to the children who had to witness such a horrific event. Notre Dame Elem. will always be near and dear to my heart.

Something to tug at your heart:)

This was sent to me by a friend of mine. The boy talking is a 12 or 13 yr. old who lives on a ranch, in a small town in Nebraska.
Wanted to share with you all...

Birthday Surprise!

Scott surprised me with an early birthday present last Friday! He had our dear friend, Marvin, flown up for the weekend. Marvin is from the Tampa area and was to be my brother's best man. He was our rock when our lives were completely turned upside down. The kids love "Uncle Marvin" and though Meigan has only seen pictures of her Uncle Matt, she more often than not, calls Marvin Uncle Matt. Even if we correct her she still does it.
Anyway, we had a great campfire going Friday night. Saturday we all went out to eat and since we were so stuffed, we hung out at home and watched movies. Mom and Dad came in Sat. and stayed over, too. Big ole' slumber party for sure!

Snow wo/man

These pics were taken 2 weeks ago when the kids had their first snow day. Logan and my mom were out at midnight making the snowman and the next day, Jennifer decided it needed a woman's touch! I don't know, it looks like a voodoo snow queen to me! Notice the snow didn't stick around for long, but it was fun while it lasted. We were on our way to Cincinnati when all this fun was going on!