Kayann Lily Bennett

Today my little miss Kayann turned 3. She, however, tells everyone she is 4, than giggles. I cant believe it has been 3 years already. It is bitter sweet. I want her to grow up and be a big girl.Yet I want her to be a baby that I can hold in my arms forever.

Things were tough but Kayann was the last good thing when all the "good" had ran out. She made me say "this is why I waited".

Kayann has an amazing spirit about her. A funny little bit of spunk. She is so girly. So sweet and loving. She is such a mom, nurturing, caring, bossy. She loves being a big sister. Her little hands and eyes are always wondering. Seeing. Touching. Learning. She is so meticulous, everything has to be just so. She has the sweetest sad face. The loudest scream. And the silliest giggle. She loves to dance and sing. Yet she is very shy. Right now she needs her mom more than ever, and Im ok with that.

*how can you not love that sad face*

Kayann is growing and changing be she will always be my sweet little girl, who gave me the answer to the one question I had.

I love you Kayann! Happy birthday.

A new cousin

Raymond and Kayann's aunt Celaina and her soon to be husband, Marty, welcomed their first baby this morning at 8 a.m. He weighed 5 pounds and was 18 inches long.

The kids were so excited to see him at the hospital. Kayann would hold him and sing "rock a bye" to him. It was so cute.

Welcome to the world RAIN LIL'TSO FEATHER. (it means yellowfeather)

Found one

After the swimsuit search gone bad, I came home and search local stores (through the internet) for swimsuits. I found that Target had the best selection of swimwear for young girls. I was right. Target had way more one pieces than two pieces. Even the two pieces were offered in two styles, bikini and tankini. I was so pleased. Kayann got to pick out her swimsuit without me having to screen them first.

She picked out a very cute TEAL one. I even asked if she was sure she didnt want pink. I couldnt believe it.

Thank you for everyone that kept their eyes out for us. I just hope that the skimpy trend for little girls doesnt continue

Where does it all come from

The other day we emptied the car to vacuum it. This is what my yard looked like!

There are 3 car seats, 1 booster seat, 2 water bottles, a toddler bag, a diaper bag, a sling, a stroller and 2 bags of duck food from Wheeler Farm!

Now you ask how can the kids fit in there?

Where'd she go

Ashlynn loves her little purple chair. Mostly she loves to see what is going on. She likes to sit on the counter when I'm in the kitchen. I was recently putting away groceries. I couldnt stop laughing at the way she blends in.

A visit from Joe

Joe came to visit over Easter weekend one last time before he deploys. We had the chance to go to dinner as a family.

As you can imagine 8 adults and 4 kids under the age of 7 can be quite a bit for a server. Now imagine one of those adults being Joe, and one being mom! I'm sure the server has never been so confused in his life! But we made it Little Zac is so cute. I loves to drink water from a glass. He would scream and bang the table to get his moms attention so he could have more. Joe got to meet Ashlynn for the first time. She really liked just hanging out with him

a fun filled day

The boys (and grandma) recently got to enjoy spring break. We decided to venture out with all 5 kids, grandma, and old grandma (as Raymond and Kayann call her) to go bowling. It was so much fun!

The teams went like this: Raymond, Kobe, and grandma. Kayann, Kaylee, and me. Old grandma and Ashlynn were their own team.

Raymond is a freaking maniac! He runs, jumps, skips, hops. Mostly whatever he feels. Then throws the ball down the lane. He actually does pretty good though. Kobe is much nicer. He nicely rolls the ball down the lane. He watches so intently and cheers. He gets so excited.

Grandma bowls like a champ! She takes it to a new level. She is very serious and acts super surprised when she gets a strike for the 5th time in a row. We still love her though. YAY for team Raymond Kobe and grandma!

My team didnt bowl as fast or as well as the other team. The girls had a blast though. The hardest part was waiting for their turn. They kept wanting to roll the ball.

They gave us all the 6 pound balls they had. Kaylee could barely pick them up! She sure tried though

Kayann didnt want to use the green ball, they are for boys. She eventually found a purple ball that was 9 pounds! She just HAD to use! She did need help though.

*yes that is kayann's butt crack. Poor little girl.

We paid for 2 games but only played one. Which took almost 1 1/2 hours! The kids had so much fun. Old grandma enjoyed holding Ashlynn and watching. She thought the kids were so funny.

Sometimes it is nice to do something different. Even if you have to wait 5 minutes for the ball to roll down the lane, watch a monkey boy bowl and get your butt kicked by your mom. It is still fun!

Have you noticed?

We went to buy Kayann a new swimsuit today. She is at a weird size. She can either wear 5T (which only last this year) or she can wear little girl extra small (which should last longer). The little girls tend to be just a sminch big. We decided to buy her a little girl swimsuit that way she could have it longer.

We make our way over to the appropriate section. As we are looking, I notice that these swimsuits look alot like teenage girl swimsuits! I couldnt believe it. The tops looked like they should have boobs in them. The bottoms were sooo tiny, like something you would wear in your bedroom. We searched through all of them only to find 3 one pieces! 3 thats it. Even those were scandalous. They had ties up the back. Sides missing. I'm thinking to myself "oh my gosh, these are for little girls!". I almost went back to the baby section. We finally found a couple that were some what decent for a 3 year old. A one piece with stripes or a cute blue tankini. Kayann picked the tankini.

Thinking that we have defeated the pressure to look grown up, we head home. Only to find that the back of the tankini is missing! Seriously it just had a string to tie it. The whole back was open. I will be returning this swimsuit and looking else where for an appropriate swimsuit for a LITTLE GIRL.

It bothers me how our culture is putting pressure on little girls to be grown up. What is wrong with looking like an 8 year old?

PS we were at walmart!

Snap, snap, snap

For some reason my children LOVE to take pictures with my camera. They could fill the whole 2 GB in one afternoon if I let them

The pictures are usually random things. Like a hand, a favorite toy, siblings doing random (sometimes naughty things). Things like that.

Raymond loves to just snap away. Seriously. A million in a row. It is so funny. He now thinks he works for a portrait studio. He makes funny little noises to get Ashlynn to look at him.

Ashlynn is Raymond's new favorite subject. Here are some of his most recent pictures.

Ashlynn loves to hold herself up. She is such a big girl!

Raymond seems to catch everyone at their best! I love this picture.

A hard day of work completed

Bigger clothes!

Ashlynn has just moved into the next size clothes. I love it! She is no longer wearing pj's and sweat pants anymore. She gets to wear real clothes and cute shoes. Look at how stinking cute she is!

Dress....part 2

So there was a bit of a problem with me not posting a picture of my dress. :) Well here it is! I pretty much love it!

A little smile goes along way

When babies are first born, they dont do much. You love them the second they are here. You would do anything for them from that point on.

Babies on the other hand dont love you, they dont know what that is. They NEED you. You are their life line. You feed them, change them, keep them warm, and bathe them. Love is something they have to learn

It is the sweetest thing ever when your baby finally learns that. When she returns your rambling, funny noises and smile with a smile. A sweet little coo. She has moved past needing you and on to loving you also. It is the sweetest thing ever. It just melts a mama's heart.

A time in the past.........

Awhile ago, ok like 18 months or more ago, my sister got this

cute little dollhouse from a friend of hers for Kayann.

She asked that I take a picture for her friend. Me being the person that I am has forgotten to do so. Every time she is cleaning it up I say to myself "o crap! a picture"

So here are a couple pictures

Kayann loves her dollhouse. She loves to set it up just so. She loves to put the baby to sleep and than cook supper. The boys love to play with her it usually isnt the way she wants. Raymond usually surrounds the house with his dinosaurs. Than he has his marine squad come in to "defend" the family and house. This usually involves tank attacks, missals, and grenades. Non of which Kayann likes. Kobe is more ok playing how Kayann wants. He is usually the dad (the funny thing is all the family members are black). He will help take care of the baby. His man usually sits on the couch and watches t.v.

Kayann loves the dollhouse so much. Thanks Auntie JoEllen!

Family

I got an email a long time ago. I cant delete it. It is a reminder when I see it in my in box everyday.

FAMILY

I ran into a stranger as he passed by, "oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "please excuse me too, I wasnt watching for you".

We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told, how we treat our loved ones, young and old

Later that day, cooking the evening meal, my son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down, "move out of the way" I said with a frown

He walked away, his little heart broken. I didnt realize how harshly I'd spoken

While I lay awake in bed, GOD's still small voice cane to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use, but the family you love, you seem to abuse. Go and look on the kitchen floor, you'll find some flowers there by the door. Those are flowers he brought for you. He picked them himself, pink, yellow and blue. He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise, you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes"

By this time, I felt very small. Now my tear began to fall

I quietly went and knelt by his bed. "Wake up, little one, wake up" I said

"Are these the flowers you picked for me? He smiled "I found 'em, out by the tree"

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue"

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today. I shouldnt have yelled at you that way.

He said "oh, mom, that's okay. I love you any way

I said, "Son, I love you too. I like the flowers, especially the blue"

I can never read this without tears coming to my eyes. Sometimes our days are busy. Too busy. But they are never too busy to stop for a moment. To put a smile on their face. To make them feel special.

Dress

I order my dress. That is right. Not only is it order, it is paid for. What does this mean? I means I'm REALLY getting married. AHHH! I"m so excited!

try this!

Derek is a huge dessert person. When I was pregnant I made dessert at least once a week. He has been bothering me for like 3 weeks to make him something. He didnt care what as long as he could eat it at 9 pm as he watched tv. So this is what I made:

German Chocolate Coconut Bars

• 1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) German chocolate cake mix
• 1/3 c. butter or margarine, softened *I use a little more
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups flaked sweetened coconut, divided
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup (6 oz.) white chocolate and chocolate swirled chips

Preheat the over to 350. Cut butter, and egg into the cake mix. Press into a 9x13 pan. Mix condensed milk, egg, and vanilla well. Add 1 cup of coconut, pecans, and half the chips. Spread over cake mixture. Sprinkle with remaining coconut and chips. Bake for 30-32 minutes.

It doesnt seem like it would be rich, but it is super rich. It should be eaten in small amounts (unless you are pregnant or breast feeding hahaha) and with alot of milk.