Graduation Celebration

On Saturday, May 26, 2007, two people that I love became high school graduates (as I have mentioned before), although I never expected to see either of them receive their diplomas (I had the opportunity to see both). One live and in person and the other via the Internet (if only our computer would cooperate). I tried to make the thing work and then Mark tried, he got it to go farther than I did, but after an hour it still had not started to download (it was still buffering). So I guess the next time that we talk to Becky (Mark's older sis) we will have to ask her if she will buy a DVD and mail it to us and then after we see it we will send it back.

Anyway, above you will see a photo of my little brother, Joey, in all his graduation glory (I just wish that he didn't look so much like his father (at least he doesn't act like the man/boy/whatever). Mom would be so proud. This may sound strange, but I swear that I felt her there watching her baby graduate.

I also got to see my sister (which wouldn't have happened if the graduation ceremony had not had to be moved on account of rain). I found out that she does have cancer (not the she is doing anything about it). Her doctor told her that if she doesn't do something within the next two weeks, he will no longer be able to be her doctor. I don't know how she can do that to the kids. What is this going to do to Joey (considering the same thing that killed Mom is going to get her too)? I wonder if she has even thought of that.

Any who, to the right (or above, how ever this thing lays out) you will see a photo of Sierra on Missie's lap. The girl in pink is a friend of my niece Jessica and the kid in blue is my nephew Kyle. It was so funny that I was even able to get this picture. You see at the high school, Sierra wanted nothing to do with Missie then when we got to East Central College, Missie asked for a hug and Sierra decided that she was going to sit with her until she had to go potty. Though she was only about 10 feet or less away from us it was still funny not to have her right next to me (or up my butt as she always seems to be). It is so hard for me to believe that this may very well be one of the last pictures (if not the last one) that I ever get of my big sis. The funny thing is, I haven't seen her as happy as what she was on Saturday in about 15, almost 16 years (since her first husband was alive), now her life is in jeopardy and she won't do anything, I just don't get it. Then again, its been a long time since I have gotten her.

Here we have Joey and his girlfriend of 7 months, Megan (not to be confused with the Megan that we are related to). She is very nice and says that he treats her very well (which I believe, he has lost a lot of weight so that he will be around for a long time). He has taken up smoking, which I can't do anything about because he is now 18 years old, but I don't have to like it. Especially since I know that he is at a higher risk for heart and lung problems (no not from the smoking, although that does up them), from being born 9 weeks premature. Like our sister he doesn't seem to mind the added risk (or he doesn't know about the added health risks that he faces). In any case I was just happy to be asked to witness one of the most important things that a person does in their lives. I did find out that it was just Joey that invited Mark and I, it was Missie. She told him that his other sister needed to be there, she was right.

The one dark spot of the whole evening was Danny, my other nephew. He wasn't there. Had things went the way that they should have, he would have graduated as well, but he dropped out a few years ago and he was sitting in a jail cell. For once though he made me proud of him. Yes, you read right. I am proud of Danny, even if he is in jail. What happened was, he saw someone robbing Joey, he wasn't going to get involved. He did however when the guy pulled a knife. You see Joey has always been more on the nonviolent side than Danny (or Kyle for that matter). Anyway, Danny stepped in and the guy stabbed him, he in turn pulled out his pocket knife and stabbed the guy back. The part that makes me proud of him is that he went to the police and turned himself in. The other guy is still out there. From what I was told, if the other guy doesn't turn himself in by June 21, 2007, then Danny will be free to go (no prison time, not that he deserves it).

I'm Shocked, Yet Happy

I am having a fairly good day today (haven't felt sick at all, knock on wood). I received a phone call from my sister Missie (the one that I haven't spoken to in almost 4 years). I also spoke with my sis Dee Dee (not that that is anything out of the ordinary). ;) The only down spot of the day is that while I was on the phone with my Uncle David, I was also making potato salad for tomorrow and burned the potatoes. I was in the back room and all the water boiled out (thank goodness for heighten sense of smell that comes with being pregnant. How is it that I am more excited this time than I was the first time?

Anyway, back to the phone call from Missie. She invited me to my baby brother's (Joey) high school graduation tonight @ 8 pm. I know that he is not a baby, but he will always be that to me (just like Dee Dee will always be Mark's baby sis). I also got to talk to Joey, he sounds so grown up. Missie wanted me to go online and invite his father, he doesn't want him there and quite frankly I don't either. That man has not been a part of his life since he was 2 years old, he doesn't deserve to be part of this special occasion. While I was talking to Missie, her phone went dead, but they did call back. When Megan (my niece) got to where ever it is that they were, she called me and let me talk to Missie again. She swears that she is fine, that she has somethings wrong and that either they will be taken care of and she will be fine or she will die, either way she doesn't care.

I know that she doesn't mean that, she can't. She's just scared, I would be too. Before we hung up, I told her that I love her and (believe it or not) she said it back. There was not much joy behind it, but she said it and she has never been the type to say something that she didn't mean. Which kind of scares the hell out of me, because she is being nice. She is never nice, at least not for the longest time. The last time that she was nice was late November/early December 1990 (before Doug, her first husband was killed by a drunk driver). She may say that she is fine, but I don't think that she is, I think that she really is dying and she wants to make things right before she does. So now I don't know if I should be happy or not. Help. What do you think? Should I be happy that she is back in my life? Or should I be sad that she is dying?

In closing, Sierra-Lynn is very upset at me and her daddy. The smell of her crickets was making me extremely ill (I don't know if you have ever been around 20 something crickets, but trust me they stink to high heaven). So I was forced to put them outside, well it rained and they drowned. Without the crickets, her lizards would have died (that would have made her cry and she would have hated me forever) so we told her that we had to let them go (she cried for more than an hour). I took each one up to her so that she could say good-bye and blow them a kiss, and then put them on the retaining wall in our front yard. She is still upset with me about that, but before they were able to disappear I got her a picture of each one of them so that she will always remember them. The picture of lizard Joey is a little fuzzy, but it will have to do. Mark and I did tell her that next year we will let her get another lizard (or 2), but she is still sad. What's a mom to do?

Here We Go Again

I have said it before and I am quite sure that I will say it again, I quit, I give up, I can't deal with it anymore.

Ok, now that that is out of my system, on to the real reason for this posting. Mark, Sierra and I went to the Wentzville outdoor flee market today (boy did it feel good to get out and walk). We were looking for a wagon for Sierra, she has out grown her stroller (she's 41 inches tall and 35 1/2 pounds), but still can't handle really long walks (like at the zoo or the Renaissance faire). I can't really carry her and Mark can only carry her for so long before his arms hurt, hence the search for a wagon.
We didn't find one, there were some there, but they were already sold or they wanted almost as much for it has the stores (they weren't even in good shape). What we did find was an exersaucer for $8 (in stores they are $40 and up), some really good (cheap) produce and some old friends of mine that are also friends of my sisters (Missie).
I asked them how she was doing (and by the time that you read this) she will be in jail for writing bad checks. But that's not all. Not even close. She also has late Late Stage 4 breast cancer. She put off getting treatment because she doesn't have insurance and refused to call the American Cancer Society (they now help people with cancer that can't afford treatment). She is not expected to survive the year.
Is this what I get for praying? In the last few years, everything that I have prayed for, well let's just say that I got the opposite. I prayed like there was no tomorrow for both my mother-in-law and my father-in-law to get well, so that they could be there for their kids and grand kids (more for the grand kids). They are both gone, and missed terribly. :( I prayed for my mom to get better (or for Ralph to get the crap beat out of him), neither happened. I'd like to say that I prayed for Dee Dee to be ok, but I didn't, I just knew without a doubt that she would be. For Missie though, I had people across the country praying for her speedy recovery, and now it looks as though it will be a speedy death. So if this is what I get for praying, I have to say that I am done with it. I still believe that Jesus is the one and only Lord and savior and they only way into Heaven, but I can't find it in me to pray anymore. Not if it only leads to someone that I love dying.

I Know, I Know

I am well aware that it has been forever and a day since I last blogged, but I have been waiting (rather impatiently, if I do say so myself) for a phone call. It’s not just any phone call though; it’s one that will tell Mark and me how much we will have to pay per month to send Sierra-Lynn to preschool in the fall. For the record, I am still waiting for this call and school gets out on Tuesday the twenty second. I also think that it is ridiculous that we have to pay to send her, in the next town over preschool is in the elementary school and the kids get to ride the bus and it doesn’t cost anything, but whatever. Mark made a decision when he got home that Sierra will not be going to preschool, we will do it ourselves. I think that we can too.
Mother’s Day
My mother’s Day was a blur of house work (dishes, laundry, and cleaning up after both Mark and Sierra-Lynn), after which Sierra-Lynn and I went outside and enjoyed the beautiful cool day (while trying to teach her to read). She decided that she wanted to be the one that was doing the writing and did this. As you can see she got her hair cut (I did too). Mark even did something unexpected, he let Sierra sign her card to me, I cried. Not bad for someone who hasn’t been to preschool yet, huh? (Will post photo later.)
The Saturday before Mother’s Day, we went to a birthday party for Sierra-Lynn’s friend Lexi. Sierra now has two lizards (I would take a photo, but they won’t stay still long enough). Their names are Joey and Cena (after John Cena, as if you couldn’t tell). Cena loves to dig; in fact it spent all of Thursday digging in one corner of the aquarium.
The Bennett Family is going to grow
For those of you who didn’t know, I have been extremely sick for about the last month. I would get up in the morning and just feel lousy. All I wanted to do was sleep (who am I kidding, that’s still all I want to do), certain foods make me nauseous and I can’t go in Deals without running to the bathroom (from all the smells). On the sixteenth, we found out (officially) that I am going to have a baby. We can expect her sometime in December. No, I have not been to the doctor yet, but I know in my heart that it’s a girl. Sierra couldn’t be more excited, she has already chosen a nickname for the baby (since Papa is not her to do it) and the name that she chose is… Pumpkin Pie. Isn’t that cute? She is P-Jink and her cousin Hannah is Peanut so she said that the baby’s nickname needed to start with a P as well. Speaking of her cousin, is she not one of the cutest little girls ever?
Turning now towards some older members of the family, I want to congratulate both my nephew Zach and my little brother Joey. They are both graduating from high school in the next week (not that I will see either of them receive their diploma), and (from what I hear) both will be attending a technical school in the fall, just not the same one. Knowing what I do about Zach’s Mom and Dad, I knew that he would either go to a tech school or join the military (I was leaning more toward the tech school as he is a Marine brat), but I am proud of him none the less. Joey, on the other hand, was a shock. Not that he would graduate (although I did have my doubts), but that he would go to school after graduation. He did not have the best up bringing (losing Mom at the age of 3, being sent to live with a drug addict (a druggie slut for lack of a better term) and never having a positive male role model in is life), I wish him all the best in life and maybe someday he will realize that I love him and miss him and he will look be up. If not, I guess there is really nothing that I can do, except pray that he will realize that Missie did not always tell the truth.
Well, I have to go. Now I have to type up a statement for a lawyer. I told Heather and Jac that I would help them out, so that they can get full custody of Jakob, since Shauna threatened to kill him and doesn’t really want to be a mom. Oh well, it’s her loss.

I QUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I quit. Child care that is, I love it. The kids are sweet and all, but the parents seem stupid, at least one Shauna Gooch. She has got to be the worst mother on the face of the planet. She has been letting Jac, Jakob's dad have him on the weekends. This is perfectly fine, considering, before she wouldn't let him see the baby. Speaking of which, here is a photo of him that I have, isn't he adorable.

The last two weekends Jakob has been with his dad, well, last week when Jakob was dropped off, Shauna seemingly disappeared. She left work at 5 (she was scheduled to work until 7) and didn't show up to get the baby (he is not quite 9 months) until 9:30. So, for 4 1/2 hours I had no way to get a hold of her, nor did I know where in the world she was. When she arrived to pick him up, she lied about where she had been. When caught in her lie, she gave yet another lie about where she had been.

This week Jakob was again with his dad (and soon to be step mom). Shauna was due to get him back last night when she got off work. Well, needless to say, he is still with his dad. Shauna left work early yesterday and took off with her boyfriend to Kansas City. Telling his dad and I that she wouldn't be back until Tuesday. Surprise, surprise, she is at work right now (it's only Monday). She still does not want him back until tomorrow. Jac was going to have Heather (his soon to be wife) bring him here and then he was going to come into Warrenton tonight, in case she didn't pick him up. When she didn't (which she straight up told me she wouldn't) the sheriff was going to be called and abandonment charges filled.

Now if she wants the baby back, she is responsible for driving to his daddy's house and getting him. Why, you ask? The bitch (pardon the language) called me to ask if Jakob had been dropped off yet, and I told her no that he was supposed to be dropped off around 1. She then proceeded to go off on me, because I told her earlier that I would no longer be watching him, because of the lies and the stress from the parents acting like Kindergartners. She told me that if I didn't watch him she would have to quit her job and then she wouldn't be able to take care of him at all. Don't try to guilt trip me. I had told her last week that I would help her to find someone else to watch him. I even called the local PAT office and had them print up a list for her. She said well you do what you need to do and I'll do what I need to do and then started to threaten me.

She threatened to turn me in for having an unlicensed day care in my home. Not a crime, by the way. Mark called up to the PAT office to find out what the cut off for that is. And here it is: no more than 4 children (other than your own) and only 2 of those can be under the age of 2. So there you have it, I did nothing wrong, except for agree to watch her children again. Well, I have learned my lesson, from now on the children that I watch will have a two parent home and the parents will be required to be at least 25 years old, 21 old's have to much growing up to do.

My Baby Is Growing Up

Sierra-Lynn is officially enrolled in preschool this fall. I can't believe she is old enough for it, where oh where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday she was crawling around on the floor playing with baby toys. Oh, wait that was yesterday. She was playing with Jakob (this little boy that I'm babysitting). He is sweet, his mother on the other hand is a flake and a half.

All Sierra has done since we enrolled her talk about school. I asked her what I was supposed to do while she was at school. She looks at me with this real serious look on her face, and says, I don't know Mom. You can clean or do laundry or whatever, I'll be at school. Way to make me feel loved. She also told me the other day that I have a big butt, sweet isn't she?

Speaking of sweet, I am going to beat my Uncle David within an inch of his life. He called last night and acted like he had amnesia. He said that he was in a car accident and that the car didn't make it. He told me that he had a cast on his leg, one on his arm, his ribs were all wrapped up and he had a real sore spot on his head. Sierra was sitting on one side of me, Mark was on the other, and Sierra almost started crying. I could have killed him right then and there. She loves that guy so much and for him to do that was just wrong. I guess that he heard her start to cry and he asked to talk to her, within seconds she was laughing so hard I thought that she was going to pee her pants. I still can't believe that he did that, if he wasn't in Knoxville.

Any who, I promised Sierra that since that rain has FINALLY stopped, that we would go outside, so I'm off to play in the mud that is our garden.