The Ryan Five

With five children,  among three families, 

We've got some... PERSONALITIES

50 piggies

a WHOLE LOT of love

And maybe even more adorableness!
(not that I'm biased or anything! :) ) 

 {{ What a monumental picture!!  All five looking at the camera with pleasant looks on their faces.  

This is the stuff that keeps me clickin! :)  }}

Seven Grandbabies, Revealed...

Dah dah daaaahhhhh

{ cue dramatic music }

There was much speculation about the details of the picture teaser quote on Tuesday's "Orange You Glad You Stopped By?" post.

• No, Susie isn't having Twins.

• No, Christa's not pregnant. (Although that has been known to happen before in this family! :) )

• No, Jeremy and Brittany aren't having a shotgun wedding!
       (sheesh! Didn't think about that option when I posed the question!
       They're probably going to kill me if they read that post!)

• No, we aren't having Twins.

I gotta give you guys credit...  all of these are quite interesting scenarios put forth by you very creative, think-outside-the-box, blog readers!  :)

There are indeed seven grandbabies in the picture!  In addition to the obvious five,

Thomas and Susie are due to add number three on May 1, 2011....

AND...

There' a little bun in the oven in the Benjamin Ryan Household 
due to be done bakin' on May 12, 2011!!!

It's such an incredible blessing.... One we've prayed for, for quite some time now, and we are over-the-moon excited to welcome a new little one into our family! :)

Children are indeed such a gift from the Lord!

Here's the little video we captured of us telling Benson the news:
 
(this was taken about two seconds after we found out, ourselves... we're not good at keeping secrets about such things :)  We took the test at approximately 9:00 on a Sunday night, hopped in the car and were knocking on our families doors in Lexington by 11:00 that night... ya THINK we were excited!?)



While we were able to talk him out of the name, "Sarah," for a boy,  he still thinks "Benson" is a good name for a little brother.  And when I suggest that it might get confusing at times, he just replies, "Well...we'll just be like Thing One and Thing Two!"

Oh.  Ok.  Well then, I guess we'll have to throw the name "Benson" in the "maybe" pile!

Bye, for now!  

From me and my rapidly expanding belly 

(ok, my rapidly expanding everywhere)!  

Fourteen Plus Three

Becca just turned fourteen plus three!  (Can you do that math?)  

Benson loves the fact that, with so many loved ones nearby, we are always celebrating birthdays around here... 

Cake?  Fire?  His favorite people in the world?  What's not to love?! 

And you know I had to go there...  she was six.  It seems like yesterday. 
I'm really hoping that Benson grows at a slower rate than she did. 

When you're the only grandbaby (well for a little while longer, at least),
you can get away with stuff others cant...

And look good doin' it!

Happy Birthday Aunt Bey-kah!

Orange you glad stopped by?

I guess I could skip some of these Clemson pics. Considering we only missed one home game all season, you might get tired of all the orange, but I just like the memories and I like orange.
So bear with me :)

These snaps are from the Clemson vs. Miami game.  We had a great time all being together...

I absolutely love tailgating.  We always have quite the spread...





This was the first game we've had EVERYBODY at in a Looooonnnnggg time.
And probably the last one we'll have everybody at for a long time!
There are SEVEN grandbabies in this picture.  Can you find them all? 



Benson absolutely LOVES his uncle J!!  It's so precious to watch them together.  :) 



I guess leaving home before 7:00 a.m. to head to the game, caught up with the little guy! 



Can you tell we love Tiger Town?? :)

Helicopter Coolness

    
On September 22, Benjamin turned 29, Mr. Tom 56 and on the 25th, Uncle Jo turned 18! 

So we had publix cake. 

Have I told you how much I love publix cake?  I think I MIGHT could eat a whole one by myself.  We've had this discussion in the Ryan household and the boys are convinced they could.  I think I could hang with the boys on this one. 
They are so light and fluffy and good. 

We don't have Publix anywhere NEAR us. The closest one's in Columbia. 
That's just some junk.  Probably helps keep some JUNK out of my TRUNK! 

Note:  Benson is not one of the birthday boys.
(in case there was any confusion there)
But he was cool enough to make the shot because he smiles so naturally. 

For his birthday, Mrs. Lula gave Benjamin a remote controlled helicopter.
Benson considers this the coolest present daddy has ever gotten, ever. 

When I was little, I was always so jealous when my boy cousins got cool toys like these.
I mean, what's a doll that just sits there, compared to this thing?

Even now... I'd rather have something techy-cool, than sparkly.
Not that I don't love sparkly.  Don't get me wrong.

But I do feel like my Nikon and Mac are my second and third children.
My love for them is great.
I pack the car and think, "Do I have Benson?  Mac? Nikon? Ok, we're good."
This is not a joke. 

After a few days of watching daddy fly it, Benson asked if he could fly it. 
Now he asks, "Can I fly my helicopter?"
I think it's changed owners.

I love having a boy.  They are so fun. 

But I'm just going to be honest.  They have cooler toys.  

Girls have cuter clothes and accessories, yada yada....

But toys?  Boys win the toy category.   

This boy wins the cute category in general. 

I can be biased like that,  I birthed him. 

I love his inquisitiveness.
Except for the 478th time he asks me to explain how a tornado works.
I think this is related to his boyness-  I'm not sure girls ask their mamas
478 times to hear about tornados.  And volcanos.  He wants to know all about volcanos.  All the time.
Next time you see him, he's likely to ask, "Can you tell me a story about a tornado?"
Surprisingly, most people have one.  Get yours ready for the next time we run into you.
He ZONES IN when people start telling their tornado stories.   

I love my sweet little pilot! 

And his hunka-hunka-burnin'-love 29 year old daddy!!  

Fall Sugar Snap

The leaves had started falling last time we went to Greenville, so we snapped some shots of the little sugars outside.

Benson thought that this baby Tulip Poplar tree growing out of a railroad tie in Kell's yard was THE.COOLEST.THING.EVER.  He couldn't believe that this tiny tree could grow into the one that was standing beside the side walk, wayyyy too tall for him to even see the top.

Wanna know how to tell a Tulip Poplar when you see one?    See the little leaf on the left? If you turn your head to the side, What does it look like?
uh huh.. a TULIP!
Ha!  I was paying attention in Botany lab :) 







The picture below reminds me of the first time Benjamin ever kissed me.
He was a senior and I was a Junior and we had gone to the park after school.  We walked down by the stream and sat on a swing and were watching the water babble along.  He took my chin in his hand and turned my face toward his and kissed me sweetly on the lips.
What a lovely memory :) 

This is not these two's first kiss.

These sweet babies are such a blessing to their mamas!! :)  

And they give our cameras quite a workout! :)

Our other Ville

     On our most recent trip to Greenville, we ventured away from our most favorite pastimes with Kell and Lael (bathtime and naps) and out to the Children's Museum of the Upstate.  

     I was impressed with the vastness of the place.  It's three stories of FUN.  And education. But mostly education disguised as fun!  And while it isn't a cheap date (it's $12 for kids AND $12 for grown ups... the fact that each adult has to pay is a little inhibitive for me, but I guess they have to pay for the coolness somehow!)

 Benson and Lael had a grand time.  See?...







Oh yeah.  Us mama's got our $12 worth too!  :)









This picture makes me laugh:



He was supposed to be tapping the paint brush in order to drip the paint onto this shaving cream that was spread out on a tray, but he isn't exactly light-handed and hit it with such force that it splattered up onto in his face... I'm going to venture to say that art isn't his strong suit.

And here he's flying a space ship.  Or listening to Mister, Mister, I can remember which one...



Benson loves his KK.
He told me, last week,  that he wanted to marry her.
And work for Farm Bureau.
And go to Vienna with mama and daddy and his wife, KK.
I can't blame him.



More to come from that little photoshoot I told you about last week :)

Introducing.... my newest niece :)

Ok, so he's not my newest niece.  But BOY, is he adorable!

a special thanks to kell for being second shooter on this one.
i feel like we're charlies angels.
with nikons :)