Snow Day 2009

It rained for 3 days straight and we finally got some relief with some snow.

Murphy's first snow. He doesn't quite know what to make of it.

Gathering snow for snowballs on Daddy's car.

I love this picture.

Biography Book Report Gone Wild!

If anyone ever had to wonder if Bennett was truly related to me...how he does his school projects could be a big indicator that it is a resounding YES! He has a tendency to not being able to settle for just getting by...Luckily for him, he got this trait from me so when he wants to go for it whole hog I am right there with him.

So what am I talking about? Bennett had a biography book report assignment. They had to read a book and then create a doll that was in the likeness of their person. If you wanted to...you could have cut the doll out at school and color and decorate it or something lame like that. Well that wasn't good enough for my boy so...he decided he wanted to make his doll. So after a family trip to Michael's where is his perfectionist Daddy went down EVERY aisle to make sure we had the perfect ingredients to create MR. W.K. Kellogg!!!! We found a little tuxedo in the scrapbooking section that fit on this little doll that we find...and well you get the idea so here (drum roll please) is Mr. W. K. Kellogg and his box of corn flakes!

Mad props Bennett Lanier you rock! We definitely will get all of the 15 points that this part of the project gives (yes I said 15 points).
Blogger out!

A complete blog on Bennett's first chess tournament

Sorry about my blog from the chess tournament. I was trying to be fancy and blog from my phone...as you can see it didn't work. Bennett's chess team went to the Regional Tournament yeaterday. He was part of the Lake Windward Elementary k-3 team. Bennett has been playing chess since the beginning of November so we were kind of nervous about how this would all go down. First let me get a little selfish and set this up for you. The tournament was at the Middle School right down the road from our house, Webb Bridge Middle. All the teams and parents sat in the school cafeteria and the matches were set up in the gym. You were asked to be there between 9 and 9:30 and the matches started at 10am. There were 5 matches that were an hour and half each. If that doesn't sum it up correctly...it was a REALLY long day. The school has no wireless...a wonderful cut in education which should be fixed. It is 2009 and our Middle Schools don't have wireless? Anyway that is a subject for another blog.

So Bennett lost his first match, won his second, tied his 3rd, lost his 4th and won his 5th. For his first tournament we were all super excited about those results. Lake Windward came in first in the region for K-3! They were all so excited! It was worth sitting on those chairs in the cafeteria for 7 hours! :).

So congrats to Bennett and the LWE Chess team!

our first chess tourney

Today is bennett's first chess tournament. He is 1-1 with 3 matches to go. I can't figure out how to upload pictures hopefully I will keep work it out.

Breaking News!

Bennett got a haircut! Check it out!

The long hair was starting to bother him and I found him in his bathroom with some scissors and we both decided it was time for a trim!

Lego Mania

The Lego Artist

For Christmas and his Birthday Bennett received quite a few cool lego kits. He has been building them like mad. It is pretty amazing to see him following the directions of the kit step-by-step and putting together these creations. Here are some pictures from one set that he got the turns into 2 planes and a helicopter and a very cool Raiders of the Lost Ark set that he put together.

Stay tuned for more creations!

Some photos from Bennett's 9th bday

A Bakugan Birthday and More...

Bennett got a bunch of Bakugan for his birthday which he was very excited about...and as you can see Mark couldn't figure out! He also had a cake made of glazed donuts (his favorite).

He also got this cool present from his Nana...it is like an Easy Bake Oven for boys. It makes gel bugs! Check it out!

And of course blowing out the candles

Some Random Birthday Photos:

Happy Birthday to Bennett!!!

Newsflash: Bennett Lanier turns 9 years old today!

His parents are officially old!

Our most fabulous son and apple of our eye, Bennett Ryder Lanier, turns 9 today. Officially he will turn 9 at 10:22pm.

This has been a big year for Bennett. It was full of finishing the 2nd grade and starting the 3rd. Playing but not loving to play soccer, mastering guitar hero, learning to play the real guitar, and learning to play chess. He also has become the master of building paper airplanes and is teaching himself to draw. He knows all the words to the theme song of Phineas and Ferb :) and loves to make goofy videos for youtube. Oh and let's not forget that his favorite curse word is CRAP (ugh). This year Bennett experienced the passing of his dear puppy Rhosie and also got a new puppy, Murphy. Overall he is continuing on his quest to being just a great kid. As he gets older he gets more confident and has a group of really nice friends that he hangs with on a regular basis.

Today he will spend his day by having his friend Christian over to play during the day and his friend Nicky is coming to make pizzas with us tonight. On January 5th he is having a paper airplane birthday party. Which is BOYS only :)

Happy Birthday Bennett, we hope it is the best yet. We love you.

Another Movie Review for YOU!

Marley & Me

So this movie was made for the Laniers. We went to see it on a dreary Sunday morning with plenty of rain and grey outside...in other words a perfect day for a movie! Marley & Me is about being a family. It shows the ups and downs of family life and how you still somehow stick together through it all. There were parts of this movie where we laughed so hard because we had all done the exact same thing with our Marley...Drake! Marley was no ordinary dog and either is Drake. Just this morning I chased her around a desk trying to get a baggie of food from her that she had swiped from the kitchen counter. She of course got half of the baggie and ate it baggie and all, and somehow we forgive her and move on because she can lay down on the floor with Bennett and give him a big hug (yes she hugs) and make him laugh the biggest belly laugh you have every heard. We definitely recommend this movie however bring your tissues...we all cried.

Merry Christmas!

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