Legoland

Please remember that spiders, scorpions, and robots are perfectly normal pets and family members in Legoland. And don't panic about the dust, these pictures are really zoomed in!

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam turned fifteen this Friday and had a wonderful birthday. That morning he left early to get to the Department of Motor Vehicles and he passed the test for a driver's permit! Three out of six kids are now driving! Clear the sidewalks!

A new bike and Zune mp3 player were two of his favorite gifts!

Meet Hairy, the newest member of the family! This is the puppy that the Anderson's got after Tex died. Isn't he beautiful? We met him for the first time at the party!

And this is Sam's volcano cake! Dry ice created the spectacular effect! Scroll down for a video!

Happy Birthday Sam!!

Volcano Cake

The secret is dry ice and a cave inside the cake! The landscape around the volcano is chocolate cake crumbs for the ground, chocolate covered cake balls for rocks, multi colored sprinkles for grass and flowers, and pretzel sticks/marshmallow trees!

Miscellaneous pics

 

After discovering Origami, the boys have been busy building paper airplanes!

 

Mmm! It's getting almost chilly enough for soup again!

Football season opens in the front yard...

And comes complete with touchdown celebrations!

Um, is Nathan doing a superhero move or just hiding his face from the camera?

Saturday night, we went to watch a friend in a bike race!

Aunt Pam had this cake specially designed for Grandmother's birthday!

Evie certainly approved!

Go Auburn!

Happy Birthday Grandmother!

Time for an update!

I haven't gone through photos recently, so I'll just tell y'all what's been happening.

Jesse is pretty well settled into Samford and the rest of us are still getting used to his being gone. Although he is not living in a dorm, he isn't technically living at home either. He comes in late at night and leaves early in the morning, so during the week we hardly see him at all. He's enjoying classes and has made several new friends, as well as connecting with other freshmen that he knows from off campus.

The rest of us have started school as well, Sam, a freshman, and I, a junior,  are really plunging into Spanish and Physics this year. We have this great Spanish program with workbooks, quizzes, CDs, even games in Spanish, so I'm excited about that. Nathan, in 3th grade, will be doing a lot of reading this year, and of course the twins, in 7th grade, are really getting into math.

Piano lessons have started again and we've been haunting a nearby park, biking, running and playing football.

I'll update again soon.

Tex

This has been a sad week for us. Sweet little Tex, our pastor's Papillion that I puppy-sat for, was hit by a car and killed in front of his house Wednesday.

His dear family can use lots of prayer.

Sliding Rock

Here is a collection of videos we took at Sliding Rock. Sliding Rock is a completely natural water slide in Pisgah National Forest. It's a sixty foot sloping rock with 11,ooo gallons of water per minute pouring down into an eight foot deep pool of fifty degree water. Signs are up everywhere warning people not to go down if they can't swim, but our joke is that once you hit that water, you'll learn how to swim in a hurry!

The last people in the video are several guys who showed what cool and crazy things you can do out there. But don't be deceived: the rock is very rough and bumpy and will even tear up denim eventually, so the tricks are more painful then they look.