LIVING

 My favorite kids!!!

Apple Pie

Scott and I got him a fishing pole...  

Kotten Kandy got him a stuffed "head."

Happy Birthday to my Apple Pie!  He's 9!  And I love that boy!  We spent today picnicking and enjoying the beauty of the Arboretum with some of my favorite people!!!!  I took TONS of pictures and I will post them at the end of the post....

I have become quite a "critter collector" with Amy....  Of course, I only collect the pictures...  And this bug was so unusual, he made my critter picture collection!  What is he?  I have no idea.  But he's funny looking.  I think I'll call him Klutzy.
And another bug at the Arboretum...  This one was quite pretty:

And sometimes when we look up... we laugh at the view.  It made me smile to see these two looking down at their mother and I!  They are great kids!  Can I adopt them?!

We started a rogue self-reliance class this week.  It is great!  The church really puts out great programs and this is an amazing class that focuses on the temporal and spiritual concepts of self-reliance.  Our group is made up of Scott, me, Amy, Mark, Kotten Kandy, Taffy, and Juice.  We are learning a lot and starting off with finances.  I'm glad we have such an amazing group who constantly wants to better themselves.  Amy and I are calling our class teacher development for ourselves.  It's exciting to be learning, growing and having homework again.  I guess I'm kinda a nerd.

"Mowing is hard, but satisfying work!"

Kiara has learned some great things this year....  And one of our mottos that we reminded each other of often is "I can do hard things!"  I learned that I could mow our large lawn.  It was a wonderful accomplishment for myself.  And Key Lime Pie also mowed the lawn for the first time this week.  She also felt the great accomplishment of doing hard things after the fact.  Yay, Kiara!

I fell in love with JRR Tolkien when I was a little girl.  I've read The Lord of the Rings series of books multiple time.  And so I read all three of them again the past month.  They are wonderful!  Every time I re-read these classics, I am in awe of how poetic and beautiful the language is.  I am amazed at how complex the plot is.  And I'm impressed with the depth of the characters.  This story is not just another epic fantasy set of books, it is genius.  I love revisiting the Shire, Rivendell and even Mordor every few years!

I also re-read  Chaim Potok's The Chosen last week.  (Confession.... I'm not sure I re-read this book or if this is my first time re-reading it.  I remember reading the first chapter when I was a teenager, but I honestly don't remember reading the rest of it.)  And this book is truly awesome!  The story of the relationships between friends and fathers is inspiring.  And I think this book is a goldmine for human relationships and understanding human nature.  This book is a complex book about choosing your path in life.  I cannot praise it highly enough.  I truly love this book!
Here are some wonderful pictures from the Arboretum:

Jelly Bean

Nuts

Raisin

Juice was trying to hide from the camera...

Friends!

We love that the three of these kids are such good friends....

And I love these two kids!

Kotten Kandy and Taffy

These cute kids are adorable!

Jelly Bean loves his Kotten Kandy

THE MANY FACES OF KOTTEN KANDY:

She's beautiful!

She's kind!

She's fun!

She's smart!

She's mine!