Self Portrait Challenge: Environment

Here I am on the Big Rock in the neighborhood I grew up in surrounded by my children and nieces and nephew.

Brooke is here with her littles and we're having so much fun!



Everywhere we go people give us looks--I guess New Englanders aren't used to lots of little kids. Phrases like, "Are all those yours?" and "Well, you've got your hands full." are quite common here, but when I doubled my numbers, we get it twice as much. Six kids can get pretty loud! But it can be pretty fun, too.

We've been beach bums:











We've been eating lots of ice cream:



We've been saving turtles:





We've been doing grave rubbings and learning all about the history of New England:







(Yes, he picked out his own outfit. very snazzy. but a true working pump was quite amazing to the children and they all wanted a turn.)

We've been smelling lots of roses (over 300 rosebushes):






We've been doing lots o' fun stuff. We've gone through over 8 gallons of milk in 6 days. We've eaten over 3 loaves of bread. (and like 30 corn dogs--gross, I know--a weak moment in the Sam's club aisle) We've been picking strawberries (pictures to come). We've calmed 467 tantrums and resolved 398 tattle tailing incidents. We've washed 1,899 dishes. We've had lots of discussion about what the plot of Eclipse will hold, and hours and hours of non stop talking in general. And now I must go and soothe one really bad sunburn with aloe and then fall exhausted into bed. We're going to have lots more fun tomorrow!


for more environments, click here.