If you want your neighbors to think you are Mormon...

So many passers-by slowed as they passed... some I even saw scratching their heads. Isn't this normal??

(Back story - Sam came to spend the night because his half brother came home with a contagious rash. I asked our new pastors, Shane and Aimee Fookes, if I could help them by watching their kids while they are on staff retreat. I missed my friend Julie and was anxious to get hugs on her new daughters, and she is my original berry picking buddy, so if we are going to get any kind of berry, she is the first I call. So my 4 + 1 (Sam) + 4 Fookes + 3 Penns = 12 kids!)

After potty breaks, full water bottles, sunscreen slathering, and bucket distribution, we walked the two blocks to a boysenberry patch just down the road, all 15 of us. Julie brought her husband along to take pictures and video.

I have always loved to push the boundaries... If I'm going to have a dozen kids at my house, why not make it interesting!


Yolanta's first experience with a boysenberry... she was picking away so well, filling up her pink, lacy easter basket. I suggested she eat one... the look was, really?! hmm... and pop...eww (they are kind of fuzzy sometimes) and then smiles.
Hannah Elizabeth Fookes (she and my Hannah Elizabeth paired up as buddies for the day... easier to get their attention)





Jonathan Fookes, a serious berry picker.

Sam and Benjamin... when we said buddy up for the walk down the road, they took us seriously ALL DAY LONG. They are buddies!

Noah "loves" berry picking. (notice the heart shaped bush he's found)


Mrs. Penn and Katie (velcro baby... sticking to mama's side) and the beautiful Ms. Amy

Rebekah, buddied up with Zak... she is the perfect helper for a mom with hands full.

And what happened to all the berries we picked? Well... the evidence in all over Maggy's face, hands and she's even leaving an evidence trail behind her!