Throwback Friday

July 2007

Today's Throwback Friday is dedicated to my amazing husband, best friend and life partner. 

Who incidentally is striking a Heisman pose in this photo with my tiny infant son.  But let's not focus on that.

Cousin Photo Opp

Our best attempt at a photo of the 8 (so far!) cousins together.

And yes, my brothers are ducked down hoisting up three of the boys in the back row.

(ages 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1, 8 months & 3 months)

Cos Family Vacation

"As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it." Genesis 9:7

Dear Mom & Dad, 

Mission Accomplished.

Nags Head 2009

We miss you sand fort.

Throwback Friday

We recently had a bit of a tent upgrade.  Let me explain.  When Ron and I married, (10 years ago come August!) we bought a 2-man pup tent for our Oregon camping adventures.  It seemed, and was, completely appropriate for that time.  

Not quite as appropriate is that we have continued to stuff our many children in each year....and passed it off as fun. 

Here we are last year.  Well, minus Gabe who probably refused to post for a picture.  Anyone surprised?  Yes, Madeline - 7 at the time - was almost as tall as the tent!

And here's our upgrade.  Thanks to our friends Mark and Cara who camp with us and couldn't bear watching another year of abuse of camping with the old tent.  Happy Birthday to us.

And this is Gabe standing inside our new tent.  The thing is enormous.  Huge.  Its an 8-man tent....8 very large men.  They said they went with the 8-man, "just in case."

Very funny, guys.

Got Milk?

Classic picture of Gabriel milking a cow.  Although you can't tell from the picture, he's actually in the Kelty backpack.  That's true talent.

13 Little Piglets

Here's a preview of our Farm Day.

And I thought breastfeeding took a lot out of me.

(and yes, there are 13 suckling....I counted)

Need a Laugh?

I asked Ron to snap a photo of Gabe and I roasting a s'more together.  I'll be honest, I was kinda going for a Norman Rockwell Moment.

I was not anticipating a photo of me jacking my pants up.

So, last week Bethany and I were sitting out enjoying a beautiful sunny day when the girls asked if I could get the jumpy-thingy out for them.  

I very nicely explained, "that thing weighs 100 lbs", there is NO way I could drag it myself, and that maybe when Daddy gets home he can drag it from the storage room to the yard.

(which, btw, is approximately 1 mile)

....to which my eldest daughter replied, "Mom, shouldn't we at least have a chance to bring it up by ourselves?  I mean, aren't we always supposed to try?"

And how can you argue with that?

Video #1 (Video #2 below)

(scroll down and pause music before viewing)

As you can see, they managed to drag that Bouncy House allllllll the way from the storage room to the backyard, set it up and jump in it all afternoon.  I have to say, I was way impressed.  

And I might have learned a small lesson in the process.

Throwback Friday - Alternately titled "Pure Joy"

Video #2

(scroll down and pause music before viewing)

Locks of Love - Part Deux

Remember this post?  How time does fly.

At that time, Abigail was adamant that she was not donating her hair. She actually cried about it one night.  That's an entirely different blog entry.  A few months later, after she and Maddie had combed the Locks of Love website and saw how they improve young girl's lives, she changed her mind.  

She began feverishly wishing her hair to grow....refusing even a trim over the past year.  "I need at least 10 inches Mom!"

Well, today was the day.  Here's a before shot of her eating a s'more at our campout this past weekend. (sorry 'bout catching you with your mouth full Abbs!)

And here she is a few minutes ago when we arrived home.

She was so proud to accomplish her goal.  And I am so proud of her!

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