The Dayton Houghs

A beautiful day in the neighborhood!!

2012-02-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

It has been freakishly warm and springish around here, especially for February in Western PA. I had a ton of running around to do and in the interest of saving a little bit of gas and trying wear out the littles and the middles, I thought that I would take the kids to the park between trips to the highschool for basketball. The little kids needed to get out of the house and to burn of some energy. The weather was gorgeous!! It was a win win situation for all involved. One of the many fun things about having a ton of kids is the impressive ability to clear out a playground in under a minute. We can pull up to the playground and as we unload kid after kid after kid people become overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of us and leave. Viola !! Playground all to ourselves. Or the other way that it plays out is that we pull up to the playground and as we unload kid after kid after kid, the kids that are already there become overjoyed at the multitude of potential playmates. Either way, I am happy because my kids are getting to play and getting tired! Woohoo!

Jonathan loved the swings

Dj was helping JP get around

Isaac was swinging really high!

My wildman, Aiden

Noah, JP, Gianna and DJ

Aiden was loving the slides

Jump !

Hannah was walking the perimeter

Isaac was the king of the world...or at least the slide!

Gia was having a great time swinging!

Saying Thank you

2012-01-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

There are moments when your life changes in an instant. December 1st was one such day for us. Brian had left for work as he always does. The oldest three kids were up and getting ready for school. I was laying in bed awake, but not up yet when the phone rang. I sat straight up and looked at the clock. 6:09 am...My heart sank. Nobody calls at 6:09 in the morning to tell you something great. When I reached for the phone, it wasn't there. i jumped out of bed and raced down the hallway as Jake handed me the phone. "It's dad." he said. "Hello! What's wrong?" I asked. "I am fine, but I was in a major car accident." he replied. He went on to tell me that he wasn't sure what was going on, the policeman was trying to talk to him and he would call me back. My legs were shaking and my stomach turned as I tried to wrap my brain around what had just happened. He said that he was fine. That was good, right? But a major accident, that was decidedly bad. I called my parents, not quite sure what else to do, while I waited for Brian to call me back. I just kept saying, "I don't know what to do! I just don't know..." My parents recognized the stress and fear in my voice and my dad took over. "Call Joan and see if she can come out and stay with the kids. I will come and get you and we will go and get Brian. " Ok, a plan. That's what I needed. I needed to do something. I called Brian's mom, trying to downplay how scared I was and I told her what I knew. Brian had hit black ice and then a car hit him. She immediately agreed to come and stay with the kids. We hung up and I called my parents back and told them that she was coming. Dad said that they were on their way. I started to get dressed when Brian called back. He told me to meet him at the GetGo gas station. He had to go again to talk to the policeman who was filling out the paperwork. Within 30 minutes Joan and my parents were here and I was on my way to Butler. I still wasn't quite sure what had happened. I just wanted to, no NEEDED to see my love. I needed to know that he was actually ok. The 45 minute drive felt like it took days, but we finally got the meeting spot. I got out of the car and walked into the GetGo and there he was. He was all in one piece and seemed to be ok. I ran over to him and he wrapped me up in his arms. He felt ok. It must not have been as bad as I thought. He seemed fine. We got into my parents' car and headed to the place where the jeep had been towed. It wasn't until then that we got the whole story. He had been heading to work, as usual, and was almost to work when he hit a patch of black ice while driving on an overpass. He slid and hit the median head on. It was dark and he was facing the median, so nobody could see him. He saw the headlights coming at him and realized that he was basically a sitting duck. He tried to pull himself into the middle of the jeep because the car was heading straight for him. He said that it was only moments, but it felt like forever. He braced himself for the inevitable collision. The driver of the first car hit him at about 50 mph. He spun so that he was now facing the oncoming traffic. He was hit again and spun again so that he was now facing the other side of the road. He was hit by a third car on the passenger side and spun a final time so that he was heading in his original direction. The fact that he was able to get out of the car was a miracle in and of itself. The only way that he could get out was to climb out through the hatch in the trunk. I was getting sick to my stomach as I he went into detail. It was indeed an major accident. We pulled into the place where the jeep was sitting and got out to see it and I was shocked. Here was the love of my life, my handsome, sweet husband standing in front of me with nothing more than a scrape on then top of his head. And here was our jeep a crumpled, tangled mess of glass and metal! How in the world did he walk away from that mess with a tiny scratch? The severity of the accident hit me then. Tears filled my eyes as I realized how close we were to losing him. The policeman had said to him, "Somebody must have been looking out for you." as he pointed to the sky. "God must not be finished with me yet, " He said with a grin. "Ummm Hello! I'm not done with you yet! We have 9 kids to raise!" It serves to remind all of us that our lives can change in an instant. For me it brought some much needed clarity. It is so easy to get discouraged and frustrated by all of the things that aren't going "our way." But Brian's accident reminded me that all of the things that were stressing me out aren't really that important after all. When I looked at him and then looked at what used to be our Jeep, I was reminded of what is really important. Family is important. People are important. Having someone to go through the day-to-day with is important. Being able to say, "Thank you God for keeping my love safe and sound and intact," is important. So, I will now say, thank you God! Thank you for keeping my family together and safe.

This used to be our jeep :(

This is where the first car hit...right into Brian's side.

This is where the third car hit.

The driver's seat was folded in half.

This is the first car that hit Brian on the drivers side.

Being a good example...

2012-01-09T20:46:00.000-08:00

As the mother of a "mega-family," I feel as if I have a responsibility to be a good example of what a mother should be. It's not that having 9 children makes me more qualified, it's just that it makes it very difficult to remain inconspicuous. We are kind of like a circus sideshow pretty much everywhere that we go. Church is the prime example of this. Regardless of how early we arrive at church or how much we try to just "slip in," it NEVER happens. We burst through the doors with a subtlety somewhat reminiscent of a bull in a china shop. My Big kids each helping by holding the hand of a little one or carrying a diaper bag. The middle kids bump and bang into each other as they race to the Holy Water font, to get a much needed blessing. This is all going on while I am trying to quietly shush them and scout seats for the 11 of us...no easy feat. Trust me. We can fit somewhat comfortably in about 9 seats, and have actually managed to squeeze into 7 if necessary. This is all going on while my partner in crime, my hubby, parks the car. People look at us and smile (usually) somewhat entertained by the chaos that surrounds my family. I really don't know because I am trying to take everyone's coats off and get the little ones settled before mass begins. Brian manages to squeeze into our row and immediately takes Aiden. God bless this man. Aiden is, hands down, our most difficult, busy and noisy toddler. Every mass, Brian holds/wrestles him, trying in vain to keep him quiet. I have Jonathan duty. This is getting progressively more difficult now that he has entered the "Listen to all of the cool and extremely loud noises that I can make!" phase. He just grins and smiles and growls and squeals. What am I going to do? Duct tape is frowned upon as a parenting tool, particularly on a 10 month old. ...I just plaster on a smile and pray...a lot! Noah requires constant monitoring as well. He can sense a weakness and knows that we are vulnerable. For the most part he is ok, but he definitely pushes the envelope. As Brian and I battle the three littlest and most unpredictable of our family, we also have to keep an eye on the middles of the family. They are pretty good 80% of the time, but still require an occasional "look." You know what I mean. It could be a raised eyebrow or slight glare. Just enough to get the point across without looking like a prison warden. The oldest three are the second line of defense. They act as the bathroom chaperones and gatekeepers to the middles. They have, on several occasions, snagged a potential runaway. Thank God for blessing us with such helpful big kids! Most Sundays, we manage to muddle through Mass with a few trips to the back to quiet the wee ones. We do what we have to. We try very hard to not be a distraction, unfortunately that isn't always the case. Last Sunday was a perfect example of that... Dj, Coley and Jake had stayed overnight at their Papa Hough and Nanny's house. Normally this would be a minor inconvenience, but not a huge deal. This Sunday, however, Brian was scheduled to be an Extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, which meant that he had to go to the front of the church behind the altar for a portion of the Mass. Normally, I would hand off Jonathan to one of the big kids and hold/battle Aiden while Brian served. Well, no big kids equals no extra hands. Up to this point Aiden was actually being rather cooperative. I saw a glimmer of hope that maybe it wouldn't be that bad and I would be able to handle all three littles by myself. That hope was crushed almost immediately. The second I thought it, Aiden looked at me and saw a weakness. He decided that he would at that moment start fussing and talking loudly. I grabbed him by the hand and lead/dragged him to the back of the church. I need to explain something here. Our church has no cryroom/nursery. Under normal circumstances I don't mind. We just take the kids to the back until they quiet down and then we go back in and slip back into our seats. With the Christmas season, came beautiful decorations like the big Christmas tree in the vestibule. With the big tree came the inability to close the doors to the gathering space. Not good. As Jonathan, Aiden and I made our way to the back of the church, I was holding very tightly to both boys who were trying to escape. We stood in the back for a minute or so with little incident other than some squirming. Aiden was standing quietly so I had loosened my death grip on his hand. And then it all took a turn for the worse. Jonathan's nose started to run. (And I mean run in a "two snot worms making there way out of his nose and heading straight for his mouth" kind of way. YUCK!!!) I let go of Aiden's hand for approximately 7 seconds as I wiped Jonathan's nose. HUGE mistake!!! He realized that he was free and immediately started to run into the church. I started after him, but I was handicapped. Not only was I carrying Jonathan, but I had worn my high-heeled sassy shoes. Not ideal for toddler chasing. ( I have no idea why I thought they were a good shoe choice. That won't happen again, I promise!) I was trying to quietly call to him, begging him to stop and come back but he looked at me grinned and yelled, "Ha ha mommy!!! Can't get me!" Seriously!??! I was trying to catch him without being a huge disruption, because this was all taking place at a very reverent, very quiet part of the mass. He ran around the back of the seats to the front of the church and then ran right in front of the altar! I wanted to die right then and there. I looked at Brian and we shared a horrified helpless glance. It seemed as if the entire church was looking at us and thinking, "They are in trouble!" No matter what I would have done, it would have had a bad ending. Aiden kept looking at me and which ever way I started to go, he ran the other way. I was so embarrassed and quite frankly, helpless! Aiden started to run to the back of the church and a kind sweet gentleman scooped him up and carried him to the back of the church for me. I was so relieved. Once I got back there, I grabbed Aiden's hand and this time, I didn't care what came crawling out of Jonathan's nose, I wasn't letting go. That is when I heard it, the voice of an angel. Lizzy, the daughter of my dear friend Amy, said "Nicole, do you want me to hold Jonathan?" Reinforcements had arrived!! I handed her Jonathan and I picked up Aiden and that was how we stayed until the end of mass. I wanted to crawl under the chairs and disappear, but that was not an option. With my head held high, I walked back into the main part of the church to gather up the rest of the kids and wait for Brian so that we could go home. I was so embarrassed but I was trying to smile because when you get down to it, it is what it is. And what it is, or what Aiden is, is a two year old little boy. He is trying to learn how to behave in church. Well, maybe he isn't trying to learn, but we are trying to teach him nonetheless. We are not a small family that can go unnoticed as we quietly slip in and out of church. We are a family full of kids trying to figure out where they fit in our church family. They are trying to figure out what is expected of them and how they are supposed to act. We still have some work to do, obviously, but we are making progress. They seem to have the basics down. They love Jesus and they love God. That is the important thing. We are working out the kinks. As I sat there struggling to get the kids' coats on them, a lady from church came up to me and smiled. I forced a smile and said, "Todays' entertainment is brought to you courtesy of the Hough family?!" "Don't you worry about it!" she said. "It was fine. He is so cute!" Our kids are comfortable in church, perhaps too comfortable. But Church isn't a foreign place to them. It is a familiar place where we are surrounded by friends, where we are loved. Thankfully! I guess that I need to worry a little bit less about trying to be the perfect mother with perfectly behaved children. That is not who any of us are. We are flawed and noisy and disruptive and chaotic. We are also blessed in abundance with healthy, active, smart and loving children. And while I am sorry that we are sometimes disruptive at church, I will not apologize for our large family. We may not be an example of a perfectly behaved family, but we are an example of a family that tries to be open to God's will for us. Sometimes that comes with lessons in humility and trust. These are lessons that we all must learn, sometimes in front of our entire church!

Family Reunion…Round one---The Gaggini Reunion

2012-01-08T13:50:00.001-08:00

Every year on the Saturday after Father’s Day, the Gaggini Reunion occurs. My dad’s side gets together at the firehall in West Kittanning. We eat, we play games, we participate in the auction…

The kids’ games

Go Abby!!

Look at the fleet footed Isabella

Franny shows her daddy and Pap-pap her basketball

Perhaps one of the coolest pictures that I have ever taken

Dylan and Gianna

Gianna and Isabella were going head to head with the hula hoops

The big boys played basketball

Mama and Jonathan

Coley was creating art out of chalk

Aiden and Daddy were tired

Katie and Jonathan

Father’s Day 2011 for the Biggest Daddy of them all!

2012-01-08T13:26:00.001-08:00

My husband is one of the best dads that I know. His love for his kids is obvious in all of the sacrifices that he makes. He gives up his time (which is a very precious thing) to attend as many games as he can in addition to coaching Isaac’s basketball team. He teaches faith formation at our church where he (finally) has the twins. He makes an effort to spend a little bit of one on one time with the little ones. This is probably why they always like him better than me. In our house, Dad is the fun guy that loves to wrestle and tackle and tickle. He is also the one that sets the bar high, knowing that our kids are more than capable of surpassing our expectations, but pushing them to always try their best. But the most important thing that he does is to actively fulfill his role as the spiritual head of our family. Our kids know that God is number 1 ALWAYS! Church is not optional and Jesus is your best friend. He is an amazing guy, my husband. I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my kids…all 9 of them.

While Aiden is trying to follow in his dad’s footsteps, I think he has some growing to do, before he can fill his shoes!

Noah used his own money to buy Daddy the perfect gift…a steelers robot keychain.

Hannah bought Daddy some candy…his favorites!

Gianna gave Daddy a picture frame and his favorite gum.

Jake designed a Michael Jordan travel mug for him.

Bubbaa and Coley bought him a Michael Wallace jersey.

On Father’s day we loaded u the van and headed to Erie for mass at Father Larry’s church and a picnic at Presque Isle with our dear friends Missy and Steve and their little guy Jonah.

Hannah and Gianna were looking lovely as usual!

Aiden, true to form was trying to run away…I know you are all shocked.

Jonathan was enjoying Jonah’s chair

Missy and Jonah

Hannah and her mermaid

The sand camel…the project of the day

It was a great Father’s Day for a great father! We love you Daddy!!

Trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo --- June 2011

2012-01-08T12:25:00.001-08:00

We were blessed to have a trip to the zoo. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time.

Gianna loved the Flamingos

Jake was showing Aiden the tigers

Hannah and Gia and the rhinos

Jonathan enjoyed the view from his stroller.

Isaac was our navigator

The wild animals

My wild beasts!!!

Jonathan LOVES his Sissy

They loved the nasty mangy deer

It was a beautiful day and we had such a nice time. The kids loved seeing all of the animals.

Whoops…I missed a few things

2012-01-07T20:39:00.001-08:00

I skipped a few birthdays and I wanted to post a few pictures of Jonathan from the early months…so here are some pictures from April 2011

Noah and Aiden love there new little brother…maybe too much!

Nice to meet you Godmother, Alexis!! Mister Bright Eyes!!

Jake, Gianna and Aiden’s joint birthday party….

Poppa Hough and JP Miss Franny and Jess

The cakes were a labor of love…

Happy Birthday guys!!!

Jonathan at 2 months

Catch up time!!!

2012-01-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

I have been realllllly behind with my blogging. So rather than trying to catch up for the entire summer and fall I am going to post a few of the big things. Nothing too in depth, but some highlights....so here we go!!!

May 2011...We were blessed to celebrate my mother-in-law, Marge's, 60th birthday. We loaded up and headed to their house in Dubois where we celebrated with a picnic enjoying the beautiful weather.

My niece Kaylee during the wiffleball game.

Miss Gianna Marie

Breanna and Isaac

My nephew, Jude

Kaylee, DJ and Breanna

Jonathan

Happy Birthday Nanny!!

Aiden

My handsome godson, Rexton

PIXIE STICKS!!!!

June 2011

The next highlight was Gianna's Kindergarten Graduation:

Gianna singing a song

Gianna and her friend Olivia

Gianna and her teacher, Mrs. Cousins. She loved her!

Flashback to the 80's

My "niece" Aislinn celebrated her 16th birthday with an 80's themed birthday party. DJ, Coley and Jake all went...in costume. They were a riot!

Coley

Seriously, he was awesome!!!

Oh Jake...rocking the popped collar!

A whole lot of trouble

Coley and the birthday girl, Aislinn

They were totally rad!!!

Who in the heck am I ?

2011-09-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

I recently ran into someone who had been an acquaintance in high school. As we were talking I said, "I used to be Nicole Gaggini." It was a simple enough comment but afterwards it kept coming back to me. "I USED to be Nicole Gaggini." Used to be? Wasn't I the same person now? Sure it was 17 years ago, and alot has changed, but am I really that different? I guess that I look the same, with the exception of a few more pounds, some wrinkles and the occasional gray hair. (Ok, so maybe a teeny bit more frequent than occasional, but you get it.) But it doesn't matter what the outside looks like, the inside is the important part. Is that the same? The answer is an unequivocal NO. No, I am not the same person that I was 17 years ago. In high school I was so sure that I knew exactly what my future held. I was going to go to college and meet the perfect man, and get outstanding grades so that I would land an amazing job. I was going to have a "career." I was going to get married, and work for a while and have a few kids after I turned thirty. I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but that was after I had conquered an amazing career. I would have a huge house and spend my days playing with my exceptional children. Was there anything wrong with my perfect future? Nope, nothing except that it doesn't even come close to the amazing life that God actually had planned for me.

Did I go to college? Yes. Did I get the outstanding grades that I was sure that I would get? Nope, not even close. In high school, I never had to study. I got straight A's and graduated 10th in my class. In college, I had my butt handed to me after the first few weeks. I didn't know how to study. While I was trying to teach myself study habits, I was also trying to keep one nostril above water and not drown in bad grades. I managed to graduate with respectable grades, but it took all four years of college, working hard, to undo the damage that my first semester did to my grades.

Did I meet the perfect man? Again, a resounding NO. I met a nice guy and we dated for a long time. I was sure that we were going to get married and this piece of the puzzle was falling into place. WRONG! But looking back, I wouldn't change it. I learned how to be in a relationship...actually that's not true. I learned how NOT to be in a relationship. The way that I was in that relationship was not the way that I wanted to be. I was so immature and bratty. When we fought, I said horrible things to him and vice-versa. That isn't how I wanted to be and that's not how I wanted to be treated. That's not how I deserved to be treated, but honestly he didn't deserve to be treated that way either. I learned how to fight fair, so that when I did finally meet my husband, I treated him with respect and I expect him to treat me the same way. And you know what, he does. He not only respects me, but he cherishes me. I didn't marry a perfect man, but I married the perfect man for me. For that I thank God everyday.

Did I land an amazing job? No, but I had a decent job and was able to support myself. I had a cute little apartment and I had a car. I was officially a "grownup." And while I didn't love my job, I was pretty good at it. It gave me the opportunity to know that I could take care of myself if I had to. In the end it made me respect and appreciate my husband even more, for working so hard to allow me to stay at home with our children. Wow, what a major weight he carries out of love for us. I certainly wouldn't want to do it. It is a huge gift that he gives us that goes under-appreciated far too often.

Did I get married and have a few exceptional children that I play with in a huge house? Well, yes, I did get married and I had children...(definitely more than a few!) and we have a house that I love. It is certainly not huge and it is definitely lived in. But more importantly it is definitely LOVED in. There is artwork on the walls, (of the crayon/sharpie variety). There are hardwood floors, unfortunately it's the wood that you see where the carpet has been ripped up from our psychotic dog. We have cardboard temporarily covering the window in the living room, thanks to an overenthusiastic toddler who put his head through the glass while jumping on the couch. (Don't worry, he's fine.) But it is our house. It is the house with the beautiful flower gardens that my husband has carefully tended making our yard a place of beauty that we love to enjoy. It is the house that my husband and I are, hand-in-hand, growing our little family. It is the house that is protected by a slew of guardian angels that keep us all safe. It is the house that God is gently cradling in His almighty hand.

Do I spend my days playing with my perfect and exceptional children? If by playing, you mean doing their laundry and cooking their meals and let's not forget driving their butts around to nine trillion sports practices and doctor's appointments, then absolutely. My career, if you want to call it that, is taking care of these little souls that God has entrusted to my husband and I. It is exhausting and frustrating and unappreciated and wonderful and exceedingly rewarding all at the same time.
Are my children perfect? No way, but there are definitely exceptional. Yes, they are incredibly smart and cute/pretty/handsome. They are all of these things. But more importantly, they are kind human beings. They love their faith and they love each other. We have had challenges, with nine kids, you can only imagine the challenges. But we have gotten through them. We have had broken bones and stitches. We have been on lock down from a stomach virus for weeks. We have had surgeries and ER trips. Heck, we have stared down cancer and won! (Thank God!) I know that there are many battles to come. But I also know that hand-in-hand-in- hand-in hand...etc. we can get through it. It's not always easy, but it's always possible. That is because at the center of family, at the center of our home we try to keep the focus on what is truly important, God from whom it all came.

So am I still the same girl that I was 17 years ago? Nope, I'm the vintage version of that girl. A little wiser, a little grayer and alot happier.

High school, elementary and school buses...Oh My!

2011-08-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was the first day of school for my Big and Mid kids. I had three kids heading to the highschool, three heading to the elementary school and three at home with me. I was thrilled that for the first time in the last three school years, I do not have a kindergartener! Woohoo! That middle of the day bus run is a pain in the butt. I know that it is shortlived because next year Noah will be in kindergarten, but for now, I am happy! We made a couple of shopping trips to prepare for the new school year. We didn't get a ton of things, but new shoes ( thank you Babee!) and some new duds (thank you Mama and Pappap!) and of course backpacks and socks and underwear. Oh and don't forget, binders, folders, pens, pencils, crayons...blah blah blah. We went to walmart and I told the older kids just to grab what they needed and just throw it into the cart. All that I wanted them to do was to keep track of how much everything cost, so that I had an idea of what the damage was going to be. While they went off to grab some gutchies and socks, I took the little people around to get the same things for them. Jake came back and put his stuff into the cart and gave me his total. He showed me the socks and boxers and deodorant and the...RAZORS! I looked at them and then at him and said, " What are these for? " He said, that him and DJ had decided to split a pack to shave with. oooook? I looked at my babyfaced teen and said, "Shave what?" I kept squinting as I was trying to see the invisible moustache that needed to be tamed. He just rolled his eyes and said, "Mom, you aren't going to see anything, I just shaved three days ago!" Oh silly me! I was looking for his four day shadow and it had only been 3 days! I will be honest, I almost peed my pants in the middle of Walmart! The really great thing was that he just took it all in stride and pointed out that everyone had to start shaving at some time. Good point....I guess.

Jake with his "moustache"...can you see it?

Dj is ready for his 10th grade year

My lovely Miss Coley ready for 10th grade

A good lesson for highschool students!

My teens...sigh

I must admit that I am really enjoying my teens. Yes they can be a major pain in the butt and yes, we butt heads quite often, but I really like them. And not just in a mother-has-to-love-her-kids kind of way. I genuinely like them. They make me laugh and are so much fun to be around. They are becoming really neat people. I am so happy to be part of their lives! Dj and Jake are playing soccer again. The difference is that Jake is on the jr high team this year and Dj is on the varsity team. Different teams mean different schedules....ahhhhhh! With Isaac on the U10 team and Gia and Hannah on the U8 team and let's not forget about Coley playing volleyball, we have 6 kids on 5 different teams. INSANITY! And there are always dentist appointments, and doctor's appointments. We are superbusy right now, but I am so happy to back into a sort of routine. My family needs structure and routine. We thrive on that. That being said, there always needs to be a bit of flexibility, especially in a family of 11. My little ones are a prime example of this. They are often thrown in the van and dragged to and from games, practices and the store. As long as I am prepared with snacks, drinks and diapers, they handle that relatively well. It doesn't make it fun, but it's doable. Anyway, the big kids had pretty good first days. Only one stuck locker in the bunch! Go West Shamokin!!!

My super cute Mid kids...waiting for the bus

The mid kids did fine too. They looked adorable and of course I took a ton of pictures. There were two "bad" things from the day. When the bus came to pick up my elementary school kids, they waited for her to stop the bus and then they all took off across the road. Isaac put his hand out and told Gia to "GO!" He bumped her and she hit the road. She climbed onto the bus with a giant hole in the knee of her tights. Grrrr! She was dressed to the nines and then had a big hole in her tights! Not cool! Thankfully she wasn't as upset about as her psychotic mother! The other "bad" thing was that I didn't get to sing my specia-first-day-of- school- wake- up song. They were all up when I went to wake them up. oh well...sigh. There is always next year!

Hannah was very ready to get back to school...Watch out Second grade!

My big third grader, Isaac!!!

My sweet little Gia...before the hole in the tights! She was so worried that I would forget to wake her up for school. Not a chance!

Watching for the bus.

And there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen...the first dayof school 2011!!! Bring it on!

Sacramentapolooza Hough-style

2011-05-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a huge day for the Hough family. Isaac received his First Holy Communion and our littlest one, Jonathan Phillip was baptized! Isaac had been preparing for his big day all year in his faith formation classes at church. Thanks to his wonderful teachers, Ms Roseanne, Ms Carolyn and Ms Missy, he was well prepared. Brian had spent some time with him doing what they referred to as "First Communion boot camp." He was so excited that he could hardly sleep! He couldn't wait to be able to finally receive Our Lord in the fullness of the Eucharist. He was also pretty excited to wear the new suit that my mom had bought for him. All that I heard for two months was, "When can I wear my new suit????" and "Pleeeeeeeease can I wear my new suit to school?" He already has plans to wear it for Halloween. He wants to be James Bond...I have no idea why.

He did look pretty snazzy!

As for our little Jonathan Phillip, well, we had been preparing for his Baptism since the moment that we knew that he existed! My mom helped me to find the perfect little outfit for him and thanks to her, he looked pretty cute too. When we bought it, he was so tiny. He has been growing and growing and I was starting to get a little bit worried that his outfit wouldn't fit him. Thankfully, even though he gained about 5 pounds ( which incidentally, is quite a bit when you start out at only 7 pounds!) it fit him perfectly. Actually, I think that Jonathan is the only one of our kids that actually fit into his outfit! Usually they are swimming in it. Here he is in all of his complete cuteness!

While the boys looked very handsome for their big day, I was not so lucky. I was having trouble finding something to wear and once again, mom to the rescue! She had a really pretty dress that fit and I was able to nurse in. I was so glad to have something that fit and Jonathan was glad to be able to eat throughout the day. I woke up extra early so that I would have time to actually get ready. I wanted to have some time to myself to do some basic primping. You know, I wanted to do things like tweezing and shaving and curling my hair and putting my makeup on at home...not in the car on the way to church like usual! I even had the time to give my toenails a quick coat of polish. I must admit, my hair looked really pretty! It turned out exactly how I was hoping! I was so happy. I even used extra hairspray to ensure that my curls would make it through the day.I should have know right then... My hair did look great, at least it looked great until I stepped outside into the torrential downpour. By the time Coley and I had unloaded everything from the car into the basement of the church, my hair was a sticky knotty mess. (Insert sad little pitiful sigh here.) Oh well, I tried. I know that it didn't really matter what I looked like, but I just wanted to feel presentable. Maybe the next time!

We had booked the basement of the church for the party, which was right after the First Communion Mass and the Baptism. This worked out really well because I didn't have to worry about cleaning my house or figuring out where to put everyone. The preparations for the party actually started at the beginning of the week at my Mema's house. She was so sweet and offered to show me how to make homemade bread for the party. It turned out really well. Everyone asked me how I made it and I had to laugh because Mema doesn't use a recipe. She would just say "Add a handful of this" and "a little of that." There was no measuring involved! I was thrilled with how it turned out. We will see if I can do it again without Mema standing right there to tell me what to do...I have my fingers crossed! And while I was glad that it turned out so well, I really enjoyed spending the day with my Mema. My mom and I made the lasagna that day while the bread was raising. It was really good too. It should have been since the name of it is "The World's Best Lasagna." In addition to that we had a ton of other food! There were lots of appetizers, fruit, veggies, chicken, hot sausage, cabbage and noodles (which stunk up the whole church...whoops!), cake, cookies and desserts. Thank you everyone for helping to make it so nice! Coley helped me so much to get all of the fruit and vegetables cut. Once that was done I put my church clothes on and got the baby dressed. By this time Isaac was a bouncing ball of nervous energy. He was zipping all over the place. I could tell that he was excited,but a little bit anxious. To be honest I was feeling the same way. I was waiting for Brian to get to the church with the rest of the kids on time. I was hoping that there was going to be enough food. I was hoping that the kids would behave during church. I was hoping that the baby would sleep through mass. I was hoping for a lot of things.

Father Dan told of the parents of the First Communicants that there would be seating for the parents and the kids receiving First Communion only. If you had any other children they had to sit with someone else. This made me nervous because of Jonathan. He isn't exactly thrilled about taking a bottle and I didn't know how he would do during mass. My mom volunteered to sit with the kids for us and my aunts kept Aiden (aka the wildcard) downstairs with them during mass. It worked out fine. Mom got the baby to fall asleep. My aunts kept Aiden busy downstairs, which meant that we could actually focus on mass.

I kept getting choked up. It was so amazing and overwhelming to see my little boy kneeling there preparing himself to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. He is my active, loud, boisterous boy, but he was so quiet, so focused. He was ready for this, but I wasn't sure that I was! Where have the last eight and a half years gone?! And then I looked over at my sweet sleeping little baby. He was so peaceful and calm. It was as if he, too, was preparing for his upcoming sacrament! He was preparing to be fully welcomed into our church, into God's family. Wow! What a day!

Here he is, receiving the Eucharist.

The precious Blood

Deep in prayer

This last picture just makes me smile. The little boy with Isaac is Jarret, my good friend Becky's son. Becky and I became friends when Isaac and J were in Good Shepherd together at church when they were 3 or 4. To see them go from little preschoolers to these handsome second graders was almost more than this hormonal mom could bear. Becky was the Eucharistic Minister giving the Precious Blood . When I came to her our eyes met and I knew that she was thinking the same thing that I was... Our little guys are growing up.

There was another person who was really proud of Isaac that day. We call her the "Bubba Lady." SHe is a sweet lady that goes to our church. She has loved Isaac since the first day that we took him to church. She came up to me after that mass and held her hands out and said, "Hand him over!" I didn't know what to do. We were still pretty new at our church and I didn't know who she was, but I figured she was alot older than I was and if she tried to make a break for it I thought that I could take her. She did this after every mass until he was too heavy and squirmy for her to hold him. We didn't know her name for the longest time so we just called her the Bubba Lady. Once we found out her name we told her what our name for her was and she smiled. She was very tickled by that. She brings little treat bags every week for her "Bubba Boy" and his brothers and sisters. She has loved and fussed over all of our kids, but Isaac is still her special llittle guy.I begged her to come to his party and she refused. She didn't want to be a bother, but I did manage to get a picture of them together.

Isaac and his Bubba Lady.

We also managed to get a family picture of the eleven of us. Jonathan was definitely happy, but you can't win them all. I figured that 10 out of eleven smiling was pretty good!

Once this picture was done, it was time for the Baptism. Whenever Brian and I find out that we are having a baby, we immediately start praying that we will find the right godparents for that particular baby. Sometimes we feel led to that decision right away and sometimes it takes a while. For Jonathan we kept praying about it and praying about it, waiting for that peace that settles over us confirming that we are making the choice that God is leading us to. We had talked about it and I suggested my cousin Alexis and he suggested his friend Bobby. We looked at eachother and just knew...that was it! Those two were going to be Jonathan's godparents, at least they were if they would agree to it. I called Alexis and when I asked her if she would do it, her response immediately confirmed our choice. She shrieked and said "Yes! A million times YES!" I immediately knew that she was definitely the godmother for our little JP. Brian asked Bobby after their Men's group meeting and he also said yes. When I saw him the next day at church I thanked him for saying yes and he said, "Thank you for asking me! Although you might want to think about your choice since I just had to go back into the church because I walked out without blessing myself!" I started laughing. He too was just the godfather that Jonathan needed. Thank you God for leading us to these two young adults so alive in their faith. I just know that they will share their love of God with our little guy and help to guide him in the right direction! They might have their work cut out for them! Our sweet little angel baby screamed throughout the entire Baptism! It was kind of my fault, I admit. I tried to nurse him between mass and the Baptism, but I only had enough time to make him realize that he was hungry, but not enough to satisfy him. I basically just succeeded in making him really mad. Whoops!

He really let out a scream when father poured the water on his head. His little arms flew out and he was really mad!

The godfather, Bobby

Alexis and Bobby with JP

Alexis and her little godson

Here is our happy little guy in the fancy onesie and cross necklace from Nana Rose and Grampa Rose.

He looked so sweet in his little outfit. I was really worried that it wouldn't fit him. After I took this picture, I told him that he could now gain as much weight as he wanted because his Baptism was over and he fit into his outfit.

I'm sorry, but he is so cute! This smile is what makes it ok to be awake at 3 in the morning trying to get him to sleep. This smile is what makes it ok to change 9 million diapers a day. This smile even makes it ok to clean pee or throw up off of my shirt for the 8th time in a 10 minute period. This smile is what makes me so thankful that I said yes to my husband 11 years ago.

This was Bobby's gift for Jonathan. Further confirmation that we did indeed pick the right godfather for our baby. Not only will he grow up with a deep love of faith, but also a deep love of the black and gold.

Sunday was a whirlwind day, filled with faith, food, family and friends. These are the things that I am most thankful for. These are the things that I am truly blessed with . Thank you God!

Mother's Day 2011...aka Falling all over my kids, literally!

2011-05-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

I look forward to Mother's day every year. I love to see the kids huddle together to plan what they are going to do. I especially love that for that short time, they don't fight! This year it was more of a Mother's day weekend. Saturday started the festivities off with a tea at an adorable Tea House in East Brady called The Henry House. It was Joan, my mother-in-laws idea, and it was a great one. Joan's sister June and their mom, Gramma Hughan also went as well as my sister-in-law Denee and her girls, Breanna and Kaylee. Coley, Hannah, Gianna and I went also. There were two others in attendance...the tiniest Hough boys, Jude and Jonathan. It was such a nice time. It started with the first course, that consisted of fresh fruit and scones with a Chantilly cream that I would bathe in if I could...it was that good! Delish!!!

This was the second course, the Savories. There were three different kinds of sandwiches, shrimp salad, turkey pate and a tomato, bacon crescent roll that was to die for!! The final yummy course was the dessert course. Strawberry cupcakes and cheesecake brownies with a chai dessert tea. The food was delicious and we all had a wonderful time. Thank you to my mother-in-law for arranging the whole thing. We loved it!

Kaylee and Gianna

Denee with her oldest and youngest, Breanna and Jude.

Denee and her beautiful girls who are growing into such lovely young ladies, Kaylee and Breanna.

It was so nice to have this time with my girls, especially with Coley. Things aren't always smooth between a mom and her 15 year old, but I am blessed with her, bumps and all!

Another really neat thing that you could do at the tea was to dress up in fancy hats and gloves and beads. Hannah loved it. She kept trying on the different hats. It was so fun!

They looked so cute in their fancy accessories! We even managed to talk Coley into getting prettied up!

Here is Jonathan, obviously he was less than thrilled with the tea and all of us! He was sound asleep for a good part of the lunch. One of the funniest things that happened, was when I was holding little JP and the sister of the hostess asked if she could hold him. I handed him over and she ooed and awed over him for a minute and then very innocently asked if he was my first! We all got kind of quiet and I could sense everyone trying not to laugh when I replied, " Nope, he's our 9th." Her jaw dropped and she said, "NO! Your 9th?!? Really?" In her defense she was genuinely surprised and very sweet about it, but it was pretty funny. I never get sick of hearing that. I am sucking it all up while I can, because alot of the time, people tell me that I don't look old enough to have 9 children. I am not stupid ( regardless of what my kids say!) I know that the time is coming when I WILL look old enough to have nine kids, so for now, I smile.

This was a very cute picture of Joan and June (Yes they are twins!) with the girls.

Here is the whole crew... minus JP who was asleep in the jeep at this time.

I love this picture of me and my girls.

After the tea we headed home and prepared for the next part of the Mother's Day Extravaganza. We went to Chad and Denee's house where Brian and Chad cooked dinner for everyone. We had yummy steak and chicken shish kabobs, with veggies and rice and strawberry shortcake. They also made burgers and hot dogs for the kids. I ate so much that I thought that I was going to explode.

The next morning I woke up at 7:00. I could already hear the kids up and scurrying around. I had to go to the bathroom, so Brian checked things out and gave me the all clear. I didn't want to ruin any pending surprises. I headed to the bathroom and then crawled back into my bed with a book and my baby who needed to nurse. I eventually got a little bit restless because I knew that there were a million things that I needed to do to get everyone ready for church on time. I gave Jonathan a bath and picked out his clothes and the slipped into the little boys' room to pick out their clothes as well as Hannah and Gianna's. By then Coley came back to my room and told me that they were ready for me. YAY! I couldn't wait to see what was in store for me! I had no idea what to expect. She told me that they were waiting for me on the front porch. I headed down the steps and tripped over one of DJ's ginormous tennis shoes and fell. I heard a very loud crack and felt excruciating pain! I had sprained my stupid ankle. So much for the kids surprising me! I managed to surprise everyone (including myself!) with my grand entrance! Brian helped me back up the steps and onto the couch and got me some ice. Once things calmed down, I tried again and with Brian's help I actually made it outside to see the best mother's day presents ever! There was a swing for outside (which I have wanted forever!!) and it was covered with little gifts from all of the kids. There was jewelery made by the girls and Noah. There was a hammock from Aiden, tea from the girls and candles and candy and a necklace from DJ. JP got me a mug that said "Whoever made up the saying "Sleeps like a baby" didn't have a baby!" So very appropriate!!! There were lots of beautiful homemade cards as well as a homemade potholder from Isaac. Coley had put together a beautiful power point slideshow with pictures of all of the kids and sayings to me from each of them. It was beautiful! I loved every second of it! Once I was showered with all of my gifts, I hopped back into the house and we had homemade muffins and coffees and tea for breakfast. Everyone got ready for church and we were on our way. Unfortunately, my little tumble down the stairs set us back and we were running late. When we got to church Brian dropped us all off at the door and said that he would bring JP. I looked right at him and said, "Do NOT forget the baby!" He laughed and pulled away. Since we were late the only place with enough empty seats for all of us was in the front row. A few minute later Brian slipped into his seat and I looked at him in disbelief..."Where is the baby?!?!" I mouthed to him. A look of pure terror washed over his face and he bolted right out of the church! Seriously!!!! He forgot the baby! I can't even say anything to him, because he felt terrible about it. And since we were sitting in the very front row, everyone saw what happened and he's not living this one down for a looooooooong time! Poor guy. He stood in the back with Jonathan for the first part of mass and then Aiden started to act up so I took him back and traded the noisy toddler for the peacefully sleeping infant. Fair? Nope, but it was Mother's Day and my foot hurt, so I figured I could. Besides that, I wanted everyone to see that the baby was no worse for wear despite being left behind. The funny thing is that Brian always jokingly says, "We have all nine, give or take a few!" He doesn't really mean that!

After church, we headed to Mema's for lunch with my family. It was so nice to see everyone. The food was great as usual and the company was exceptional! It was a beautiful day so the kids played outside. Brian played ghost in the graveyard with the kids and Gia came in smiling and out of breath. "Mom! Dad is playing with us and he is the fastest and sneakiest ghost ever!" She was beaming with pride. His earlier indiscretion was forgotten and he was once again the most awesome dad in the world!

Since my mom and Mema share May 15th as their birthday we usually celebrate Mother's day with a cake for them. My cousins and I had all gone in together to get Mema earrings and a necklace to remember her 75th birthday. Her kids and my Poppy got her a wii and a laptop. Seriously, how cool is my grandma!? Not only does she have a facebook page and a cell phone and a laptop, but she has a wii! She's so awesome!

After the cake and ice cream we headed back home where I happily plopped on swing with the baby and nursed him while I read my book. As I was icing my stupid foot, I began to think back over the last few days and smile. Not only did I receive many wonderful gifts, but I have such sweet kids. They are my real gifts. And while I loved the cards and my swing and other neat gifts, I was struck by the fact that each one of them gave me a little gift that they probably weren't even aware of. Little Jonathan is smiling and cooing and started to laugh. He found his hands and gets so excited when he realizes that he can make them move! Aiden has finally learned the word "Sorry" and has started to use it...after he hits or pinches or bites. But hey, it's a start! Noah came into my room first thing on Sunday and gave me a big hug and said, "Happy Mudders day Mommy! I love you so much!" Coming from a rambunctious four year old who I usually have to beg for a hug, that was very special. Gianna's card with the tulips on it, was made just for me because she know that they are my "most favorite flowers." The fact that she knows that and wanted to give me something that she knew that I would like was so sweet. Hannah made me a beautiful crown out of dandelions to wear because she wanted me to feel like a queen for Mother's day. Isaac just kept hugging me. For my little 8 year old boy who is always trying to show how grown up he is, his hugs are few and far between. I cherish every one of them. Jake and DJ put together my swing ( with some help from Brian). They were up very early working on it, just for me. Thoughtfulness from a teenage boy is a special gift in and of itself. And last but not least, to have an entire weekend that Coley and I got along without any major parent/teen drama was wonderful . I loved having her smiling face around! I am blessed beyond blessed! I am also so very thankful for my husband who has made me a mother. Without him none of these things would have happened to make my weekend the wonderful time that it was. I am loved and that is the best gift of them all.

Why am I still awake when everyone else is FINALLY asleep?

2011-03-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

Usually I love to be awake in the stillness of the night, when everyone else is asleep. I love to be able to have the volume on the TV turned down to 1 and have it seem loud. I love to just sit on the couch and hear the various snoring sounds come from the different rooms. I love to have this time to just wind down from the day. But tonight I just feel unsettled and really tired. That is what makes no sense I am exhausted, both physically and emotionally and all that I want to do is to crawl into my warm cozy bed, next to my warm and cozy husband and drift off to sleep, but I can't. I know that as soon as I do that, Jonathan is going to wake up and need to be nursed, or Aiden will wake up screaming from a nightmare ( which has been a recent development, poor little thing). Something will disrupt the sleep that I crave and I am loathe to allow that to happen. So instead I am sitting here thinking about everything that is causing me stress right now. That is making me decidedly unable to sleep. Mainly it's my kids. I am worried about my kids. That is my job as a mom, I guess. I feel the need to constantly worry about my kids.

And there it is...the little cry from my baby boy. It is time to start our night time ritual. I nurse him, he sleeps, I finally sleep, he cries, I nurse him, and so on and so on!
As for the kids, Jonathan is such a sweet little baby. I am not sure that he likes me yet. He always seems to look at me with this little face that asks, "What are you doing to me? " or "Where is Aiden? Is he going to attack me?" I guess he is totally founded in his fear on that one. Aiden loves him...alot! He probably loves him too much! He is always kissing him and laying on him. Two days after we brought Jonathan home from the hospital, he was happily sleeping in the pack n' play in our room. I quietly tiptoed out to the kitchen, careful to pull the door shut behind me. It wasn't a minute later and I could hear the baby wailing. When I went to check on him, Aiden was not only in the room with him, he was in the pack n' play with him and he wasn't alone! He had an arm load of action figures and his favorite dinosaurs and he was enthusiastically showing them all to "Baby P." I almost threw up! I grabbed Jonathan and ran out of the room and left Aiden in the pack n' play. It seemed to be the best option and I was freaking out trying to figure out how Aiden had got into the pack n' play without landing on Jonathan. At least I hope that he didn't land on him. After a minute, I decided that I was probably better off not knowing the details. It's a scary place outside of the womb! The poor little guy is getting a first hand experience of that! Thankfully he is getting the hang of this outside living thing and hopefully he will start to like us, because we sure like him!

The story of Jonathan or as Hannah said, "My Mom had birth!"

2011-03-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

February 20, 2011...Getting ready to go to the hospital!!!

I had a doctor's appointment with Doctor Turner and the plan was laid out. Brian and I would head to the hospital on Sunday February 20th, in the evening, to be induced. I was hoping, actually praying, that our little one would arrive sometime on the 21st. If his labor and delivery were anything like my last, this could be a two day affair and I just didn't think that I could deal with that again. My husband, hardworking man that he is, headed into work right after church to take care of some things so that his focus for the rest of the week could be our family. The kids and I went home and took care of a few final things so that I could head to the hospital knowing that the house was clean, clothes had been laid out for school for the week, meals were planned and my family would be taken care of. I wanted to know that things would be organized and that I had done what I could to make things as easy for Brian and my mother-in-law and the kids, as I could. My mother-in-law, Joan, had volunteered to come to the house and stay with the kids while Brian and I were at the hospital. She called to say that she would bring some pizza for dinner so that we had one less thing to worry about. The plan had been for my dear husband to be home in time for dinner at 5:30. Well as they say..the best laid plans...He called me at 6:00 to say that he was just leaving. I started to panic because he works an hour away and we live a half an hour from the hospital which meant that we wouldn't get there until 7:30. I hate to be late to anything but especially to something as important as childbirth! Thankfully my mother-in-law come through and offered to drive me to the hospital and Brian would just meet us there. So it all worked out fine. Things were back on track. As we stepped off of the elevator onto the maternity floor it all came back to me. The nervousness about what was about to happen overwhelmed me, as did the fear of another loooong drawn out labor. I looked at Brian, my rock, my partner in crime, and immediately knew that things were going to be fine. The excitement of meeting our new little baby took over and the nerves started to dissipate. And I knew that whatever happened was all part of God's plan for us and that as long as we were in it together, everything would work out. And it did! The first thing that worked out was that the nurses put us into a big room! There are only two of the labor and delivery suites that you actually get to stay in after you deliver. This is key because the rooms that you move into are small and definitely not Hough-sized! Once the baby has arrived and the kids come to visit, the big room is key or we would be crammed in like sardines! I guess that this is the upside to the numerous NSTs that I had to have. The nurses got to know me (probably also because I am a frequent flyer on the maternity floor!) and thankfully they liked me so they saved me a big room! Yay for awesome nurses! Speaking of awesome nurses, I had a whole team of them. My first nurse was Brenda. She helped us get settled in and got things started. This involved sending us downstairs for an ultrasound because the baby was so high that she couldn't tell if he was head down or not. It was kind of weird. There it was, 8:00 Sunday night, we were walking through the hospital down to radiology. It was so quiet. I felt like we were sneaking around doing something that we weren't supposed to be doing. Thankfully the ultrasound was fine and the baby was, in fact, head down. Game on folks! We were in business. We headed back up to our big room and settled in for the night. The Cervidil was started, it was time to have a baby. The baby had the hiccups again! This child has had the hiccups this entire pregnancy, everyday! After a few hours of sleep, the contractions started. At first it was just crampiness. Nothing too bad. At 7:00 am the nurses switched and Brenda left and Andie came. Andie started the pitocin and it was time to get down to business. By 9:00 I was ready for my epidural. The crampiness had given way to increasingly painful contractions. The call went out to the anesthesiologist and my favorite man, Dr Randy Barrett arrived! He is like a rock star on the maternity floor. In a mere 15-20 minutes the increasingly excruciating pain was replaced by a warm and cozy numbness. Yay for the epidural! By the time that Dr. Barrett left, Brian was back from grabbing breakfast and my mom had arrived. It was 10:00 and I was about 3 cms. I still had 7 cms to go. They broke my water and I jumped to 4-5 cms. Andie got the room ready. She kept saying that she wanted to be prepared because she didn't trust my since it was my 6th pregnancy. I kept thinking that she was jumping the gun because of how things had gone with Aiden...long and drawn out. But thankfully she was on top of things. At 11:45 Dr Turner told Andie to drain my bladder. Apparently a full bladder can literally hold the baby up and this baby was till pretty high. Well, she was right because as soon as she finished I jumped to 8cms. Dr Turner told me to let her know when I started to feel pressure. A minute later, I felt pressure and I knew without a doubt that it was time. She checked me again and I was complete at 10 cms. It was time to push! Three quick pushes later and Jonathan Phillip Hough arrived at 12:05 pm. He was a long 21 inches in length and a lean 7 pounds 10 ounces! He was beautiful and perfect and he had the hiccups! I was in love...again!

Nice to meet you Baby Boy!

Daddy loves you so much!

Welcome to the world little one!

You are so sweet!

Once Jonathan had safely arrived and things had calmed down and phone calls had been made, my sister Jess came to meet Jonathan. Unfortunately her timing wasn't so good. Right before she got there the nurses came to take the baby to the nursery so that the pediatricain could check him out and they could give him a bath and clean him up. She only had a little bit of time before she had to get back home and she didn't get to see him. She finally had to leave, without meeting her little nephew. After that mom went home to get some lunch with the plans of coming back in the evening with my dad. It meant so much to have her there throughout the labor and delivery of the baby. I was looking forward to having her and dad come back to see the baby together that evening.

It was in that quiet moment after the nurses and doctors had cleared out and everyone was gone and it was just Brian and I and our new little baby, that the amazing gift that God had blessed us with really set in. Our little family had grown again. I couldn't wait for the kids to meet him, but I just wanted to cherish that minute of just the three of us. I know that Brian was thinking the same thing because he told me how humbled he felt that God had blessed us with another little soul to watch over. Wow...

Brian stayed with us until about 4:30 and then he had to leave to pick up Coley from volleyball practice. The plan was that he would pick her up and go home and have dinner. After that he would bring all of the kids to the hopital so that they could meet their new littlest brother. Again I say, the best laid plans...We ended up getting a ton of snow and ice. The roads were terrible! What should have taken Brian about 45 minutes to do, took him over 2 hours. He didn't get home until 7:00. Because the roads were so bad we decided that it would be best just to wait until the next day for the kids to meet Jonathan. It wasn't worth the risk of taking everyone out onto the roads, so the visit was postponed. Because of the roads everyone who supposed to come and visit didn't, except for my dad. He stopped in on his way home from work. It was really nice to have that visit with my baby, my dad and me. I don't often get a chance to just chat with my dad. I really enjoyed our visit. After he went home, it was just Jonathan and me. I took advantage of the time to get to know my little one. I undid the blanket and just looked at him, his little feet and toes, his skinny little chicken legs, his long fingers and teeny tiny fingernails. His little head was perfectly round and so small as I cradled it in one of my hands. Once again I was taken aback by the perfection of this tiny little person, this creation of God. What a miracle each baby is!

Our new little miracle

Tiny little feet

With the next day came a break in the weather. The roads were cleared off and the visitors came! Brian and his mom brought the kids. Introductions were made and our family fell in love, again. Jonathan had an instant fanclub! The kids were all fighting over who could hold JP ( as he was promptly nicknamed) or "Joe P" as Noah called him, or "Baby P" as Aiden called him. They couldn't wait to get their hands on him. It went very well. We also had Mema and Poppy visit as well as Aunt Joni, Aunt Sherrie, Aunt Lisa and Gramma Hughan. My dear friend Denise came to welcome Jonathan into the world as well as our good friends from church, the Bloses. That was a special treat because their little baby Jonah is only 6 weeks older than Jonathan and they are going to be BFFs. Jess came for another visit and finally got to hold Jonathan. Mom and Dad came again as well as my Aunt Marge. My cousin Shannon came for a visit. And the evening was finished off with a visit with my funny, sweet friends Lori and Amy, who not only brought gifts for the baby, but also a bottle of wine for me and a four pack of white russians for us to drink. I passed on the alcohol, but thoroughly enjoyed the company and the laughs. We are so blessed, not only with our beautiful family, but also our wonderful friends.

Meet Mama! She was here to see you enter this big world!

Jonanthan gets a hug from Babee.

Mema was so happy to meet her newest great-grandson.

Poppy holds little Jonathan for the first time.

Aunt Jess finally gets to hold Jonathan.

Welcome to the Hough family little one!!

Gramma Hughan meets Jonathan.

Pap-pap came to meet his newest grandson.

Wednesday was supposed to be the day that we were discharged. I was looking forward to getting home and take a shower in my own bathroom and lay on the couch and snuggle my new baby. I woke up and got dressed and packed everything up. I picked out the baby's going home outfit, and sat down to wait for the nurse to bring him back to me so that I could get him ready. I waited and waited and no baby. Jill, the midwife, stopped in for a quick visit and to tell me how cute the baby was. (As if I didn't already know that!) And then Dr Kisloff popped in. She is the pediatrician who was checking out the baby so that we could go home. She is also a friend of mine. She started out by telling me how sweet he was and then dropped the bomb that we would not be going home that day. I wanted to cry, but I was able to hold it together, at least for the moment. Apparently he had tested Coombs positive, which Dr. Kisloff explained, means that some of my blood had passed through the placenta and was "shredding" his blood. ( Insert near hysterical gulp here!) This put him at high risk for developing jaundice, which was already happening. His nice pink skin was turning quite yellow. He was already under the billi-lights and would need to stay there throughout the rest of the day and overnight. She was hoping that the intensive light therapy would do the trick and we would be able to go home the next day. Because I was breastfeeding, I was staying also. I immediately called Brian to let him know the change of plans. He was disappointed also. He had been looking forward to having our family all together again. The nurse wheeled little Jonathan and his light therapy bed into our room. The poor thing was just pitiful in his little protective goggles. He hated them. Who could blame him. he had been in a dark womb for nine months and was finally out where he could see everything and now here he was blindfolded! Thankfully the lights worked and by the next day we were packed up and on our way home. Once home we started to settle into our "new normal" and Jonathan fits right in. He is loved and cuddled, (probably too much!) by his brothers and sisters. He is starting to figure out the difference between day and night and is sleeping for about 3-4 hours at a time at night. Woohoo! We are truly blessed.

Jonathan enjoying his "spa treatment."

Poor baby under the lights.

New big brother Aiden with little brother Jonathan

Time is winding down!!!!

2011-01-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that my little border has finally turned! He is now upside down which is exactly where I want him to be! WooHoo! His head is firmly locked in heading toward the light. Who knows when that journey will actually begin, but I know that it's coming. Sometime in the next three weeks we will be heading to the hospital as a family of 10 to come home as a family of 11. As a little side note, I have always liked the number 11. Maybe because my birthday is on the 11th. Brian and I were married on 11/11. It seems fitting that our little family will rest on the number 11. (at least for a while! :0)) Anyway, this little man will have a birthday and a name at some point in the next three weeks. I must admit that this has kind of caught me off guard. I have been very unprepared for this baby, which is pretty embarrassing seeing that I have done this about a million times. Life has been going full speed and I haven't had time to just sit and think about having this baby. I don't mean the actual giving birth of him, but I mean actually having him as a new little tenant in our home. What will he look like? How will he change our normal? Will he like us? How big will he be? What in the world will his name be? As my pregnancy winds down, I have been thinking more about these things. His clothes are washed. His bed is set up. I have bought some teeny tiny diapers. I have dug out my sling and nursing cover. Everything has been washed and readied for him . I have finally gotten all of the Christmas decorations down and put away. (Although my husband has re-decorated my entire living room in preparation for the super bowl with Steeler's paraphernalia.) I am "ready" for him in the practical sense of the word. I just need to get "ready" for him in the psychological and emotional sense. I am ready to hibernate and wrap myself up in a new baby cocoon! I can't wait to have him here to snuggle. He has deliciously chubby cheeks, which we saw in a recent ultrasound, that are just begging to be kissed. I can't wait to have nothing to do but sit and nurse him. ( Ok, so obviously I will have more to do than that, but that's all I'm going to do!) I am ready to get ready. I just pray that he doesn't decide to come during the Super Bowl next Sunday or Brian might cry!

Take my breath away!

2011-01-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

The new baby has taken my breath away...literally. I haven't been able to take a deep breath since yesterday afternoon before the sweet little thing firmly planted his head right in the middle of my lungs. Not ideal. I have come to recognize the importance of breathing. It kind of comes in handy for the day to day tasks, like walking, talking and carrying smallish sized people. You get it. Now, don't get me wrong. I love this baby! I have from the very instant that I found out that he was there, but this kind of togetherness, well, I am looking forward to holding him on the outside of my body, rather than having him wedged between my vital organs. That will be nice. I can't wait to snuggle him and kiss his little toes and feel his little heart beating. I am a sucker for babies, obviously. And I actually don't mind being pregnant. In fact I kind of like it, at least after the few months. Those are always kind of rough with the morning sickness and all. This time was even more challenging. When I went in for the initial ultrasound, there was nothing. Just an empty sac measuring 2 weeks smaller than it should have. I was devastated. I literally couldn't get out of bed for a week. I just cried and cried and threw up (from nerves). Eventually the week passed and I was again laying on the table just waiting, too terrified to look at the monitor and see what I knew would be nothing. Only it wasn't nothing! It was a tiny little bean with a beating heart! I have never been so thankful and so relieved. Our little one was safe and sound! After that the nausea went from being from nerves to being from hormones. I was actually happy to have morning sickness! Everytime I ran into the bathroom, I said a little prayer of thanksgiving. I think that maybe God allowed that week of worrying to remind me of how very precious each baby is, whether it's your first, or ninth! The morning sickness gave way to gall bladder problems...woohoo. The gall bladder issues gave way to heartburn and numerous nonstress tests ( a major pain in the butt!) and eventually the inability to breath. But honestly, it's all small compared to the ultimate payoff...a sweet little baby boy! I cannot wait to meet you face to face!!! This gift that God has blessed us with again is something that Brian and I know that we are unworthy of, but one that we welcome wholeheartedly! This little baby, this little soul! He is our responsibilty to love and nurture and teach the richness of our faith with. What a blessing! So I guess getting back to the beginning of this blog...this little baby has taken my breath away, literally and figuratively. And for that I am truly thankful.

2011-01-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Nanny and Poppa Hough with the Dayton Hough kids

The final installment to the Christmas 2010 blog finishes up in Dubois at Marge and Bill's house. We arrived a little bit after 1:00 and had a yummy lunch and spent the afternoon with Poppa Hough and Nanny and the Ford City Houghs. After eating we played the Christmas card game. If you don't know what that is, you don't know what you are missing. There was a pile of presents and everyone sat in a circle around it. Each person got 3 cards and as your card is called you get to choose a gift. Once all of the gifts have been chosen and unwrapped, and your card is called you can "steal "someone else's gift. It can get a little bit dicey and slightly chaotic, but it is so much fun! Once again, the DAYTON Houghs were triumphant and took home the coveted popcorn tin!!! WOOHOOO!!! And might I just say that the popcorn was GOOOOOOD! Maybe next year Ford City Houghs! There was some grumbling about the "unfairness" because we have more people in our family than they do. Apparently that gives us an unfair advantage....to that I say TOOOO BAD! Have some more kids! You know you want to! We had a lot of fun. It is always nice to have some time just to sit around and catch up.

Coley look sassy in her "cereal killer" shirt

Playing the Christmas card game

We are the champions !!!!!

Hannah was looking particularly cute

My Christmas Blessings

2011-01-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! Each day brought surprises and unexpected blessings. It is amazing to me how God knows exactly what we need and puts it in our lives just at the right time. It has been a season of trusting in the Lord and truly feeling His presence as He has answered our prayers one at a time in His time of course. That's the tricky part, just waiting for His time! ( And anyone who knows me knows that patience is NOT my strong suit!)

We started off the Christmas fun by having the kids pick names among each other. We had a lot of fun when the kids exchanged their "Secret Santa" gifts with each other. It was neat to see what they picked out for each other. I think that they were actually more excited to give their gifts to each other than to get their presents.

The next fun Christmas activity was Christmas with my Mom and Dad, Chris, Jess and their families. My parents had a neat idea to try something different. They had everyone meet at their house and they gave each of us a very Christmasy fancy decorated envelope with $ in it. We then loaded up into our cars and headed to the mall. There were a few rules...1) you had to spend your money on yourself. 2) you couldn't make fun of the giant fancy envelope (that was mom's rule because she was the decorator!) 3) the person who spent the most money without going over won a secret prize. That added a fun little twist to the day. The boys can be the tiniest bit competitive...I know you are probably shocked by this, but it's true. When there was mention of a prize...it was GAME ON! It was slightly chaotic and crazy, but a lot of fun! The kids really enjoyed shopping. As Hannah said, "I LOVE envelopes...and I LOVE money... and I LOVE shopping!!!" I must say that I agree. I was able to buy myself a tiny little camera that fits in my purse. LOVE IT!!! All of the kids were very happy at the end of the day except Coley. She had been saving her birthday and Christmas money to buy a mini-notebook computer. Well...when we finally got to Walmart, they were sold out. She was sad. But two days later Pap-pap came through. He called me from Staples. They had the computer that Coley wanted and there was only one left. He picked it up for her. She was so excited! So even though it was belated, she was also a very happy Hough. The other very happy Hough was Isaac. He was the winner! I thought that I had it in the bag with 32 cents, but the little booger beat me! He only had 8 cents left! He won the "big prize." It was a very fancy fish ornament. He is to keep it until next year for the next winner. After a long day of shopping, we headed back to Mom and Dad's house to eat a yummy meal of spaghetti and meatballs. All in all their crazy idea was a success! Fun was had by all!

Here is Mom making the pasta.

Gianna Marie

Coley and Franny waiting for dinner

Isaac

The boys table

Even Lucy was dressed up for Christmas. Don't you just love her fancy dress!

Here is Isaac with his Trophy Ornament!

Everyone playing with their new stuff.

Mama and Pap-pap with the Hough kids

Our next big Christmas event was Christmas eve. Brian took all of the kids except for Aiden to Pittsburgh for our annual trip to see the Santa exhibit. I stayed home and made pies, our breakfast for Christmas morning and got all of our church clothes ready for the evening. I actually had a little bit of extra time to paint my nails and straighten my hair! Merry Christmas to me! I enjoyed the gift of a Silent afternoon, while Aiden took a nap. Brian and the kids got home in time to run in and change and then we all hopped into the van and headed to Brian's mom's house for the traditional Vagilia Polish dinner. The food was delicious. The company was wonderful. It was a good night.

Gia and her pillow pet

Rexton, armed and dangerous!

Aunt Ne' just wanted a picture with her godson, but Aiden wasn't having it!

Here was a good one!

A blast from the past...an old Christmas card featuring my three biggest kids...sooo very cute!

Aiden trying to escape...nice try!

Hannah was loving her Pillow pet too!

All that Isaac really really wanted was a bb gun and "Priest clothes with church stuff." Babee' came through and found the robes and a bunch of "church things, like a chalice and a paten.

Sweet baby Jude

Noah was so handsome in his fancy Christmas clothes.

Noah and Sissy

After we left Brian's mom's house we headed to the 8:00 Christmas Eve mass at our church. It was packed!!! There wasn't a single seat left in the church. Not cool considering that we need at least 8 seats just for our family. Brian and the boys went to the basement and brought up some folding chairs which we set up in the entry area of the church. At first I was a little bit disappointed, but I think that it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The main church was so crowded that it was REALLY hot and stuffy. We had a good view of the altar, we could hear everything and it was nice and cool. Definitely a good thing. After mass we loaded back into the car and headed home. It was about 9:30 when we got home and the kids just wanted to get their jammies on and get in bed to get ready for Santa, but I made them get their pictures taken first. I threatened to stay up all night so that Santa wouldn't come if they wouldn't cooperate. Mean, but effective! ;0)

My handsome boys

My lovely ladies

My Beautiful Brood

My Handsome Husband and I

Christmas morning brought the usual chaotic whirl of activity. The kids actually woke up before we did. Not a normal thing around here! I popped the breakfast casserole in the oven and Brian turned all of the Christmas lights on. The kids came out and gathered around the table for the reading of the yearly Santa Claus letter and to light the Christ candle in the center of the advent wreath.

Coley reading the traditional letter

Santa DID come!

The gift opening commenced. There were many squeals of delight and excitement. It is so much fun to watch the kids open their gifts! They were all truly happy and thankful for everything.

Aiden in his new Christmas jammies

Isaac and his recruited altar server, Gia playing church with his new church stuff.

Gianna and her "little kid laptop"

Noah

Coley and her new camera

Jake and his ihome

DJ and his new gym bag

Hannah checking out the new tea set...plastic so that Noah can't smash it like their ceramic one.

After we were done opening gifts, we had the big Christmas morning breakfast...well, most of us did. Hannah had a stomach ache and threw up from waking up too early. Poor thing. She went back to bed for a couple of hours and was fine for the rest of the day. We eventually got showered and dressed and went to Mema and Poppy's for lunch. Again...YUMMY food and fabulous company. It was so nice to see my family. Unfortunately Jess and Franny weren't there. They both had the stomach flu and spent their Christmas day on the couch. After a nice visit we headed back home to relax for a little while before Joan, Patrick and Gramma Hughan came for a visit and to see for themselves what Santa had brought for the kids. we had a REALLY fancy Christmas dinner of frozen pizza, mini tacos and corndogs. Don't judge me! We had been eating giant meals for days and just needed some food to pick at. I thought that it was quite yummy!

There you have it...our Christmas 2010 in a nutshell. It was full of family, food and blessings. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Summer 2010 In a Nutshell

2010-12-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

I cannot even begin to try and catch this blog up. I am so far behind that I don't even think that it's possible, but I will try to briefly summarize this past summer.

First and most importantly, we found out that we are expecting another little one. The newest little Hough should arrive sometime in February. We have also found out that despite very specific orders from Hannah and Gianna to produce another sister, the baby is in fact another little boy. I have to admit that while I am not the least bit disappointed to have another little boy, I was very suprised! I was convinced that the baby was a girl. Thankfully we have a while to come up with a boy name, because I was totally focused on girl names. The baby is due to arrive in February and we will be anxiously awaiting to see his sweet little face.

Secondly we celebrated a few birthdays. Hannah has become our official seven year old and Isaac has been bumped up to the eight year old position. We had a family party and they were spoiled rotten as usual.

The third big thing was the first day of school. Dj and Coley are now Freshman at West Shamokin High School. Coley told me that she was glad to finally have a "name" instead of just 7th or 8th grader. Coley unfortunately was not at home for the first day of school. She was in the hospital at the time and it was difficult for all of us to have her miss out on this milestone. So in case you were wondering, I did not just forget about her and not post her picture too. Nothing would have made me happier.

Here he is, Jake...our big eighth grader. I think that he was glad to not be a "little" 7th grader anymore.

DJ...the freshman! I can not believe that he is ninth grade already! Wasn't he just in kindergarten?

Isaac, the second grader!!

Hannah first day of all day school...First grade here she comes!!

Finally the day that she had been waiting for forever...Gianna's first day of school!

Kindergarten is exhausting!!!

Noah didn't want to be left out of the picture taking, so here he is at the back to shcool tree.

Aiden was just happy throwing leaves and rocks into the air.

The fourth thing that has been occupying our time is soccer. Hannah is playing on the U8 team Isaac is on the U10 team. And DJ and Jacob are playing on the Junior High team at WSHS.

There you have it. Short and sweet. Our summer and early fall in a very tiny nutshell. Now that I am basically "caught up" hopefully I will be much better at keeping things caught up!

Good Bye Gram

2010-12-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in the quiet of the house after everyone has gone to sleep. I just can't sleep. I want to. I would love to go and crawl into bed and snuggle up to my warm and toasty husband and drift off to dreamland, but my brain won't quit running. It has been quite a week, and unfortunately not in a good way. My family has suffered a loss. My Gramma Gaggini passed away on Friday morning. It's kind of weird because it has been coming for a while but it still seemed to come out of nowhere. It is a very sad thing to watch people that you love slowly slip away. For the longest time Gram was in pretty good shape physically, but she started to slip back in time mentally. I would love to talk to her about what happened back when my dad and his brothers and sisters were little. I loved to hear her talk about what a beautiful baby my dad was when he was born, about how all of the nurses said that he was the most beautiful baby in the nursery because he was chubby and sweet and beautiful. I loved to hear her tell the story about how one day when she was doing laundry, she had finished up the ironing and was so tired that she and the kids all laid down in the living room to take a nap and the someone came to the door and thought that they had all died of carbon monoxide poison because they were all laying on the floor sleeping. She would just laugh and laugh when she told that story. She could tell you these stories in such detail that you could just picture it in your mind, but then she couldn't remember what she had eaten for breakfast. It started slowly, but after my Pappy died she started to slip more and more physically. Her heart had started to weaken and there wasn't anything that anyone could do to help. I think that it was as much from a broken heart from missing Pap, as it was anything physical. They had lived a simple life full of sacrifices, faith and love. It was the kind of life that people should try to live. It was the kind of love and marriage that leaves you broken after it's over, after one of you is gone. While her heart has been broken for a while her body started to catch up. She fell last week and hurt her shoulder. Once again there wasn't anything that anyone could besides try to relieve the pain and help her to feel comfortable. But it didn't seem like it was that bad until the next day. Her kidneys started to shut down and we all knew that it was only a matter of time. Our time with our sweet Gram was coming to an end. I am so thankful that I had a chance to go and see her one last time. I like to think that even though she was out of it, that she knew that we were there. She was back at home and surrounded by many of her family. As we were sitting there everyone started to talk and catch up and laugh together. For a minute I thought that it was wrong that we were laughing and enjoying each other's company while Gram lay there, unconscious. At least I did until I thought back to all of the family holidays and dinners that we had shared in that same house, in that same room. I decided that if Gram could hear us, she would be happy to hear us all talking and laughing. She would feel the love that her and Pappy had created when they started there own little family. It wasn't wrong at all, it was just as it should have been. When I got the call the next morning that she had passed away, it was bittersweet. I was very sad to hear that she was gone. I was sad because I would miss her. I was sad because I knew that my Dad would be sad and I hate that. But I was also relieved. I knew that she wouldn't be in pain any more and that she would be able to spend Christmas where she most wanted to be, with Pappy. That is a blessing to us all. We love you Gram! Give Pappy a hug from me!

Gianna is Five!

2010-05-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday my Beautiful Girl!!!

Miss Gianna Marie is FINALLY five! She has been eagerly anticipating this birthday since last year when she turned four. Gianna has been a joy since her birth. She was born on May 4, 2005. My pregnancy with her was pretty easy. However she was a stubborn one when it came time for her delivery. They were inducing me a few days early and she wouldn't budge. She was quite content where she was and was going to come in her own good time. (Some things never change! HA!) The nurse broke my water and we settled in for a while, finally accepting the fact that this was going to be a long labor, when she decided it was time and three pushes later she popped out!

She was so sweet and little and soft, all of the wonderful things that you think a tiny baby girl should be. She was sucking her thumb from day one. ( A habit that we are still trying to break!!)

She was such a good baby. I know that mom's say that all of the time, but she really was! She slept well and nursed well and was a genuinely happy baby.

Here she is with her best friend, Hannah.

Our perfect baby girl

She was soooo happy!

I often said that she was just perfect...and she was...at least until she turned one.

If you look closely enough, you can see that the pigtails are covering up her little horns!

That is when the mischievous little sprite emerged! That soft little laugh turned into a high pitched giggle of pure joy. She turned into this funny little person who loves to make us laugh, but don't you dare tell her that she's funny! She absolutely HATES that!

Brian calls her Shaggs because no matter how I do her hair, about 5 minutes later it's a shaggy mess. One pig tail up, one falling out! She is always missing one bow or barrette. She is such a lovable little thing.

Hannah and Gianna at the Alice in Wonderland play

She loves to swim almost as much as she loves her Sissy.

She also loves to be the big sister.

Although she loves to play soccer and is a bit of a tomboy, she LOVES to be fashionable and is addicted to makeup. I have to check her face before we leave the house to make sure that she isn't trying to wear lipstick to church!

She loves to snuggle up with whomever is available. She is so excited to start kindergarten next year. When I took her for her Kindergarten screening test a couple of weeks ago, a lump started to form in my throat. She has been my little buddy for 5 years now! What am I going to do next year when she is in school!? I have been through this enough times to know that once they start school, it's different. They become more independent and need Mommy a little bit less and less. For now, I'm going to enjoy all of the snuggles that I can before she's climbing onto that bus to start the next phase of her life. This is a life that I am so blessed to be a part of.

Random funny things that kids say...

2010-04-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

After our recent road trip the kids have become quite used to the Garmin as "she" directs us as to which way to go. Anyone who has ever driven with a Garmin and has taken a different route than she advises, has heard her say "Recalculating!" You know what I mean. She actually sounds annoyed with you. It can become kind of disconcerting after a while. You get kind of uncomfortable about letting her down. You just don't want to hear the inevitable "Recalcuating." It's like you can almost her sigh in exasperartion. The kids aren't real keen on it either and start yelling at us to not make her mad. Even at her young age Gianna has come to realize the importance of the Garmin. The other day she said, "Mommy, how can we ever go anywhere without the 'recalculator?'" Apparently she doesn't have a lot of faith in her dad and I! Let's hope the "recalculator" lives a long battery charged life.

I was helping Noah get dressed the other day. As I put his shirt on, I said, "Did you know that this shirt was Dylan's when he was your age?" "Oh, cool!" He said. A little while later he came into my room and I had one of Brian's t-shirts on. He looked at me for a minute and said, " Mommy was that Daddy's shirt when he was your age?" So funny!

While we were visiting at my Mema's house, Hannah was telling my Aunts about when we got the van stuck in the sand at Presque Isle beach. She was telling them about the man who helped Brian push the van out. She finished by saying that he was so nice even though he smoked cigarettes! She sounded so suprised!

The Road to Easter...

2010-04-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

I am honestly not quite sure how to begin. I guess I will begin at the beginning. It seems to be the best place to start! A couple of weeks ago, Brian and I decided to take the kids on a little road trip to Father Larry's church in Erie for part of Holy Week. We never do things like this for many reasons. One being that to take our entire family anywhere overnight involves alot of careful planning. The logistics are complicated and it is quite an undertaking. But we thought that it would be a fun little thing to do with the kids and make Holy Week really special. We also thought that it would be a great way to make some memories as a family. Well, we definitely made some memories, not all good, but all were unforgetable!

Ironically, at the beginning of Lent I had made a little poster to track our Lenten journey as a family. The theme of the poster was "The Road to Easter!" Pretty appropriate seeing as how we ended Lent "on the road."

Once we had decided that we were definitely going to do it, I went online and made all of the arrangements. I took very special care to book a hotel with a nice indoor pool so that the kids could swim. After a lot of debating we decided to book two adjoining rooms in the hotel that we had stayed in last summer. We knew that even though the hotel was a little bit more expensive than the others, it was clean and had a really nice pool. The kids were so excited to be able to swim. It was all that we heard about from the time that we told the kids our plans. Every morning Gianna would wake up and ask me how many more "sleeps" it was until we went to the hotel to swim.

I had planned out my week in preparation for the big trip. I had started to pull out some of the kids' summer clothes to pack. I dug out the suitcases and made some lists for everything that we would need. But I didn't want to actually pack anything until Wednesday. That way I could put everything in the suitcases and take them right out to the van and we would be ready to go. The plan was for me to pick up Isaac and Hannah from school at 2:00 and DJ, Coley and Jake at the highschool at 2:15. We would then head to Butler to meet Brian at work at around 3:30 and be on our way to Erie. We planned to have enough time to check into the hotel and be at Holy Thursday mass at 6:30. We had it all planned out, but you know what they say about plans. Men plan and God laughs. Well, let's just say that God had a fair share of laughter at our expense!

Wednesday morning I called the doctor's office to talk to the nurse about Aiden. He was still struggling with a bout of pnuemonia. His breathing wasn't getting any better and he had been on medication and breathing treatments for over a week with no relief. When I talked with the nurse, she talked to the doctors and they felt that he needed to go down to Children's Hospital to the ER. They felt that he might need to be put into a tent thingy to help his breathing. While I was obviously worried about Aiden, I had a bad feeling that this was going to put a major kink into our trip plans. I packed some clothes just in case they wanted to keep him overnight. I was hoping that by being prepared and taking clothes, we wouldn't need them. Brian met us in Kittanning and my mom came out to stay with the other kids. We were off to Pittsburgh. After a lot of waiting around and another round of chest x-rays, we were (thankfully) sent home. According to the doctor, Aiden's pnuemonia was actually clearing up. His wheezing was from an infection that he had developed in addition to the pnuemonia. Poor little guy! We were told to keep doing what we were doing and see the doctor again the next week. (Insert HUGE sigh of relief here!) Yay! He was slowly getting better and the trip was still on! We stopped to pick up pizza on our way home to celebrate Jake's real 13th birthday. By the time we got home and ate and cleaned up after dinner it was bathtime and bedtime. I got up early the next morning and started to pack. I was way behind because of our unexpected trip to Children's. I lined up the suitcases and started to fill them. We were only going to be gone for a day...what would we need? Jammies, undies, bathing suits, church clothes and one extra outfit to wear to the beach. It doesn't sound like a lot, but for 10 people, it is!! Not to mention, diapers, wipes, the nebulizer and medication, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shoes, etc...It took a little bit longer than I thought. I was also trying to clean up so that when we got home on Friday, we weren't greeted by a huge mess. Yeah right! I had to get everything ready for the pets also. Way too many things to have to do in a very short amount of time, especially because the little ones were messing things up as I went along! I was finally to the point where I was starting to make some headway when the phone rang. I checked the caller id...West Shamokin High school. Now that is NEVER good. I tentatively answered the phone. It was the school nurse. DJ had slammed into the dividing wall in gym class during a raucous game of dodgeball and split his knee open. She was about 95% sure that he was going to need stitches. Oh great. We were supposed to leave for Erie in less than an hour and now I was going to have to make a pitstop at the ER...for the second day in a row. AHHHH! And you know that pitstops at the ER never take less than 3 hours. I was now in complete panic mode as I frantically ran around finishing the packing and loading the van. I took care of the animals and locked up. Unfortunately the closest thing to cleaning that I got done was to make sure that there wasn't any food sitting out. Oh well...OK, now I had to pick up the little kids from the elementary school and then head to the highschool to pick up the big kids. We were off, like a herd of dysfunctional turtles, but we were off nonetheless! After I collected all of the kids we went to my mom and dad's house. My mom had volunteered to keep all of the kids while DJ and I headed to the hospital. ( Thank you mom!!) But on the way into town I realized that in my haste, I had forgotten a few key survival things; the Garmin ( for directions), the portable DVD player(for our sanity in the van) and the pack 'n play (for a good night's sleep). So not good... My brother lent us his DVD player so things started to get a little bit better. And then my mom offered her Garmin and pack 'n play. Things were definitely looking up! I took the Garmin, but declined the pack 'n play. I figured that it wasn't worth the hassle. Aiden could just sleep with Brian and I. He's pretty little, right? How much space could he really need? ( Ummm for the record, a lot of space! The kid is like a kickboxing octopus while he sleeps!)

It was time to get in and out of the ER as quickly as possible. I knew that we were in for a wait when the triage nurse told us that there were 6 people ahead of us and they had no empty beds. Oh boy! Poor DJ was really nervous about the whole stitches thing and he felt terrible about messing up our plans. I kept telling him that it wasn't a big deal and we would get to Erie whenever we got there, no problem. But I was hoping that we would be able to get there in time for Holy Thursday mass at 6:30, although it was not looking good. After 2 hours in the waiting room, they finally called us back to the sutures room. The school nurse was right; DJ needed 5 stitches in his knee. Thankfully it was a nice clean gash, no jagged edges, so it was pretty easy to stitch. DJ however looked slightly panicked. After everything that he went through during his treatments, shots, bone marrow aspirations, spinal taps, he is very needle phobic. And I don't blame him one bit! We walked out of the hospital at 6:30 (three hours after we arrived!). We were going to miss mass, but I was determined to keep a positive attitude about everything, especially since DJ felt so guilty. We headed back to my mom's to pick up the other kids and we were off...again.

We arrived at the VNA in Butler at about 7:00 to pick up Brian. After I caught him up to speed with what was going on, we decided to pick up some dinner and eat on the road. The kids voted and we ended up going to Long John Silvers/A&W. Everyone was so hungry that for the first 15 minutes or so, the van was very uncharacteristically quiet. Nice! The other good thing about all of the stops that we had to make was that it broke up the trip so it didn't seem like such a long time in the car for the kids. By the time they were all finished eating, we only had about an hour of driving left! Really nice!

We pulled up to the hotel at a little after 9:00. The kids were so excited about getting up and going swimming first thing in the morning! I went in to register and was greeted by a very friendly clerk. She happily took my credit card and swiped it through and then said, "Oh by the way, you ARE aware that the pool is closed, aren't you?" She caught me off guard because I assumed that she meant right then, because it was so late. "Sure, I said. That's not a problem." And then as she handed me our room keys I said, " You mean closed for the night right? "I am thinking, "Oh please, please, please just mean closed for the night!" She smiled brightly as she said, "NO it's closed until Monday for some renovations." I was so suprised that I just nodded dumbly and walked out to the van to face the kids. By this time, they were all bouncing out of their seats. How in the world was I going to tell them that there would be no swimming? This was what they had looked forward to all week! I opened the door and climbed back into the van. I looked at Brian and softly said, "The pool is closed until Monday." He replied, (not so softly, mind you) "WHAT?! Is this an April fools joke?! Please tell me that this is an April fools joke. " I looked him in the eye and said, " I would not joke about such things! Especially at 9:00 at night!" The kids all seemed to realize what was going on. I braced myself for the wailing and gnashing of teeth that I was sure was coming. But....Nothing. Not a crying, complaining kid in the bunch! I don't know if they were just too tired to care, or they realized that there wasn't anything that we could do about it, or what, but they just said ok. Thank heavens!! I silently sent up a little prayer of thanksgiving for my wonderful kids. I told Brian where our rooms were and we pulled around to the back parking lot. After a few trips back and forth between the van and our rooms, we were finally unloaded. I figured that since we weren't going to be swimming in the morning, we might as well get all of the kids bathed before we went to bed. Then we would have one less thing to deal with in the morning. The nice thing about having two rooms, is having two bathrooms! (a luxury that we do not have at home!) I put Hannah and Gianna into the bathroom in our room and headed over to the boys' room to get Isaac and Noah started. I turned on the water and Isaac hopped into the tub. I turned around to help Noah take his shirt off and I noticed IT! IT was a creepy, yucky, wiggling tick embedded in his little arm!! Oh My Gosh!! I tried to very calmly call Brian into the room. I didn't want to freak out Noah because I knew that no matter what, I was going to have to pull that little bloodsucker out of his arm. Brian came into the bathroom. "What?" he asked. I just pointed to it. The look that he gave me pretty much summed up what I was thinking. That look said, "are you freakin' kidding me?!" "Ok, no time to panic. Just get it out. " That is what I kept saying to myself. I remembered reading somewhere to put vaseline on a tick to smother it. It is supposed to suffocate it and then it loosens up it's grip and you can just pull it out. Well, we didn't have any vaseline, but we did have liquid soap. That should basically do the same thing. I put some soap on his arm and dug out my spare tweezers. And then I did it. I just grabbed that little bugger and pulled it out. Yes! Success! I checked it to make sure that the head was still attached to the tick and not still in Noah's arm. Thankfully it looked good. Another silent prayer of thanksgiving and then I flushed the nasty thing!

Hannah and Gianna snuggled into their big bed. Not a whole lot of room left for Coley...

Bubba was ready for a good nights sleep.

DJ with his stitches all wrapped up. Poor guy!

Once that was taken care of, I sat down with Aiden to do his breathing treatment. It went relatively smoothly. I had given him a bath and thought that if I laid him down and nursed him that he would just drift off to sleep. Yeah right! Not quite. He would not lay down or nurse and he was definitely not drifting off to sleep. He was wide awake and totally wound up from the albuterol. Not good. If you have never seen a baby on albuterol, try to picture this: stand up, sit down, crawl to wall, bang head on wall, walk along wall, squeal as loudly as possible, fall down, stand up, walk to bed, bang head off of bed, you want to be picked up, you want to be put down, you want a drink, you throw your sippy cup...and on and on. You get the idea. Everyone else drifted off to sleep, but that was so not happening for Aiden or me. And then Noah decided to join in the fun. Apparently he couldn't sleep in the boys' room because it was "scawy" in there and he didn't want to sleep with DJ. He really wanted to sleep with Brian and I but we already had Aiden in bed with us ( thanks to my brilliance in forgetting the pack 'n play!). Finally I just let him crawl into our bed and when he finally fell asleep at around 1:30 am, I moved him into his bed. Aiden finally calmed down enough that he fell asleep at around 2:00 am, but he is a very fittful sleeper. Like I said before, it was like sleeping with a kickboxing octopus! Needless to say I was not very well rested when I woke up at 7:00.

Here is Aiden in the midst of his jitteriness. I think that it was about 12:45 am here.

Jake

Daddy and Aiden getting for a snack before turning in for bed.

I went through the suitcases and got everything ironed and ready for the day. I then repacked everything back up to get loaded back into the van. Was it really worth it? At this point I was seriously questioning it. Brian and I said, more than once, that we would NEVER do this again! Brian and Jake headed out to get some food for breakfast. Since it was Good Friday, we would abstain from meat and also fast, meaning two half meals and one whole meal with no eating in between. Obviously the little kids did not need to fast but Brian and the three older kids and I did. This actually made the food situation for the day pretty easy! While Brian and Jake were out at the store, I decided to hop into the shower and start to get ready. While I was in the shower the kids decided to play "office." They were sitting at the desk, writing on the little hotel notebook while pretending to be at work. It was very cute until the phone rang. I answered the phone rather hesitantly. What in the world could it be now? "Hello?" I say. "Ma'am this is the front desk I have the 911 dispatcher on the line. Someone dialed 911 from your room. Is everything ok?" says the voice on the other line. I try to calmly reply, "Oh, I am so sorry, one of the kids must have bumped the 911 button accidentally. We are fine." I am thinking, "you might want to send a coroner in about 5 minutes because I'm about to kill someone!" "Thank you Ma'am. We just have to check these things out." says the voice. "Oh sure! So sorry again!" I say as I hang the phone up. I turn toward the kids who have all grown very quiet, looking at me questioningly. "Who....dialed...911?" I ask. "Not me!" "It wasn't me!" "What's 911?" were their responses as they went back to what they had been doing. They were looking at eachother like, "There goes mom again, being all crazy! Gees!"

Thankfully Brian and Jake came back then with breakfast for all. We all happily ate and discussed the plans for the day. Again, I am not sure why we would even try to plan because that doesn't seem to go so well for us, but we aren't quitters! We don't give up! Ok maybe, we just don't take a hint! Regardless, the plans were as follows: load up van, head to Presque Isle to eat our 1/2 lunch, go to St Joseph's church for Good Friday services, go back to Presque Isle to play on the beach, go to dinner and head home. Totally subject to change, obviously! One thing that having children has taught me is to be flexible. I think that in general, I have learned this lesson quite well, but sometimes, even I am challenged to point when I think I might just snap in half. Anyway, those were the original plans...

Things went pretty much as planned until we got to church. We loaded up the van, went Presque Isle, ate our lunch in the van as we looked at the water. There were a ton of boats and kayaks out on the water. The kids enjoyed watching all of that. It was a nice and peaceful lunch. We headed to church. Things were looking up. We had a whole hour and half without an incident! Woo hoo!

While we were driving to the church, there were at least two different times that we happened to notice people counting how many kids we had in our van. I don't understand that. The one lady we actually heard count, "5, 6, 7 and 8! Eight children! Oh my!" Whatever. I guess it does seem like a lot of kids to most people, but honestly it doesn't to us. At least most of the time, it doesn't. They are our children. They belong in our family and it feels really weird if even one is missing. We just are who we are and when people question that or seemingly judge that, the mama bear in me comes out. And I just want to shield my kids from the rude comments. When people question the number of children that we have I look at their sweet faces and think which one or two or 5 shouldn't be here? Which ones shouldn't be part of our family? That is just ridiculous. If you want to judge us, at least have the decency to keep your snarky comments to yourself when the kids are around. OK now that I got that off of my chest, back to our adventure...

We arrived at St Joseph's church and parked in the parking lot. I know that this may sound weird, but I love that part, because we are not the only 12 passenger van there! They have many families with 6-10 children in them. For once we feel like we belong. We aren't the crazy family with a ton of kids. We are just one of many crazy families with a ton of kids. It's nice to feel normal sometimes! We walked into the church and slid into a pew. This church is one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever been in. Every mural, every statue, every detail is just gorgeous. Part of that beauty comes from the beautiful spirit of the parishioners. It is a church in which you can truly feel the spirit alive in it. You just feel welcome and at home there. That is why we had planned this little road trip in the first place!

About 1/3 of the way into the Good Friday service (Notice I said service and not mass. This is the only day of the year that mass is not said anywhere in the entire world.) Aiden started to act up. He has started to get progressively worse everytime that we go to church. He gets a little bit noisier and fidgety. At those times, the best thing to do is just take him to the back of the church and try to get him to calm down. Or at least put him down and let him walk around a little bit to get the wiggles out. While I was back there, there was another mother with a little one doing the same thing. She was about 7 months pregnant and wrestling with a very active little boy. We shared a knowing look as we each tried to keep our little guys quiet. Finally Aiden had calmed down to the point that I was able to take him back into the main part of the church and we participated in the solemn beauty of the Good Friday service as we kissed the cross and reflected on the huge sacrifice that Christ made for each and every one of us. At the close of the service Father Larry invited everyone to stay and participate in the Divine Mercy Chaplet followed by the sacrament of Confession as well as a tenebrae service at 8:00 that evening. Time to readjust our plans! After a quick discussion, I took the little kids, from Isaac down out to the van for a little snack and a dvd of the Passion of Christ for kids. Brian stayed in the church with the older 3 for the chaplet and confession. When they were down and came out to the car, I went in for confession. It seemed like a great addition to our plans. Ironically, the pregnant mother from the back of the church happened to be parked right beside us. Her and her husband had decided to tag team as well! We had about 20 minutes or so to chat. She was so sweet and even invited all of us back to their house for some homemade pizza. I thanked her for such a generous offer, but we had promised to take the kids to the beach to play in the sand, so I declined. But I was truly appreciative of her offer, especially since there are so many of us!

After we were all finished with confession we headed back to Presque Isle. This time we were ready to actually get out the car and enjoy the beach. As we were walking along the beach, Gianna slipped her little hand into mine and sighed. "Ahhhh, isn't sand sooo wonderful mommy?" she asked. "Yes it is!" I replied. About 5 minutes later Hannah informed us that she needed to go to the bathroom. Of course she did, because it's not like we can be anywhere for more than five minutes before somebody has to pee! I looked at Coley with my desperate pleading eyes silently begging her to take Hannah to the bathroom. She sighed, "Fine, come on." Gianna then said that she needed to go too. The three of them headed toward the bathroom. About 3 minutes later they were back with bad news. The bathrooms were locked. Uh-oh! Time to take matters into my own hands. "Come on girls." I say. I told them to get into the van. My plan was to drive to the far end of the parking lot where there weren't any cars and park blocking the girls from view and let them just pee in the woods. Well, we climbed into the van and I started it up and put it into dirve and we went nowhere. We were stuck in the sand. Seriously!? Who gets stuck in the sand? Well, the Houghs do, obviously! At this point we had no time to deal with this. We climbed back out of the van and took a quick hike into the woods. We were sufficiently blocked from view, it was time to pee. I had kleenex and wipes. They would be just fine. Yeah, well even though we live in the country, Gianna and Hannah are anything but country girls. The idea of peeing outside invoked tears and screaming. "I am NOT a boy! I DON'T want to pee like a boooooooy!" Finally I just said, "You don't have a choice. It's pee here in the woods or pee your pants. You decide. " Hannah was at the point where she had no choice and the thought of peeing her pants must have been a smidgen worse than peeing outside and she finally gave in. "Fine! But I am not a boy and I do not like to pee like one," she indignantly said. Hannah's shirt was long so I had her take her shorts and underwear off and just squat down. She was horrified, but at the point of no return. Seeing all of this, Gia looked at me and said, "I'll just hold it. I don't have to go that bad." There was no way that she was going to be a part of this! I got Hannah cleaned up and dressed. We started to walk back to the beach, her dignity slowly becoming restored. She looked at me and quietly said, "Thanks mom." And then turned to run down the beach to where Brian and the other kids were. I heaved a sigh of relief, although it was temporary. We were still going to have to figure out a way to get the van out of the sand. But for now I wanted to enjoy the wonderful feeling of the sand too. We had a great time playing in the sand and skipping rocks and looking for shells. It was a lot of fun and the kids actually managed to stay relatively clean.

Noah was loving the sand!

Mommy and Aiden. He was not such a happy camper.

Ice still in the Lake! Crazy since everyone was running around in shorts. No swimming!

My beautiful girls, Hannah, Coley and Gianna

Aiden was loving the sand, although not so fond of eating the sand! As he would wipe his mouth off, he would just get more sand in his mouth. So he would wipe his mouth again. It was a vicious cycle!

Noah digging in the sand looking for shells

Aiden was trying out his new walking skills on the uneven beach.

Aiden and Daddy

Testing the water...too cold!

Going for a stroll.

My lovely brood

Gianna

Dj was hobbling along with his sore knee

Hannah making sand angels

My teenagers! Aren't they so cute?

He's so weird...

Isaac collecting rocks to skip

Skipping rocks

Me and my Sweet Boy

The Eight biggest blessings in my life: Aiden, Noah, Gianna, Hannah, Isaac, Jacob, Coley and DJ

After an enjoyable trip to the beach it was time to face our next hurdle; how were we going to get the van out of the sand? Brian and Jake tried to push the van out while I drove. No luck. Bubba thought that he might be able to help since DJ couldn't ( due to his stitches). Even though he is a very strong seven year old, he just wasn't quite strong enough to help push our massive 12 passenger beast van out. Finally a really nice guy came and helped the "men" push and we were able to get out! Not so silent prayers of thanksgiving sent up to heaven! The van had sunk about 8 inches down in the sand and with rearwheel drive, it was challenging to say the least! But we were back in business.

It was time to have some dinner. We were all really hungry, especially since we had been fasting all day. We wanted to find a family friendly place and we settled on Eat 'n Park. We plugged the address into the Garmin and we were off! When we were waiting to be seated, I heard it start again. "One, two, three...seven, eight!! Oh my word! Eight children can you imagine!?" Sigh. Seriously?! Can't we just walk in and sit down to eat without being counted? I wasn't the only one who heard it. When Brian heard the second table start counting us, he waited until the man said "eight." And then the poppa bear came out in him. He stopped and turned to the man and said, "Yes. Eight. You are right. We have eight kids. " The man shocked us and said, "How wonderful! What a beautitful family you have!" OK , so now we felt a little bit bad about being annoyed. I guess that all of the "counters" aren't bad or judgemental. Some are just pleasantly suprised and I guess with good reason. We do have a family that sticks out most places, but that's ok. We just need to remember what a blessing it is and sometimes other people realize that too! When were seated and the waitress took our order, she asked the inevitable question, "Are they all yours?" Umm, I love kids and all, but I don't know of anyone in their right mind that would take 8 kids to a restaurant if they didn't belong to them! But again we were shocked by her genuinely kind response to our "Yes." She said "How beautiful! What a blessing!" She then continued to suprise us when she came back and told us that several of the other customers had commented to her about how well behaved and lovely our kids were. I was so proud and humbled. It's easy to assume the worst in people, but thankfully that isn't always so! She then delighted the kids when she returned with a dozen of smiley face Easter bunny cookies for us to take home! With our bellies full and our spirits lifted, we headed back to St Joseph's for the tenebrae service. The way that Father Larry did the tenebrae service was that it was basically the stations of the cross in the dark with scripture readings with each one. It was beautiful. The kids really enjoyed it. Brian and I even got to fully participate because Noah and Aiden (our X factors) both fell asleep and slept through the entire thing! Prayers of thanksgiving yet again! After the service was over, we were finally on the road headed back home. Thankfully our trip home was fairly uneventful. We were all sound asleep by midnight.

The next morning was Holy Saturday. Brian and I had alot to do. We had to be at church in Kittanning at 10:00 am for practice for the Easter Vigil mass. We had been truly honored by being asked to stand as godparents for our friend Steve as he joined the church. The Easter Vigil mass was when his Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion would take place. It started at 8:30 pm and lasted about 2 1/2 hours. It was beautiful but long, which is why we did not take the kids with us. While the kids were disappointed to not be able to go, they had stuff that they worked on while we were gone. They finished coloring eggs and decorated sugar cookies.

Let the egg decorating and cookie baking begin!

My little cookie baker at work mixing up icing

He's just causing all kinds of mess, starting with the marker around his mouth.

Brian and Steve and I at the Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil was an amazing experience to be a part of! Brian and I were so thankful to be a part of Steve's Journey. It was wonderful to see Steve baptized into the church and confirmed. It was truly awesome to see him receive Holy Communion for the first time. Thank you, thank you Steve for asking us to be a part of this!!! I kept joking with Steve that I was going to bring a huge banner that said "YAY STEVE!" on it. Since I didn't, I'll just say it now. "YAY STEVE!!!!"

By the time we got home it was about 11:00pm. The little ones were sleeping and the older three were waiting for us to get home so that they could go to sleep also. I still had a mountain of church clothes to iron and baskets of Easter bunny things to prepare. It was about 2:00 when I finally went to sleep. At around 6:00 we heard the pitterpat of little feet coming to wake us up to check and see what the big bunny may have left behind. Soooo not enough sleep, but I'm getting used to it! After watching everyone check out their baskets, I started our traditional big Easter breakfast. It's not as intense as the big Christmas breakfast, but it's still a nice spread of food. I made the cinnamon rolls, bacon , sausage and eggs and we ate. Once we were all dressed and in the van I heaved a sigh of relief. Easter Sunday is not a day to be late for church. If you get there less than 1/2 hour before Mass, you will pretty much have to stand in the back for Mass. We made it to church by about 10:30 and Missy and Steve were there and had been sweet enough to save us a row of seats. (Thanks Guys!) We had plenty of room, which was great. Unfortunately Aiden was a major cranky pants. I ended up having to take him to the basement of the church and nurse him until he fell asleep. I made it back upstairs for the last half of Mass. The music, the flowers, the people...it was a beautiful. He is Risen! He is Risen INDEED!

After mass we headed to my Mema and Poppy's house for Easter dinner. It was tons of food, family and fun! There was an Easter egg hunt for the kids. The weather was perfect for the kids to play outside. The day was going wonderfully, at least for the time being...

Here it is...the annual Hough Family Easter picture. We clean up pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Here are my handsome young men!

And my lovely ladies!

Mama and her grandkids (missing Dylan)

Aiden and Mama during the egg hunt at Mema and Poppy's house

Coley helping Noah and Gia find some eggs.

My beautiful goddaughter Isabella with her egg hunt findings

Here is the lovely Miss Abbagail with her egg. She was so cute when she found a yellow egg, she kept squealing, "I found two yellow eggs! They match!!" So cute!

The sweet little Francesca

After a lot of fun at Mema and Poppy's house it was time to pack up and head to Brian's mom's house for Easter Dinner and egg hunt #2. Noah came running into the house crying. Jake was right behind him and said that Noah said that his nose hurt. When I looked at his nose it was bleeding a little bit. I asked him what had happened and he kept saying something about a rock, but he was crying so it was kind of hard to understand him. Finally I realized that he was saying there was a rock up inside of his nose!! I put him up on the counter and Mema gave me a flashlight. Sure enough, wedged in there was a little pebble. Brian came over and suggested having him blow his nose, but like most three year olds, he hasn't quite mastered the art of nose blowing. I was concerned that if he tried to blow his nose he would actually breath in through his nose instead of out. That would be very bad. After looking up his nose for a few minutes, Brian and I decided that it was time for ER trip #3. Sigh...But when Noah heard that we were going to take him to the hospital he started to freak out and asked Brian to get it out himself. I must admit that this made me kind of nervous. Brian has, on many occasions, admitted that he hates dealing with these kind of things. Loose teeth, bloody noses, shots, he hates all of those kind of things. Thankfully when he started to slowly put the tweezers into Noah's nose it tickled a little bit and he sneezed. The rock came out! Woohoo! Good job honey! I was so relieved. Haha!! ER trip #3 avoided...at least for now! You might be wondering as I did, why in the world he would put a rock up his nose. Well, when I asked him he said that he thought there was a "skeeto" up his nose so he put the rock in there to squish it. Of course! That makes perfect sense!

We were off to Joan's house for another yummy Easter dinner and of course the annual Easter egg hunt at Babee's house. Once again, yummy food, great family and lots of fun as the kids went in search of eggs that could hold anything from candy to cash.

Here are the kids anxiously awaiting the green light to go!

Ready...Set...GO!!!

Gianna was showing Babee all of her candy and money from her eggs.

The "BIG KIDS" Breanna, DJ, Coley, Jake, and Kaylee

That basically wraps up our Holy week and Easter adventures! The road was definitely filled with lots of detours and potholes, but we ultimately reached our destination. And we reached it in one piece, which I wasn't so sure would happen when we first started out. But despite all of the problems that came up, it was definitely worth it in the end. We had a (mostly) great trip to Erie, some fun at the beach, lots of wonderful food and precious time with our families. We had hoped to create some memories and I am sure that we did just that. It would be ok if sometimes our life was a little bit less memorable, but what fun would that be?! God Bless!!

My baby can walk?

2010-03-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

My baby can walk. My baby can walk. If I keep saying it, maybe it will sink in....My baby can walk. Nope, not working. Ok, maybe it would be slightly more accurate to say, "My baby can take a few steps before crashing to the floor. " Regardless of how you put it, steps were taken and I know that there are many more to come. He will be running circles around me by his first birthday. (sigh)
Baby in a bag!!! I love this fun jammy bag!

Aiden and his favorite dog, Joey. That dog is an angel! He puts up with some major torture!

It's funny because with your first baby, you are in such a rush for them to roll over and then crawl and then stand and then walk. You just want them to move right along and learn all of these wonderful things and to grow up. Well, been there, done that! I now know that each step forward is a step towards independence and a step away from mommy. I have witnessed it first hand. They crawl and walk and then they start talking. Pretty soon it's time to start kindergarten and then sleepovers at friends houses...eventually high school and then driving and college!!! I might not be that far along yet, but I'm no dumby! I know that it's coming.

Seriously!?! This kid is getting into everything!

Well, as this little superbaby of ours continues to grow, his personality is really starting to shine. He is such a happy baby most of the time, but has started to master the art of shrieking when he's not getting his way. He is also into EVERYTHING!!!!! He is constantly chewing on things, including me! He is turning into quite the little biter! I have been bitten on my leg, elbow, nose and toes. He is kind of like a little puppy! This has been magnified by the steroids that he has had to take because of a recent bout with pneumonia. He has been very clingy and uncharacteristically cranky. This has just been made worse from his medications. It was about 10 at night and he was really hyper. He was crawling around and seemed happy for the first time that day. I figured he could just crawl around and burn off some energy before I put him into bed. I looked over at him and saw that he was eating something. No big surprise there, since he is always shoving something into his mouth. But as I was looking at him, I couldn't figure out what it was that he was eating. As I crossed the room to take it off of him, I noticed the poopy diaper that I had just changed sitting beside him...unwrapped and now empty!!! He was eating his own POOP!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I can honestly say that, well...that was a first even for someone with as many kids as I have! I screamed and ran over and took it off of him. I scrubbed his face, mouth, hands and teeth with a baby wipe and then a washcloth and then his toothbrush. (Which I threw away!) I just looked around at everyone. They were all just looking at me with their mouths hanging open. Apparently this was a first for them too. Jake just shook his head and said, "I thought that it was a no-bake cookie?!" Ummm...eeewwww! As if that made it ok?!

But look at his sweet little face! How can you not just melt when you look at him? Poop and all! He has made it quite clear that we have quite an adventure ahead of us with him and I couldn't be happier!

Tea Time

2010-03-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

What little girl doesn't love a tea party? I know that I still do and my "little girl" days are long gone! There is something almost magical about putting on your fancy dress, sipping tea while nibbling on scones. My mother-in-law has been hosting American Girl tea parties for years now. It is a great way to get the girls to read and have a little bit of fun with their moms. This year I took Hannah and Gianna. We sat at a lovely table with my sister-in-law Denee and my two nieces Breanna and Kaylee.

The Girls and their dolls.

Denee with Breanna and Kaylee

Me and my beautiful young ladies, Hannah and Gianna

There was a parade of dolls, with each girl being announced by the butler..."I would like to announce Miss Hannah Hough and her friend Sandie..."

"I would like to announce Miss Gianna Hough and her friend Claire..."

Even Gianna, who was terrified of walking up in front of everyone, seemed to enjoy it!

Next came tea with a story about good manners. Breanna and Kaylee took turns serving the tea, while we had our book chat.

Gianna is my tea girl. She loved it! She drank about 4 cups of tea, which meant about 5 trips to the bathroom!

Hannah loved the fancy "golden tea cups" that were the favors for the girls. Very pretty!

After we ate finger sandwiches, scones and cookies, the girls did a few crafts.

Here is Breanna working on her "field journal" craft. The story was about Lanie, a young girl who loved to do scientific experiments and observations. The crafts and favors had to do with science and the environment. It was really cute.

Hannah with her magnifying glass...

Gianna was observing her monarch butterfly.

After the crafts were all finished and the cookies were all gone came the part in the evening that all of the girls were awaiting...the drawing for the doll. The new doll for this year was Lanie and everyone wanted her! Each girl received a chance for her and they were all dying to know who would be the lucky girl to take her home!!! When Joan announced that it was now time for the drawing the room grew very quiet. As she held up the basket full of the tickets for the doll, Joan explained that she would have somebody else pull the ticket because her granddaughters were there. Luckily she did because the winner was.....

Gianna!!!

She was sooooo beyond excited! Lanie hasn't left her side. She has changed her clothes about a thousand times and fixed her hair (with the special brush of course!) and played with her. She even ate breakfast with her.

The down side to this was that Hannah did not win...

This is a picture of a very sad little girl. Thankfully Gianna told her that it wouldn't be fun unless she could share with Hannah. That seemed to help the situation. Well, that and the fact that Joan had bought each of the girls a new outfit for their dolls. Gianna picked out a Dorothy outfit complete with ruby slippers. Hannah opted for an ice skating outfit with little skates. They were adorable.

Gianna and her Babee, Joan, with Lanie

When is Spring?

2010-03-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Is it really March already?!?! I can't believe it! We have had five days in a row of sunny(ish) weather and the piles and piles of snow are finally melting! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the drama of the blizzard. At least for the first week. That first week we were prepared. I had gone to the store and stocked up on milk, toilet paper, diapers and wipes. You know, the essentials! I had lots of ingredients for baking bread, cookies, making homemade soup, stew...all of the fun wintery type foods. And then the second week of insanely cold temperature and ridiculously heavy snow fall set in. The magic was gone. The kids got bored and snarky. And I am sorry to say it, but I got really cranky. The fun of playing in the snow wore off after the third time of trying to track down gloves and hats and scarves for the little ones. And lets not forget about the battle of the snow pants! We have a trillion pair of snow pants in various sizes. Unfortunately, the only purple pair was in Gia's size so I handed Hannah a black pair. Not good!! "Why can't I have purple pants?!?! Why does Gia get pretty girl pants!?!? It's not fair! UUGGGH Life isn't fair!!!!" Seriously?! I finally said, "Do you want to go outside?" "Yes." Hannah sniffed. "Do you want to be wet and cold?" I asked. "No." Hannah sulked. "Then put on the black pants please." I calmly said, secretly begging in my mind. "Fine...but they are ugly." Whatever. It is next to impossible to reason with a diva, especially one who is six. But occasionally practicality will win out over fashion....ok, maybe not occasionally, probably more like rarely. Whatever the case, I was truly thankful that it all worked out in this case!

There was also the drama of the dryer. Of course in the middle of all of this our dryer died. It was a slow and painful death. Although we knew that the end was near, we were still unprepared. RIP dryer, you had served us faithfully for 11 years! In this house that averages at least 3 loads of laundry a day, that's a good long time. But it doesn't change the fact that we were pretty much hosed and in desperate need of a replacement. Brian and I headed to Sears (the only appliance type place around) and bought a new dryer. My joy over our purchase was unfortunately very short lived. The salesman informed us that they wouldn't be able to deliver it until Wednesday and it was Sunday. Again, my response was...whatever. We had made it a couple of days by making a few trips to the laundromat and by taking a few loads to our parents' houses. We could handle a few more days...at least we could until round two of the blizzard hit on...you guessed it WEDNESDAY!!! They finally delivered our dryer on Friday. Yes!!!! I was so excited, at least, I was until the delivery man explained that our new dryer wasn't working. Seriously!?! Apparently the electrical receptacle was bad. Sadness again...until my brother-in-law came to the rescue. (Thank you Chad!) While he was replacing the receptacle, Brian realized that the old propane line from our old gas dryer was leaking propane!!! Thank heavens the new dryer hadn't been working or we could have blown up our house! We are back in business and laundry is finally caught up! The kids are back to school! The snow is finally melted... SPRING here we come!!!

Snow!!!

DJ and Jake

Gianna

Isaac

Hannah...love the black pants!

Noah

Christmas 2009: Take Four aka Santa was here!!!!

2010-01-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

As of our last blog, the kids were cozy in bed dreaming about Santa and sugar plums and things. I set to work putting together two different breakfast casseroles for our traditional Christmas breakfast. When I was little we always looked forward to Christmas breakfast. My dad would make eggs and bacon and toast and all of those yummy things. It was a tradition that I wanted to carry on with my kids. They have come to expect big things Christmas morning! I have found a way to come through for them, but not be stuck in the kitchen all morning. I just put it all together Christmas eve. When we get up and start opening gifts I throw everything into the oven and by the time we are done...ta da! Fabulous breakfast!!!

It is a long standing joke in our family that our kids are the worst ever when it comes to getting up on Christmas morning. When we were little Brian and I would both get up waaaaaay before the crack of dawn. Naturally we expected the same from our kids. Yeah...not so much! For the first 8 years that we were married, Brian and I had to wake the kids up!! Last year they did wake up first, but we found out that they had cheated and set an alarm clock. This year we told them no alarm clocks allowed! Be normal kids and wake us up at a completely indecent hour! Well a Christmas miracle occurred and the kids woke us up at about 5:00 am! We were so proud! Finally our kids were normal!!! The REALLY funny part is that I asked them how they finally managed to do it. Jake looked a little bit sheepish and said that he had set his pee alarm. OF course I was curious. "Pee alarm? " I asked. "Yes, none of us peed before we went to bed so that we would wake up early!" Gotta give them credit for creativity! They crack me up!

Here they are waiting in the hallway for the go sign to head out to the dining room. You might be wondering where Noah and Aiden are. Well, we might be a little bit weird but we aren't completely crazy. Everyone knows that you never wake a sleeping toddler or baby, at least not if you want a pleasant morning without tears!

Here are the kids reading the traditional letter from Santa. He loved the cookies, of course! And he thought that Hannah's picture was great.

Once the letter was read and we said a little prayer for Baby Jesus birthday, we headed into the living room. HE CAME!!! Presents, presents everywhere!

DJ and his new wii game that he really wanted. As the kids get older, their piles get much smaller and much more expensive.

Jake with the new Madden game. Great job Santa!

Bubba was also thrilled to get a new game for the wii! He is at the stage where he is between the little kid toys like action figures and matchbox cars and big kid stuff like wii games. Thankfully Santa came through on both end.

Here is Coley modeling her new coat. It was interesting because this was the first year that the three older kids were actually excited about clothes! Instead of opening a sweater and being like, "Oh, a sweater." It was more like, "YES! A sweater! This is awesome!" It was kind of fun!

This is Gia opening her new Leapster. Unfortunately when we opened it and took it out of the box it was obviously used and very dirty. There were even teethmarks on the stylus! DISGUSTING!!! Poor little Gia! She tried to act like it was ok, but I could tell that she was very disappointed. The day after Christmas the girls and I headed to ToysRUS to exchange it for a new one. We upgraded to a Leapster 2. I felt so bad. The leapster was her main gift and she got a lot of things that went with it and couldn't play with any of it Christmas day. Next year Santa needs to check these things out before he buys them! Thankfully Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bob, Gia's godparents, got her an EasyBake oven! She was beyond thrilled. Christmas morning she baked Baby Jesus a birthday cake with a little bit of help from Hannah. This helped soften the leapster blow a little bit.

Here is the finished project complete with a birthday candle!

Aiden woke up at about 7:00 am. He was so funny. He actually played with his new toys! Usually babies are thrilled with wrapping paper or boxes, but he actually liked his toy!

Finally at about 8:30 am, Brian woke Noah up. He happily opened all of his gifts. He was really into the whole Santa thing this year. He keeps asking when Santa is coming back. When I tell him next Christmas he asks me if that is tomorrow...sigh... only 11 1/2 months to go...

He loved his "Handy Manny" hat and "gobbles."

Aiden loved his breakfast, actually he loves anything that he can jam into his mouth!

The Hough gang enjoying their yummy breakfast.

After breakfast, everyone got bathed and dressed for the day. Joan and Patrick came out for a little visit and to see what all Santa had brought for the kids. We had a nice visit with them. At about 1:30 we piled into the van and headed to Mema's house for Christmas dinner with my mom's family. There was a ton of food, including fried deer steak (don't knock it if you haven't tried it! It is YUMMY! Especially since it was from Jake's first deer!) and lasagna. I felt like Brian was going to need to roll me out to the car! We came home and jammied up and pretty much passed out. We put the little ones to bed and Brian and I went to sleep around 9:00! Christmas day was a ton of fun with the typical Hough family chaos. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family to celebrate the birth of our Savior! Thank you Jesus!

Christmas 2009 take Three: aka Christmas Eve continues with Viglia

2010-01-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

After our epic journey to Pittsburgh, we went back home for exactly long enough to get changed into our fancy Christmas clothes and then it was off to Babee's for Vigilia dinner! It was funny because on our way home from Pittsburgh, Brian was quizzing the kids on the Polish names for the foods that we would be eating. He told them that if they didn't know the Polish name, they couldn't eat it! Then they started talking about the foods that would be there. The one thing that everyone was asking about was the Kapusta soup...peas and sauerkraut and mushrooms...

eewwww! It's a long standing tradition that you have to eat at least one spoonful for luck. I usually manage to choke down one but that's about it. The kids are starting to get to that age, but they have managed to avoid it so far.

Here are my beautiful children in their fancy Christmas Church clothes....

Here is Miss Coley patiently waiting to open her gifts from Babee and Grampa. (Even though she had gone shopping with Babee and picked everything out herself!)

Aiden Joseph in his very snazzy hat! He actually kept in on! I think he knew that it made him look very dapper!

Gianna Marie in her cover girl pose! Serving it up H to T. (That's head to toe for those of you unfamiliar with America's Next Top Model.)

Jake and DJ looking very grownup in real ties...not clip-ons!!

Noah and his 19th cookie...this would come back to haunt us at 8:00 mass as he was waving his vest around in the air at church like a terrible towel saying, "WOOOOOO!!!" And waddling up and down our row saying, "Waddle like a penguin, waddle like a penguin!" Thankfully it was the children's mass. He kind of blended in. At least he was until he started waving his hands around in the air to direct the choir! It was entertaining to say the least.

AD-Joe and Isaac

Hannah looking lovely in red.

My beautiful nieces, Breanna and Kaylee

Chase was dying to rip into those presents!

Rexton loved his Handy Manny toys!

Babee was showing Aiden his new Jack-in-the-Box. He wasn't quite sure what he thought about it at first, but he really likes it now.

The infamous Kapusta Soup

Hannah and I getting ready to head to church.

Aiden was passed out by the time we got home.

It had been a LOOOONG day. Everyone got into their jammies and we put out cookies for Santa. Hannah even left him a beautiful picture that she had drawn.

We crawled into bed to dream about sugarplums and stuff. I am not sure what you may have heard about the kids, but they must have been pretty good because we were definitely visited by the jolly man in red himself!

Stay tuned for more Christmas fun in Christmas 2009 take four: aka Santa was here!!!

Christmas 2009 Take 2: aka The Country Kids take on the Big City

2010-01-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve morning was the day of our annual trip to Pittsburgh to see the Santa Claus exhibit and Nativity Scene. We have done this almost every year since we have been married and Brian and the kids really look forward to it. Notice that I said Brian and the kids, not including myself in this statement. It's not that I don't enjoy going to these places, it's just that I get very nervous taking our entire family anywhere involving traffic, big buildings, people, subways, sidewalks...you get the point. We are numerous and move at a pace much slower than one accustomed to living in the city. We are country folk...remember the pony in our front yard!? I am always worried that someone will get left behind or separated from our group or kidnapped or any other totally ridiculous and highly improbable terrible thing. I take my role of keeping my kids safe very seriously and with eight kids Brian and I are majorly outnumbered. I am also the teensiest bit paranoid and psychotic. Anyway, it was that time of year again so we got up early loaded into the van and headed to Pittsburgh. After trying a few different parking lots and garages we finally found one that our giant 12 passenger van would fit in. We parked and tumbled out of the van. I immediately paired everyone up. This is the only way that we can function out in the world. I put Aiden in his baby sling and Brian carried Noah. Coley and Gia buddied up. DJ and Hannah paired up. Which left Isaac and Jake to be buddies. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but Isaac was in a mood and didn't want to hold anyone's hand. He was giving Jake a hard time. ( Big shock there!) He was told to buddy up or stay in the van. Given that as his only option, he reluctantly gave in and we were on our way.

First stop: The Nativity Scene at the USX building.

A woman was nice enough to take a picture of us so that we could all be in it.

It was freeeeeeeeeeeezing! But the nativity was beautiful. It is modeled after the one in the Vatican. We love to go there and see it (briefly!).

After that we were headed to destination #2...the Santas from around the World exhibit at PPG Place. But for the Dayton Houghs the final destination is only part of the fun! Getting there was an adventure in itself! This involved an escalator and the subway!!! big excitement for little country kids! We were approaching the escalator and Isaac looked a little bit skeptical. "The stairs are sliding."

Gia took a little bit of convincing...

But we all managed and made it to the top safe and soundly. Now it was on to phase two of getting to the Santa Exhibit...the subway (insert scary music here).... The thing about the subway is that it's kind of fast and again, let me remind you, that we are numerous. My totally unfounded paranoia starts to set in and I am terrified that one of the kids isn't going to make it on and they will be eaten up by the city, never to be seen again. We had some time to wait for the subway which was good. The kids bounced around and got some energy out. Daddy helped the process by flipping them around to shake out some giggles.

I had Aiden in the sling to keep me warm!

Here are Coley and Gianna waiting for the subway.

DJ and Miss Hannah

Noah and Jake were excited.

Bubba was pouting. This just further proves my theory that all eight kids are not genetically capable of being happy at the same time. Someone has to be complaining or whining or crying at all times. Oh well!! 7 out of 8 isn't too bad!

We even had a siting of the very rare Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindasaurus!!!

The subway came and we all (thankfully) made it on and off. The kids loved it. I think that may have been the favorite part for some of the little ones! Ahhhh the little things in life!

DJ and Hannah

Big fun on the subway!!

We finally made the epic journey to the PPG Place to see the Santas From Around the World exhibit. The kids loved them, as usual. My favorite is the Italian "Santa" La Befana. She leaves bad boys and girls switches to be spanked with by her scary little sidekick!

Noah and Bubba checking out their favorite Santa, the Victorian American one.

Brian and Aiden and Hannah admiring the gingerbread houses.

Our favorite "gingerbread creation"...Go Steelers!

Daddy enjoying some AD-Joe snuggling!

The tree with the gingerbread houses

The boys checking things out

DJ and his little buddy Hannah

Sissy and AD-Joe

We also got a kick out of the ketchup dinosaur.

Bubba liked this dinosaur

Gia LOOOVED the sparkly discoball dinosaur!

Brian and Jake ran to get the van so that we didn't have to venture the subway again. We had to wait for them, but it gave us some more time for some looking around.

Here is a picture of the ice rink right outside of the PPG Place. Yeah...maybe next time!

Here we are back in the van safely on our way back home! I must admit this trip wasn't nearly as stressful as I had anticipated. I think that we have finally reached a point where we can safely and (relatively) smoothly go places!!! Woohoo! The big kids are big enough to keep track of their little kid and the little kids are big enough to know to stay with their big kids! It is a major milestone for us. Oh the places we can go!

"Hello Monkey!"

You are probably wondering what in the heck this is all about. Long story short...if Brian is talking to the kids and they are totally ignoring him, he will sarcastically start to talk to an imaginary monkey. This was happening in the car on the way home so he actually drew a monkey on the window....he so weird! That's why I love him!

Here it is....Our lunch from Sonic! This is how a mega-size family orders drive-in!! For the record, we brought our own drinks. This was strictly sandwiches and fries. It was quite Yummy!

There it is, our Christmas Eve morning in a nutshell.

Stay tuned for Christmas Eve part two.....

Christmas 2009 Take 1: aka the gift exchange

2010-01-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

OK folks, I can't believe it, but we have officially experienced Christmas. It seems like I blinked my eyes and it was over...Thankfully I managed to take some pictures to document it all, or I wouldn't believe it myself! We had a wonderful Christmas with tons of family get-togethers and traditions. We decided to start a new tradition this year. Instead of the kids trying to buy gifts for all of their brothers and sisters, they pulled names and just bought for one person. It was so fun to take them shopping. They took this responsibility very seriously. It happened to work out that Gianna had Noah and Hannah had Isaac and Aiden had Jacob. When we went to the store I took them with me. Brian took Noah and Isaac with him, who had Aiden and Gia respectively. DJ ended up with Coley and Jake had DJ. This proved a little bit tricky because Jake didn't want DJ to know that he had him and they were shopping together. Coley had Hannah, but she was shopping with her grandma. It was very interesting to watch what they picked out for each other. Every time we would come around a corner in the toy section of Walmart the girls would freak out thinking that the boys would see what they had for them. When we were checking out, Hannah was sure that they were trying to see what they had bought for them. From what Brian said Isaac and Noah had a hard time grasping the concept of getting something for someone else. They just wanted to pick out stuff for themselves. Shocking, I know! In the end they all did pretty well, with a little bit of guidance from Brian and I.

The week of Christmas started with a Monday night movie night. We ate a picnic dinner on the living room floor while we watched The Nativity Story. I'm not sure if the kids liked the movie or being allowed to eat in the living room better! Either way, everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the last days of school and work for everyone. Which means that the kids did nothing at school other than have parties and watch movies. DJ, Coley and Jacob were looking forward to playing in the volleyball tournament that they have on the last day of school at West Shamokin. They were on the same team and were so excited about playing, but got their butts kicked. Oh well, at least they didn't have class!

Wednesday evening, which was Christmas eve eve, we let the kids exchange gifts amongst themselves.

Here they are anxiously awaiting the big exchange...

Gianna loved her babydoll that Bubba got for her. Bubba kept showing her all of the neat features that the doll has, for example her binky and bottle and bear are all magnetized and stick to her hands and mouth. Very cool!

Hannah loved all of her gifts from Coley, especially her Littlest Pet Shop animals.

Isaac was equally impressed with his gifts from Hannah...so much so that he tackled her in gratitude...

Noah loved his new guys and dinosaurs from Gia.

Aiden wasn't quite sure what was going on but he liked his shape sorter!

Jake seemed to like the games and candy that Aiden got for him.

DJ was laughing when he realized that Jake actually had him. He is still savoring those Reese's Peanutbutter cups that he promptly stuck in the freezer.

Last but certainly not least, Coley was thrilled with her new nail polish and gum(which she locked in her lockbox) from DJ.

It's 'snow' fun to play outside!!!

2009-12-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

We finally had enough snow to make it worth while to drag out hats and mittens and snow pants and boots. I had managed to avoid the inevitable for a couple of days, but the natives were restless. I finally gave in and after a thorough search for all things snow gear and about 20 minutes of dressing and undressing and redressing Isaac, Hannah , Gianna and Noah were ready to head outside into the winter wonderland that was our front yard.

Once the kids were outside happily playing, I was running around the house getting dinner ready and picking up when I hear the kids screaming for me. I ran outside and this is what I saw...

Yep....a pony.

Welcome to Dayton Pennsylvania folks! Some people get their neighbors dogs in their yards, we get their horses and ponies. Too funny!

The girls were starting to make snow angels. Notice the pony in the background.

Gianna, my little snow bunny!

Hannah, the snow angel

Noah, our little devil, he was having some issues because someone threw a snowball at him.

Trying to catch some flakes

They were starting to get cold here, but still hanging on!

Noah was finally smiling!

Bubba was having a blast, although he wanted to go sledding. Too bad, no big kids = no sledding. Maybe next time.

Aiden was quite happy to stay snuggly and warm inside with Joey.

Fun was had by all, at least until mittens started falling off and hands started to freeze and noses started to run and all of that other fun stuff! They came in the house and got warm baths and put on snuggly jammies and we had a movie/dinner night in the living room.

I love winter!!!

Christmas with the Gagginis

2009-12-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday was Christmas round #1. We braved the snow and coldness and headed to Ponderosa Heights to share a wonderful dinner with my family at Mom and Dad's house. We (thankfully!) made it up the driveway and hauled all of our stuff into the house to be greeted with the wonderful smells of Christmas!!! ham, potatoes, roast beast...I mean roast beef!...lazy susan salad, fried green beans, cookies and fudge...It was so very, very, very good! I practically had to roll out to the van. After dinner we opened presents! The kids were DYING to get to the part of the day.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....A LOT of stockings!

Everyone was thrilled with their goodies. Mama and Pap-pap did it again!

What do you do with a scurvy pirate??? Arghh matey!

Isabella LOVED her makeup... maybe a little bit too much!

The boys trying out their new remote control cars.

Hannah and Gianna waiting patiently for the green light to unwrap!

Jake was focused on putting together his 3d dinosaur puzzle.

DJ was doodling on Gia's art desk.

Chris is more than meets the eye!!!! He was loving his new transformer jammies.

The best gift of all...the Steelers win!!! A true Christmas miracle!!

Jess and a wiggly Abby

Me and Mini-me

Pap-pap and his littlest granddaughter, Francesca

Daddy and Aiden

Our very own little Santa Baby

We had a lot of fun and good food, but most importantly precious time with our loved ones. All in all Christmas Round #1 was a huge success!

Sarcasm

2009-12-19T17:29:00.001-08:00

For those of you who know me, (and I am assuming that you all do or you wouldn't be reading this!!) you are aware that I can be a bit sarcastic... Ok, I can be a lot sarcastic. Just ask my kids! You know it's pretty bad when you say, "Good job guys!" and they look at you kind of confused and ask, "For real or are you being sarcastic?" Hey, I know that I'm not perfect. I'm working on it, but in the mean time, being the mother in a "mega-family" gives me plenty of opportunities to flex my mouth muscles. If you have more than 3 kids, you probably know where I'm going with this. You unload the smallest kids from the van directly into a grocery cart. Then you order those not small enough to actually fit in the cart to grab onto the side of the cart and hang on or they will get lost or a "yuck guy " will steal them and we will never see them again. ( Fear works wonders when you are significantly outnumbered!) You then grab another grocery cart for groceries and somehow, perhaps through the grace of God, manage to maneuver both carts and 5 little kids into the store. You might be wondering where the 3 older kids are at this point. Pick an activity, it could be basketball, youth group, at a friends house...whatever. The point is that they aren't with me so I have no help. I start filling up cart #2 with various household items as well as a little treat specifically purchased for bribery for good behavior! ( Bribery also works wonders when you are outnumbered!) The kids are being pretty good and then it happens. You notice the open mouth gawking or maybe the actual counting aloud..."One, two, three, four, FIVE kids!!!" I just smirk thinking "HA HA I have three more that aren't here right now! You think that five is a lot, how about EIGHT!!?"And then comes the inevitable question, "Umm, excuse me, but are they all yours?" Wellllll, duh! Like I would voluntarily take five kids that belong to someone else to the grocery store?! Usually I just smile and nod and we continue on our way, but sometimes we are pursued. "Do they all have the same dad?" or "Don't you have cable?" or there is always my favorite, "Are you CRAZY!?" Seriously?! " Yes." This is usually said through gritted teeth. "Wow! That's a lot of kids! Better you than me!" This is when I get to be a little bit of a smarty-pants. " Yes! You are right, better me than you!" We have also been asked if we knew what caused "it." By "it" I assume that they mean more kids. I have been known to wink and say , "Yes and obviously we are pretty good at it too! huh?!" One time I was at the hair salon. I was pregnant with Noah at the time. He is number 7. The stylist asked me if I was going to get fixed after I had him!!! I just looked at her and said, "I'm not a cat and I'm not broken. I have nothing that needs to be fixed. "

For some reason people feel the need to apologize for only having 1 or 2 kids. For the record, I firmly in my heart of hearts believe that God will give you the number of children that will bring you the closest to him. For some that is 1 child. For some 2 or 3 children. For some 8 or 10. And some people might not have any. I just know that for some reason Brian and I have been entrusted with the job of raising these 8 little souls to grow strong in their faith and love of God. This is the number that God has given us, at least for now. We are definitely drawn closer to God daily. We are always praying and talking to God. It could be something as profound as "Please God help my children to know what vocation you are calling them to when they grow up. " or something as simple as "Please God help me to not kill Noah because he has ripped the wallpaper off of the wall in the hallway for the 7th time this week." It could even just be "Help Me GOD!" All that I know is that if having the gift of each one of my little blessings means that people will make their snotty little comments at us or just stare in awe at the shear size of our family, I will happily deal with it. My response when someone says, "WOW! You sure have your hands full!" I just smile and say, "Rather full than empty!"

My 8 little blessings

2009-12-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

It was all around us. It was affecting everyone around us, but we managed to remain unscathed...that is until two weeks ago. It started with a sniffle here, a cough there and then the fevers set in. From Hannah on down, none of the little ones were spared. Gianna was the first to go down. She was in denial. Her little eyes were all red and watery, sick eyes, we call them. She ran a fever off and on for about 4 four days. She was miserable, but wouldn't talk about it. If I would ask her how she was feeling, she would say, "I'm fine Mom!!!" and glare at me. Then Hannah started last Thursday with a fever and a cough. She couldn't shake that fever. It was up to almost 105 at one point. I woke Brian up because Aiden was really fussy too. I told him that I needed him to sit with Hannah in the bathroom while she soaked in the tub to try to bring it down, or nurse the baby. Obviously he needed to sit in the bathroom with Han. I got the baby calmed down and I put him in his crib and went into the bathroom and Brian is sitting there with his shirt up over his face. I started to laugh at him. As if that was going to keep him from getting sick. I have been spit on, slobbered on, coughed on, sneezed on and thrown up on. Thankfully I am still healthy. God seems to have a certain blessing of mercy that he gives to mothers of sick ones.. I have my fingers crossed and hands folded that I stay healthy at least through Christmas. (Please God!) All of a sudden we hear a noise in Noah and Aiden's room. I ran in and sure enough, Noah had thrown up all over his bed. Another one bites the dust. He was pretty miserable for a few days, but my Tuesday he and Gia were much better. Hannah on the other hand was still fighting a fever of over 103. She was so pale that even her freckles looked pasty. I was also still concerned about Aiden. He was still running a fever and his nose was like a fountain! He was so sick that he wouldn't smile. You might be thinking, "Duh! If he was sick he wouldn't feel like smiling. " Well, this baby ALWAYS smiles. All that you have to do is look at him and he grins. He is pure joy in a chubby little body. At least he was until he got sick. He wouldn't even jump in his jumperoo. I called the doctors office on Wednesday and took them both in. Sure enough bronchitis for Hannah as well as a sinus infection for both of them. After 2 days worth of antibiotics the smiles and giggles are back. Hannah finally has some color and is eating again! Aiden is a smiley happy boy again with one more tooth! On top of feeling like crap he was teething too! No wonder he was miserable!

Catching up Take Three: A Christmas Tree, Santa and Three More Birthdays

2009-12-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

Now don't pass out! I know you are thinking THREE posts in one day!!! Is she crazy!? Well, yes, yes I am. Actually, I was just lucky enough to finally have some spare time. Ok, let's get busy. We always get our Christmas tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so that we have it up for the December kids' birthdays. DJ, Coley and Noah all have birthdays in December, so we consolidate them into one party. We always have it at the beginning of the month because the Rose grandparents always come in then. It works out well and it forces me not to procrastinate and get the decorations out early. Although, I must admit, Christmas is one thing that I DON"T put off. I love Christmas! Everything about Christmas, from the decorating, tothe cookies, to the music, to the beautiful Mass. So anyway, Brian and DJ, Jake and Bubba headed to the Christmas tree farm with the mission to return home with a tall, but thin beautiful Frasier Fir. A few hours later the men returned home victorious! The general rule of thumb is that if the tree fits in our giant 12 passenger van, it will fit in the designated spot in the living room. Sure enough that bad boy was wrapped and packed in the van. They leaned it up against the house until we were ready to bring it in.

You might be wondering, "How tall is that beast tree?"

Why, it's four Houghs tall, of course!

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,

How lovely are you branches!

Mission accomplished men! Great Job!!

We took the youngest five of our crew and went to have breakfast with Santa. My brother brought his little boy, Dylan and my sister came with her three girls. We got there and the kids ate their breakfast. They had some coloring sheets for the kids to color while we were waiting. Good move on their part!

Noah is intensely coloring. He was sitting still...a minor Christmas miracle? I'm just throwing it out there!

They also had some face painting. That had mixed reviews from our crowd. None of them were super thrilled about someone that they didn't know touching them.

The girls opted for festive poinsettias.

Dylan chose a star(?).

Bubba went the sports route. Go Pitt!

Abby won the door prize, a big Santa doll. This was highly entertaining because the doll was almost as big as she was! So funny!

It was finally our turn for our picture with Santa. We tried to get one picture with all of the kids. Yeah...ummm not so successful. Abby was doing a strip tease. Noah was there under duress. Aiden kept trying to unbeard the big guy. It was a comedy of errors! As my husband so eloquently put it, "It is what it is."

I didn't manage to get a shot of my kids alone with Santa, because I was trying to keep them all on the stage, but I did manage to get a couple of Dylan and the girls.

Little Francesca slept through the entire thing. Gotta love a sling!

AD-Joe in his Santa baby shirt!

Santa was a success and I think that the kids enjoyed it. Next time I'm going to prep them a little bit more so that the pictures turn out better.

The final subject of this particular post is the December birthday party. My twins are now 14...that is really old. Not only are the getting to be so old, but they are now as tall as I am. What the heck?!? No major feat as I am only 5'4'', but still... I am truly blessed that they are healthy, kind funny kids with alot of smarts! (they were both on distinguished honor roll!! Oh yeah, my kids are smart!!!) Noah was kind of confused. He didn't get it that it was his party too since his birthday isn't until the 27th. Although it didn't take too long for him to get used to the idea when everyone was throwing presents at him! Coley decided that she did not want a cake. She is a rebel, my little red head is! She wanted blueberry glazed doughnuts instead. Good old Dimaio's came through with totally yummy glazed blueberry doughnuts. She was thrilled!!!

Coley and her "cake"

DJ wanted a West Shamokin basketball cake. Joan's cake lady, Judy came through in her usual beautiful- cake way.

Noah was not thrilled about all of the attention, but he loved his Spiderman cake.

Make a wish and blow out the candles!

Miss Abby chomping on an apple.

Aiden and Isabella, hanging out.

All in all, a very successful party!

Happy Birthday my beautiful kids!