Double OUCH!

Right after church is complete chaos. We have to go around the entire building rounding up all the kids, and then Dennis is off to a meeting, and I usually head home with the crew.

Dennis had just say his good-bye and I was about to set Jared in his car seat, when I saw Emma trip a little and crash into the leg of the table in the foyer. The legs have sharp edges, so I knew instantly it would be bad. I didn't even pause to be gentle for Jared... I kind of dropped him, and I heard someone yell, "I've got the baby." Then, a friend of mine and I rolled Emma (who was face down) over... yep, it was bad. I started yelling for help and for someone to get Dennis. Immediately, I had people helping in every way. My friend reminded me to apply pressure to the wound, people were finding spare burp cloths and bibs to absorb the blood, some young men retrieved paper towels, and then Dennis found us and scooped up Emma. Another friend told me she would take my kids, and we were off. I didn't even stop to think if Jared needed to be fed or anything. We literally had dozens of angels around us doing everything for us.

We tried to go to a clinic, but they said we needed the ER, so on we went. Emma had already stopped crying before we got to the clinic and didn't cry a tear after that. The lady admitting us to the ER thought Emma had been attacked by a dog! Emma had a two-hour ER visit... watching TV, singing songs, laughing at her own little jokes, and eating chocolate and tic-tacs that Dennis was able to scrounge up with his special knowledge of the hospital.

The end result? Eight stitches and a brand new girl!


That is an ouch, but what about the double ouch? The very next day, Emma climbed up on a chair to get some crayons out of the cabinet. She had been begging me to color, but we were headed out to a friend's house. On her way down, she fell and hit her chin. Once again, I took a look at it and knew she needed more help.

On to the hospital again! Luckily, we didn't need the ER this time. One of the doctors was able to glue the wound shut with some Dermabond, or else she would have had an additional 2-3 stitches in her cute little chin.

Let's hope all of Emma's bad luck has run out and we'll be good from here on out!

Blessing our Baby

Our baby, Jared Lee Hunger, was given a name and a blessing by Dennis on December 5th.


Each of Dennis and my parents came, 2 of Dennis's brothers and 1 sister, and 1 of my brothers and my sister came.

We had 9 extra people staying at our house.

That's a total of 7 kids ages 5 and under in our home.

We also had 11 more people staying in a hotel nearby.

That brought 5 more kids into the mix.


Jared relished the attention, and took advantage of anyone willing to cuddle. Here he is with Dennis's mom.


Andrew was in heaven with so many playmates and both his grandma's!


My sister came to visit us for the first time in Oklahoma, and even got to stay for an extra day after everyone else went home. So fun!


I really, really wanted a sweet little family picture on the blessing day. Is that too much to ask? Emma got upset about something right before we took the shot. She was trying SO HARD not to cry. It makes me laugh.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving this year...

involved a night time drive up to Iowa


was filled with lots of family


was Jared's debut to the big Hunger clan


consisted of about 8 pies


tasted scrumptious (even though I was going dairy-free for Jared's benefit)


was simply beautiful

Give Me S'more

S'more fires in our fireplace this fall

S'more melted chocolate and roasted marshmallows sandwiched between two grahams

S'more smiles on my children's faces

S'more love in our home

S'more memories to hold on to...

Asleep on the job

This is what happens when Andrew wakes up at 6:00 am all week due to the time change!

This smile brought to you by...

my cute baby boy

The dangers of Halloween candy

As I was preparing dinner Monday night, Jared started crying. I went to go check on him quickly, when I noticed Andrew went into our pantry and locked himself in. (Yes, we have a lock on our pantry door - if you have met Andrew you would know why. I've had boxes of cereal, packets of hot chocolate, and many other things distributed all over my house when the pantry ISN'T secure against that little guy.

Okay, back to the story: While checking on Jared, Andrew started crying... and wonderful mother that I am, I got mad and started thinking, "Why the heck did you lock yourself in the pantry little boy? Of course you're going to get hurt!" Then I unlocked the door and saw the blood. I felt sorry then! Andrew kept saying, "I climb - get treat mommy!" His lip was bleeding pretty bad, and Dennis was on his way home from work luckily. We sent the girl's to the neighbors' house and headed off to the after-hours clinic.

I'm so glad it was dinner time, so that Dennis could help out! He and Andrew loved on "Green" while waiting for the doctor.

Andrew was a champ through it all, a little sweetie. Two stitches on the inside, and one on the outside. I was thinking at the time that I thought it would have taken more stitches, though. We had to pick up an antibiotic prescription on the way home, and while we were waiting for it to be filled Andrew managed to get one of the stitches out! When we took him back, the doctor took out the other outside stitch and replaced them with derma-bond (the glue stitches).