Where has the time gone?!

I have come to the realization that I am a HUGE slacker when it comes to updating our blog. Things tend to get a little crazy in our lives and I find myself with too much to do and not enough time to do it in!

Let's see... I am working part-time in the evenings at Altoona Family Chiropractic (again) to help get their accounts up-to-date and assist with billing/insurance issues. Kevin had surgery on his right elbow to repair a damaged tendon and is still healing (and will be for awhile). The kids are doing well ~ Kaye is looking forward to summer, Sam doesn't want school to be over and Alex... well, Alex is Alex and just marches to the beat of his own drum.

We do have a new addition to our family... kitty Sox joined our family at the end of March and her and kitty Bob are FINALLY getting adjusted to each other.

Many Blessings... The Altoona Hough's

Happy 2009!

Wow. The new year has begun. We are most definitely looking forward to an awesome 2009 (as compared to the latter-half of 2008). In our annual tradition, Kevin and I took a picture to bring in 2009 at midnight on New Year's Eve. Since Kaye was at a friends' house and Alex was in bed, Sam was the only child to join us...

To kick off 2009, we took Alex to get his first "real" haircut (his bangs had been trimmed once). Enjoy the great before and after pictures!

"Before"

"After"

May your 2009 be blessed!

Holy Buckets, Batman!!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is next week. Where has the time gone? The really sad part is that I have barely begun our Christmas shopping yet and have no idea when I'll be able to do it! UGH!!

Samuel is doing really well with his finger. He has finally agreed to take of the bandage and is getting used to it being "short" as well as his friends are getting used to it as well. It is beginning to heal very nicely, of course, on Sunday we did notice a couple of "pus pockets" so Samuel and I ended up going to hand therapy Monday where they soaked his hand, put some ointment on it and put a bandaid on it. Thankfully the infection completely cleared up by Wednesday. Here are a couple of pictures of his "new" left hand...

Have a very blessed Christmas season!!

Wow...

Time certainly does "fly by" when you're busy with three kids. So much has happened since my last post, I almost don't even know where to begin. Let's see...

on October 30th, the boys and I were in the van and on our way to school when we were rear-ended by a school bus. Unfortunately, it totaled my van, so we were "in limbo" for a couple of weeks until we found a replacement. But I finally got a new (well, new to us) minivan and it's actually an upgrade from what we had before. Here is a picture of the back of the van after we got hit by the bus...

On Halloween, Kevin, Alex and I headed to Iowa City to the Center for Disease and Disabilities for some additional testing for Alex. After spending all day there, Alex was diagnosed with: genetic syndrome, mild mental retardation, lack of coordination, hyper-sensitivity disorder, mixed receptive-expressive language disorder and developmental delay. OY! So hopefully now that we have an actual "diagnosis" we will be able to get Alex some state assistance.

Two weeks later, I received a call from the school asking me to please come to the school because there had been an "incident". Of course, since Samuel has been having some behavior issues, I figured that he had been naughty again and was getting angrier and angrier on my way to school. As I parked the car, I notice a police officer pull up at the same time. My immediate thought was that he had done something really bad and they called the cops on him! As soon as I got closer to the doors, however, the looks on the secretary's face as she held the door open for me made me question what I was really doing there. Turns out, Samuel was starting to feel anxious during recess and he asked his teacher for a "break" so they were heading inside when another child came out the door and Samuel grabbed the door to keep it from shutting and a gust of wind forced it shut, severing his left pinky finger. Samuel was quite brave at the hospital ~ I am so proud of him! After speaking to the orthopaedic surgeon, we decided that it would be best to have most of his left pinky finger amputated so that he would be able to have pretty good use of his left hand. Here's a picture of Samuel with the huge bandage on his hand...

In the couple of weeks since "the finger incident" we've been constantly on the go... Thanksgiving with Kevin's family, activities at church, therapy sessions for Samuel. His therapist did give us a "diagnosis" for Samuel's behavior issues as well. He has anxiety disorder, ADHD and ODD. He's started on meds, so hopefully we will see some improvement soon!

Hopefully everyone was able to count their blessings during the Thanksgiving holiday - I know that we have found many things in our lives to be thankful for!

A little slow...

So, it has been a couple of weeks since we went down to Clarinda and Maryville to visit Kevin's family and then to meet up with our friends, Chris & Amy. I can't believe that I haven't updated our blog about our visit! Sheesh!

Since Kaye and Sam didn't have school on the 3rd, Kevin took the day off of work and we headed down to Clarinda in the morning to arrive in time for lunch with Nana, Papa and Andrea. The afternoon was fairly calm ~ we checked into our hotel, tried to make Alex take a nap and let the older two swim in the pool while we adults sat on the edge of the pool and had a nice visit. We headed to Shenandoah to watch Tyler play in the "Page County Superbowl" (game between Clarinda and Shenandoah) and watched Clarinda just cream them (I think the final score was something like 61 - 7).

Saturday morning was the annual "Band Days" parade which was quite chilly, but Sam and Kaye really enjoyed watching all of the bands. Alex got bored, so him and I ended up heading to the van where Alex completely sacked out for a much needed nap! After the parade finally ended, it was back to Nana & Papa's to hang out as a family, visit and eat lunch. Here are just a few of the "highlights" of Saturday at Nana & Papa's...

Philip walking on his hands Evan trying out the ripstick!

The Hough grandkids At one point, Alex was suddenly missing. This is where we found him ~ in the wheel well of the neighbor's truck. He was quite proud of himself for getting under there and being able to stand fully upright as well. Needless to say, by the time Kevin was able to get him out from under there, Alex looked like he had been playing in a huge pile of dirt. He was FILTHY!!

Unfortunately, Amy wasn't feeling well, so our visit with Chris and Amy in Maryville was short and not many pictures were taken. We're hoping to get together with them again soon though!

Tis' the Season...

We are in the midst of the "birthday season" in the Hough household! Kevin's was on September 7th; Samuel's was October 1st; Kaye's is October 20th and Alex's is November 13th. Whew!

Here are a few pics of the celebrations that we have had so far. It's hard to believe that Sam is now 6 yrs old; Kaye is going to be 11 and Alex is almost 2!


Kaye's new Ripstick! Samuel blowing out the candles!


This weekend, we are heading to Clarinda to celebrate with Nana & Papa and then off to Maryville, Missouri to spend time with friends Chris & Amy! YEA!!

In The Swing of Things...

Well, both Kaye and Sam made it through their first week of school. Sam is doing fairly well adjusting to Kindergarten. He is really thriving off of having a set schedule once again! He did have a minor scuffle with another little boy on Monday, but according to his teacher, it is pretty typical ~ among both the boys and the girls.

Kaye has had her first clarinet lesson and is actually doing pretty good. She has band on Tuesdays (and maybe Wednesdays), so she came home and practiced for us. I was impressed with how well she's doing after only one lesson! She's really enjoying it (so far) and said that she wants to continue band and playing the clarinet through high school. Kevin and I are okay with that!

I have to admit that I have gotten more done now that Kaye and Sam are back in school than I did all of summer with them home! I've been going through closets, cleaning out the basement, going through toys, etc.