Afternoons at the Borowiak-Miller household aren’t out of the ordinary. The boys gather around the television in the living room to play on the Wii. The girls lounge around the kitchen and make Play-Doh sculptures on the kitchen table with the younger ones. Others relax in the office by the kitchen, playing on the computer or spending time with mother Bridget Miller as she rocks the newborn baby. As dinner time rolls around, Bridget prepares a meal in the kitchen, making sure to cook enough to feed the 12 children in her family.

Sophomore Izabella Borowiak-Miller is the oldest of seven brothers and four sisters, all of whom are biological and none of whom are sets.

“[Having 11 siblings] is really fun and entertaining,” Izabella said. “There’s never a dull moment.”

Bridget met her husband and the father of all her children Brad Miller in high school, and started dating in their early twenties. They married in 1996, and one year later Izabella was born. Bridget and Brad are now the parents of 11 other young children: freshman Xavier, 14 years old; Brannoc, 13 years old; Frankie, 12 years old; Killian, 11 years old; Gavin, ten years old; Henry, nine years old; Octavia, seven years old; Roque, five years old; Dahlia, four years old; Lucy, three years old; and Violet, 15 months. Bridget is currently expecting her 13th child, a girl, due on Dec. 4, 2013.

“I always wanted a large family, but I didn’t plan [for 12 kids],” Bridget said. “I just left it up to God. I knew that I would accept His will, and it’s exciting for me [having 12 kids].”

As a family, the Borowiak-Millers enjoy playing card games, watching movies or playing outdoor activities such as kickball, baseball and basketball. Every night at 8 p.m., the Catholic family says the rosary, and each member shares with the family what happened in his or her day.

While spending an adequate amount of time with each of the 12 children may seem like a daunting task to some parents, it’s one that Brad doesn’t find a challenge.

“I don’t look at it as what time I spend with [the kids],” Brad said. “I don’t try to have a scheduled time with each child.”

To keep the kids in order, Bridget uses disciplines her children in creative ways. When one of the kids isn’t behaving, he or she has to draw a piece of paper from the Penalty Box, a black box that contains folded pieces of paper with odd chores or tasks that no child wants to do written on them, such as rubbing someone’s feet or saying three prayers for the person on the other end of the fight. However, extreme forms of discipline aren’t needed, because the kids are generally not too difficult to handle.

“I have always [raised the kids] by myself,” Bridget said. “I’ve never had any cleaning people, and I’ve maybe had two or three babysitters.”

One of the positives to having 12 children: the family, which is well-known around the community for its size, receives free clothes, food, toys and more from businesses, friends and neighbors.

“A lot of people around here are really generous,” Bridget said. “I don’t ever turn away anybody’s charity because I was raised that if you turn down someone who’s trying to be charitable, you might be responsible for them losing their charity, so if somebody comes up to me and is trying to give me something nice, even if I don’t want it, I will always be like, ‘That’s so nice.’”

While Bridget and Brad wouldn’t have their family in any other way, they are often met with criticism and are scrutinized by both strangers and others in the community for having 12 children.

“A lot of people say mean comments,” Izabella said. “We get a lot of judgement. I think that by looking at all of us, people are trying to absorb it because you don’t see a big family like ours nowadays.”

While negative comments and stares from strangers used to bother the family, they are now something that the kids and parents have learned to handle.They don’t let get in their heads.

“I used to get mad when [people would] count and point and say stuff, but I think it’s like if you were extremely tall,” Bridget said. “You go out in public, and people are like, ‘Look at the tall guy,’ or, ‘Look at the lady with all the kids.’ I don’t think people really mean to be mean, expect the few that actually go out of their way to be mean.”

The new baby’s arrival coming up in the next few months has brought excitement to the family for both the kids and parents.

“I was very surprised,” Frankie Borowiak-Miller said. “I was like, ‘Now we’re going to need a bigger van because now all the seats are going to be taken.’”

While Bridget doesn’t think she’ll have any more children after her current pregnancy, it’s something that she and the kids are both open to.

“We’re all really excited because now [the new baby] makes a baker’s dozen,” Izabella said. “We’re always excited for when we get a new kid.”