“May you live in interesting times.” It’s said to be an old Chinese curse, and the phrase certainly seems to be appropriate as we look at back at the year that was for Jon and Kate Gosselin and their eight kids.

JANUARY 2009

New Year, New Home
In late January, we got a peek at the Gosselins’ new home. Jon & Kate Plus 8 cameras followed the family to check out their massive new $1.3 million home in Pennsylvania. With five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms and a whopping 24 acres of land, there was plenty of room for the Gosselins (big and small) to get into trouble.

Read Jon Gosselin: Secrets and Lies 

FEBRUARY 2009

Jon & Kate Plus 10?
As if eight children weren’t enough, Jon decided to add two furry German Shepherd puppies, Shoka and Nala, to the mix! The kids were overjoyed, but Kate had some reservations about the new additions: “We were more scared to get dogs than we were to have kids,” she said during the episode. By September, Jon was making plans to return the pups to the breeder because he claimed that Kate was refusing to care for them. "It's not fair to the dogs to not be wanted in their own home," Jon said. Guess taking them with him wasn’t an option.
Playtime for Jon
While Kate and the kids were frolicking with their new puppies, Jon was spending some quality time with his mama – and a few Juniata College students. Jon braved the cold to get his drink on with the ladies, but he must have been home by curfew, since the story was pretty much kept under wraps until…

MARCH 2009



March Madness
Uh-oh! Star magazine found a witness who claimed Jon was getting very cozy with a Juniata College volleyball player at a local bar, after spending the previous night playing beer pong with students.

Jon and Kate were forced to finally respond to these allegations, and while Jon said he did not cheat on Kate, he admitted that he went a little crazy while he was staying with his mom. "While I was there, I went out and had some drinks to blow off steam," Jon told People magazine. "Did I do something stupid? Sure.’" Jon and Kate brushed off the incidents and vowed to remain true to their marriage. "Our strength comes from the knowledge that we have survived a lot of valleys," Kate told the magazine.

And with that, March went out like a lamb.

APRIL 2009

Another Month, Another Club,
Another Woman
There wasn’t much Gosselin news to report in early April – the show had a brief hiatus, and though the rumors about Jon’s infidelity kept bubbling up, the family enjoyed a bit of breathing space. That is, until April 18, when Jon was spotted stumbling out of a club near his Pennsylvania home with an unidentified woman.

"I went to Legends to speak to the owner. A friend of mine wanted to check out my car, so I let her drive it to her car," he told Us Weekly. "Yes, I have female friends — but that is all she is. I'm not going to end my friendships just because I'm on TV."

How silly of us — there’s no reason to get all worked up about married Jon going clubbing (sans wedding band) while his wife is out of town! He had to find someone to hang out with — heaven forbid the father-of-eight would stay home on a Saturday night.