The Muench Bunch

Jake sure loves to play in the snow. He had his snow plow out clearing his road. Boys in the snow, he never gets too cold to go inside.

Jayden the big sister. Jayden will always be known as “Sissy” to her brothers. She has been such a wonderful sister to both the boys. She is always playing with them and helps them when I need her to. She tolerates a lot from them. They are pretty lucky to have such a nice sister.

I went to get Jake up as I do each morning and he is always sluggish. This morning I let him sleep in and I kept going in to wake him. He told me he just wanted to lie in bed all day. He came out and sat on the chair not wanting to eat. This was very unlike him as he always goes straight to the table to eat. It didn’t dawn on me for awhile when finally I felt him and he was hot, temp of 102. He said his throat was sore and that was all. I felt he needed to be seen. I made the appointment, took the other two to Karen’s and headed to Ames. On the way Jake threw up. In his 5 years this was the first. He never cried or complained, I could just tell he was miserable. This was our first time with new Dr. Halbur. She checked him for strep throat and that is what he had. We got him on some antibiotics right away. Back home he laid around and got sick once more before it was over. 24 hours later, Jake was 100% feeling better.

Mark mentioned several times during harvest that he wanted to take a weekend and just get away when they were done in the field. Harvest was long and late this year. We tried planning a weekend earlier in the month, but there were Christmas parties and programs. We finally decided to take off for Des Moines right after Christmas. We stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Jordan Creek mall. It was a very cold weekend, we swam in the indoor pool, went to the mall shopping, and went to the movies. We decided one night I would take Jayden and Jake to a kid movie and one night Mark would go to see his war movie. I decided long ago after numerous war movies, that I would rather not see any more. When I took the kids, we went to see “Marley and Me”. Nobody told me how this movie ended. I assumed it had a happy ending, but no! The dog dies, there was no baby puppies, or the dog gets better ending, he just dies. I felt like a terrible mom taking my kids to such a sad show. I felt the worst for my

Took Luke to the doctor for his pink eye and I mentioned he has had a cough for about two weeks. Turns out the little guy has bronchitis too.

Later that same day, another Christmas party was held at Grandma and Grandpa Muench’s. The kids look forward to being with the cousins and opening gifts. I was so worried I would be staying home with Luke. It was voted that Luke come no matter what and we just keep him pretty confined. We had the play exersaucer for him to sit in so he wasn’t touching his eye and everything. It was so very hard as the girls just love to ooh and aah over Luke and hold him. He had to be isolated kind of like he was being quarantined from everyone. IN the past, the girls have always done a skit or a play. Jayden looks so forward to is and starts planning days before. This year the big girls decided they were to old to do it and the little girls weren;t going to if the big girls didn’t. Jayden was heartbroken. Her biggest pet peeve is when all the cousins get together and watch movies. Sure enough that’s what happened. Jake and Rylie are pretty good together, the two of them can keep busy and play well tog

The kids were up at 7. I require them to see daylight outside the window before they can get us up. We woke Luke to see his puffy swollen pink eyes, both of them, no doubt it was pinkeye. He was in pretty good spirits all in all. We set him on his John Deere sit and scoot tractor Santa left under the tree. He wasn’t sure what to think of all the presents and wrapping paper. He was happiest on Daddy’s lap with a cracker to snack on... Jake was surprised by his John Deere windrower sitting under the Christmas tree from Santa. This is something he has been talking non stop about since summer. He was pretty giddy. Jayden was surprised by an American Girl table and chair set from Santa. The kids had heaps of gifts and stocking stuffers. Too many as usual. At the end we open a gift that contains a small statue of Jesus from my nativity. I want the kids to know that it is the most important gift of all and that is why we celebrate Christmas. We are celebrating the birthday of Jesus.Then we pu

We start our Christmas each year with a Christmas Eve candlelight service in Williams at Grandma and Grandpa Wahlert’s church along with Wade & Carina and Aunt Alice. Jake and Luke wore matching plaid shirts under red vests, and looked so cute. The red vest Luke wore had a teddy bear on it and Jake wore it when he was 1. Jayden had on a darling little silver sweater top and silver skirt. It is nice to dress up for the service. I noticed Luke’s eye was reddening during the service and gooping. I knew right away it was pink eye. Everyone had to keep their distance and I was so worried about spreading it. We had a nice Christams Dinner back at my parents. Mom had the table so pretty and all decorative. Later we opened gifts and the kids got plenty of goodies. As the night went on, Luke's eye looked redder and swollen. He was very good considering how uncomfortable they must have been. Jake was excited and anxious for gifts. He got a wowee alive tiger. This is something he saw on

I want to instill in the kids it is better to give than to receive. We made some goodies candies and cookies and bread. We made up a plate and took it to some of the neighbors, Teresa who had been the kids van driver in the past, Bob and Artis, an elderly couple who we have grown fond of one another, Bakley, Mercedes who lives alone, and Lindie & Julie who live in our old house and own the café. I think the kids enjoyed it as much as those who received.

The Spillman family invited us to their Christmas party. They invited several families, most of which we knew and several had kids in Jayden’s class. The Snyder’s, Gibbon’s, Gustafson’s, and Zeeka’s. The party was in the evening and Michelle ordered 18 pizzas (We only ate 5). The kids had a blast running all over and playing. Kind of reminded me of when we were kids every year on Christmas Eve we would go to the Elm’s home. All the kids ran around playing and having so much fun. There was tons of cake, cookies, candies, and soup supper. We did that for years and years. Later during the party Michelle had all the kids decorate cookies for Santa. She had Luarita’s special mouth watering good frosting. This was such a neat idea and the kids enjoyed it. I am glad to have the Spillman’s as friends. These kinds of get togethers are what I have longed for with our family as the kids grow up. I have so many good childhood memories with family friends, I hope our kids will too.

The weather was bad when we left home and was expected to only get worse. We headed to the Laugerman Christmas. We had our family gathering at David and Marcia’s home. There were so few there it didn’t seem the same as in the past. Part of Duane’s family was there and my parents. We had a variety of potluck type dishes and had a silent auction of baked goodies. The day was short so we could all head home before we got stranded. The weather was pretty bad on the ride home.

Jake seems to be a worrier. During the day if we happen to talk about snakes or tornadoes, at bedtime Jake has a ton of questions of what if’s and has a hard time going to sleep. He also worries a lot about getting hurt. He says he will never play football as he might get hurt. He said he doesn’t want to go to Hawaii with us because there are crabs and he could get pinched by them.

I must say, I am worried about Luke’s temperament, he is only 10 months old and he shows more anger and seems more wild than Jake was at this age. I think we are really going to have our hands full. The house has toys in every corner, baby toys, Jake’s toys, lots of safe things Luke can play with. However, let the little guy loose, and it never fails he goes for anything and everything he shouldn't. He loves outlets and cords that are plugged in to the wall. Some days are better than others, but a large part of the day, Luke follows me like a sad whining puppy following me around, then crawls up my leg to stand where he whimpers and whines. I thought he would outgrow that when he became mobile. He has been the most dependent of my children. Luke started holding his hand up in a fist and wiggles it. That happens to be the sign language for “yes”, so we are trying to teach him that. It’s very funny and he does it a lot.

Jayden is such a bright and mature little girl. She is always amazing us. During bedtime prayers, Jayden said” Help us not to get carried away this Christmas with presents and other things, help us to remember what Christmas is about and to remember Jesus’ birthday. “ Wow I thought that was awesome!

Jacob asked me if he has Jesus in his heart. I explained to him again how he is not a little man crawling around inside his heart and that you have to believe in Jesus, that he died on the cross for our sins, that we are all sinners and that we should live our life the way God wants us to. A lot for a little kid, but he said to me, “Let’s do it again.” So he came over to me and we held hands and prayed together. He then looked at me and asked,” Is Jesus in my heart now?” Priceless!

Allie usually comes out prior to Christmas for her own celebration and gift exchange. She is very thoughtful and picks out and buys things for each person in our family. She also gets flooded with gifts from our families.

The other day Jayden came home from school and told me this story. She said there was a little pre-school girl in the bathroom that looked at Jayden and said your Hannah Montana (AKA Miley Cyrus, She is a big time teen idol singer and actress that has her own tv show, line of clothes, and all little girls from age 4 and up are in love with.). The little girl then when running through the halls telling everyone, “ I saw Hannah Montana.” Over and over with excitement. I thought that was so cute and Jayden found it pretty neat too. She has the long hair like Hannah Montana, however she is not as tall as a 16 year old.

One night Jake was begging Mark to sleep with him and Mark said he would. They both crawled up into the top bunk. Jake was full of questions. For an hour and half, Jake asked question after question about every off the wall thing that came into his head. Mark kept saying if you don’t stop asking questions, Daddy won’t be able to sleep in here. Finally Jake told Daddy to get out of his bed, because he(Jake) couldn’t stop asking questions.

I got a book for Jayden’s birthday called “Secret Keeper Girl” and it is dates with your daughter. Each date has a devotion and a lesson in it. Jayden was sooo excited about going on these dates just mom and her. She couldn’t wait for our first date to have tea. I planned it out to go to Ames to the tea room. Things were a little more rushed than I had hoped, but it was still very special. We had hot cocoa instead of tea and peppermint and sugar cookies. The lesson compared the fine china tea cups with a throw away styrofaom cup and comparing beauty. How we ourselves should be like that of fine china and not a throw away cup in how we dress, act, and our appearance. After our tea party, I called home to see how daddy was getting along with the boys and how he felt about watching them late so Jayden and I could go see the Nutcracker. We got last minute tickets and sat in the balcony side seats. It was a very special night just Mommy and Jayden.We both enjoyed it.

I must say, I am worried about Luke’s temperament, he is only 10 months old and he shows more anger and seems wilder than Jake was at this age. I think we are really going to have our hands full. The house has toys in every corner, baby toys, Jake’s toys, lots of safe things Luke can play with. However, let the little guy loose and it never fails he goes for anything and everything he shouldn't. He loves outlets and cords that are plugged in to the wall. Some days are better than others, but a large part of the day, Luke follows me like a sad whining puppy following me around, and then crawls up my leg to stand where he whimpers and whines. I thought he would outgrow that when he became mobile. He has been the most dependent of my children. Luke started holding his hand up in a fist and wiggles it. That happens to be the sign language for “yes”, so we are trying to teach him that. It’s very funny and he does it a lot.

The day after my vein procedure, I was to attend the kids school Christmas program. The kids were adorable, Jacob had angel wings and sang some cute little pre-school songs. Jayden’s class did a big drawn out play type of program. It was really cute and all the elementary kids participated. It was nice, but way too long. Afterwards, Santa was there to see the kids. Jacob was so amazed that Santa knew his name right when he sat on his lap. I think Santa knew Jacob’s bus driver Chip