The Muench Bunch

I attended the Sandy Puc Tots to Teens seminar in Des Moines from 5:30 until 11:30. Last year I attended her bellies to babies seminar. Wow, she is so awesome and very inspiring. I enjoyed it and learned a lot. I am taking little steps with my photography, but I want to make sure I am confident and comfortable before photographing children other than family. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know and how far I have yet to go. I am becoming more and more picky of my work and expecting better things of myself. I need to purchase lighting equipment and I am not sure where to start.

Luke is built so much different than Jayden and Jake. He is my big baby and a little chunk. He really is heavy for me to carry too. My back takes a toll. I decked Luke out as a little cowboy and had to take some photos. I also caught an adorable “bed head” picture that just makes me laugh! Trying to get a picture of the 3 kids together, not too easy or fun. FOr some reason taking pictures of your own kids is always the hardest.

The kids enjoy riding in the tractor with Dad. Jake has been spending a lot of time in the tractor with Dad because he is only in school haf dasy. It works out pretty good, I pick up Jacob at 11:45 in Pilot Mound where the shuttle takes him after preschool. Then I take the lunch to the guys in the field and Jake has his little lunch pail and goes too. Luke got a few rides on mom’s lap too. Mark now has a 24 row planter. It seems so large. He also sits in the tractor with the auto steer on. There is so much technology to farming anymore.

Luke loves to check out the inside of the refrigerator. It is a daily activity that he looks forward to. I usually let him look around a few minutes and I always keep the eggs hidden. Today, he got into the eggs. I wasn’t paying attention and was in the living room and he managed to bring me an egg, cracked and dripping down the front of his pajamas. Luke was so proud. He discovered a big difference between these eggs and Easter eggs. Other crazy things he has done recently, he got a thumb tac off Jake’s bulletin board. He managed to pull on a poster and the thumb tac came out and Luke was walking around with it in his mouth. Another day, we were at my parents house and he was messing with the door stoppers that look like a spring. At the ends, there are these little rubber tips and Luke had both of them in his mouth. He typically will walk up to us with a guilty face, drooling and look right at you to see if your notice, then he spits it out in your hand. Oh, this boy is going to give

We were invited to a mother daughter movie night with friends Michelle and Makenna Spillman, Amber and Emma Graves, and Natalie and Kaleigh Winkler. We went to see the new Hannah Montana movie. I was very impressed with the movie. I have seen the Hannah Montanna tv shows and I think they are too dramatic and annoying. That is one of the few shows Jayden likes to watch. The movie was very good and I enjoyed it, especially the cute cowboy. I wanted to say that to Jayden, but luckily she is not at that age yet to check out the boys.

The kids had their AWANA awards night at church. The program was very organized and structured. There was a sideshow with the pictures I had taken, the kids sang AWANA songs, and the awards were handed out. Jacob completed his last year as a Cubbie. I think he has enjoyed it. Jayden completed her first TNT book. She worked very hard memorizing lots of hard verses. Not very many of the kids finish their book by the end of the year. She got a nice big ribbon as her award. The girls pictured with Jayden are her school classmates Makena, Hannah, and Patti.

Jacob has been taking preschool swimming lessons on Tuesday mornings. It has been kind of fun, I get in with him for 10 minutes before his class and work with him trying to get him to put his head under. He is so reluctant, usually I end up counting to 3 and dunk him. He doesn’t like it very well, but each time when he comes back up, he realizes it wasn’t so bad. During his half hour lesson, I make laps in the pool. I really enjoy swimming. I don’t swim fast and mostly front float and back float. It is relaxing and it is my kind of exercise.

We got a letter in the mail that Jayden was the winner of a dental poster. Through the school, Jayden entered a dental poster contest and was a winner in her school. The poster was sent on and she was a district winner. She gets a $100 savings bond. WOW, she is always amazing us!

For Luke’s birthday, the grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles all went together for a joined birthday present for Luke. We got him a playhouse to set on our deck. One weekend, several of the cousins were over and they got all the pieces and put it all together. They had so much fun building it. I think Luke will have fun with it as he gets a little older. It is nice as the older kids can enjoy it now too.

Mommy got a bad cold and fever and was sick. During the day I felt tired and weak. While the big kids were at school. Luke sat on my lap in the chair the entire day. That just goes to show me that he is a very needy boy that wants nothing more than to be held. He was like a little lap teddy bear and I could tell he loved every minute of it. Maybe he knew I didn't feel well too. Most days I sit down with him for milk time and once in awhile to read a story, but I very rarely sit down too long. He is such a cuddler.

IN the wee hours of Easter morning Missy D had 2 baby kittens, one gray and one tiger stripe with white feet. The kids were so excited. Missy D was a very protective mama, she didn’t want anyone messing with her babies. Luckily she had them in the box we prepared for her, or I know she would hide them. One week to the day, little Lovergirl gave birth to not4, not 5, but 6 babies. I was in disbelief. I could not believe that little cat could have all those babies in her belly. She was in a box in the garage. The kids were with grandparents so missed it. Each time I checked on her there was another kitten. Lovergirl was pretty laid back about her babies. Since she had so many, I wanted to divide them up. I put two into Missy D’s box so the both had 4. Missy D took to them as her own, however as the day went, she ended up with all but one kitten in her box. Over time the kittens were going back and forth between mothers. Then one day all the cats and kittens were in on box squished. We de

We awoke to find the Easter bunny had been to our home. Eggs were all over the hallway and the floor. The bunny had left a note that each child had a certain color of eggs to find. Jayden and Jacob had candies and gum in their eggs. Luke had teddy grahms and fruit chews in his. The kids opened their eggs and combined all their candies. They also got some goodies in their Easter baskets from the bunny and a couple things from mom and dad. Jayden informed me she has the Easter bunny figured out. We had a nice egg casserole breakfast, then got ready for church. We talked to the kids about the importance of Easter and Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We have a set of resurrection eggs that we pull out each Easter. There are 12 eggs that represent Jesus’ journey and resurrection. It is so neat and the kids look forward to opening one egg each night before bed. After church we had a busy day ahead. We went to Grammer and Po Po’s for Easter dinner with the Anderlik’s and Ferrari’s. It f

Jayden was invited to her friend Claire Whalen's home for her birthday party. The girls had pizza, went to the movie Monsters vs. Aliens and sang karaoke. Alana and Amanda were the other girls their too. It was to be a slumber party, however Jayden made it very clear to me she did not want to sleepover. She tells me she just likes to sleep in her own bed. The next morning the girls all met up in Boxholm for the Easter Egg candy hunt. The Easter hunt was Luke's first. It was fun to see him pick up one piece of candy at a time checking it out and taking his sweet time. He got so excited over one piece.

Jayden’s school had character counts assembly for the parents to attend. The kids sang some songs and Jayden’s class each child had a speaking part. There were also a few chosen kids that got to do little solos and Jayden was one of those. The kids even got to hear a message from Miss Iowa.

I have been doomed by the Wahlert teeth. My mom has had bad teeth and I have inhereted that, and sadly my kids are doomed also. I have horror stories of dentists and this may be the top so far. I went to my local dentist to have a crown put on a tooth. This tooth ahs bothered me for several years and was decided it was time. At the dentist, I warned the dentist as I do every time that I do not numb well. They usually think I am exaggerating and find out in the end. The dentist started out with the strong stuff, nothing, Another round of shots, and some numbing. Once he started in on my tooth, I felt everything. Several more shots in and around the tooth and nerve. Luckily I was numb in the area for the shots, but working on the tooth I could feel it all. Doc decided to do an x-ray just to be certain there isn’t something more. Sure enough there was, an abcess. That mean’t 2 weeks on antibiotics and a visit with an orthopedic suregeon for a root canal. Not only did that sound horrible,

Aunt Alice finished up her second round of numerous chemo. treatments. She has been through so much with this cancer. She is such a trooper and a true inspiration. We are all praying for God’s healing power that she can fight this thing once and for all. Alice is such a special part of our family. We all love her so very much.

April 4, 2009 Billy the horse was not the first Billy I have owned. My first horse named Billy was a palomino I loved. This Billy bucked me off and I could never trust him. I owned him 4 years and he would buck unexpectedly out of the blue. I had advertised and tried to sell him several times, put more money into riding him and selling. Finally I said he was going to a sale and I wasn’t going to look back. I never got too attached to Billy and was ready to find something I wanted. With Wade & Carina’s help, we hauled Billy to Belle Plaine to a horse sale. Jayden got to go along and experience the whole sale atmosphere. Billy behaved, as I rode the day before and in the arena before the sale. He sold for a very low price, 1/8 of what I bought him for. That was so upsetting. The horse market has been horrible due to the no slaughter of horses law. Once the realization set in that Billy was sold and going to a new home, Jayden couldn’t hold back her tears. She cried for a little bi

Allie attended her Junior prom with a date/boyfriend. She has been dating this boy for a few weeks. Allie found a pretty yellow dress with spaghetti rhinestone straps and floor length. She had her hair all up and she looked so beautiful. She was pretty excited.

I guess my 14 month old was trying to play an April Fools joke on his mommy. I got a phone call from the Boone police and emergency department asking if everything was ok, there had been a call from this phone. Just 10 minutes before, Luke had been in our bedroom messing with the telephone. He loves to play with the corded phone and usually pulls it off the hook, but rarely pushes numbers. How on earth he managed to hit 911 is amazing.