The Muench Bunch

Jake’s fever broke in the night as he woke up all hot and sweaty. He felt fine by morning and was feeling himself during the day. We decided to take the kids trick-or-treating. It has been 4 years since Mark has gotten to go along. The sad thing is I think when he went before, it was because he was done with harvest. This time it is because everything is still wet and we are no where near done. To make things simple, I like to take the kids to the mall. I am not a big fan of going to strangers homes begging for candy. At the mall, you don’t worry about the weather, dangerous candy, and you get to see a parade of kids in their costumes. Luke sat in his stroller cute as can be the little Mickey Mouse. Jake jingled when he walked with his spurs, and Jayden stayed warm in her little dance shorts. My parents also met up to see the kids and went with us for supper at Hickory park. On the way back, we stopped at Grammer and Po’s for a brief trick or treat.

This week the kids had theme's for each day of the week. My favorite was "Rock Star" day. The kids really got into it and looked so cute. Yesterday it rained morning till dark and we got 2 ½ inches of rain. We sat for a week waiting from the last rain, combined 2 days, and now we wait again. This is a long harvest. Last night when Jake went to bed, I could tell he wasn’t himself and sure enough he had a temperature. Today he is home from school missing his class Halloween party. He doesn’t seem miserable, however his fever is 103. When one gets better, another gets sick.

On an earlier day this week, I got some good pictures of Jacob in his Halloween costume. He came up with this outfit awhile back and wears it around the house often. He was great for me when photographing and I got a good one!

Luke is still under the weather and wants nothing but to sit with mama. After school, Karen came to watch the boys so Jayden and I could ride the horses. I know the warm days are numbered and when we aren't in the field, I need to take advantage of it. It was only 60, and by the time we rode the sun was going down and our hands froze. Jayden rode her pony and I rode Joe. We took them around a bean field at a nice walk. It is nice to have that one on one time with Jayden too. She always has so much she wants to tell me about her day in the midst of the chaos of the boys at home. In September Jake was ready to wear his winter hat. He didn't care if it was 70 degrees, he still wanted to wear it. Finally in October it was chilly enough he could wear it. He loves his hat with the ear flaps and wears it every day. Luke has his daily tv time, he watched a Little Einstein show and sits in his "Lazy Boy". He loves his chair so much, I made a John Deere cover for it.

Sunday, I took the kids to church while Mark dried more corn-never ending. After church and lunch, we went to a church trunk or treat party. The kids dressed in their costumes and had a great time. They had candy, tons of snack food, games, mazes, and a giant inflatable caterpillar. Back at home, we carved a jack-o- lantern. Jake and Jayden were in to their elbows, however Luke didn’t want to touch it. Luke went to bed around 8, and I suspected he was getting sick. At 11:00 he was crying, coughing, and gasping for air, he had the croup. It was pretty bad, I guess I have been through it so many times with Jayden, I know what to do. It is scarey as they can’t breath. I took Luke outside and sit with him awhile in the crisp air. My doctor had given me some steroid medicine to keep on hand just for this. I gave him that and he was able to sleep through the night. He slept between Mark and I in bed.

Some time ago Uncle Troy told Jacob that he was welcome to come stay with them "anytime." When you are 5, that means tomorrow. For the past several weeks, Jake has been asking to go to Rylie's house. Tonight he was invited to spend the night. Jake was sooo excited! He only gets to go to Rylie's house once a year for a birthday party. Getting to spend the night was probably the best thing of the year! He thinks Rylie is the best. I left Jake off around 5 and never heard from him until church the next day. He was ready to stay another night. I think he wanted to move in.

The warm weather was too brief, only two days. It dropped to 40's fast and now rain. It rained the entire day yesterday. That is good and bad, good Mark and I went out for lunch with Luke and finally got to sleep a full night, bad it is delaying harvest even more. I feel about as good as the weather, runny nose and scratchy throat. It has been slowly coming on all week and I have been taking Vit C hoping to fight it. Ick the weather, ick my cold.

Mark has been putting in long hours in the field. He runs the semi’s all day long. I would get so tired of that day in and day out. The corn is so wet this year testing anywhere in the 25+ range, so there is a lot of drying involved. Many people around have not finished beans and those with corn are waiting in hopes of it drying. Wet corn means lots of drying time and Mark was up drying corn at the grain leg numerous times in the night, 10, 1, 4, the last two nights. Then he is up and going with the next days harvest. I worry about him and his safety when he is at the grain leg. He is my hard working man.

Finally a day we can enjoy being outside again that feels like fall instead of winter. Luke and I picked up apples and moved hay for the horses. Wish I could ride horses. It was a gorgeous day, no wind and 65. Afterschool the kids were outside until supper playing in the leaves and getting atttacked by pesky lady bugs.

The guys were in the field today, so we stayed home to help with meals. The kids set up the geo tracks train set in the living room and played all day with it. Jayden and Jake play so well together. We did have some troubles with Luke, he likes to be the tornado and tear it all apart. The played the best when he was napping. Jacob woke up and put his cowboy hat on and wore it the entire day. I just love that, it comes with the age, lately he has been wearing a cowboy hat as soon as he gets home from school until he goes to bed. Today was Jayden’s first 4-H meeting. It has been a very hard decision knowing where to go. There are Boxholm and Pilot Mound clubs that are part of Boone county, therefore the Boone fair. Dayton is where all the cousins go and they are in the Ft. Dodge fair. For practical reasons, I feel going to Boone is the right choice. A 20 minute drive vs. 45 minute drive is one major factor. I was not at all impressed with the Boxholm 4-H club, in fact I was very disappoi

Jamie R. is a friend from college. We met while attending school in Ft. Collins, Colorado. We have kept in touch over the years and the past few years we get together to go Christmas shopping. Last year we missed our trip, so we were two years behind. It is the only time we get together and catch up on each others lives. We decided this year to make our trip extra early, which worked out great for me so I could birthday shop. The kids were at my parents all day, so we shopped until evening. It was a lot of fun. Jamie is a power shopper, more than myself.

The kids had a short day as school was out at 12:30. I picked them up and headed to my parents where they were to stay for the night, even Luke. We stopped on the way at a pumpkin sale and got some interesting gords. Jake found a giant long one and painted it as a snake. In the evening, I brought home a pizza and a movie for Mark and I. It was a quiet evening, the first time without kids in a long time.

Had our first water babies class with Luke. He loved it and I enjoyed it too. There are 6 babies in the class, most are around 9 months. I never had the other kids in a water babies class. Maybe this will make all the difference in him learning to swim later on. Jacob was in a swimming class at the same time also. There are enough instructors that he is getting a one on one lesson. He is doing great. Tonight there were little tiny ice balls coming from the sky. Was it snow, rain, or hail??? The temperature was 40.

It snowed last night, burr!! It is so ealry to be this cold. I am not ready for it. I am hoping for a nice long Indian summer ahead.

I came across the marshmallow test on you tube and instantly knew I had to try it. I laughed so hard and thought of Jake. Here is the test, you place one marshmallow in front of your child and tell him he can eat it right now, or he can wait. If he waits, when you return you will give him two. Then, I left the room and had a hidden video camera rolling. I watched the clock for 5 minutes and at 4:53, he ate the marshmallow . It is the funniest, cutest, meanest thing. To watch the video afterwards, I laugh every time. Jayden was in on the test with me too. All three of us laughed so hard after watching it. I will have to remember to try this when Luke is 5.

There was this mom in McDonald's , she obviously had her hands full. She was trying to carry 4 bags of McDonald's food and had 2 drink holders and little kids with her. She was trying to fill the cups of pop with her two small kids watching. The littlest one, only a toddler reaches up and grabs a pop dumping it down the front of his head, face and coat, and there is a big puddle on the floor. The child screams at the top of his lungs and now everyone is looking at her. She ended up making several trips to her car with her toddler on her hip during each trip. I noticed nobody made any attempt to help her, not even open the door for her. I felt sorry for this poor mom and would have liked to help her, oh yeah, that poor mom was me!!! What was I thinking? After buying groceries, I thought McDonald's would be a handy meal to the field. I let the kids play in the play area and went to order my food. Hello, drive thru would have made sense at the time, wasn ’t really thinking

Yesterday October 7, was the first day in the field combining corn. Today it rains and so we wait some more. The weather is so cold, it feels like late November. The weather has changed so much and the weekend calls for highs in the 40's and chance of snow.

For AWANA we had crazy hair night. I don’t think there was one child that did not participate and the kids had so much fun with it. There was hair dyes, wig, and all kinds of crazy hair do’s. We put pipe cleaners in Jayden’s braids to stick out. Jake, we spiked his hair. Later during game time he came down to find me. The game they were playing involved putting a small bean bag on your head and running with it. Jake didn’t want to mess up his spiked hair. I looked ridiculous in a wig with pony tails. The kids sure enjoyed it.

Jake told me he is having a hard time remembering Uncle Donald. I asked him what he does remember. He said he remembers sitting with him looking at a book and he said” That was the most happiest time ever.” This time of year during harvest is a hard time as we all remember Uncle Donald. We will all have a special place in our hearts for him forever. We are trying to hold on to the memories we had. I can remember Unlce Donalds big smiles and laughter the most. He loved the kids and liked to tease them, squeexe their knee and tickle them. During AWANA I had Jake & Rylie in my group at different times and we were talking about John 3:16 and I was explaining eternal life to them. I told them God has a special place in Heaven for them and someday they will get to be with others in Heaven. A smile came to the boys as they said’ Like Uncle Donald.”

Jayden was reading in a mommy and me book how to make a home spa for your mom. She turned the bathroom into a little spa. She dimmed the lights, had peaceful music playing, had a chair at the sink, applied a face mask peel, and a hand soak, along with a sugar scrub. She is such a sweet and kind little girl always so thoughtful. Now, you have to visualize this not so peaceful time. Dinner was in the oven, nearly done, the tea was on the stove starting to sizzle, Jake was outside playing doing who knows what unsupervised, and Luke decided he needed to try and use his potty chair. Luke was successful. I had sugar scrub on my hands, and a toddler running half naked with a mess to clean. All the while Jayden is trying her hardest to get me to just relax. She keeps saying, "Relax, I have everything under control."

Luke loves his special blankie !!

On the first day of school, we got Allie a surprise, we got her her own cell phone. She was very excited about it. She was insisted upon getting text messaging. I thought she could pay $5 a month and get 250. Allie said she would pay her own money $20 a month to get unlimited. I thought it seemed silly, but it was her money. We got the first full months bill back and she had 3,800 text messages. WOW, can you imagine!! We were all shocked, even Allie who thought she sent about 1,000. I did double check and that is all outgoing text, that is not including the number of received

After church, my parents came down to see the kids. They played inside and outside, rode the bikes, picked apples and just enjoyed the kids. It was a chilly day, very fall like 50's. My kids are so fortunate to have both their Grandparents live so close and take the time to spend with them. I know they don't realize how lucky they are, but they definitely have a close bond with them.

It has rained for 3 days, and it has been cold, high in the 50's. We finally had to kick on the furnace. Mark couldn't be in the field, so the kids and I talked him into going to the Boone YMCA for a family swim. It was nice, we were the only ones there. Luke floated around in his little flaoty boat, Jake did cannon balls off the side over and over, and Jayden practiced swimming different strokes. Following our swim, we ate supper at the Giggling Goat in Boone. They have great steaks and it is a very nice restaurant. Back at home, we put in a Disney movie "Holes." The kids really enjoyed it. We all enjoyed having a bit of Daddy time.

Right around 12 months of age, Luke decided enough with baby food mush and he went to solids. From that day on, he has refused any and all fruits or vegtables. How can that be? I have been trying fruits and vegtables daily multiple times trying to see what he will eat. He is the worst eater ever. Jayden and Jake were such good eaters from day one, I have never had this trouble. What does he eat? He likes all the grains and some meat. Of course he'll eat any snack type food. He doesn't even eat french fries or bananas, things all babies love. I keep trying and I have tried hiding things mixed in with other foods. He does like spaghetti and I think the only reason is I ate spaghetti 3 meals a week when I was pregnant. :) We have apple trees galore on our farm and Luke and I pick an apple every day. He will chew it and suck the juices out, then spit the rest out. He even spits the fruit out of yogurt. It is so crazy. However, over the summer, I did discover he is a sweet corn on t

We just got a good start on harvest, had only 20 acres left in beans and the rain started. It has been raining on and off since Wed. Today is Friday rainy and cold, only a high of 51. I have not turned the heat on in the house yet, still seems ok. I have heard from several who have turned theirs on the last few days. The highs this past week have been in the 60's. Luke got his very first ride in the combine this year.