The Muench Bunch

Luke is growing up. He is graduating from the baby phase into a big boy toddler. He has been doing pretty well with the potty training. He is going without pull-ups and stays dry with an occasional accident. He has also been sleeping in his toddler bed for night time and for naps. Something I never thought possible. With Jayden and Jacob, once they had the freedom outside a crib, there was no napping. Luke willingly goes down for a nap in his toddler bed without a fuss. Luke has a yellow striped pair of jammies that I call his sunbeam jammies. THey are his favorite and he loves to wear them as I sing to him and he cuddles me: A Sunbeam A Sunbeam Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam A Sunbeam A Sunbeam I'll be a Sunbeam for Him

We drove back from Minnesota, after a short stay and now a long drive. The last hour, Jacob was boucing off the ceiling in the tahoe. Once we stopped at my parents, he was out the door and running around outside. In just a matter of minutes, he came up to the house with his hands full of worms and a big ol grin on his face. He is so funny. In the last 48 hours we have gotten over 4 inches of rain. The replanted corn ponds are now drowned out again, ugh!

I loaded the kids up and headed to my parents where we all rode together to Minnesota. Today was a last minute decision. I was supposed to take Jayden to a 4-H horse show, however when I heard the heat index for the day was 105, I decided the trip to Minnesota would be nicer. It was also my Dad’s birthday and a family reunion. We were pretty cozy driving up and only added about an hour onto the trip in extra scenic routes and maybe missing our turn. My Aunt Rose had a really good BBQ lunch at 2 and family all got together. We were celebrating the triplets 60th birthdays from March. Dean has round the clock care and doesn’t leave his room very much. He has a new pump that is supposed to help with relaxing the muscles. Rose never ceases to amaze me with all that she does and all that she can handle. The boys and I stayed in a hotel, went swimming before going to bed. Jayden went with Uncle Wade and Carina to the waterpark hotel they were staying in. The next morning we had our continenta

The kids finished a week of VBS in boxholm. They have been so busy since school got out that they weren’t too excited about starting. However, after the first day, they were having a good time and couldn’t wait for the next day. They came home each day telling me all the stories of what they had learned and brought home crafts and such. The theme was Egypt and the story of Joseph. They went each morning 8:30-11:30. Luke wanted to go so bad. Today was the end and a short program for the parents. The kids had tunics with decorated collars and head dress’s, They looked so cute and sang and showed off their Egyptian moves. Jayden even got to be a song leader. I am glad they went and so were they.

We started the morning with a big breakfast for Daddy along with giving him homemade cards and gifts. We went to church and then on to Karen and Orrie’s for lunch with Anderlik’s. The Dad’s took it easy and rested for the afternoon. Back at home, Jayden couldn’t wait to do smores. She set up the fire ring, got the firewood, set up lawn chairs and was ready. It was very hot and humid, so we waited until late. The kids liked the smore making. Luke was very cautious as he watched the fire.He would tell me " I watchin fire." I also brought out Mark’s album I have worked on over the years. He shared it with Jacob who was full of questions and loves hearing about our "olden" days. My kids are very blessed to have such a good hard working Dad. I too am very lucky to have such a great Dad.

It was a hot night for the Dayton Wranglers buck nite horse show. They started the show at 5, so we were sweating before we even got started. I went through several bottles of water through the evening and tried to keep the kids cool. Mark brought Jacob, who was there decked out in his cowboy gear. He had on a long sleeve shirt and black cowboy hat. He had to be so hot!! It was miserable hot. Jayden was up first in walk trot. It was a large class, around 15, and she got second place. That had to make her feel pretty good. Her little pony does well, even though she is a game pony with tie down and roping reins. Next I rode Missy our new paint horse, in western pleasure. There were 21 horses crammed into the arena. Missy was fun to ride even with the arena very sloppy wet. Form there the kids did some races. I knew Jake wanted to ride and he hasn’t ridden alone yet, so I made sure he got to ride. I had my mud boots along and ran on foot leading Missy with Jacob for the milk can race and

I started the morning in the garden picking strawberries and watching the sky. It was awesome, yet scary. The sky was getting dark and the wind picked up. It rained and the temperature dropped to 65. Throughout the day, the sun would shine, storm clouds would come in and more rain. Rain we don’t need. Mark has a crew putting up his new grain dryer. They are having a hard time working around the stormy weather.

Today was our first really hot day. 96 degrees and high humidity, yuck. One thing I don’t like is humid weather. I got the kids a plastic pool and they were thrilled. Luke was happiest I think just being naked. Jayden and Jacob set the sprinkler out so they could swing and get wet. It was nice to see the kids having so much fun. This was the first night in a long time that we didn’t have anything going on. The 4-H horse meeting was cancelled as bad weather was coming in, so the kids played outside until almost dark. The weather turned stormy around 10:30 when we all tried to go to bed. Luke spent his first night sleeping in the toddler bed. I think he was so tired, he went right to sleep without any trouble.

Luke is such a lover, he loves to give hugs and always has a smile. He is also very photogenic, he loves the camera and is easy to pose. Luke’s famous saying lately is”Can I need it?” when he wants something

We haven't let the kids stay outside until dark much, Usually we are busy, it is humid, or the bugs are bad. One night, we finally let the kids out to run around and enjoy. We let them run around the yard and stay up until the lightning bugs came out. They loved it. I love the outdoor country life...

While feeding the horses at Grandma and Grandpa Muench's, a kitten jumped from the hay loft. It landed very close to Luke, who was terrified and cried soo hard. Jadyen and Jacob chased the cat until it was cornered across the road in some tall grass. I knew the cat was a goner unless we took it. Dusty the dog kills kittens and he killed one just the day before. I told the kids we could take it home. We now have a cute female kitten called “popcorn”. We gave it a bath and kept it in a cage in the garage for several days giving it lots of attention trying to tame it. Reminded me of all the summers I spent taming kittens in our hay loft. Luke is still scared to death of the little thing. It is the most playful kitten ever. It chases all the big cats constantly and they run in fear. Kittens are so funny.

The week has been on and off rain. Mark is needing to finish his side dressing nitrogen and all this rain is not helping. The boys seem to love getting dirty outside. The dirtier the happier. Jake enjoyed a soak in the bubbles to clean up.

Each day I start out in the morning feeding the horses. We drive to Aunt Betty's for the paints and Dakota, then on to Karen and Orrie's house to feed the old timers Jake and Joe. Often times, Jacob ends up finding Daddy or Po Po and he is with them the rest of the day. Today he found Po Po and rode with him while moving dirt with the dump truck. That got him excited. Later I took a photo of a baby fawn and the stormy sky. We have been having a lot of thunderstorms lately.

Jayden spent the weekend with Grandma Mawgee working on 4-H projects. They did a lot of work and came home with some neat stuff. Jayden also went garage saleing with Grandma and her friends. She had a fun time. The kids enjoy getting one on one with with the Grandparents too. I picked up Jayden and brought back my old horse Joe. Wade and Carina took care of him for the winter for me and I knew it was time to get him back. Poor guy, he tripped going into the trailer and bonked his head in the trailer. He is really blind. I think he can see dark and light and that is it. I put Joe with Jake the horse at Karen and Orrie's.

Karen came over to help me make strawberry jelly. She is the best cook and makes the best of everything from meals to pies. I have been picking big bowls of strawberries each day. The kids love to pick them and eat them fresh from the garden, I do too. I even have Luke eating them!! Hooray, he is finally starting to eat fruits.

It has been a week of warm weather with thuderstorms and rain. We have had swim lessons Mon through Thursday. In the night we got lots more unneeded rain. Highway 30 weat of Boone was even flooded and closed.

We are not sure what makes Jacob tick, but we feel so helpless. He can get so angry and can be in such a bad mood so often. He is often grouchy and pouts. We have a lot of trouble with him and just can’t figure out what to do to help him. He is really a sweet tenderhearted kid, but when he gets sour, it is so hard to get him back out of a mood. Most often his fits are due to transitioning from leaving somewhere or stopping a tv show or stopping drawing. We have tried lots of different praise and discipline. Not much seems to be working.We just want to see him happy, it is so hard on all of us.

Luke is such a Mr. personality. He is so smiley and talkative. He likes people. The cousins just adore him and like to babysit. Luke is a little charmer, that’s for sure. He is also very entertaining. One night we We had popcorn as a snack, while popping, I walked into the kitchen to see Luke had pulled up a stool and was watching the popcorn sitting stark naked. I laughed so hard, I couldn't resist a photo. The two boys together, my modern day Norman Rockwell photo.

Wow, Today is the first day that we can relax after a crazy week of dance. It feels like summer break has finally began. However, we didn’t sit back and relax today, things were on the go all day. The kids and I cleaned out the horse barn, burned feed bags, and hauled Dakota over to join the new paint horses. In the process, a kitten jumped out of the hay loft and Grandma and Grandpa’s and the kids caught it. So… now we have a new kitten named Popcorn. The kids made a few rounds with Daddy in the tractor side dressing nitrogen on the corn. While Luke took a nap, Mommy mowed, while Jayden babysat and Jacob played with his new friends, 6 new toads. We squeezed in frying some homemade donuts(took two days to make)that were delicious, so we had to deliver a few. At the grain leg we stopped to see the excavator dumping dirt in the dump truck along with the cement mixer pouring cement for the new grain dryer. It is always a happening place at the grain bins lately. Then we picked strawberrie