The Muench Bunch

The kids and I started out our busy day with Sunday service at Cornerstone. From there, we went to an after church Halloween party in Williams for my parents church. They had chili, snacks and games for the kids. Next my kids got into their costumes to trick-or -treat with cousin Alivia at Auntie Alice's. We also had a birthday cake/party special with Aunt Alice, as she is heading back to Albuquerque soon. What an action filled day. It was nice for the kids to visit Alice in her home, although it didn't take them long to tear the place up. On the way home, I dropped Jayden off at her close friend Claire's home for yet another party. What a Halloween!

With an early harvest, Daddy got to join in our trick-or-treating. This year Jake was Superman and Jayden Supergirl. Both costumes just kind of happened to and they didn’t exactly pick them. Luke did however pick his own and a monkey he was. I thought it really fit with is personality. Mark wanted to walk the streets in Boxholm tirck or treating. It was windy and chilly, the kids froze. The town was so quiet, very few trick or treaters, and very few houses giving out candy. We walked for about an hour before heading out of town. We stopped at the Bakley house to visit Bob and Artis. They were so happy we stopped and wanted us all to come in for a visit. We then headed out for pizza. Luke fell into a heavy sleep and I could barely wake him for pizza.

I had been planning this picture in my mind for quite some time. My super heros!!! Taking the picture was very challenging, with 3 uncooperative boys. I was pleased to get one good shot and I love it.

In the morning, Ames had a downtown trick-or-ptreating for pre-school kids. We went with Luke's little friend Mallory. They had som fun. What a nice fall day for playing in the leaves. There are more corn leaves than tree leaves in our yard from all the wind. We also made caramel apples. Mmm, yummy!

Allie is boyfriend crazy. Her status on facebook “In a relationship” changes with the weather. She meets a boy, lists that she is in a relationship and tells everyone how amazing he is. 2 to 4 weeks later, he is history and within a week, she has a new boyfriend that she says is absolutely amazing. She also says awful things about the old boyfriends on facebook. I just wish she could enjoy going on dates and not having to think she is in a serious relationship every time. We spend a lot of time worrying and praying about her.

Tues & Wed were the windiest days ever. The wind blew up to 60 miles an hour. We were glad it wasn't snowing or it would be wicked. The corn stalks blew across the road like a storm. It was neat to see all the corn stalks and leaves in the fences. I had Jayden take a pictures. Mark has been running the field ripper at night. He runs from 8Pm until midnight.

Libby had her sweet sixteenth birthday party at her home with family. It is hard to believe that she is already 16. I can remember her at our wedding in her pink frilly dress. Torrie turned 16 in August. They are such grown up young ladies now. Mark brought the truck and trailer and all 3 horses along. After the party, Mark, Jayden, and I went for a nice ride through the timber. Jayden and I took a shorter ride and Mark went on to ride in the steep and rough areas later. It was such a nice day for it. These nice days are numbered I am sure.

Mark, Luke, and I went to the evening Cornerstone church service, which we always enjoy. At then end of the service it is always so fun to get Luke from his children's church room. Once he sees you, he comes running with the biggest smile yelling Mommy or Daddy. He acts as if we have been separated for days. I love it! We went out to dinner following at Hickory Park. It was late by the time we ate and very hungry we were.

School got out early, I had taken Jake to the dentist, Mawgee babysat, so Jayden and I had time to ride the horses together. We took a nice ride out in the field. We had some interesting talks, and even had some very grown up conversations. My baby girl is growing up and it makes me so sad. I want the innocence to stay forever. Now, can I put a bubble around her and keep all boys away?

Jake had a filling and crown to take care of. The dentist planned to use the laughing gas. I guess Jake was a comedian and did really well. He told the dentist, “It’s like there was a party going on in my mouth.” Jayden and Jake went to stay with my parents for the weekend where they had some Halloween activities planned.

Jayden and Jacob stayed the weekend with Mawgee and Peepaw. They had so much fun with lots of neat things to do. They got to spend time with Santanna, and they went to the Ratzke Halloween party. They played games, flew kids, decorated cookies, and went on a hay ride. I got to see pictures of all the fun.

Today was a record date for the earliest harvest finish ever for Mark. Woohoo! It is great to have it done and over and still much of the fall left to enjoy. Being the last day, we let the kids out of school early so they could get in on one last ride. Luke has been farming hard with is toys in the house. He has his little combine, grain cart, and semi. The best is when he makes the auger sounds. This has also been the nicest fall we can all remember. Mark usually has his heavy coats on and coveralls. It has stayed above 60 and the sun has been shinning all fall. If this nice weather can hold on, Mark will get to enjoy it and do some horse riding.

The Spillman's gave us a cat. All of our farm cats are somewhat unfreindly and we wanted a lover. We have a couple that are friendly, but don't like to be held or carried. Along came Bootsie, a gray cat with white feet. He was nearly a full grown cat and super nice. The kids fell in love with him and he spends a couple hours each day in the house. His favorite spot is right on your lap. The kids like to hold him while watching TV or playing the computer. He sat with Luke in the car ride to get "fixed".

Oct17 This was the last horse event scheduled for this year, so we had to make sure to go. This would be Jayden’s first show with her new horse Jessie. She was so excited and I have been enjoying seeing her build her confidence on this horse. We took all 3 horses and rode for an hour before the show. A little later, I tied Traveler to the trailer and Jayden rode Jessie in the arena. She acted like a different horse when she wasn’t with her buddy. Jayden went to loping and Jessie put her head down and did a few hops before Jayden pulled her head up. My heart sunk and I could see it in Jayden. All that confidence and all the excitement was washed from her face. With all the horse issues we have faced, I have been leery of something bad happening. I wasn’t going to feel good about these horses until they proved themselves, and now the discouragement set in. Why is this so hard? More than anything I didn’t want Jayden scared, so I told her to keep riding at a walk. Later I rode the horse q

The kids played hard outside and I let them loose for the whole day. Cousin Rylie was here to play for the day too.I didn’t put Luke down for a nap and let him be barefoot. By the time he came in, he was one filthy dirty little boy. Don’t you just love little boys!

Today was Jacob’s Taekwondo testing. I had gone through testing in College for my yellow, orange, and green belts, but didn’t know how this would compare. This was very different. Jacob, being in the Tiny Tigers group got to have plenty of help. He really didn’t have his one steps and forms memorized, so the help was good. He was pretty nervous and didn’t really want to be there on his “day off”. After participating and watching the higher ranking belts perform, he thought it was very cool and was glad he did it. After two weeks, Jake finally got his orange belt!!

Auntie Alice came down and the kids got to have some quality time with her. After Jayden’s volleyball practice and after taking supper to 6 people in the field, Jayden and I went to ride the horses. As we hurried to the barn, we saw the sun was right at the horizon and going down. We knew there was little daylight. We saddled up Jessie and Traveler and headed out. We rode along the field drive to the grain leg. It was such a nice night and we had a good ride. We trotted and loped along side by side. This is what I have always longed for, a chance to ride horses with my kids. Riding in the moonlight just made it a neat ride.

I heard on the news this is the longest we have gone without rain since Feb 2009. Crazy after a summer of continuous rain, now we are in somewhat of a drought. The dust is so bad, you can see it linger in the air at night. A neighbor’s field caught on fire and there have been combine fires. It is really quite scary. The end of harvest is near for us and everyone is ready to be done. This is the longest days in a row in the field I can ever remember. Typically the go and have to stop for rainy days. Last fall we didn’t finish until just before Thanksgiving. I am super excited Mark will finish in October.

Luke hasn’t taken a nap in 4 days. He get crabby and naughty. It is hardest on me, I lose my patience and I need that little break in the day. I am so sad that at the age of 2 ½ he is giving up naps. I am still trying everyday to get him to try. He stays in his room for a good half hour, but no nap. This is just how Jake was. I have been attending a MOPS group in story city. I am very excited about going. It is in a nice church, very organized, growing big group of friendly moms. My friend Lisa attends also and afterwards we meet at the park for lunch to chat while Luke and Mallory play. It is a nice time that I look forward to.

10/10/10 The Spillman’s had a party for Alex’s birthday that included a hay ride. Beautiful day in the 80’s sunny and dusty. Things are getting a little too dry. They invited a ton of friends and had 3 hay racks of people. Little did we know the hayride was going to be long, very long over 3 hours. We stopped once at a pumpkin patch. The ride was very scenic and relaxing. Luke enjoyed his first hay ride. Back at the farm, everyone ate supper and sat around a fire. They are so fortunate to have so many friends.

Today was the Dayton Youth rodeo. Mark wanted so badly to be able to go and see the kids and be outside on this amazingly nice day, however as he says, instead, he gets to be up to his rear in grain dust. I could not have done it without the help of my mother. She is always very supportive and helpful with all the kids activities. We had to be to the arena by 9 and barrels started at 10. During the barrels, they had the little kids events, stick horse races, dummy roping, and goat tail untie. Jake and Luke both participated in these events and had a pretty fun time at it. Luke liked the goat tail untie and wanted to go again. Jake skipped the swing and went right to the throw for his dummy roping and caught it. Jayden ran barrels on her pony and she went super fast and had a good run. She also did the flag race really well and was dissapointed in the poles knocking a couple poles. This rodeo draws a lot of kids and the competition is pretty tough. I like Jayden to participate for the f

It has been months since we have gone this long without rain after a soggy wet summer. The weather has been awesome, 70’s. It is nice that harvest is able to run right along. The corn moisture is testing good right out of the field 15%, so there is little drying needed. Last year, was the wettest corn I can remember 26% and Mark was running his dryer’s all hours of the day and night. That is a big added expense. It has been such a wet summer and also hot and humid, making the yields are all over the place. The corn is yielding great in one field 209 bu/acre, and right across the road, not as good. Corn prices have been on the rise also. Corn is in the upper $4 range, getting close to $5. Mark thinks the oil companies are trying to destroy the ethanol business. High corn prices make it hard for ethanol production. Without ethanol, farmer’s will really be hurting. I have been riding the two new horses that we are in the process of buying. It has been nice to ride in this great weather. I

Jake sleeps in a mound of stuffed animals every night in his bed. He has at least a dozen or more and several blankets. It looks like a big mess of stuff, but that is how he has to sleep. I have tried moving some of the stuffed animals to shelves or baskets, but he knows when they are missing from his bed. He even has a 4 foot stuffed trout in his bed. There is little room for him.

Since we went to the apple orchard yesterday and we were not going to church today, we started up in the kitchen cooking and baking. Jayden and I were peeling and slicing apples using a little apple slicer tool. The boys were fascinated watching us in chairs set as close as they could get. They got lots of samples too. We were making apple crisp and applesauce. This is the first year I have not been able to use apples from our trees. In the meantime we had rolls in the oven and homemade chicken noodle soup cooking. The kitchen was smelling pretty nice. Mark was taking the day off in the field, so he got to enjoy the yummy food too. Later in the day, Mark took Jayden and the two of them rode the new horses along the creek pasture. They had a nice ride and got along great. I am starting to get excited about these horses.

This week we got back into the field after a week of wet and rain. Having that time off, the kids cannot wait to get back out and ride. I feel like I am running in circles going from tractor to semi and combine making sure each kid gets a fair ride. This week has been exceptional weather varying from 70 to 80 degrees. I love it!! I wish it could stay this way all year round. We got a lot of corn combined this week. On a good day, Mark and Mike can haul 25 semi loads to the grain leg. Karen has been running the combine all week. She amazes me! We have Mike our hired man, a guy named Doug that will help during harvest, and a guy named Corey, who shows up on occasion to help. I deliver meals.