The Muench Bunch

I have made a tradition out of egg smashing. Each year one week after Easter, we take our decorated Easter eggs outside and give them a toss. The kids love to see them SPLAT and the cats like to lick them up. It makes the driveway quite colorful when we are through.

Today was the first horse fun show at the Dayton wranglers. The sun was shinning which put me in such a good mood. I think I smiled all day just for the great sunshine alone. It has been so long since we have had a full day of sun. It was also nice to have the new horse trailer. We really enjoyed it, the boys the most. My mom came down and helped with the kids. They hung out and played in the trailer with a couple extra kids that wanted to check out the trailer too. We only took Jessie in hopes that she would behave better alone and that she did. She acted great all day. Jayden rode her with such confidence. She was riding all over and loping with ease. She took first place in western pleasure and second in walk trot. She did so good, I was so happy for her and she needed that boost. The pleasure class was a good sized class and a tough class to do well in. She also did barrels and poles. Neither one Jessie has done much of and we are going slow and working with her. I also did pleasur

Marks horse arrived from Texas. He was hauled here on a trailer for a little over 24 hours. He is so tall and pretty and we are calling him “Tex”. He is in perfect condition and all slick and shiny. We are hoping he will turn out to be the ideal horse for all of us to ride. Its been the same story day after day. The sun pops out in the morning, getting us excited for a sunny day,. After a couple hours, it clouds up and is gloomy all day. Then it’s the super strong winds all day long. It just hasn’t been very pleasant lately. It has also remaind cool, in the 40’s and 5o’s. Down south there have been numerous tornadoes. In Alabama the tornado death toll is over 300, the highest number of deaths related to tornadoes.

Today was my last bible study at Cornerstone. I don’t know with Luke and pre-school whether I will get to come again in the fall. Today we finished the group with discussion over brunch. I have studied and learned so much through the book of Romans. I have also met some neat women I hope to get to know more. After running errands, getting home, unloading groceries, it was time to load up horses and head to the 4H horse meeting. Jayden had a frustrating night with her horse Jessie. We discovered she gets nervous when another horse is along and at the trailer.

Another year of AWANA has come to an end. This was my 8th year serving. Jacob had a great year, passed his second book and can say the books of the old testament. He received his book ribbon. Jayden finished her 3rd book in TNT, which was a hard book and took a lot of work. She received a plaque award.

Jayden performed in her spring music concert. She played her saxophone in the band and she sang a solo part with her class. She did a great job and looked lovely. We got the "girlfriends" picture too. After much pleading mommy agreed to let Jayden wear her cowgirl boots with her dress. I have to admit it was kind of cute.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Today we celebrated the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. During the past few weeks we have gone over the resurrection eggs with the kids and the have a pretty good grasp on it. As long as they know what Easter is about, I can let them find eggs and eat candy and celebrate in the fun. Easter morning the kids awoke to Easter eggs scattered through the house. After eating lots of sugar it was time for church. We went to the Stratford church to be with Mark’s family and to see church friend's. Ila is an elderly lady that adores my kids. She sends cards and gifts for the kids. I send her pictures and the kids' drawings. She loves them so much she is always sending thank yous with lots of personal notes. The kids give her hugs and I know she misses us not coming to that church anymore. During our annual photo of the cousins, Luke was being a ham. He was s

I took the kids to a farm that had bunnies for sale. I let the kids pick out bunnies. Jayden bought her own rabbit to be her very own and possibly a 4-H project. She named hers, Sugar. I let Jacob and Luke pay for ½ of their rabbit and they are each sharing. They have had sharing issues, so I thought it would be good for them to learn how to share, should be interesting. When they hold their bunny, they act as if it is their own and have separate names. When Jake holds "his" bunny, it is Hopicus, and when Luke holds “his” bunny it is named Dentist. They sure are cute little things and the kids couldn’t hold them enough the first day. Mark even had to admit they are awful cute. Jayden has promised to do all chores and cleaning of the rabbits. I sure hope we can keep them alive and out of the cat and dogs reach.

Our annual egg decorating was as usual a mess and fun. The kids each dip and dye and decorate until all the eggs are done, 3 dozen. Luke dyed his fingers too.

Leave it to Iowa weather to snow in April. Yes this morning it was snowing along with rain which left the roads covered in this heavy thick slush. This entire week is supposed to stay below 50.

The kids all had a fun filled weekend. Jayden had a birthday party at best friend Claire’s. They went shopping at the mall and had a sleepover. Jake went and stayed the weekend at Grandparents Mawgee and Peepaw's, where he got some one-on one spoiling time. He is happiest when he is alone without siblings bugging him. Luke got to have a play friend over, a little boy named Colton who is 3. Then we got Jake on Sunday and Luke went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple nights. We took Jayden and Jake to the movie “HOP.” This was Jayden’s reward for passing her AWANA book.

Jake and Luke have always been stuffed animal lovers. They both sleep at night in a mound of critters. Luke wanted me to take a picture with his favorites.

Electronics are taking over our world. I know I am as guilty as anyone with my daily computer time, checking facebook, emailing, calling on my cell phone and shopping online. As for my kids, I want them to stay kids as long as they can. I think kids grow up way too fast as it is and all the technology just makes it worse. I don’t want them to have to have all the latest and greatest electronics. Just because their friends have it, doesn’t mean they need it. It is a hard battle and I don’t want to be the mean mom, but I am holding my ground for now. Jayden has been saving up her heard earned money over the years and wants to buy a I-pod touch. It is like having the internet in the palm of your hands. She has a list of things that she wants that I will not allow her to have: I-pod touch, Cell phone, Wii, Nintendo DS, tv for her room, and laptop. I don’t know how long I can hold out on these things, but I will try. Kids need to play and use their imagination and just be kids. There is jus

The weather has been all over the place again this week. Wind pretty much whips you all over. We’ve have had such strong wind all week. Tuesday was the only day that the sun was shinning, in the 70’s and no wind. The rest of the week kept getting colder and windier. All week Mark has been working hard in the field strip tilling adding fertilizer preparing for the corn planting. He has his hired men work shifts from sun up. Mark goes out in the evening and works until 4 or 5AM. He has done that several days in a row. I sure don’t know how he does it!

Blowing this up and hanging it on my wall. I love my kids!

More silly photos.

The kids and I went to cousin Alivia’s 4th birthday party. Wade and Carina had pizza, cake, and ice cream. Alivia’s theme was Beauty and the Beast and she was excited about her party. The kids all had a good time together from riding on all her ride on toys, scooter, tractor, bike, wagons, and tricycles in the garage to playing on the outdoor jungle gym. Alivia has a lot of cool stuff! The weather was very warm, hot even as it got close to 90 degrees. Once the warm weather came, so did all the flies and extreme wind, ugh. Last night it lightninged a lot and we later learned that 10 tornadoes touched down and a lot of damage to some small towns in Northern Iowa.

Luke likes to practice his saxophone with his sissy. I love this photo!

Luke got his haircut. We let it go long and shaggy for awhile. It was super cute. I loved how it flipped at the sides and just out of the shower was super cute. It was getting too long and ratty in the back. His short haircut makes him look so different and like such a little man. Cutie pie!

Mark and his hired help set out to pick rocks in a field. Midway through the day they came across a piece of steel sticking out of the ground. They began to dig and dig and dig. They uncovered numerous parts of an old chicken house. Lot’s of very large pieces of twisted metal were pulled out of the ground. The farther they dug with the tractor, the more metal pieces they drug out of the field. He is trying to get things ready to plant and a simple rock picking turned into two days of hauling out scraps of metal. Spring is here with warmer weather, but stronger winds to go with it.

I am not sure if you would call if bored, curious, or mischievous. Luke has been into stuff lately. Smearing balm cream all over the toilet, taking a tube of flavored chap stick and smearing it all over his face, teeth, and eating it, and of course the Lego up the nose. Luke keeps me on my toes. It is official, all three of my kids stuck something up their nose and got it stuck. Jayden- a popcorn seed, Jacob- a raisin, and now Luke- a little Lego. With all three, a big blow was enough to get it out, but sure does make a mom panic.

Iowa’s weather is all over the place. On Tuesday of this week there was snow covering the ground. On Friday, it was 5 degrees and very windy. I rode Jayden’s horse Jessie and the pony Dakota to get them ready for some spring riding. Sunday it got up to 80 degrees and still rather windy. Mark, Jayden, and I all rode horses. Jayden practiced riding with her flag and Mark practiced on his hot heels roping sled. Jayden pulled the sled behind the gator for Dad. He wants to catch every time and isn’t happy if he misses. Yesterday a high in the 80’s today it is blowing and blustery in the 40’s. Good 'ol Iowa weather.

Good friends Paula and Jessica and I got together for a Girls weekend in Des Moines. We did lots of eating, shopping, and tons of catching up. It was great to see the girls and talk and laugh. We have grown up together. These girls go back to pre-school and we have stayed in touch through college and now are mom's of young kids. It is so fun to see hear the stories of their kids and lives.

Jayden was chosen to sing in the Midwest Children’s choir. She had to audition for her school choir teacher and was selected to sing in the honor group. There were 10 kids from 5th and 6th grade chosen from her school. The kids practiced weekly then took performed in Ames. There the choir teacher took the kids to lunch at Hickory Park, then they rehersed all day with a professional singer. In the evening, the grandparents, Mark and I attended the choir to see Jayden perform. There were 400 kids in all on the stage singing. They did a fabulous job and Jayden loved it all.