The Muench Bunch

The Fort Dodge Frontier Days has a pageant for kids to earn the title of Little Mr. and Mrs. Frontier Days. When Jayden and Jake were both 3 I entered them in the pagent. Jayden won and earned her title. Jacob got a tophy for the best appearance. Today was Luke’s turn. He is such a happy go lucky funny kid that we were excited to see him on stage. We prepped him to sing his name song when they asked his name. “L-U-K-E that spells Luke”. Both Grandparents and out family were all there to watch. Luke fell asleep on the car ride there. I thought that would be a good thing as he would be all rested. WRONG< he was not in a good mood after the nap and I eve let him have candy trying to sweeten him up. By the time he was headed to the stage, he did not have a smile in him. He was sober faced and quiet. On stage he would not smile , he did give a little wave. You can see his face expression in his photos. Oh well, he looked cute as can be in his wranglers, boot, hat, belt and western vest

Today I had my exchange surgery .Earlier in the week I noticed my expander was shrinking. Sure enough it had a leak. After seeing Dr. Yen, he informed me he had a cancelled surgery on Friday and he could get me in. Whoa, this all seemed so sudden. I had to clean the house and prepare and get the kids shipped off somewhere. No food after midnight was torture for me. I always wake up to breakfast and snack before lunch. My surgery was scheduled for 1:00. I was checked in at 11:30 and finally after much waiting on the doctor, I was rolled back into the O.R at 3:00. I woke up around 5:30 in the recovery room so groggy I could barely keep my eyes open. I was in a small amount of pain where the incisions were, but not bad. I did get nauseous several times. Prior to surgery I was given a patch of medicine and they had given me several things for nausea. Back in my room, I slowly got dressed and waited until I felt ok to leave. Mark drove me home around 7:30. It was great to be home and in my

Today the plan was for Jayden, Mark , and myself to go to a team penning practice. We put Traveler and Tex in the cow barn the night before in hopes of keeping them clean and out of mud. We found Tex had gotten out of his pen and had eaten a lot of hay and a corn gluten mix. Unsure how bad things were, we called the vet. Our day was changed in a hurry. The ISU vet came out and lavaged Tex, putting a tube in him and cleaning him out. We decided that we should still go on with the plan. Mark stayed with his horse, very upset and blaming himself while Jayden and I went on to the practice. The arena was still a mushy wet mess, and the turn out was small. One family of five along with us. We got a lot of help and a lot of ride time. We realized Jessie was very much in heat and acted crazy over Traveler. It made for a challenging ride, but she sure works the cattle good! Jayden got a lot of practice and really enjoyed it with her new friend Mya Porter. I talked Mark into coming once his hors

There have been so many tornadoes in the past two months, the country is breaking all kinds of records. on May22 ,there were three large tornadoes, on in Minneapolis, one in Kansas, and the worst in Joplin Missouri. The tornado wiped out Joplin, Mo doing destruction for miles. The latest death toll is over 100. I found these devastating photos on the Internet.

Everyone went in a different direction today. Jayden went to Adventureland with her middle school band as an award trip. The boys went to my parents to spend a couple nights. I was to help with the youth rodeo in the food stand for the morning. It poured down rain right up until the rodeo started. The sun came out and made for a very nice day, but a very muddy arena. In the afternoon, I went to see the old horse and nearly stepped on a litter of baby kittens. I could not resist bringing one home. The kids were pretty excited. It is black male kitten with white on his tummy and belly. He is little probably 6 weeks.

The middle school kids had an awards assembly in the morning. I am so glad I went, Jayden received 12 awards. She is an outstanding girl. She got awards in Math, reading, and in language for Iowa tests of basic skills. She got a class award for achievement in Social studies, Highest AR reader reaching over 300 points, Character counts merit award, TAG group award, Honor childrens choir, and a band certificate and others. I am so proud of her, she is such a good kid.

The last day of school!!!! Jayden and I had been planning a big sleepover for this very day. One of Jayden's friends came right after school, today was an early out.I had the girls help get things ready and play awhile. They played in Jayden's room with brothers. The only girl I know that wants her brothers to play with her and her friends. She was actually sad to find out the boys would be staying with grandma over night. At 4:00 I began making the rounds to pick up the girls, Claire, Hannah, and Carson. Kahryn came after school. I had an agenda for the girls and had the whole day planned. With 5 pre-teens and no electronics (I asked them to leave them behind)I needed a game plan. Since this was a SKG date, we had a few things that we needed to go over for that. Here is how the night went, played outside, was windy so the smore idea was a no. Had a scavenger hunt then ate mini cupcake pizzas. Started the SKG activities, first played a game of sixes. This game had the girls get

Luke woke up early with a fever and aching legs. He laid around all morning and felt terrible. I didn’t think it was strep as he never complained of his throat and it looked ok. Jake had a special day at school in the afternoon, Mark watched Luke so I could go. Jacob’s first grade class had skits and songs for the parents. I invited my Aunt Alice to join me. Jake was cute, did his readings and songs. They were exactly the same ones Jayden did in first grade. At the end everyone got ice cream, and the kids drew names to pick out a book of choice. Jake didn’t get his pick and was grumpy and pouty for the rest of the day. This anger with Jake is really becoming a problem. Back at the house, checking in on Luke, he was still sick and his throat had some sores. I was thinking it was strep. After a trip to Ames, missing taekwondo, and taking up the night, we found it was only a virus.

The weekend was quiet as Jake was getting over his strep and the weather was yucky so we stayed in. Saturday it barely hit 50 with cold wind and misty rain. We did make a trip to the Bike Barn where Jayden picked out her new bike. She ended up paying for 1/4 of the bike with her hard earned money. It is a very high quality bike. She was pretty excited.

After church we had pizza in town, then went out to ride. Mark roped his hot heels. It works out nice as the boys can play in the dirt while we ride. Jayden is an expert at driving the gator for the hot heels, does better than mom.

Whew The past few days have been crazy in our home and not in a good way. Tuesday Jake came home from school with a fever. I knew right away it was strep. He is not one to complain, doesn’t say much at all. When he said it hurt to swallow, that was all I needed to know. I called the doctor and tried getting into the evening clinic. The nurse convinced me to wait until morning. My instincts were right and had he gone that night, we would have been way ahead of the battle. Jake ended up throwing up, something that strep does to young kids. We put him in our room on the floor and he woke up at 4 Am, couldn’t sleep and began spitting in a bucket because he could not swallow. His throat was fiery red with red blisters on the back of his throat. His doctor took one quick glance and said she wouldn’t even swab him, something she never does but could see how sore it was in there. He was put on antibiotics and got a smoothie for the ride home. The rest of the day he had a few sips of water and

Hooray, we finished planting around 3,000 acres of corn. It is so good to be done, it puts everyone in good spirits.

All time record breaking temps, Iowa record exceeded 95 degrees. My car thermometer hit 102 degrees. I am not ready for this heat this early!!! Sadly bunny 2 was attacked by the cats while in its cage. Those darn cats anyway. I guess we won't be getting any more rabbits.

On Mother's Day,Mark was tired and wanted to rest for the morning, then head to the field to plant. I wanted to make the most of it. We started the morning by going to see Karen, the kids had cards, a pl;an, and sang to her. Jayden played on her saxophone too. Ten it was on to Cornerstone where I was signed up for childcare. Jayden and I helped in the toddler room, kids 12 to 18 months. They were sure cute, and clingy. We already had our bikes loaded in the truck so we headed to the Ames bike path along lake ADA Hayden. My parents joined us for a quick picnic lunch and a bike ride. The sun was shinning, but the wind was strong. The bike path was very nice and a little over 3 miles. It was great, the wind made it a challenge, but what a great way to spend the day. They had a trail through the twisted branches the kids could climb through too. We finished with ice cream from Dairy Queen

Another beautiful sunny warm upper 70 day. Knowing we were in for a gorgeous day, I took the kids to Ogden for bike riding. This was Jake’s first time riding in town and he had to learn some safety rules. Jayden followed behind Jake on her little bike she outgrew 3 years ago. I was in the lead with Luke in the bike wagon. He loves to ride. We had lunch at the park and visited the bike barn where we picked out Jayden’s future bike. Later back at home we spent the day outside until it was time to take meals to the field. Wow, my arms got sunburned! Ouch.

The sun shined and it was in the 70’s. The first really nice spring day we have had. Mark started planting on Monday and has gotten 1600 acres in already. They are going hard and long hours. Luke has made several rides in the tractor with Dad. Today, Luke and I spent 6 hours outside. When Jayden and Jake got home from school, we planted our little garden. II am not much of a gardener and I am sure how this one will go, but we will give it a try. The planting process did not go as planned. The kids were fighting after a short time and the fun was gone. We planted cherry tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and carrots.

5/4/11 The kids had their track and field day at school. Once again it was windy windy windy. In the morning, it started out only in the 50;s and with the wind whipping it felt very cold. Luke and I had our winter coats on and blankets. Some kids wore shorts. By the afternoon it was a warmer, but still windy. Jayden was in the morning group, running the 50 dash and long jump. Jake was in the afternoon and the kids went from event to event, never stopping. Jake was in a grouchy mood, so it took the fun out of it.

Today was the first day of planting. This is the latest I can ever remember starting. Last night it got down to 31 degrees overnight. Things are finally drying up and warming up. I hope that spring planting will go smoothly and safely. Mark will plant all day, take a couple hour break in the evening, then work until midnight. Today a bunny was taken by a cat out of the cage. We aren’t sure how the cat could get it through the 1 inch opening, but it did. Sadly it was Jayden’s bunny and the one she planned to take to the fair. I hope we can keep the other one alive.

Mark and I took the new horse Tex and Jessie to the arena to ride. This time we took Jake with us. Not very often does he get the two of us all to himself. We gave him some lessons on Jessie and soon he was riding by himself. He did a good job on her. Usually he would rather play in the dirt than ride a horse, so we will see if that changes.