The Muench Bunch

The 2012 Olympics have begun. We live the television on all day and glance at it throught the day to see all the action. We like to see the excitment of the swimming and of course gymnastics. I have always been a big fan of gymnastics and can remember the names of gymnasts from years and years ago. 16 years ago was the Magnificant 7, a team I watched take home the gold medal and the last time since. This years team of 5 including Gabby Douglas, who has lived and trained in Des moines for the past 2 years, took home another team gold medal and it was exciting! 

I had the privilege of taking photos of the youth serpentine team. The girls had their hair all done up and the cute jeans and belts with bling. Bling- In 2007 I can remember purchasing my first western belt with bling. The new trend was the belts with rhinestone looking stones all over them. They also have a large U shape buckle. They are heavy and at first I felt like I was wearing a gun holster. Over the years they have gotten bigger, blingier, and fancier. I keep thinking they can’t get much fancier, but they do. In the past 3 years the jeans have gotten more sparkle and bling to them too. The pockets have become covered in stones and lots of bling. “Miss Me” is a popular brand that I still won’t spend the money for, they are between $85 and $150 a pair. We find plenty of jeans just as cute about half the cost. I always buy the western brands as the make them extra long. The bling jeans are even in little girls sizes. The more bling the better, purses, hats, jeans, belts, and on.

 The boys went to stay with Mawgee and Peepaw for a couple days. They went to Clarion to a neat museum and had a really nice time. The museum had old tractors and all kinds of vintage items. Jacob talked about it non-stop. 

 Jaynie and Rylie spent the night  and  went to church with us and to Subway for lunch. They played all afternoon and had a lot of fun together. Later, all the kids went to Grandma and Grandpas to spend the night. They sure love having cousin time. 

 Today was the Muench family reunion held at Hidden acres. The morning started with jayden and Jaynie along with 12 others going on a horse trail ride. They had fun, however lots of first time city kids made the ride a challenge. I took Jake, Luke, and Rylie for a swim in the pool until lunch. The families gathered in the dining room and had a pot luck lunch. The kids continued to swim and play ball in the gym and had a super time. I even got in on a fun game of volleyball. It has been a long time since I played and I wasn’t too bad, I had several ace overhand serves. I kind of surprised myself.  There was also an auction. Luke spotted an I spy quilt that he really wanted. He sat patiently on my lap for an hour waiting and watching the quilt he really wanted. He got so excited when it was time to bid. He held his hand up and never took it down until it was over. He got a very cute quilt that will become his new comforter for $35. He was thrilled. He was excited to put it on his bed.

 In the evening the clouds grew dark and the sky began to rumble and light up with lightning. We were overdue for rain and excited to finally get some rain. We watched the radar’s every move as it grew closer. Finally RAIN! We all stepped out to hear it, feel it ,smell it. It had been so hot, well over 100, in Des Moines it was 105. After a couple minutes the rain stopped. The wind blew harder and the lightning filled the sky. We watched and waited, but it never rained again. A half a tenth of an inch is what we got.  Couldn’t believe it. Miles around us people got an inch and some even more. All around farms had corn blown down from all the wind.

Tired of the heat and staying indoors because it is just too hot to do much of anything. I usually wait until into August to think about school and school shopping, but today it sounded like a good outing. I took the kids and the supply list and headed to Target. It was rather nice having the school section to ourselves without the madness of all the other kids and carts. We took our time and each kid found exactly what they needed and a few other fun things. Back at home Jayden sorted everything out in her bedroom.

Mondays heat wave and forecast Mark had his Agrigold agronomist here this morning. Not long ago he thought we would have 150 bushel corn and now he is saying maybe 50bushel. It is not looking good at all. Mark pulled some ears of corn out of some fields on Friday that didn’t look too bad, it was kind of promising. When the heat is 100 degrees we are losing 20 bushels a day. The corn around looks bad, light in color, dried, and burning at the stalk. Our yard is fried brown and everyone is praying for rain. I think the rain might be a little too late at this point. Today, the high changed to 105 degrees.  Jim Alexander brought corn for us, so I had  to do corn today. I had Luke and Jake help me husk , Jayden helped me boil and cool the corn and I cut the corn and bagged it for the freezer. We did a couple bushels of corn on this hot day.

Today was the last day of VBS. The kids had a great time and wish they could go all summer. Luke has so much fun with all the little preschoolers and even got kisses from one of the little girls. Jacob discovered that it is really fun to sing out and dance along to the theme songs. At first he was embarrassed and thought he should be cool like some of the other boys. He realized the boys that did sing and dance looked like they were having more fun and joined them. He loved everything about bible school and asked if there were any more he could go to this summer. He really enjoyed the outdoor games that usually had water involved and getting wet. Jayden helped in Luke's pre-school room and had so much fun. She met a new friend named Lilly that is a year older and rides horses too. Jayden's helper gave her a thank you gift and $10 gift card for helping. For the last day the kids put on a little program for the parents and sing. Luke played his little homemade drum and sang&quo

 1 week ago today 2 young girls age 8 and 10 years old disappeared. They were cousins out riding their bikes. They found their bikes, purses and cell phones, but have not found the girls. They even drained Lake Red Rock. Now they are suspecting abduction. It is so sad and so scary. They were from a town called Evansdale. I pray that these little girls will be brought home safely. With my kids running freely at the county fair, it makes me think, what if that was them?    It makes me hug my kids a little tighter and count my blessings.    Also in the news, last night at midnight the premier of the Batman 2 movie was showed. In Aurora Colorado a crazed gunman dressed as the joker opened fire in a movie theatre shooting and killing 12 injuring 59. So sad and so scary. There is so much dark and evil in this world when people follow satan. Matthew 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil t

The boys went to bible school, Jayden went to bible study, and I helped Karen with corn tickets. After lunch we all headed to Des Moines for a family outing. Mark wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. He is getting tired of healing from surgery and stressing over the dry corn. We went to Des Moines to Jordan creek mall, cheesecake factory, then the movie Ice Age 4.

Mark watches the tv all day long hoping and praying for rain. He sees other states getting rain and watches the radar. Today we had a chance, one little chance in the hot dry forecast for the week. The day came and went without rain. Mark is getting nervous and worried more each day. He thought he could pull off a 150 bushel crop, now he is seeing that number going down. Today he had a crop duster spray for root rot. If we do have a crop the spray was necessary. Mark covers every aspect of farming and purchased drought insurance, if we do not have a crop, our insurance will save us. Those farmer's without are going to really be hurting. This photo of Jayden and her horse shows how burnt our grass is.

I know we haven’trecoverd from the county fair and all the heat. I would have loved a day at home indoors in my air-condition without having to do a thing. We started VBS this week and I volunteered to help. No sleeping in today, we had to be at the church at 8:30AM. No enjoying the A/C, this church is not air conditioned and it was miserable hot. It actually felt good to walk outside when it was over. It was a combination of heat and all the hot little kids in a room. The forecast this week is more of this heat. We need rain so badly and the corn is stressed. The corn has to have rain now or the ears of corn will not develop. Here is this weeks forecast.

 The last day of the county fair and of course the hottest with temps near 99 degrees. The other livestock shows had cooler weather, indoor arena, and last maybe all of 4 hours. Horse showing 17 hours always the hottest two days of the fair and the hottest day outdoors.  The morning started at 10, we were all hoping they would move that earlier as they have done in past years due to the heat. My parents, Alice, and Mark all came and stuck it out in the hot heat to support Jayden. She wasn't sure about riding in the first two classes, but decided to try anyway. She got second places in both break the gait and egg and spoon. She was so very close in both classes and in break the gait,  I thought she won. So close is the story of her 4H horse career. On to the speed events, poles, barrels, mystery event, flags, jumping figure 8. She did well in all the events, expect knocked  poles in pole bending. There was such tough competition. The two kids that run in the Juniors with Jayd

 Sleeping in the camper wasn’t too bad this time. We were up and took showers in the arena bathrooms and started our day. Jayden's friend Hannah stayed until 4:00 in the afternoon. The horse show began at 10Am with halter and showmanship. Jayden’s first class was trail at 2:30ish. We had practiced the obstacles at home and felt pretty good about the class. We watched the older kids have problem after problem. Jessie was being difficult, tossing her head and not wanting to stand. Jayden got through the rope gate, but could not re-latch it. The bridge had flowers along it, so after 3 attempts Jayden had to walk around it. She walked over logs and would not break into a lope for the half circle. She backed through poles, but stepped out of it. And the last thing she did a 360 inside a small square and did it well.  Jayden was pretty disappointed with her pattern, but she ended up 3 rd . All the other kids had lots of problems too. It is so different when doing it at the fair, th

While Jayden and I were at the fair and Mark resting at home, Mawgee and Peepaw took the boys for a couple nights. The enjoyed a day at Reimen Gardens and some good 'ol fishing with Grandpa. Looks like they had fun.

Jayden invited her good friend Hannah to come spend the day and overnight at the fair. Hannah had never been to a fair, so the girls had a really good time. The girls enjoyed roaming the barns, watching the beef show, cooling off in the camper,  and seeing the 4H projects. They got to see lots of working exhibits and Jaynie hung out with them too. Jayden rode her horse to give her some exercise and did chores and hauled out some manure. In the evening they went to the horse project pot luck and later danced a couple songs in the outdoor tent with the D.J. We also had to try and sleep in the camper  hearing the loud music of the D.J. late into the night. Wondering why I did not take photos of the girls?

 I had overbooked myself and had way too many things going on in one day during the county fair. We had spent the night in the camper so we were already at the fair to start our day off. I had to run Jayden to Harcourt to the Spillman’s so they could take her to Bible study in Stratford. The boys and I drove her, then headed back to the fair for Jacob’s art work judging. I wanted to give him a chance to show off his talent too. I wanted him to have a moment in the spotlight. He had a drawing that he did of a farm and he colored it the night before. He likes to draw and isn’t much for coloring. He was given a purple ribbon which not very many purples were given. I made sure he knew that it was a big deal to get a purple and how good he did.   Next it was on the road to Stratford to pick Jayden up from her bible study. Then home to get the horse and all the stuff loaded in the trailer to head back to the fair. All 3 kids went with me to the fair where Grandpa Peepaw was there graci

 After spending much time getting the horse ready for the fair, including a bath, I wanted to have a special day at the fair for the boys. The kids and I headed to the fair mid-afternoon. It was kind of fun because everyone was brining in their animals, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and rabbits. We saw all the sights, ate lots of fair food, then stayed the night in the camper. The Webster county fair is not your typical fair. Each year it seems to get smaller and has less going on. There is little for entertainment and vendors. Outside of the 4H families there is really nobody that comes to the fair. You don’t even realize you are in Ft. Dodge. The nice thing is you don’t have to worry about your kids. I knew that Rylie pretty much roamed the fair the last few years, and without a carnival of rides, I felt safe letting Jacob roam on his own. I know it also made him feel pretty big too. He just had to check in with me once in awhile. In the evening, we got ready for bed in the camper.

 The county fair has begun. It started out with judging day and Jayden took 9 projects and 5 photos. She had some neat projects and 6 were held back for state fair consideration and 2 of the photos. Her projects included; horse shoeing poster, Sun safety display, Bronze Star Medal display, Weekly planner board, Family tree, child development ABC Monster game, tote she sewed, and cow pie brownies. We had one dilemma when the letter S was missing from her "Bronze Star" display. It was pretty major and we didn't know how best to handle it. Over lunch we ran to Hobby Lobby and made a fill in "S". Sadly none of her projects made it to the state fair, however she did end up getting 5 purple ribbons. It was a long day of waiting in lines from 8 until 3. Grandma Mawgee was there for the morning too. She loves to be involved in the entire 4H projects from getting them ready to getting them judged. Jayden is lucky to have her support and help. Wade and Carina allowed us

 Grabbed my camera and took some July pictures of the kids. It wasn’t the best time of the day to photograph, too bright. Sometimes you just have to go with it when the kids are cooperating.   Love my darlings.

 Today’s high was 101 with a heat index 110. Great day to be inside somewhere nice and cool. We went to the Des Moines Science Center with Carolyn and her kids Justus, Tabby, and Melody. It was a great way to spend the day and stay cool. The kids had a really good time and enjoyed all the things to do. Building and launching rockets was a highlight.We made sure to get the kids up to the weather center for the noon live weather report. They were super excited to be on t.v. and I thought it was pretty neat too.  They had a lot of fun with the kids. We were at the center from 10 to 3.

The heat wave continues, but there is a break in sight. I can't believe we are calling upper 80's a cool down. The corn market continues to climb.  Mark sold 10,000bu of  corn with his basis sold  for $8.00, the most he has ever sold for.  The corn is tasseling and it is crucial that we get some rain. We got our annual corn on the 4th of July photo.  Jake has stayed 3 nights at Karen's with Rylie. They are having lots of fun together.