The Muench Bunch

 BRRRRR! Today is so very cold, it is -2 this morning with wind chills in the negative teens and the high is only 6. Yesterday the kids had another snow day home from school. It snowed and the wind was so nasty. We were pretty unproductive, kids made a giant nest of stuffed animals and watched Disney movies. We did get the suitcases out and started packing a bit.    Today I was headed to bible study when I discovered the air was low in a tire. It was too bitterly cold to have a flat on a day like this, so I headed to the tire place and had it repaired. I never made it to bible study. On the way back I fed the horses. Mark usually feeds the horses in the winter months unless he is unable. He is at the farm show in Des Moines, so today it was my turn. I was not bundled well enough and I thought my face was going to get frost bite. That cold wind hit my face and hurt. The horses didn’t even want to come out of the barn to eat. I had to put their hay in the barn with them. Oh I do not li

The temps never got warm enough to thaw the ice. The ground and roads  were still a sheet of ice and it was foggy.  School was cancelled. I had a hair appointment and headed out just before noon. The roads were better the farther south and east I went. The kids stayed with Mark and hung out at the shop. The all enjoy being there. Jayden was the little secretary, she is very helpful and enjoys it.

We had big plans for today. With the shop still set up and clean from Friday’s meeting, I knew it would be perfect timing for Luke’s birthday party. Today we awoke to the ground, trees, and roads in a sheet of ice. The temps stayed right around 30. I had hopes that it would warm up and melt, it never did. The roads were a sheet of ice, but it was decided that the party must go on. We knew this was the only chance to have it and with lots of food left from the shop event, we needed to do it. My parents were too far away with the bad roads and could not make it. We still put the super cute John Deere cake out that Mom and Dad made for Luke. They delivered it on Friday. It was a pinterest idea that had a little collapse,but still saved it. The guests that did make it were all very close and could come by way of gravel. We had the neighbor bring all her kids, which made it more fun for the kids. Luke's freind Aleah and her Dad came. Ferrari's Danielsons, Linde, Grammer

Winter Jam came to Des Moines and I was excited to go. For $10 you got to hear 10 christian bands in one big concert. I was most excited for Jamie Grace and Toby Mac. I wanted to take Jayden and cousin Kellie was back for the weekend and agreed to go too. It sounded like a fun time together. I really didn’t know what to expect with general admission. The concert started at 6, and we were parked and in the sky walks around 4:30. The line was long, but moving. We just kind of went with the flow and before long we were in. I thought we would find decent seats, however we were about 6 rows from the tippy top. The concert was in the Wells Fargo arena and I had never been in such a big auditorium with 15,000 people. We were so high up there. It was loud and crowded and the first 3 bands I had never heard before. Finally News Boys performed followed by Sidewalk Prophets, and Jamie Grace. Jamie was super fun to see and hear. She only sang a few songs to give a taste of her later performance

Mark has taken on another big adventure. He is going to be involved in the handling and delivering of fertilizer in addition to becoming a Salford strip till dealer. He has titled his new business Muench Agri-solutions. Tonight he held an open house meeting at the big shop. He was estimating 200 and was pleased with the turnout of 100. Linde and Julie catered an awesome meal of steak sandwiches  beans, cheesy potatoes, and apple crisp. We invited some extra family and friends. The Mai family all came and Ken prayed for the meal. The kids all had fun in the office playing games and such. The meeting was from 5:30 to 7 followed by the meal. I hope that this new journey for Mark will be a successful and not stressful one. He likes to keep busy and is always on the leading side of technology. He is very knowledgeable and wants to help others improve their farming practices.

Luke is such a Mommy's boy... just ask his Daddy. I think Daddy would like some of those kisses Luke gives only to mom. I hear "Mommy, I love you" a lot from Luke. The other day he told me he loved me and,"I feel good when I am with you. You are the prettiest mom in the world." I am loved! Then Mark chimes in, "What about Daddy?' Luke says "oh yeah, you too." Poor Daddy's feeling left out. I get these "I love you" moments often. I am a lucky mama.

 Today my baby turned 5 years old. It is so different knowing that he is the baby and growing up. When Jayden and Jacob turned 5, there was another baby.  Luke is a lively little guy. He is full of love, likes to cuddle, hug, give kisses. He is generally a happy kid, smiling and giggly. He is very social, likes people and kids like him. He really likes the girls. He loves to dance, he'll hear a beat and start grooving to the music. He likes to ride in tractors and is all about John Deere. He wishes we named him John Deere. Today he had school, the lunch with Grammer and Po and Po took him to pick out his birthday present. They went right to the John Deere dealer and picked out a new strip till for his tractor.  

Only in Iowa can it go from 50 to -20 wind chill in 48 hours. Saturday we had a nice sunny day, snow was melting and the kids got so muddy playing outside in the 50's. Sunday we got some new fluffy snow and now today it is staying in the negatives with a wind chill 20 below. Brrr! I thought the schools should have late start, but no such luck. I hope no little ones had to walk to school today.

Mark and I decided it was time to join and become members of the Cornerstone church. We have enjoyed the church so much and want to become more a part of it. In order to become a member we had to attend two classes. In one of the classes we had to share our "God story". I couldn’t have wriiten this better myself!!  Written by a blogger friend   “What I Used to Think “ If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ve heard bits and pieces of my testimony of how God has changed my life. Our church calls this a ‘God story’ and explains it as events leading up to and after the point of intersect…when God intersects your life ….you were going one direction and then suddenly God opens your eyes to truth and your life starts on a new path. It is this intersect point in a person’s life in which many put their faith in Christ for the first time. It is often referred to as when they were ‘saved’, or the moment they first believed. The events and feelings after this point are

Luke has talked about going to Chuck E Cheese since summer. It was just so matter of fact to him, that we just couldn't not go. He told us it is "where a kid can be a kid" as the commercial states. He was super excited to go and we chose tonight to go. Rylie and Karen and Orrie went with us too. Chuck E Cheese is a crazy loud game party place. We had reservations for a pizza party for 8. We had our own table with waitress, tons of tokens for the kids to play arcade games, Luke got a giant balloon, a birthday crown, and a really nice birthday star medallion. I felt it was a pretty good deal for what we paid. The kids had a blast going from game to game. It was fun to see how long the tokens lasted. Each kid got 20, Jake was out in an hour. Next it was Jayden, then Luke. Rylie held on to his and looked every game over before he played. He made them last. With our food the kids all got an extra 10 tokens to play after we ate. Each game shoots out tickets so at the end of the

Today was our final carpet installation. We had to clear the living room out for this last and final phase. The television and entertainment center were the toughest to move and disconnect. The carpet guy worked all day until evening. It was so nice to get all the furniture back and live in our house with the new plush carpet.

Jacob told me the library at his elementary school has a bible but nobody every checks it out. Yes, that is understandable, not too many kids would read the bible at that age. Then he told me that if the kids had an action bible like his, they might check it out. He has an action bible that is written like a comic book. It has the main bible stories in it. Then Jacob thought of the idea to buy a book for his school. I thought it was a great idea and told him how proud I was of him to think of that and yes, we will donate them. He told me we should get one for the Boxholm school and for the Boone library. Like the way this kid thinks! 3/15/13 Today I volunteered at the school. I had a parent/librarian come up and thank me for giving the action bible to the school. She helps in the library and told me she made sure to get it checked in and on the shelves right away for the kids. I also noticed in Jake's classroom today two boys were on the floor looking at the action bible together

Today the snow was just right for building a snowman and that's just what Luke and I did. The temperatures have been getting warmer in the 40's and I knew the snow would soon be gone. We built a small snowman with what Luke called" the world's largest carrot nose". The other picture, well, that is how Luke plays the keyboard. Jacob discovered my old keyboard at my parents over Christmas. He was so excited and couldn't wait to bring it home. That led to lining up piano lessons for the kids. We shall see how it goes.

 Had a nice day, went to church,  Jayden and I had child care. After church we went to a Mexican restaurant with the Mai family. Caroyln and I have had lunch outings quite often after bible study. I have known her for 2 years and just recently met her husband. He is a parking helper on Sunday mornings. This time we thought it would be nice for our families to go out to eat together. The kids are so similar in age and they all sat at one table and did great. They have Melody 6, Tabby 11, and justice turning 13. Us adults visited and Ken and Mark got to know each other. I felt like we could have talked for hours. Eventually the restaurant manager actually told us he needed our tables for a party coming in. I guess we over stayed our time.

 Our house has been kind of tore apart with the new carpet and moving furniture around. The kids have not slept in their normal bedroom for 3 nights. Jayden was excited to spend the day and overnight with Makenna. They had a fun time just hanging out and doing stuff in the barn. Jayden took her saddle but it was too cold and windy to ride. They have so many horses, and all kinds of animals. It is like a petting zoo and then some.

 The carpet installer finally showed up to start on the carpet. This was a one man crew conquering our 3 bedrooms. There was some mis-communication and he was only planning to do one room. We had our bedrooms completely moved out and had to get  them all done. He called in an extra man and worked until midnight and came back the next day for another  5 hours. For tonight, we tucked everyone in the basement on the floor for the night. The carpet is looking so nice. It is so soft, I love it. A great way to start the new year with fresh clean carpet.

Mark and I got all the furniture out of the bedrooms by ourselves. Thanks to the moving gliders, it went pretty smooth. We had to take apart beds, the boys bunk bed was the hardest. We took apart the computer desk, had to take doors off, unloaded drawers and moved everything out. The boys had fun wrestling each other on their mattess'. We stuffed it all into the living room and the kids slept in our room on their mattress for the night, they loved that.