The Muench Bunch

I love the age of 5. Kids are so young and innocent. Everything is still so real, like Mickey Mouse and cartoons. They have such the imagination and are full of fun. They are still little enough to curl up in your laugh and love to give hugs and kisses. They are at such a fun age wanting to be like Dad, dress up in farm clothes or dress like a cowboy and go to town all dressed up. Luke will wear his cowboy hat to town or his tie to church  At 5, Luke is still so cuddly, he tells me," I love you" all the time. He gives smoochie kisses and hugs. He tells me he loves me but he loves Jesus the most. He loves Jesus more than anybody. Love it! Luke is all farm boy. You ask him his favorite thing to do, "play little tractors." He plays all the time. He is all about John Deere. He has a ton of John Deere toys and clothes. He wears a John Deere shirt almost daily. Luke likes girls and recently told me he kissed his girlfriend on the shoulder and the next day she kissed him o

Today Jayden was supposed to be at her school by 7Am to leave with the science quiz bowl team to compete. She woke up hot and didn't know why. I felt her head and knew right away she had a fever. Sure enough she was sick. She sounded pretty croupy too. She had to miss out on the quiz bowl competition. What a bummer of a day. Jayden laid around all day with fever on and off. The team won 2 out of 3 and brought her back a shirt. Her teacher even included her name in the newspaper. In the night hours her croup got really bad. She was having a hard time breathing and croupy coughing. It reminded me of the many times when she was a baby and toddler that she sould get the croup so bad and have stridor. The dorcot told us she would outgrow croup around age 4.

School was cancelled because of snow. It didn't seem like much for cancelling school. It made it official, Jayden's science quiz bowl team race was cancelled for tonight. Her team of 5 had been practicing since November and got to build a solar car to race. Tonight the kids were going to the ISU campus to race cars with kids from all across the state. They were also supposed to spend the night in a hotel, swim in the pool , and have a pizza party. What a bummer deal! So what do we do on a no school day when there was little snow and no blowing? We went to the chiroprator, then went shopping in Ft. Dodge. It was kind of a mom and Jayden day. All day Jayden kept telling me she didn’t feel the best. 

 Today we await the approaching storm. They have talked about the snow storm for the last 8 days. There was word of up to 12 inches of snow and it was going to start early in the morning. As the days got closer the totals and times changed. The kids had school today, I made it to bible study and out to lunch with Carolyn. The kids got out of school at 1 and now at 4:30 the first of the snow is falling and it is windy. I hurried the boys over to the grandparents, they really wanted to stay and we can count on no school tomorrow. We were so sure of the weather and it didn't amount to much, only late start for school. Goes to show man can never predict the weather, it is in God's hands.

Today I took Allie out for lunch. I have been trying to get together with her since Thanksgiving. She has been through so much in the past couple years. She has made a lot of bad choices and has a mother that makes even worse choices. Being in the environment that she was, made it hard to have much contact with her. In December she moved in with her Aunt and Uncle who live in Earlham. We are all thankful that she is in a safer place. She does not have a car anymore, has a job with 30 hours a week at a grocery store. It is a start. She didn't pass her last semester again at college and hopes to go back someday. I took Allie to a Chinese restaurant near her town. She looked pretty good, got rid of all her piercings and seemed happy. We talked about everything and I asked a lot of questions. I gave her late Christmas presents and early birthday presents to her. She seems to be on a good path and I will continue praying that she stays on the right path. It was good to see her and I hop

Once again I say brrr! The  temps at 8, wind chill 20 below and it is late in feb.  I had to do horse chores and I do not like this cold. On days like this I am thankful to God that I live in this century where I have a warm heated house!

While we were in Flordia the big news was the cruise ship that was floating at sea for over a week without power. The Carnival cruise was on its way to Cozamel Mexico when a fire caused them to lose power and float for 5 days before being pulled to land. The people on board where living in disgusting conditions as sewage filled the rooms and floors. People slept in hallways and on the decks to get out of the stench. They had no running water. Misery! Mark asks on occasion if I would go on a cruise with him again. This is just another reason on my list of no way will I ever go on another cruise ship. Ugh!

 Our last day in Florida. We didn’t get up as early as we had been, so our time was cut short. We ate a light breakfast bar in our room before getting on a boat for downtown. We did our last souvenir shopping bringing home fun Disney stuff and spending the last of our Disney dollars from our visa card. The kids all had their hats full with pins, a fun souvineer. Luke picked out a monorail and was so proud of it. Jake got a tram and the boys were excited to get them out and play together. The sun was so warm, it felt like the warmest day so far. We decided to let the kids squeeze in a quick swim in the pool. We were already checked out of our room, but I had prepared a little bag so they could shower and change. They didn’t get much time, less than an hour, but it was worth it. Even for me to sit in the sunshine on the poolside chair. We were all wishing we had a few hours in the sun.  It wasn’t long and we were on our bus to the airport at 2:00. Our flight out of Orlando was 4:30. Ou

Today would be our last full day in Florida. We started our morning routine a little behind schedule and it showed. When we arrived at Epcot at 9:15AM, there was a gigantic line to have your bags checked before even going through the gates. Arriving early, we never had to wait, just walk through the check and head in. It definatly pays to arrive early. In the gate, we went on the planet earth ride and did some interactive centers, ate a light lunch, then walked through the showcase of lands. We rode a ride in Mexico, watched a imax movie of china, and ate in china. We left the park around 2 in order to make our dinner plans at Hoop Dee Doo. We took the round about way to get there so we could ride a monorail. The boys had been wanting to ride the monorail all week and today we finally did.

We took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and took a boat to Fort Wilderness for our evening plans. We had an hour before dinner so we let the kids run around on the beach. Luke was so excited to run in the sand without shoes. The warm white sand on your toes during the winter is the best. Somehow we managed front row seats at the Hoop Dee Doo musical review. We were so close dancing we felt like they were dancing on our table. The musical was fun and the food great. Towards the end of the show they asked for volunteers and Jake threw his hand in the wait with excitement  Right away he was chosen. I was surprised he would do it as he is usually shy about things like that. He was beaming with excitement  He got to wear a cowboy hat and vest and had a part in the Davey Crockett skit. He was cute showing his muscles and one of the ladies kissed him on the cheek. It was so cute and he loved every minute of his moment of stardom. He was given a certificate of participation at the end. Fun t

Today we headed back to Magic Kingdom for a second round and to hit all the attractions we didn’t get to the first day. We got a fast pass for the Under the Sea ride. That is the newest and most popular attraction in fantasyland and has only been open since December. Later in the day we returned with our fast pass and had a very short wait. It was a neat ride that went right along with the movie. We went to Tommorw land and split up. Mark went on his space mountain ride in the pitch dark. He said the ride was crazy, he felt like he was being jerked around and could fall out of his seat.  The kids and I went on the Buzz Light Year ride two times in a row.  Back with Daddy, we all rode the Carousel of progress and the transit. The kids were very impressed with the Carousel of progress, it is one of the oldest rides, you sit and the room rotates in a circle as they go through different decades.Luke, being the Pluto fan, wore his new Pluto shirt today and looked pretty cute.   Today ou

Today our designation was Epcot. We were up bright and early and to the park before 9:00AM. We were second through the gate. Once the gates opened Jayden got a quick photo with Daisy Duck. We were on a mission to the popular ride Soarin when an employee told us it was our lucky day and to follow her. She took us in to have photos taken with the favorite characters, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. Typically there is a gigantic line for this, so we made it through in a flash. On to the Soarin ride. Luke was hesitant about the idea, but he enjoyed it so much he wanted to go again. Next we went to the Nemo ride, then saw and interacted with “Crush” the sea turtle who loves to say,”Dude”. We explored the aquarium area and took shark photos.   We went to the Test Track and decided last minute not to take Luke. He did not want to go at all and after riding, I have no doubt it would have been too much for him. Jayden so kindly sat and waited with Luke while the rest of us rode. It was