The Muench Bunch

 Trick-or-treat fell in the middle of the week, so I had to have a plan to get everyone back home at a decent time. I knew if we didn't start early it wouldn't happen. We had supper at 4:30, were in costume and out the door by 5. For the past month, I told Jayden she was too old this year, being a teenager and all. At the last minute I thought she might as well if she wants to. So that meant the day of Halloween finding a costume.I was scrapping up what little was left at the store. If it was in her size, that was all there was for choices. Very slim pickings! Luke was all set to be a fire fighter, as long as he had his homemade axe. I was happy to put that super cute costume Jake wore to use again. Jake always has to come up with his own creation. This year he was a hunter dressed in camouflage. They looked pretty good, I must say.   Our first stop was to meet the new neighbors. Just a few miles southwest, a family moved into the old bed and breakfast house. They fixed it al

We got to enjoy a family day. Mark has been busy in the field and we all have been busy. Jayden's 180 youth group was postponed, so we had a free evening. We all went together to get Jayden's passport started. We wanted to go to Boone, it was closed, Ames was by appointment, so we ended up going all the way to Nevada. Next we went to a farm store, the boys picked out a small tractor with money they got for birthday's, and Jayden picked out her boots she is getting for her birthday. From there we ate out at the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse, mmm good. 

Dakota is somewhere between 20 and 30 years old. She has suffered the past two summers with the heeves. I have medicated her a lot to treat her condition, but it is only temporary. Her breathing has taken a toll on her and we have not been able to keep weight on her. Growing her winter coat made her look a little fuller, but it only hid the bonyness. I talked to each of the kids about Dakota being put down. I told Luke and he became very teary eyed and his reaction was "Why?" It broke my heart. As I comforted him and explained, his tough guy attitude kicked in and he began acting really silly. He does not like to show emotion. He gets silly acting and tries to hide emotions. I took the kids to visit Dakota and love on her. I had them get some brushes and took some photos. Luke said to me, " We will brush her real nice so she looks all pretty for Jesus." That made me teary! As he brushed her and hugged on her, I heard him talk to Dakota really quietly saying, "

 It has been cold and windy for the past week, highs of 45. Today the sun was shinning and it got up to 60. There was one final horse show for the season at the Dayton arena. We took Jayden and Jacob while Luke went with Grammer and Po and was supposed to come later. It was a fun show geared for practice and the kids. Jake did really well on Winnie, he rode in walk and trot, barrels, and poles. He did some loping. Jayden did pleasure, milk can, barrels, poles, and a jumping event. Her horse Tex really jumps high for the jump event. Down in the arena, there was'nt any wind and the sun came out. It made for a nice day.

 Harvest has been going steady.  I have only taken a few meals to the field. Most night the men quit by 6:00. That has been a lot less work for me. The boys can't get enough of being in the field, riding in the grain cart tractor, combine, and semi. They love to be out there every chance they get. This year the yields have been lower than normal, but decent 150bu/acre. Such a strange year of weather all the way around. The Dayton farm was our worst field, bringing an average of 50bu/acre. It was mudded in during the spring, and that is what the outcome is. Here is a combine photo. I am always amazed at how big they are going down the road. You sure don't want to meet it in passing. 

We had the kids birthday party really early this year, due to the activity. Jake wanted to go to the Ft. Dodge Apple orchard. He loves the pedal go carts they have. The public school got out early due to teacher’s conferences. I picked all the kids up at the school and we headed to Ft. Dodge. We had Jaynie, Maggie, Rylie, Soren, and my kids. The weather has gotten so cold, so the outdoors was not ideal. It was a cold windy 45 degrees, so we had the place to ourselves. Everyone bundled up and after running and jumping around, they were shedding coats. I was cold! Amanda came with little Cash. He is the boys little buddy and they really enjoy him. Auntie Alice joined us for the last hour too. The kids had all kinds of fun activities they could do,feed the goats, rope maze, water races, tube rolling, giant pillow to jump on, corn pit to play in, moutain of tires to climb, and the favorite, pedal go carts. After the fun, we all went to Godfather's where the rest of the adults met us f

 The boys took 8 swim lessons this fall. The two had a 1/2 hour lesson together. Jake was working on his breast stroke, front stroke, elementary back stroke, and front crawl. It was fun to watch Jake as he progressed. He went form a doggy paddle swimmer to actually learning to swim. He also was treading water by the end. He loves the water and spends most of his time under. I love the swim teacher the boys have, she has been great. She is very kind and good with them. Luke is Mr. reluctant to do anything in the water. This last lesson was amazing. He wore his Dad’s old goggles that are probably 30 years old. It was all about the goggles today because he was under the water a lot. He did lots of front floats and at the end jumped into the pool from the edge. Finally!! Doesn’t sound like much, but that is huge progress.  

We have designated Thursday’s of our homeschool week as vocational agriculture days. The kids go with Dad and help him or Grammer and Po. They have done a variety of things from canning, field work, office work to just about anything. During harvest the kids got to be in the field a lot .Jayden gots to help Dad with opening the hopper on the semi and taking corn samples. She checks the mositure content. Today the corn was 22%. 

Luke gets in on some fun dress up days for school. On this day, it was Wacky Wednesday. He really dressed the part. He wore it the whole day wig and all.

 Allie got a new job as a phlebotomist. It is a job she has been really wanting and hoping for. She interviewed and is in training. In Missouri you can get a job for this position and get on the job training, where in Iowa you have to get certified first. We are very excited for her. The job entails drawing blood and a lot of night and early hours. We are happy for her and praying for her. It is so nice to talk to her on the phone and hear the happiness in her voice too. We are staying in touch by text and phone calls a lot more these days.

In science the kids have been learning about birds, from color markings, types of birds, their beaks, the food they eat, to their skeletons. It has been a fun chapter of learning and I thought it was fitting to build some bird houses and do a little bird watching. . It was a great art project for them too. The three of us each assembled a birdhouse and painted it. They turned out pretty cute.

 Jayden’s friend Cheyenne brought her horse out and rode horses in the outdoor arena. The girls had a fun time riding and catching up. It was a very windy day which always makes it more challenging. Cheyenne has a new horse that she got off the race tracks, full of energy and speed. After riding the girls ate pizza and hung out. Jayden had to babysit her brothers until we got home from our meeting at 10. She is such a responsible young lady.

 Early in the year, a friend of mine posted information regarding a trip to an orphanage. I have been wanting to go on a mission trip for some time and have just been for an opportunity to arise. I was invited to go to Ghana Africa, which is something I would like to do also. Later, Mark was asked through our church to go to Zambia, Africa. The trips were open for choosing. I prayed about them, but felt I was not ready for Africa yet. I wanted to start on a smaller scale. Africa scares me and the trip would be longer, more expensive, less structured, and seeing extreme conditions. I didn’t think I was ready. I could not stop thinking about Jamaica and brought it up to Mark on and off throughout the year. The hard part about Jamaica was the trip would take place during Christmas. My first thoughts were of the kids and missing out. Then our thoughts went to the true meaning of Christmas. How awesome to spend Christmas giving to those in need. Spending time and Christmas with children th

Carina and Wade had their annual pumpkin party for Alivia. They spend weeks preparing  getting everything just so with food, party favors, and decorations. This year they made a trail through the woods and decorated it the haunted forest. The kids play all kinds of fun games and have a blast. They wrap each other up like mummies and even decorate or carve their own pumpkin. There is the hay ride which a surprise creature pops out in the woods a few times scaring the kids. The Sasquatch creature being Wade, scared Alivia the most. She knew it was Dad, but still cried in fear. The day started cold and dreary, but the sun came out and ended nice. 

Here we go, day one of harvest. Corn on corn and only 1/3 of the crop to harvest this year. Today Mike and Cory started into the fields with Linde helping in the grain cart. The boys were very excited and got in the field for some ride time. Mark made a trip to pick up a Montag cart. He has been waiting all last week for it to be ready. He has been a little anxious. This time, en route, he got pulled over for being too wide and had to take county roads home. That added about 2 hours onto his slow trip home. We also bought a new pice of land. 160 acres just to the southeast of our house. 

 Today Jayden played her last volleyball game for the season. The girls played Ogden. They were a very tough team and had some killer serves. It was fun to watch the teams keep the ball going back and forth for so long. 3 of the girls on the Ogden team I recognized as girls Jayden went to pre-shchool with. It has been neat to see them each year. I think this was the best game of the season and Jayden played really well. She is uncertain whether she will play again next year. I like her being in a sport and enjoy going to the games. I know she will miss seeing the girls on a regular basis. 

 After church we went on our first family horse ride. It was a beautiful day with sun shinning and no wind. We saddled up all the horses and put Luke behind me on Tex in the buddy seat. It was really fun to ride out as a family. We went down the road and through the pasture along the creek. I also had Luke ride Winnie all by himself for the very first time. He felt pretty big going around the outdoor arena all by himself. He went around the barrels and everything. It was cute to see. Later Tony and his family came over and roped. The boys had a fun time with Cash. They made roads all over in the tin shed in the fine black dirt. They even dug a hole and made a bridge. They were filthy. Luke and Cash rode their horses together for a few minutes before heading back to the dirt. Good ‘ol boy fun.