The Muench Bunch

I fixed lunch for Doug, Darrell, and Lauren. I don't fix big meals for company very often, but it went well. I had prepared ham balls ahead of time and we had squash and cheesy potatoes. In the afternoon the cousins came to ride horses in the arena. The girls had fun trading horses and trotting barrels. Darrel, Doug, and Lauren got on for a quick ride too.  Luke, he likes to either poop scoop the arena or ride his horse at a trot. He will wear a person out running all over leading him so he can trot. He loves to trot and laughs while bouncing. Later Tony and his family came and roped. The boys found a nice corner in the arena dirt to play in. Boys and their dirt!                                                   

Black Friday has started on Thanksgiving morning these days. It is quite sad how the shopping frenzy is shadowing Thanksgiving. I do't see the thrill in shopping in mobs of crazy people just to save a few bucks. With family in town for Thanksgiving I planned a fun kid friendly outing. Those that did not shop met in Ames at the theater for the movie Frozen. Lori, Jaynie,Rylie, Karly, Kalra, Kellie, and my kids all went to the movie. I think thet movie was fabulous and it is now my favorite Disney movie ever. We all enjoyed it very much. I was so nervous with Karla being there, but she did not have any seizure trouble thankfully. Next we all went to Hickory Park where Suzy, Abby, and Kellie's friend Duane met us. It was a good time and fun with family. Everyone headed to Melinda's for soup supper and stayed until late that evening. Back home I discovered Darrell and Lauren brought their dogs to stay with them. I was ok with dogs in kennels, but when we all got back in the eve

 A traditional Thanksgiving for our family resembles the same each year. We sleep in, get up and watch the Macy’s day parade. Get dressed up and I make my taco salad, the same one I have made for the past 5 + years. This year we added orange fluff. Then we go to Melinda’s for dinner at noon and eat somewhere between 1 and 2:00. There are always lots of family members and lots of food. Melinda is good in the kitchen and makes some of the best butter horn rolls and mashed potatoes. We feast on all the good food. Aside from immediate family, we had Suzy, Karla, Karly, Kellie, Duane, Verna Mae, Lavern, Donaleen, and Doug. All the cousins have fun together. This year Libby left early to go to her boyfriends and Jossie and Torrie left with Troy for a cattle show. Cousin Karla was being extremely cautious with her gluten free food, trying to avoid problems.  She still ended up having multiple seizures. It is very hard to see. She curls up in tight muscle spasms. Her hands and face get tight

Thanksgiving By Jayden  10 Thinks I am thankful for 1 Family 2 Food 3 My House 4 Silliness 5 Horses 6 Holidays with Family 7 Fun Times 8 Friends  9 My Church 10 Heaters and A/C Poem  Thanksgiving Leaves blowing, snow falling It's that time of year Ovens baking, families traveling Thanksgiving is near Last minute cleaning, cars arriving Thanksgiving is here Turkey roasting, Hugs and talking I'm thankful we're all here Prayers and feasting, pies and games I hope this day is always near.

The boys have enjoyed drawing together. Luke wants to do whatever his big brother is doing. Jacob discovered that you can find old vehicles on ebay to copy and draw. They are quite the boys.

The arena has taken around 7 months to finish. Today, the electricians finished up and Mark worked the ground for us to ride. We all went out to the arena for the very first ride in the new indoor arena. It is our new winter playground. None of the horses had been ridden for a month, so we all had a slow ride. The boys took turns on their trusty mount, Winnie. It was pretty awesome. We put the horse trailer inside to tie the horses to and to have our tack handy. The arena has 4 heaters, so it was toasty enough to shed our coats. We had to turn the heat off at 55 because we were too warm. This arena is amazing. 

Luke had a school Thanksgiving play. He had been practicing it and talking about it for a month. He was so excited for me to come. The kids were quiet and forgot every line they had been working on. The teacher basically told them every line before they repeated it. Luke was a duck in the corner that said two words. Ok, so it wasn't broadway, but preschoolers are so cute it doesn't matter. It was worth the smiles on Luke's face just seeing Jayden and I there.

 We had breakfast with Karen and Orrie, and Dorothy and Bob. Dorothy had returned from the Mayo clinic with a bad report. She has breast cancer. We visited for a long time about it. It sounds like she has some areas that will be removed and then Radiation. During breakfast, Jacob didn’t want to eat much. He wasn't complaining and it took awhile to get what was wrong out of him. Finally he told me his throat hurt. One look in his throat with his super enlarged tonsil, I knew it was strep. Within a couple hours,  I had him to the doctor, diagnosed, and got his antibiotics. Strep again, and Jayden just got over it. We got to the doctor early enough that Jake didn’t have to go through the pain and misery Jayden did. In fact, he got Mcdonald’s hamburger and fries for lunch. Mark stayed home with Jake while the rest of us went to the benefit for Emma Kiefer. Emma is the daughter of our elementary school secretary. She took such good care of Luke when he hit his head at school and got a

 We weren't supposed to get any snow until tomorrow. After bible study I had lunch with my good friend Carolyn. I enjoy her friendship and conversations so much. She is such a good friend and always has biblical advice. At noon it was 28 degrees and lightly raining. At 1:00 there were little bits of sleet. I went into a store, came back out and my car was glazed in ice. My side mirrors were thick with ice. As I drove the ice was forming on my hood and windshield. The roads were ok until you got to the county roads. Thankfully I made it home safe, but it was a bit scary. Luke got out of school an hour early.

Jacob at the age of 10- Jacob could have the nickname “slim”. He is thin and looks good in a pair of wranglers. He has nice blonde hair with his blue eyes and that cute little grin. He knows how to charm ladies with his funny sayings. He loves cats, cuddling with them, and bringing them in the house to sit on his lap. He loves to draw and just keeps getting better. He spends a lot of time drawing with such deatil and it puts him in a good mood to draw. Look out when he has to stop drawing in the middle of something. He can be very strong willed. School is hard as he gets distracted by anything and everything. He seems to like science and has some good questions. He is always thinking. Jake likes to organize and arrange. Sometimes what he considers organizing, we consider a mess or cannot find things with his new arrangement. He also likes to take an old vehicle and clean it up inside and out, whether car, truck, or tractor. He pays attention to details in vehicles. He knows a ton of

 Today my Jake turned 10 years old. He is really growing up. We reminisced his birth and his baby days with him. Today he had to share his birthday with Po who we were having a big surprise party for. When Jake was born, Grandma had a 60 th birthday party all planned for Po and then Mommy went into labor. So, she wanted to try again. We had ice cream cake at lunch today to make Jake's day special.  Today was the big 70 th  surprise party for Po. We all spent the day taking care of last minute details. Buying balloons in town, cleaning, decorating, etc. The boys had the most fun zipping around the clean wide open shop on scooters. The party was at 5. Many people, friends, family, and neighbors came. Orrie was surprised. Somehow he thought we were having a  Republican meeting coming up at the shop. The food was outstanding, Linde and Julie catered serving ribeyes and all the fixings. Special guest Chuck A.K.A the Arab man entertained the crowd with his fortune telling. He cracked

We took Jacob out for his birthday and he picked Texas Roadhouse in Ames. Grammer and Po joined us for the outing. Jake was all decked out like a cowboy. He wears his slim cinch jeans and his cowboy hat. He makes a handsome little cowboy, I must say. The restaurant is very cowboy themed. Jake had lots of look, smiles, and comments with his big cowboy hat on. He heard, cute cowboy, precious, and cute outfit as if he was dressed up in a costume. He was proud to sport his cowboy hat and liked the attention. He even tipped his hat to a couple waitresses. When it came time for the waitress' to sing Happy Birthday out loud, Jake was pretty embarrassed. After dinner, Jake got to pick out his new bike for his 10th birthday. 

Jayden at the age of 14- Jayden is my responsible mature little girl teenager. I cannot believe she is old enough to start driving a car. She is so helpful with her brothers and even babysits so mom and dad can have an evening out. She does so willingly even though she would really rather not. She loves to help in any way around the house, cleaning, dishes, laundry, correcting homework, whatever. She likes to always have something to do and not be bored. She still enjoys reading a lot. She spends a lot of time playing Ipod or computer games in her free down time. She enjoys being with mom whether it is grocery shopping or watching a Heartland TV show together. She likes to help her Dad at the shop and is very good on the computer and making invoices. She also likes to organize. Jayden has become quite the horse rider, she can ride about any horse and is loping bareback. She is fun to watch when she rides especially on big Tex. They have matching hair color too. She likes to spend tim

Today Jayden and I had a special trip planned. She had been sick all week and was finally feeling better. We both needed to get out of the house and we had our day planned.  A girl from the high school has been in the hospital after a tragic car accicent. She has been in a coma with severe head trauma. Her mother is staying at the Ronald McDonald house. I like to take Jayden every few years to the RMH and take some donations and take a tour. The last time we went, she was 10. Knowing someone staying at the RMH and it being around Jayden’s birthday, I thought it was time to make a trip. We had made a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies, had two frozen casseroles’ from Jullie’s store, and made a gift bag for Mrs. K who was staying at the house. We put shampoo, soap, hand sanitizer, lotions, toothpaste, toothbrush, devotions, a journal, a frame, crossward puzzles, casey’s gas cadr, and lots of little things in a gift bag. We made a stop at Target to buy supplies for the RMH off their wis

Oh how the kids love those cats! There isn't a day that goes by that they don't have a cat in their arms. It is a battle between me and the cats. I love them dearly and like to cuddle with the, but I also have new furniture and carpet and would like to keep it nice. We have rules, cats stay in the basement or at the front door. Sometimes that rule gets bent.

\(CNN)  -- With 25 million people in its path, Super Typhoon Haiyan -- one of the strongest storms recorded on the planet -- smashed into the Philippines on Friday morning. As the storm plowed across the cluster of islands in the heart of the country, casualties were reported, more than 100,000 people took shelter in evacuation centers and hundreds of flights were canceled.  The storm brought tremendously powerful winds roaring ashore as it made landfall in the province of Eastern Visayas, disrupting communications with a major city in its path. With sustained winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph), Haiyan was probably the strongest tropical cyclone to hit land anywhere in the world in recorded history. It will take further analysis after the storm passes to establish whether it is a record.

Out of the blue, Luke asks me where my wedding dress is. I told him it was in a box saved and I asked why he wanted to know. He said, “ I want Alex G. (Lexi) to wear it when we get married." More frightening that that, when we were watching home videos of Jayden when she was born, Luke says to me,” Will you and Dad be there when Lexi has her baby.” He also talked about how he would have his buddy Alex L. who wants to be a police man, help speed his wife to the hospital when she is going to have a baby. Oh my that is boy is thinking way ahead of his year, scarey!

Seeing Jayden's throat this morning, I knew it was going to be bad and sure enough it was strep throat. She was pretty miserable, feverish and not able to swallow. Her throat got so bad before it got better, so she was in for a rough few days. Sadly, she was planning to take 4 girls from school to the 180 youth group outreach night. She was so sick Wed, Thurs, and Friday.  While she was home sick, she did a lot of lounging and t.v watching.  I let her bring a cat in, he was the best medicine.

I took Jayden to the doctor a week ago for what she thought was a sinus infection. It turned out to be just a cold. The next day she was croupy and today her throat was really sore. First thing in the morning her tonsils were really swollen and she searched the internet thinking tonsilitis. Today was her birthday and she was feeling crumy. As the day went on she was feeling worse. We got out the home videos as we do every year to reminisce. We have lots of video footage of Jayden's first few hours and days in the NICU. She was our tiny little sweet preemie. It is hard to believe it has been 14 years. She has grown into an amazing young girl. We thank God for her everyday. We wanted to do something special for her birthday and my parents wanted to come down no matter what.  She got to open her gifts for her birthday, a big canvas of her on Tex with the american flag, and her new cowboy boots. Daddy surprised her with a gorgeous bouquet of pink and purple flowers.    The grandparents