The Muench Bunch

Our very good friends, the Buhr's had a baby gender reveal party. Something I had never heard of let alone been to. When it comes to this little baby, they are going all out. After 4 miscarriages, they are more than excited for this baby! The family is blended with her girls, his boys, and this will be the ours. We are so happy for them as we get to be involved in their lives and the arrival of the baby. They had a party at the ISU alumni center on campus with several guest. Decorations were everywhere with pink and blue. At last Dan told the story of their family leading up to the pregnancy. He had the gender reveal note under lock and key. They are having a girl!! The girls were screaming with delight and the bus were pretty bummed. I think it was a competition to them. We are just excited for them and pray for a good pregnancy. The baby is due October 20.

Today is a day that will change history, Sadly it most certainly is not for the better. It really shows how far this one nation under God has slipped and fallen farther from that one God.  A divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that same-sex couples can marry nationwide, establishing a new civil right and handing gay rights advocates a historic victory.   It is another sad reality of how lost people really are. We have a choice, to follow God, or to follow man. I choose God. This was written by a friend of mine and very well said.     Dee D.  It is not mine or the supreme courts right to decide what is just. Only God Almighty. As a Christian, I don't get to pick and choose the scriptures that I want to follow. I either accept all of the bible as truth or none of it. I believe the bible is the inspired word of God and I have chosen to follow Him. With this ruling, the word of God is hate speech. Jesus said.. "Haven't you read? That at the beginning, the Creator mad

Today was our last day to enjoy our cabin at Spring Lake and tonight was our party night. The boys and I slept in after staying in the cabin. Jayden came in the late afternoon and Mark came just in time for the party. We went for more bike rides. We went down by the beach area and Jake rode his bike along the edge of the water, in the sand, just barely getting his tires wet. Luke decided that looked like fun so he wanted to try. I did not know any of this was going on and I looked up to see Luke riding his bike into the lake. Instead of riding parallel to the water, he went straight in. he soaked his shoes and sock and pants to his knees. Grrr! We had lunch, read some books, and played on the beach before it was time to get ready for the party. The party time was 5:00, everyone came between 3 and 4. Both grandparents, Wade, Carina, Alivia, and Alice came. We sat around and visited awhile. I got things ready and had Mark grill brats and burgers. We had an asortment of food that others h

Week of 6/23/15 This is my cabin week. Back in March I reserved a cabin at Spring Lake for 4 nights. I was excited about it and have been looking forward to it all spring. Little did I know how crazy busy our days would be and the weather would not cooperate. I wanted a quiet, relaxing week to just enjoy the cabin and the outdoors. I love camping, not the rustic tent camping, but campers and cabin style camping. Spring Lake is the kids and I’s favorite little spot and it is so close to home. Close enough we can run home for chores, to shower, or to get something we forgot. I figured it was close if Mark needed to check on things too. Monday was preparation day. Since I had not had one day to catch my breath, that was my day, plus getting groceries and packing. It took me the entire day to get all the stuff ready. Oh my the stuff you need! Clothes, towels, kitchen stuff, food, sand toys, beach stuff, grilling supplies, balls and books and bikes to name a few. I felt like we were moving

We kind of have a summer routine. I set down some rules after the first week of freedom from school. The television goes off at 8AM. Therfore if you want to watch cartoons you must get up early. Nobody wakes up early. The kids have a list of chores and to do’s that must be done before they can watch tv or play games in the afternoon. They also need to read for 20 minutes a day.  During swimming it has worked out really well for them to read in the car. They have a designated room they must keep clean and tidy. The room changes each week, bathroom, living room and kitchen. So far it is going well. One thing I am really bad about it “Stick to it’ness”. I am great at coming up with plans and ideas, but I have a problem with keeping it going. I let the kids slack too much. I am hoping to stay on track with this through the summer and by the tine school starts I am hoping it will be routine. 

 Mark had a very simple Father’s day request, he wanted to have the Dad’s come over and grill out. After church we went to the grocery store and Mark got everything for our dinner that he wanted, steaks,shrimp, twice baked potatoes, rolls, and salad. Once home we had a little down time before we lit up the grill. Mark grilled the steak and prepared his shrimp. We also had asparagus and a very special dessert. Jacob prepared his Krumkaka that he previously made with Elaine Elm as a 4H project. He rolled them to look like ice cream cones, filled them with whipped cream and topped with strawberries. It was a hit!

Luke wanted a Big Roy farm toy. It is a 1:64 scale toy. At Target you can buy a matchbox car for $1. Now I realize that Big Roy is a die cast tractor with elaborate details. However, I want to teach the boys to value their money. Mark feels that if the boys earn their own money, let them buy whatever they want, it is their money. I agree they can spend their money, but I think they should spend it wisely. The big Roy was a $68 toy. I explained Luke could have 68 mathcbox cars for that price. He could buy a lot of things and that is a LOT of money. I also told him he will be so excited when it comes in the mail, he will play with it all day, then the next day it will sit on a shelf, and it will get played with on great occasion. In other words I think it is a big waste of money, No matter how hard I tried, he was so convinced to buy his Big Roy, I cringed and let him. It is a lesson for me to let my children handle their own money, but It was not easy for me. Someday when he is much ol

Jacob got to bale hay with his Grandpa for the first time. He helped unload the square bales, something that is hard work and I can remember helping through the years. Jacob was a big help to his Grandpa and felt pretty good about it. Grandma got some great pictures.

Week of 6/15- In the wee hours of Monday, Luke was up about 6 times from 2-4:00 AM feeling nasueas. He thought he was going to vomit. He never did, but Monday morning I made the decision to sleep in and skip bible school. We were going to have to get up at 6:30 and I wasn’t sure how Luke was going to feel. Having that one day to catch my breath was a Godsend!! I have been going and scrambling and fall into bed each night feeling like I am running a marathon. To have a free day felt wonderful. I went to town, got groceries, got horse feed,  took the dog to the vet, and rode my horse. It was a great day and because of it I felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the rest of the busy week. Thank you Lord.  My Aunt Rose is slowly coming out of her sedation and is making baby steps of progress, but we are all just thankful for progress. It has been a very scarey time. We don't know what the outcome will be, but just praying for a good one. Cornerstone’s bible school is this week,. We g

Today we took the day and went to Clarion to the Heartland Museum. It was a fabulous museum with so much to see. We spent a couple hours with a tour guide and felt like we could have spent the day. There were vintage things from a movie theater, fire station, ice cream parlor, hat lady collection, Boyd's bears, a bank, post office, hotel, and so much more. Then there was the room filled to the max with old time tractors in every shape, size, and color. Then there was Big Bud the world's largest tractor. The boys were excited to see him again and each got a Big Bud hat to take home. We ended the day with ice cream and stopped at my parents on the way home.

 Jayden and I were on the road by 5:00 headed to an ISU jackpot barrel race. We arrived at 6:00 in the heat of 92 degrees. There was a breeze and some shade if you parked just right. By the time everyone rolled in, there were 50+ barrel racers. I was amazed at the good turn out. People try to put on barrel races locally all the time and only get a handful. The old rodeo stomping grounds brought back  some college memories. Sadly the grounds have not changed in 20 years and the University is trying to get rid of the rodeo grounds and even the rodeo program.  This would be my first time  competing  in barrel racing in a long time, I am thinking 7+ years. Jayden has been wanting me to get back into barrel racing for some time. I just don’t have the drive in me like I used to, but to have some special times with my daughter who will be graduating from H.S. in 3 years, I will do it. I have been riding Traveler and working the barrel pattern doing slow work. I have not run him through the

Week two of swimming lessons has been just as busy as week one. Along with swimming, Karen and Orrie took the boys every night to a bible school at Bethel church from 6:30 to 9PM. I am glad the boys love bible school. The theme is "Sons Sparks Labs" and the kids got shirts.  The sun has been shinning and temps got into the 90’s. It was so hot along the pool during swim lessons, I had to sit my chair in the shade. I am enjoying watching the boys, they are improving so much!  Monday the farrier came at 8:00 in the morning to shoe and trim 5 horses. Jayden stayed after I left with the boys for swimming. In the evening, I had bible study. Tuesday was the hottest day of the week up in the 90’s. That hot evening we started the ISU jackpot barrel racing. Wednesday the vet came in the morning to vaccinate all horses. Jayden went with Mawgeee, got her hair done and spent the night. She also introduced Grandma to Starbucks. Mark and I took care of the chores and picked more strawber

About a week and a half ago, my  Aunt  Rose’s heart was giving her trouble. She had open heart surgery several years ago to replace a couple valves. She was sent home with medication and was very weak. She basically had to wait until it got worse, which it did. Finally she was in the hospital and had to wait for surgery to be scheduled. On Friday she had open heart surgery to replace one of the valves. The original plan was just to go in with a scope, not full open heart. The surgery was a success at first. In the wee hours she began having seizures. Now for the past 3 days she has been heavily sedated and medicated. They discovered she had some mild strokes. Now we have to pray and wait until they take her off sedation. This has been so hard for John and Laura. Their family has been through so many heartaches. We are praying that she will come through this strong and be ok without any  permanent  damage.

 Mark finished in the field yesterday afternoon!! Wahoo, we had the girls youth party last night. This morning, Mark suggested we have a family fun day. Honestly I was looking forward to just being home for a day, but if Mark was game for having a special family day, I was all for it. So, with Mark's idea off to Adventureland in Des Moines we went. This was a first for our family. Jayden has been with her middle school band group one year. Myself, I had not been since 4H as a kid. It was a warm day but not too hot. The crowd wasn't too bad. Our first stop was the tea cups. I cannot ride anything without getting sick. We thought this would be a good ride to start Luke out on. The 4 of them sat in the tea cup and didn't even spin their cup. Just the action itself was enough for Luke's eyes to be huge and he was hanging on for dear life with a look of terror. That was supposed to be a mild ride. Most of the rides we would all watch from a distance but not dare to go on. W