The Muench Bunch

    I became a Great Aunt when my niece Libby had her baby girl. We welcome little Miss Everly Joy. The doctors were ready to induce Libby if her baby did not come soon as they were afraid her baby would be so big. Little did they know, Evie was tiny weighing in at 5lbs. 10 oz and born on Jan 20. Today Mark and I got to meet her for the first time. I was on my way to exercise class and stopped by to hold her. She is so precious and tiny. She is being called Evie for short and peanut for a nickname. She is the first baby in the Muench families and I know there will be many more to follow!

 Jake and his buddy Keaton are always busy working on some car or truck of their own or a buddies. They love to tinker on stuff and troubleshoot problems and fix them. Jake always comes home with a story. One evening we had Karen and Orrie over to play some cards with the kids. We played a few rounds of UNO. Grammer Karen has always liked card games and her favorite game will always be Sequence.              Luke has been playing his guitar with James on occasion, some lessons are over zoom and a few have been in person. Of course the in person lessons go so much better and Luke enjoys more. I love to hear Luke and James play. Luke is always excited and motivated when he leaves a lesson. It's the practicing at home he doesn't like. 

Former presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) sits in the bleachers on Capitol Hill before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. But more than a hundred Boston.com readers are not yet tired of the joke. Since the iconic photo by AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski has spread like wildfire, and Bernie Sanders, has “traveled” to more places in the past week than most did in all of last year. The Bernie Sanders campaign released a sweatshirt that benefits Meals on Wheels Vermont, he’s a cardboard cutout, and his chair has been sighted outside of local businesses, and in priceless artworks. A cute crochet doll of the viral moment is already up to $15,000 at auction on eBay. When questioned about the look, Sanders explained ‘‘I was just sitting there, trying to keep warm.” We asked readers to share their favorite Bernie Sanders memes with us for fun. The submissions were silly, both local and national, an

 The newest addition to the farm is a John Deere Quad. It's one big green quad tracks machine. I thought I would get in on the photo op this time. Tractors sure have come a long way!!

I officially have all teenagers and older. My baby is thirteen!  One of the perks of being homeschooled is having the whole day to yourself. Luke slept in, then got up to open his presents, watch a few home videos of little Luke, and then went to work at the shop. I am not sure what he is hoping to buy, but he has been eager to work and earn money. The hardest job and best paying job is to wash the semis, a job that is frequently done.  In the late afternoon, he wanted to go snowboarding with Alivia, who he knew would already be going. Since he went Monday for his birthday, this time he had to pay his own way. He didn't mind and it was worth it to him. It was much colder this time, dropping in the low 20's and a little fresh snow.   For his birthday, Mark helped Luke pick out speakers for his Chevy truck. We also got him a pair of muck boots. Jake got him a steering wheel cover and some car cleaning supplies. I thought it was pretty neat and sweet that Jake, on his own, found s

 What a tumultuous election. We knew it would not go smoothly and predicted the outcome would not be determined right away. Even president Trump was  concerned and anticipated corruption in the election process. It was ugly and it was a mess. The outcome is yet to be determined. There is talk of the democrats getting rid of the electoral college. 93 of the 99 counties in Iowa voted Trump. Not long after the election, the media referred to Biden as President Elect Biden. It's too upsetting and I cannot handle watching the drama on the news. With just the stroke of a pen in a matter of minutes, Biden made changes that will cost this country in more ways than one. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is moving swiftly to dismantle Donald Trump’s legacy on his first day in office, signing a series of executive actions that reverse course on immigration, climate change, racial equity and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The new president signed the orders just hours after taking th

 What covid looks like...

 The first homeschool ski day that we could attend was on MLK day. The previous homeschool day was cancelled so Luke was eager to ski. Knowing many kids had the day off for MLK day and the weather was looking to be prefect, I expected a big crowd. I never expected the huge crowd that turned out. What seemed even crazier to me was all the people wearing masks while standing "outside" in the line. We had our masks around our neck, but not exactly on. The ski hill required them while standing at the chair lifts. We wore our turtlenecks.  The kids and I arrived a little before opening and saw the line that twisted around outside for a long wait. We waited over an hour and a half. I was so thankful for the sunshine and beautiful weather that made the wait tolerable. It was upper 30's and sunny. With 4 people left in line in front of us to enter for ticket sales, they stopped the flow and waited to take inventory. We had to wait 20 minutes while they counted remaining skis and

Janet G has been a long time member of the First Baptist church in Stratford. She has been in attendance from the first time I ever attended and rarely every missed a service. She has been very involved in all aspects of the church, choir, Sunday school, AWANA, etc. Man years ago while in AWANA, I saw some of the artwork Janet had done. I asked her if she ever sold any of her paintings. She said yes and gave me a few to choose from. I picked out a lovely painting of a creek. I had it hanging on my wall just inside the front entry for many years. When i updated my entry way with different wall hanging, I didn't quite have a place for the painting. I stored it in my basement and couldn't pass it on to any kind of thrift store. It was too special. After Janet passed away I wanted her family to have it, however I really didn't know any of her family and they all lived far away. Then one day it hit me, this painting  needed to go in the church. Janet was such a dedicated member

 The past two days were fabulous, two days near 50 degrees. I tried to spend time outside both days messing with the animals, taking walks, and cleaning up. The sunshine was great and little to no wind was a treat. We hunkered down on Thursday anticipating a snowstorm. It started raining early in the morning, and after lunch it began to snow and blow. Both boys were home and already bored and buggy. They wanted to go somewhere, the shop or grandma's. We did not want a repeat of the last snowstorm where they were stranded and spent the night at the shop. I told the boys to go to the basement and set up a farm with little tractors. Sometimes you just have to enjoy your youth, you can enjoy farm toys forever. They took my advice and went to setting up. It's not so much that they play, it's more the set up they enjoy. Our big storm didn't amount to much, we got a few inches of snow and wind, a few small drifts, but nothing major. By Friday after lunch it was all said and do

Corn and bean prices have been climbing. Many farmers sell their crop right out of the field. This year was a good one for those that held on and stored grain. The prices are good, we hit $5 corn.

 Levi's fourth birthday party was held on Sunday after church. Because our church is in Ames, we can't always get there right on time. We still got to enjoy some cold pizza and cake. Levi was all smiles and super excited. Carina always gets the kids tons of giant balloons for their birthdays and Levi loves to run around with them. His birthday theme was trains and he had a fun cake with little train cars. I think he really enjoyed all the attentnion and being sung too. He still gets his daily nap and Carina puts him in his pajamas in the middle of the day for his afternoon nap.   

 Jacob says goodbye, gives me a hug and tells me he loves me whenever he leaves for school, work, a night out, and when going to bed. He also has been calling me "Mama" for the last year. He has gotten all sweet and sentimental. I love this boy and I love that he loves his mama. He is going to be a great catch for a girl someday. He is the jack of all trades. He is a hard worker, has many skills and talents, all wrapped up along with his funny personality, kindness, and faith.  

Taken from the internet: WASHINGTON — The nation's lawmakers took to their electoral duties late Wednesday amid broken glass and smashed doors in the U.S. Capitol following an historic day of havoc wrought by pro-Trump rioters who breached the building in hopes of thwarting President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Vice President Mike Pence affirmed Biden's win early Thursday. Thousands of rioters had gathered at the National Mall to protest the election results. At a campaign-style rally about an hour before the mob broke through police lines at the Capitol, Trump had urged them to go to the building.D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said the chaotic day included four fatalities: a woman who was shot by the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as three others — two men and one woman — who died in “separate medical emergencies.” Police had made "in excess of 52 arrests," including 26 on U.S. Capitol grounds, he said.At least 14 Metropolitan Police Department Officers were injure

 2020 is a year that will go in the history books. What started as 2 weeks of shelter in place is still going. Masks mandated, political uproar, racial tensions at a high, trans affirming being pushed harder, economic instability, depression, abuse, trafficking, mental illness's are all on the rise. It was not a year to look back on with fondness. It will be a year we will look back on in history as one not to repeat. I wonder what we will call the year 2020. I am sure it will go down in history as the most memorable yet. There will be many names and many stories. The year of the virus, the year the world turned upside down ,the year of fear, isolation, quarantine. The year people did whatever they were told to do like puppets or sheep following the herd. It has been such a crazy year and I am ready to put it in the past . I hope and pray that 2021 will be a year of positive changes. Our country needs a revival, it needs to look up, seek God, ask him for wisdom, and make the positi