And the Doctor Says...

...astigmatism!!! Yep, our little girl was in need of glasses and so, here is our little girl with her brand new "big girl" glasses :)


Wait for it...

Ta-Da!!!!

Please help sponsor Jarrod...

A friend of mine put this on her blog about her husband Jarrod. I am passing this along to all of you so we can get the word out for his efforts. I will be donating on payday, I hope the rest of you can help as well.

Support Oregon Special Olympics!

Jarrod recently became a member of a fund raising committee for the Special Olympics Oregon. Prior to this, he was already involved in going to the events and handing out the medals to the athletes (in his military fatigues since its more exciting for a soldier to hand out the prizes!). On February 21st of this year, Jarrod will be taking part in the Portland Polar Plunge. This means that he will be jumping into the FREEZING Columbia River in an effort to raise more money for the cause. Unfortunately, the current economy situation affects non-profit organizations more than you might think. Fundraisers, such as this one, are vital for the athletes continuing success. If you are interested in supporting the Special Olympics athletes of Oregon, please make a donation by visiting Jarrod's Firstgiving page:

http://www.firstgiving.com/jarrodjohnson

You can donate online with a credit card. All donations are secure and sent directly to Special Olympics Oregon by Firstgiving, who will email you a printable record of your donation. Any donation will help and is greatly appreciated.

Welcome Kimberly Paige

Brad's brother Kasey and his wife Laura were blessed this Monday, January 12th, with the addition of their third baby girl, yes that's right everyone, another girl! Poor Jeylin is so far the only male grandchild on either side of our families. Anyway, she was born at 12:23 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 17 1/2" long!!! She joins big sisters, Makayla who is four and Ellie who is two.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

A Mundt Family Christmas 2008

The following story was written by my Mom to be put on my blog for all to share. I hope you enjoy her wonderful writing as much as we enjoyed our Christmas holiday...

Christmas 2008 found the Mundt family all together at the farm house. What a blessing it is to see my grandchildren playing and running through the house of their Great-Great Grandparents. Coincidentally it’s the same house their Great-Grandmother was born in! How pleased George and Elsie would be if they were alive today! I often wonder what Christmas’s past must have been like in this old house. Sometimes I come across old photos of George with his horse drawn sleigh, the beautiful silver sleigh bells (which we still have) hanging around the old brown mare’s neck. I imagine how deep the snow was and how they must have had the old wood stoves roaring. I can almost smell the pies cooking in Elsie’s old wood cook stove.

The following family were here: Dave, Brandy, Jaycee, Jake, Shaundee, Brandi, Bradley, Jordyn, Jeylin, Kierra, Brad, Papa Dave, Grandma Velda (aka Granny), Grandma Marge (aka Nana-Nana) and of course me. On Christmas Eve we put on our Sunday best and as is tradition for our family, went to Christmas Eve Mass at our church, Sts. Peter & Paul. As usual the church was decorated beyond compare! We entered the church to the sound of beautiful Christmas carols being sung by the choir. The only lights in the church were the candles, the Christmas trees and tons of Christmas lights! It’s so wonderful to watch the awe in the little one’s eyes as they sat so patiently and quietly waiting for the baby Jesus to be brought to the front and put in the manger! Father Brad asked if all the children would like to come to the front of the church and sit around him on the floor as he read them the Christmas story from scripture. He interacted so beautifully with the kids as he told the story in words they could understand. He asked them questions and of course Jordyn knew the answers!

After church we headed home to start the traditional Mundt feeding frenzy. Every year we have sliced meats, cheese, salads, chips, dips and other foods we only prepare on Christmas Eve. We eat and drink like kings, play games, watch A Christmas Carol and of course stay up way too late! Finally it’s time to get the little ones to bed. I read The Night Before Christmas, the kid’s hang the “Santa Key”, cookies and milk are left for Santa (this year we added carrots for the reindeer) and then it’s off to bed! (The Santa Key is a skeleton key tied with a red ribbon that is hung each Christmas Eve outside on the door latch so that Santa can get into the house!) This is when the work really begins for us adults as it’s at this time that the gifts from Santa are placed under the tree. Finally we adults get to bed only to be up before daylight on Christmas morning. It is an old German tradition to have a pickle ornament on the tree. The first little child to find the pickle gets a special gift (this year it was a $1 bill). Jordyn had cased out the tree in advance and of course found it first!

Once all the gifts were opened and the mess cleaned up it was time for me to start round two of the feeding frenzy. As usual our turkey is as big as a Buick and this year was no exception. He was dressed and stuffed, put in Great-Grandma Mundt’s roaster and in the oven by 8:00 a.m. Our home smells so good on Christmas Day!!! We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, a fresh vegetable assortment, pumpkin, berry and cherry pies. Of course we had tons of Christmas cookies, fudge and candies as well! The dining room table is set with my best Christmas table cloth, my china, crystal and Great-Grandma Mundt’s silver. We usually eat dinner around 2:00 p.m. After the table is cleared and all the dishes are done the games come out again and of course the boys head for the barn lot to shoot trap! Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if the boys didn’t shoot up several hundred rounds of ammo.

This year we had a beautiful white Christmas so all the kids went up on the hill with the sleds and ATV’s. They built a big bonfire and had one heck of a time! When they finally froze out they headed back to the house for more food, hot cocoa and hot buttered rums!! After all of that the kids and Papa decided to go “drift busting” with the ATV’s as several of these country roads were drifted shut, well somewhere along the way Papa Dave decided that the old man was going to try to wrestle his boys (Dave & Brad) down. As fate would have it he got his lunch handed to him and his left earlobe nearly torn off! A trip to the E.R. and several stitches later, he was back in business. (By the way, this type of revelry is completely normal in our family!) You can’t buy memories like that.

I am truly blessed to be surrounded by my family and I thank God every day for them and for this old house. I pray that we share many, many more Christmas’s here on this old farm and I pray that long after I’m gone my children’s, children’s, children will have fond memories of Christmas here and of me.

Our Christmas Miracle

Thursday at 9:21 am, I received a text message from my mom telling me that her and my dad were taking my Grandma Velda (my dad's mom) to the Cottonwood hospital since she wasn't feeling very well. The previous Sunday, she had been admitted in the Grangeville hospital for exceptionally high blood pressure. Anyway, the text came a little scrambled but I just figured she would get back to me and explain what she had meant. At 9:24am, my brother Brad called me and told me that my Grandma had passed away. At this time, I was on the other phone with Bradley so they both heard me break down into hysterics and yelling "No!". It was crazy!!! I immediately called my boss, went home and started packing the family up to go to Cottonwood and be with the family. At 9:39, my brother called again and said, "Did you hear, they revived her???" I was at first angry because I thought it was some cruel joke but after calming down, he explained it all to me so, here you go...

When I received my text from Mom, they were on the way from Grangeville to Cottonwood. Both towns are 14 miles apart. As they started going through Fenn (it really only takes a couple seconds to do so), Grandma started complaining that she was getting warm and wanted to take her coat off. They were traveling in her Durango with Dad driving, Grandma in the passenger seat and Mom in the back behind her. That is when Mom sent the jumbled text. She reached forward to help Grandma take off her coat and they said she made a big exhale of air and leaned forward...only being held up by the seat belt and her eyes were wide open. Mom immediately unbuckled and started trying to find a pulse but there was none to be found. She told my dad that she was gone. The next thing was to either get her to the hospital or pull over, call 911 and start CPR. They decided to drive as fast as humanly possible (roughly 115 mph from what I was told), call ahead to 911 and let them know they were coming and see what the outcome would be. After calling 911, my mom called my brother to call the rest of the family and let them know...which, is when I found out...a whole whopping 3 minutes after this happened.

When they pulled into the ER at St. Mary's Hospital in Cottonwood, a team of nurses, including my mom's best friend Teena, met them at the door. They immediately started CPR and within a minute or so, they said Grandma just opened her eyes and started looking around. She doesn't remember a thing!!! After an EKG and CAT scan, they set her up in a room and fed her lunch!! Can you believe it, within hours of having life-saving CPR done after being without a pulse for about 10 minutes, she was eating lunch!! The doctors aren't sure what exactly caused her to "die" but they are assuming it was from a UTI that made it's way into the bloodstream. My brother Dave and his family as well as my family of 5 came up that afternoon and gathered together to do what a family does. That evening, she had an MRI. The next day, my Aunt Vivian came and visited with her as well.

This morning, when all of us had left to come home (we all had to go back to work), they received the results from the MRI. She has a benign tumor in her brain which they say is pressing against her pituitary gland causing her to have problems with her vision. They are going to keep her until at least Monday since her blood pressure was starting to spike again this morning. It was a whirlwind of a day and quite the crazy couple of days. I am especially happy to know that all those people who care deeply for my Grandma were able to come and give her the support she needed during this crazy time. I guess those Mundt women are pretty darn tough!!! Thanks also to all my friends who called with love and kindness during this ordeal, you will truly be blessed in life because, we all know now that miracles happen everyday!

And Baby Makes Three

My brother-in-law Korry and his wife Taffee have finally had their beautiful baby girl, Jaci Nikol Nielson. She was born December 13th at 8:00am and weighed in at 8lbs 6 oz and was 21" long. She has tons of hair and is absolutely adorable. I can't wait to see her in person!!!

And He Completely Redeems Himself...

Yesterday evening was the annual Costco Kids Christmas Party. For those of you who are not aware of what this is, I will give you a quick rundown. It is basically a party for all children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of Costco employees, put on by our planning committee that is held during the month of December sometime...the only exception, last year when someone thought it would be cool to throw a Halloween party instead...guess I wasn't the only one who was bummed! Anywho, there are usually activities such as cookie decorating, ornament crafting and of course, pizza, dessert and a special visit from Santa. Each kid, if they cooperate, get their picture taken on Santa's lap and then they receive a goodie bag. Everyone also dresses up in their very best Christmas outfits.

This year, a magician was hired to entertain the kids during the last hour that the store was open. We all crammed inside the breakroom and watched the show. The guy was really good. I believe he is a local guy and his name is Christopher Smith. He kept everyone entertained and was hilarious. When the show finally ended and the announcement was made that pizza was being served out in the food court, all the kids and parents rushed out to get in line. A few kids stayed back to see if Mr. Magician Smith would perform a couple more tricks. That's when my son COMPLETELY redeemed himself for knocking over my Christmas tree. He walked up to the magician, reached out, shook his hand and said "Thank You!". I was in awe. I must let everyone know that not a single person told or asked him to do this...it was all his own idea. The coal is now being replaced in his stocking. It's nice to know that some things we are teaching him are sinking in!!! For all those interested, I will post pictures later on of this event.

Someday I'll Look Back And Laugh...

But today is definitely NOT that day!!! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to display my anger so you'll just have to make do with my exceptional story-telling abilities...

Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I put our Christmas tree up. Usually this is something I do solo but this year, I decided they were old enough to help. Miraculously, it was beautiful and perfect in every way. The kids decided on purple and white decorations this year since we have done red and gold the last several years (if you know me at all, you'll know that I have hundreds of color-themed ornaments). Anyway, we spent a good portion of the afternoon setting it up, decorating it, tweaking it to make it just perfect and then decorating the rest of the house. All of that lasted one beautiful night!!!

Today, we arrived home around 4:00 in the afternoon, plugged the tree in and started to get ready for our evening. I had to make a phone call to my dear friend Anne and decided to step into Jordyn's room to do so...it was a little quieter. No more than a minute later, Jordyn came running in saying, "Um Mom, something happened..." As I looked out through the bedroom door, I noticed my otherwise beautiful living room corner was empty. Stepping into the living room, I realized why....my tree was knocked over on the floor!!!! I have never in my life been so incredibly mad at my children. My friend quickly made her departure from our phone conversation.

It turns out that Jeylin, being the ever-hyper kid that he is, thought that running and jumping on the couch were good things to do....especially since being told to never do that again. The two were bickering about who knocked the tree over but I finally got the truth out...Jeylin had actually kicked it over! I was fuming and both kids were sent to their rooms until I had a substantial amount of time to "cool down".

We, or rather THEY, were lucky though; none of my ornaments broke! That might be due in part to the fact that we no longer have hardwood floors in our living room. Another lucky part, the tree did not fall into Daddy's brand new TV and probably the most lucky aspect of all, it did not fall on Kierra!!!

As I stood the tree up, I realized that not only had it fallen over, it had rolled and so, the ornaments were strewn everywhere as well as glitter and hooks. I set it back up, bagged up all the ornaments that were on the floor and decided to leave it until Bradley came home. Once again, if you know me at all, you'll realize that there was no way I was going to leave my tree looking like that for 3 hours!!! I took all the decorations off, straightened the light strands and redecorated. It took me an hour and I still don't think it looks as perfect as it did but I guess I'll have to live with it.

One final warning to my children this evening...."Don't even so much as BREATHE on my tree or you will both be sent to your rooms!!!" Well, I hope everyone got quite the chuckle...I know Anne and my mother did....but, I guess it will just take me a little bit longer to look back and laugh. Sure wish I would have snapped some pictures though! Here is oneof my "second" finished product...sorry but the camera really doesn't do it any justice at all. I'll try to post better ones later.

Cooking A Turkey According To Jeylin

Jeylin's preschool teacher has each kid tell her how to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving and then she compiles all the responses, types them up and sends them home. Not so good for eating but quite wonderful for a belly full of laughs.

How to Cook a Turkey According to Jeylin...

Go the feed store and get food for your turkey. They eat a lot, like one piece a day, so buy lots. After he eats, bring him into your house, but he will poop and your parents will get mad. When he's in your kitchen, open the oven door, and make him go inside. Turn the oven on super hot. Leave that turkey in the oven for a half hour. When he is all done cooking, take him out of the oven and put him on the table and start eating him. When everyone is done eating him, put all his feathers on and you can put him back in your yard. Keep feeding him and take care of him, and let him in your house sometimes so he doesn't get cold.

Quite the imagination huh?? Here are a couple more of my favorite "not-so-recipes"...

From Claire: First you need to go to Costco and look for a turkey. You should give the lady $3.00 in money. You know, the lady who takes all the money, give her your money and then you can take your turkey home. When you get home, put the turkey on a pan. Pour some oil on that turkey. You will need to sprinkle some cinnamon and some salt. I think my mom cooks it a little like that. Put your turkey in the oven on 600 hot for 10 minutes, that's how my mom always does it. Take it out of the oven and my mom always lets it cool off for 4 minutes. Put some salt and pepper on it and then sit at your table and everybody eats it.

From Abby: Get in your car and drive to the Wal Mart store. Get one of those pushy carts and push it until you find the turkey. It will be by the clothes place. The turkey will be so big it will be 30 pounds. Put him in your cart. Give the lady $30.00 and take him to your car and put him inside. You should drive home right away so he won't melt and make a mess in your car. When its cold, cook him but don't put any stuff on him cause it would be icky because Walmart already put tomatoes on him. You put in the microwave for just 1 minute otherwise he will burn and turn black and icky. Take him out of the oven with an oven glove. Cut him all into pieces and put some pieces on lots of plates and all of your family can eat him and they will say "Mmm Mmmm Mmmm Yummy in my tummy".

Oh the imagination of 4 year olds!!! I'll have to try and find Jordyn's renditions and post those later. Hope you all got a good laugh and may you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Now That's Self-Control

I would like for all of you to meet our fiesty cat, Maddie....

Now before I reveal to you the other pictures on this post, I would like to give you a little bit of her history. In September of 2007, the kids and I made a weekend trip to Grangeville to visit my family...no big deal, we do that often. One of those days, we needed to tend to my Grandmother's cows. Since I was 7 months pregnant and had the two young kids with me, we mostly just tagged along and watched everyone else round them up. At my Grandmother's barn, there are quite literally hundreds of barn cats. She feeds and waters them but for the most part, they are all completely wild. She had told us that in August one of the cats had kittens and we decided to show them to the kids. We completely expected them all to run away, which, they all did except for one (you see where I'm going with this)?? Well anyway, Grandma told us that little "Maddie" (she wasn't named yet) was abandoned by her Mom, thus resulting in us leaving from Grangeville with a tiny kitten. On her first visit to the vet, they determined she was around 4 weeks old and she weighed a-not-so-astonishingly 9 oz!!! We fed her well and now, as you can see from above, she's HUGE...without ever having to lift a paw!!

So to get me to the point of this story. The other day I tried to sneak some pictures of Jeylin kicking around the football in the back yard but when I went to the window, I could see him crouched down talking to Maddie. After careful observation, I realized he was giving her directions for getting this....

That's right, we had a mouse in our back yard and our crazy cat, didn't have the slightest idea what in the world to do with it. Somehow, it was either injured or sick because it just wasn't acting normally and walked around in circles a lot. At one point, Maddie got bored, walked away and laid down in the grass. After a little struggle (our grass was really long), the little mouse made it's way over to Maddie and oddly enough, started climbing on her. She jumped and ran away...it was the most hilarious thing EVER!!! My thinking is that the mouse was either blind or he really did have a death wish...of course then again, he might just know that Maddie was raised as an indoor cat. However, who would have thought that my chubby, crazy cat could have this much self control????

P.S. For anyone who cares, the mouse did die but not by the hands, or rather claws, of our Maddie. Good thing because I really think the thing was sick...hey, maybe he was on a "suicide mission"?!?!?!?!