Our Little Piece of Americana

Last night was a wonderful night for me. I think of the line in the Christmas Song, Silent Night, all is calm all is bright. As I stepped off our front porch in my small town of Wilmore a wonderful thing happened. I forgot all of my cares and worries for a few hours.

Shawn, Evelyn , Josephine and I were off to a neighborhood party. We came out of the front door and Evelyn said with her child like excitement"Look Hank and Winter have Christmas lights up!" Shawn and I acknowledged that and talked about Christmas lights for a little bit. We then walked up the street and ran into Earl. "Hi Earl! we shouted, Who are you fighting now?" Earl is our neighbor boy with an imagination you wish every child would have. He said we couldn't see this one that he was fighting agains and it was especially dangerous. Then we walked up to our friends house the Sleeth's and were greeted at the door with smiling faces as the sound of cheer and merriment floated out to greet us. Matthew helped get Joey out of her bunting and then proceeded to leave with her to be part of the party. Inside, we ran into other friends and neighbors we knew, exchanging hugs and updating each other with what went on over the Thanksgiving holiday and what our Christmas plans were going to be. Making sure that all of our animals would be cared for while each of us were out of town. I introduced myself to people I didn't know, ate food that I wasn't sure of the contents and had a great time. Evelyn played with the other little children and Josephine was passed around. Smiling and sleeping, charming people with her radiant smile that reached her eyes and her rosie cheeks (from being too warm). We finished off the evening when Joey started to act hungry and started getting fussy. We said our goodbyes and quickly exited the house. We didn't want the charm of the evening to wear off. We stepped outside into the cool night air that greeted us. The sky was full of brightly lite stars and the sound of Evelyn's inquiry/statement/wish..It would be a great night for a campfire?. Then she heard the train and started making train noises back at it. I enjoyed our walk home. My family together, enjoying each other, enjoying the company we had kept, enjoying our little piece of Americana.

Crazy Mixed Up Halloween

Our little town of Wilmore is great for get togethers. I love Halloween and Christmas in our town. They put a firetruck on each end of main street and open all of the business for trick-or-treating. (For Christmas it is caroling and hot apple cider, fresh baked cookies and hot chocolate. ) The Methodist church even hands out hot dogs and hot chocolate. It is a great time to run into people that you haven't seen in awhile and see how their imagination is working on this day that you can dress up as anything you want and most people won't question you. For those of you worried about our family and Halloween, you need not be. We are using this day at face value. We get to dress up as whatever we want and no one questions you and then you get to walk around and get free candy. That is all this day is for us.

The next day, November 1st was also celebrated. Our family had a lot of talks about the Saints that went before us. God is continually working in our life and has great plans for us. Maybe one day I'll be a recognized saint. Anyone want to start a petition with me now? ;-)

Anyway here are some pictures from Halloween...

Shawn decided he was going to be Cotton Candy for Halloween.
The girls after a night out on the town. Shawn gets in the action too!

Our family picture. You can never have enough of them. Shawn is cotton candy (he really just wanted his beard and hair to be pink, Evie is a cowgirl, Joey is Tigger (she was going to be a jojo potato, but nobody in this state knows what one is) and I'm a cowgirl (unless I'm feeding Joey and then I'm just a cow! heheheh).

This picture was from pumpkin carving. Evie was grossed out.

Not sure why Evie is posing like this, but I thought it was pretty funny!

Evelyn Doing Homework

Evelyn got to bring a character home from school and was writing in a journal about Toot's adventure at the Mickschl house.

Smiling...

Joey just loves to smile. I hope you do to.

Joey's Video Debut

It would be great if there was sound, but for those that can't see Joey in person you can see how big she is getting.

Watch for her to smile, it can melt your heart.

Evelyn Having Fun

This is a picture of Evelyn and the East Jessamine School mascot. Evie couldn't get enough of this Jaguar. If you ask her she will tell you she hugged or got his attention 5 times. She was much more interested in the mascot than she was the East vs. West football game. Shawn, Joey, Evelyn and I really enjoyed watching the game and hanging out with our friends the Barnes.

This is Evelyn on here scooter. I got her to stop long enough to get a snapshot. She can scoot like no one else's business. She has gotten very good on it coasting long distances. Her number of falls has decreased significantly. Now when she does fall it is a sight to behold. Thank God for knee pads and helmets or we would be visiting the hospital on a regular basis.

Smiling...

Here are some pictures of our smiling girl. Josephine has really started to recognize us and smile when we are near her. We can actually get her to smile and it is for sure no longer "possibly" gas. We are intrigued by how aware she is of her surroundings now. Testing her watchful gaze by moving around. Evelyn loves the smiles she gets when she is near. Evie will now dance in front of Joey and is starting to play those baby games. There is nothing like 100 rounds of peek-a-boo. It is so cute.

Joey is also getting to be master of her head. Here is a picture I took on Wednesday, October 1st while we were listening to the band practice for Sunday worship. She loves the music and trying to find out where it is coming from. I also got some video of her head/neck skills, but can't figure out how to put it on here. I'll keep working on it. You will be amazed.

Just look at those chubby cheeks. It makes you just want to reach out and pinch them. Joey now weighs in at 11lbs 4oz.

Hoof-A-Nanny

Evelyn, Joey and I had a girls day out. We spent the whole day together and ended it at the annual Lions Club Hoff-A-Nanny. Evelyn enjoyed seeing the horses in action. There were so many kids that participated. There were even some so small they couldn't stay on the horse by themselves. It is quite funny to see one parent running and holding a child on and the other parent trying to pull the horse as fast as it can go. Great effort by the parents, it something I surely would not do.

Here is a gal at opening ceremonies.

Evelyn loves this hat. She also wore her pink cowboy boots.

One example of parental participation.

This is a picture of Evelyn watching the barrel racing. I think this might get expensive.

This is where Joey enjoyed the Hoof-A-Nanny from. The confines of a wrap. She was nice and cozy (she has her pacifier in this picture, it is a family blog after all) and warm all night long. I kept her hidden in there so they wouldn't try to charge me admission for her again.

Lebak visit

We were so blessed to have so many family come and visit us. I'll update more photos when I get a chance.

Here are some pictures from the visit from Jacki, Matt, and Grace. We had a great time hanging out with family. It surely is something we miss from Minnesota.

Here is Jacki, Matt, and Grace hanging out with Joey. Evelyn was still at school when they arrived. Evelyn was so excited to see them. She practically flew off the bus when she got home.



We had a pic-nic up at Highbridge park. Here Evelyn is practicing her right as an older cousin and showing Gracie around.

We all went out for ice cream at my favorite place. Brusters! Grace managed to get ice cream on her foot and in her arm pit. It was a sight to see. Don't worry, Joey got to have some ice cream too, it just took longer to get to her.

After church on Sunday we went to the apple orchard. Ate some apples and snuck some peaches. Evelyn had a great time catching butterlies and other bugs. Grace caught herself a few times.

First Day of School

Evelyn was so excited to start Kindergarten.

Here is a picture of Evie and her new teacher Ms. Randolph. Evelyn likes her being the teacher because she plays games.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa Pirate, Auntie Denise and Evelyn on open house night.

Evelyn and Joey pose for pictures.

Shawn and I can't believe our little girl is grown up and will be riding the bus the four blocks to school. It feels so good to send her off when she is excited to learn. I hope she stays that way.

Here she is getting on the bus. There are three adults on the bus: the driver, a person to help her on the bus, and someone to help with the seat belts.

The first day of school was amazing for Evelyn, she was so excited she couldn't tell us anything about it. We pretty much had to drag it out of her. They had lunch, played games and went on a gingerbread man hunt. She strives every day to get a green star from her teacher. Any other color will mean that she miss behaves. When she leaps off the bus at the end of the day she tells us right away what color she got. She is very proud of herself and we are proud of her.

The Newest Addition Is....

Josephine Iszabella

She was born just 3 days after Evelyn's birthday. Here are some pictures. She weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long.

All wrapped up. First picture with Mommy and Daddy.

She already has Daddy in the palm of her hand!

Joey had to go to the NICU for breathing problems. Luckily, she was only there for a short time.

Finally, they let me be with my baby. It was a long time before I could spend any time with her, Shawn didn't come to the NICU because he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to get the babies sick.

Our very first family photo.

Who came first the Chicken or the Egg?

The answer is Evelyn.

We celebrated Evie's birthday on July 16th with many family and friends. It was a luau themed party with a trip to the pool and then food and fun in our backyard. Evelyn had a great time. It was truly a day to remember.

Shawn got his first opportunity to use a friend's smoker and really enjoyed it. I often catch him looking through the cookbook for ways to smoke different things. If I were in Kentucky I'd say the squirrels better watch out!

Here are some pictures from the big day.

5 Years Old!
Cake decorated by Grampy Mickschl, enough for an army!
The army playing in the backyard.
Evie and her friends
Enjoying cake.

Barefoot and Pregnant in Kentucky

Just trying to fit in. 40 days to go!

9 months and counting

Wow....My co-worker said today, "she shouldn't be doing that, she's 9 months pregnant". (And I didn't, for those of you concerned.) This sounded so foreign to me. Just a little over 6 weeks to go before the newest Mickschl comes into our family.

Evelyn has plans for a huge party/carnival/festival complete with merry go round, hay rides, cotton candy and sno cones. We asked her when she was going to get a few jobs to pay for all of her planning and she said "wait a minute, hold on, we'll make this stuff ourselves."

My blood pressure is good. It was 104/70 the other day. No signs of bed rest, for that I am very thankful. I'm still waiting for my nesting instinct to kick in, of course, I've never been much of a nester. We'll see what happens. This baby is on the move already. I don't remember Evelyn being so active. Flips and turns, jabs and pokes. I don't know which end is up, but I'm sure it has been there several times. It must know that to survive in our house you have to be ready to hit the ground running. Evie likes to come over and say things into my belly button to the baby, I don't know what she is saying half the time, but I'm sure the baby is getting used to the big sister hollering at it.

Our Little Angel

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

This was our first Christmas away from home and it was a busy one. Evelyn was in a Christmas pageant at church. Visit http://www.numcky.org/ to view pictures from the pageant. Evelyn did a fantastic job and even had a solo!
We missed our family tremendously, but did enjoy the season. We continued our tradition with our family Christmas Eve party with made from scratch angel food cake and a birthday party for Jesus.

On Christmas Day we hosted an "I'll not be home for Christmas Party" for anyone that would not be with family. It was a fun filled afternoon with friends. Shawn even got to play poker.