Karate

These are pictures from Evelyn's first karate lesson. From the look in her eyes we might have hit the jackpot here. She gets 2 private lessons before joining other children in classes. We just have to remind her not to punch her parents when they haven't asked for it. I mean really asked for it...verbally.

Here is a video of Evie's lesson. It is fun to watch.

Matching Outfits

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Chris sent the girls matching outfits. Evie was so excited! I decided to do a little photo shoot. Here are some of the pictures.

Here is a video of Joey swinging. It is VERY cute, but be prepared if you get motion sick.

February is Gone Already?

I can't even believe February is gone. We were blessed to have our friends Rebekah and Graig Kubista come and stay with us. We had a great time. I hope they did too. Here are some pictures that they don't know are on the website.

While Shawn was working on his paper we went and explored Lexington. Here is Graig, Evelyn, Rebekah and Joey at Thoroughbred Park.

We also managed to make it out to Highbridge, our big tourist spot near Wilmore. It was warm, but windy at the overhang.

Rebekah and I got to do some window shopping. You should have seen what we tried on. It was a blast!

Here are some other random pictures.

Evie participating in her favorite past time.

Valentine's Week

This past week Evelyn got her cast off. Yeah! She ended up with a sore on the top of her foot and an open sore about the size of a Sacajawea Gold Dollar on her heal. This might have been some of the cause of the stink that was coming from the cast. She is on her way to healing both of those and loving taking baths again.

Joey and Evie and I were going through Evelyn's clothes and I was able to catch the two f them in Evie's new mirror. I thought this was precious and wanted to share.

Evelyn insisted that Joey be put in this little red wagon. It was cute, but Joey's diapered bottom got wedged in. She wasn't sure after awhile if she liked it or not.

Here is a picture of the girls on Valentine's Day. We got a V-day Dairy Queen cake from Grammie and Grampie Mickschl. Right after the picture, Joey stuck her foot in the cake. That was the tastiest baby foot I've ever eaten.

Here is a short video of Joey opening her gift from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Chris. She'll be a pro by the time her birthday rolls around. She seemed to have the hang of it today.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Our day was spent folding laundry, meeting with friends and hanging out with other friends. Not very romantic for Shawn and myself, but we're saving that for the couple's retreat we are going on through the Seminary next weekend. We wish everyone lots of love and happiness this coming year and remember it doesn't have to be celebrated on Valentine's Day.

Life Goes On

Life keeps marching along. Here is a few pictures from the other week.

Evelyn put this "cape" on Joey and pronounced them Super Sisters. Joey was the "Super Sidekick and Evelyn was the "Super Sister".

This is a funny picture of Joey and her bath toys. She loves to take baths!

Here is Joey and I with our giant Valentine's Day Card.

It was the biggest we had ever seen. Shawn and Evie show off the inside.

Ice Storm

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy. This was the state of affairs that my family is in now that they have spent nearly 7 days in our house. Shawn had not left since Sunday 01/25 and Evie and Joey since 01/24. This storm shut down the schools and made driving dangerous at times. It was the ice that made things difficult. It brought down lots of tree limbs and uprooted trees. Took down power and telephone lines and blocked roads. The toughest part about driving this week for me was missing the tree limbs in the road. Luckily, we did not lose power and were blessed to have our friends stay with us a few days. It was fun to have a captive audience and to learn more about them. Kinda like a zoo, and a zoo it was at times. When I was walking around today I ran into utility workers from North Caroline here to fix the power. I said hello and thanked the gentleman for his service. Here are some pictures from after the storm, before the next one the state is a buzz about.

Happy 6 month birthday Joey!

In just 6 short months one little baby has managed to capture the hearts of many people, both family and friends. Thank you to everyone who helps love on Joey. She is a light to our eyes and warms our heart. Happy Birthday Joey.

This Week...What a Week!!

This was an amazing week. In both good and bad ways. Here is a brief break down.

Bad...Evie broke her ankle

Good...Great pharmacy, Drug Mart, in Nicholasville that delivers medication to house since we ran out of pain meds and Shawn is at home with the girls with no car. (Due to having only one car.)

Good...fought for an appointment and had her seen in 3 days rather than the 10 the orthopedic clinic wanted the appointment for. Besides being broken, turns out she already had pressure sores on her heal and top of her foot. This could have turned into open sores and other problems had I backed down.

Good...Evelyn got a walking cast and is back to her old self, but a lot louder when moving around the house.

Bad...Electrical fire in only vehicle. This happened when Shawn and the girls were leaving for above appointment.

Good...Had 2 cars to use within 5 minutes to get Evelyn to doctors appointment on time.

Good...Van did not explode like mechanic said it could have.

Good...Have a friend that loaned us a car until ours was fixed.

Good...Car was fixed in 24 hours.

Bad...Cost to fix car.

Bad...Had a flat tire less than 24 hours after getting van back.

Good...After 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to change a flat, nice young man stopped and helped me in the freezing weather.

Bad....Pipes frozen in Kentucky House.

Good....Was able to babysit for KY friends and find friends to play with Evelyn.

Good...Have friends that came out in the freezing weather to unfreeze pipes.

Bad...Pipes frozen again.

Good...Friends came back to help unfreeze, this time stopped at Lowes for extra supplies.

Good....Found a friend small enough to fit under house to fix pipe.

Bad...Washer is sounding funny.

Good...Randomly sprayed WD40 around until sound stopped.

Bad...Washer forgot how to spin out and how to unlock door.

Good...Don't have to fold and put away laundry because machine not working.

Good...All of the blessings that God continually pours down on us. Without the knowledge that we are doing what he has called us to do I think I might go crazy. I feel so blessed to have such friends and community. I also feel blessed that I can call my family and friends and vent to them, know that they are praying for us and supporting us. I can't help but laugh at what has happened this past week. It is almost comical. I hope and pray we are done. If I had a TV show to make about this, I would call it Worst Week. Oh wait, that title has been taken already.

Evie Breaks a Leg....er Ankle

Evelyn stepped wrong today and ended up breaking a piece off the bottom of her distal fibula and separating one of her ankle bones farther than where it should be. Here is a picture that shows Evelyn's current mode of transportation. The smile didn't last for long and she seems to be in quite a bit of pain even though she is taking Tylenol with codeine. Please keep her in your prayers as we find out if a simple cast will fix it or surgery is needed.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas

December was a whirlwind of a month. We couldn't wait to go to Minnesota and see our family and friends. Some things that we forgot about MN living in the winter... pop freezes and explodes when left in the car, and electronics left in the car must thaw before use can occur. Some of the things that we didn't forget is that we have family and friends that love us no matter what. It was good to go home and be welcomed back into the fold like we hadn't been gone.

Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Josephine and Evelyn

Our family, Christmas Eve/Josephine's Baptism

Darrell, Norma, Shawn, Jacki, Kasey, Josephine, Grace, Evelyn

Terry, Luke, Josephine, Tammy, Erich, Sue, Denise, Evelyn, Shawn

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.