Announcement

We are pleased to announce that our family of four will be growing (Lord willing) to a family of five, sometime in March 2010! We have been praying, dreaming, and planning for a baby to join our family since January of 2008, and the Lord has finally answered our prayers. While we had assumed that our third child would come to our family through adoption, it seems that was not the plan for our family at this time, and we are completely thrilled to be pregnant for a third time! We are trusting God for a safe pregnancy for me, and for a healthy baby to be born in March. I am six weeks pregnant today, and we are excited about this new journey we are on!

Jump Zone

On Saturday, we traveled to Jump Zone for Emma's 5th and Kate's 3rd birthday party. What fun! Jump Zone is a big building with 10 huge blow up slides and castles that both kids and adults can enjoy. This year we decided to have a family party with our cousins, but I did let the girls invite their little friend from across the street. We jumped, and bounced, and slid for an hour and a half before making our way to the party room where we had cake and ice cream. This year, the girls wanted a Disney Princess theme, so Grammy made them a princess cake, and we had various other princess accessories. After the party, we headed back to our house where the girls opened presents. Emma was excited about receiving Hotel for Dogs, a fairy doll, a Tinkerbell dollhouse, and princess art supplies. Kate was excited about getting a new tricycle, a fairy doll, a little dollhouse, and princess art supplies. Their big present from Mama and Daddy and Grammy and Da this year was a swing set for the back yard! We had a wonderful day celebrating the two most precious girls in our life!

Birthday Girl

On July 8, 2004 at 9:20 pm, my life changed forever. After 22 hours of natural labor and 10 minutes of pushing, I delivered a 7 lb. miracle. I remember thinking, I can't believe she is mine! Those first few weeks of newborn life were a complete blur. While Emma started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, it took me much longer! I would lie awake and watch her, wondering what her life would be like. Who would she be?

And here we are FIVE years later, and my sweet, sensitive Emma is officially one whole hand old. Where has the time gone? I must confess, this turning five thing has been pretty hard for me. Much harder than the first birthday. What will I do when she turns 13? I don't even want to think about it.

At five years old, Emma is in to all things princess. She loves playing with her Tinkerbell play set and her Cinderella Castle. She also loves to play Starfall on the computer, and she loves to color and make crafts. She is a bit of a (girly) tomboy, and she loves to play with her friends outside. She can often be found holding a worm, a frog, a lightening bug, or some other creature in the great out of doors. I do not know where she gets her love of adventure from!

To celebrate Emma's special day, we started off by going swimming at the YMCA. They have a neat indoor pool and Emma LOVES to swim! That evening, we went to the mall where Emma received her present from Mama and Daddy. When I had asked her earlier that week what she wanted for her birthday, she told me that she wanted to get her ears pierced, so that is what we did! I am not in to piercing babies ears, but I had always said that when my girls were old enough to ask for it themselves, and to understand that it would hurt and they would have to take care of their ears, that they could get it done. This was Emma's year! She did cry for one minute after it was over, but she was so proud!

After we got her ears pierced, we ate supper at Bob Evans (Emma's favorite place to dine.) It was a very special day, and I am so thankful for this girl who is mine. Happy birthday Emma! God has great things for you! Enjoy being five!

For the Record:

At five years old Emma weighs in at 30 pounds and is 40 inches tall!

Disney in Pictures

Summer So Far

We have had a fun, yet very busy summer, so far! School let out June 5th and we hit the ground running. We started with Emma's ballet recital June 6th, left for Disney June 8th, returned home June 16th, some college friends arrived June 21st and stayed for a week, and now I am finally getting around to potty training Kate, while Boss helps with the children's home recreation program these next two weeks. Did I mention that Boss started his new job as the Director of Education for Mid Western Children's Home today? No? Well, he did! Whew! I am tired just thinking about all we have done these last few weeks.

Disney was so much fun, and I am so glad that we went! We spent two days at Magic Kingdom, one day at Animal Kingdom, a half day at Universal Studios, and one day at Daytona Beach visiting family. It was HOT there (almost unbearable), but we still managed to have a good time. The girls were enthralled with meeting all of their favorite characters and princesses, and it was definitely a magical experience for them! Emma's favorite ride was Splash Mountain and Kate's favorite ride was the Barnstormer. My girls seem to love roller coasters, and Boss and I are not sure where they get their bravery from! My favorite things were the Lion King Show (the girls got to be in it!) and the Mickey Mouse 3D movie. I am pretty sure that Boss liked the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom and Splash Mountain the best. While we were there, Boss was also fortunate enough to get to see the Lakers beat the Magic for the NBA World Championship, which was one of the items on his bucket list, so that was pretty special. Florida is a wonderful place to vacation, and we hope to go back in a couple of years!

We also got to see two of my cousins and their families at Daytona Beach, and we all had so much fun together! I had not seen one of my cousins since the year Boss and I got engaged, so it had definitely been too long! I loved watching my kids play with their kids and wished we all lived closer to each other to be more involved in each others lives. The beach was also beautiful, and it is a Zickafoose family tradition to stick our feet in the ocean at least once a year.

We are excited that the month of July is finally here. July is a big month for birthdays in our family, and we have a lot to look forward to. Emma's birthday is July 8th and the girls family party is going to be July 11th at Jump Zone. At the end of the month we are going to spend the weekend at Put In Bay to celebrate my 27 years of life. It will be another busy month, for sure, but it will be filled with lots of fun and memory making, as well.

Last night, Boss and I were rocking on our back porch (in our pretty, new black rockers!), and I told him that I feel so blessed to lead such a charmed life. Emma was catching firefly's in the yard, our big yellow lab was laying at our feet, and for that moment in time my heart felt so blessed. It is easy to start dwelling on the negatives of every day life (living with five troubled teenage girls can certainly produce lots of things to feel negatively about), but if I stop and think about it, I truly am so blessed. I am trying my best to cherish these busy summer months with my family, as I know that one day soon they will only be precious memories in my mind.