Happy Six Months Mister Man

(Look who's happy to be celebrating a half birthday!)














Six months ago today, we were holding our new baby boy for the very first time. We were gazing at his tiny, perfect body and his head full of dark hair. We were exhausted, but oh so ecstatic. His new life was such an amazing gift to us that day. It still is to this day. Now, somehow, six months have already past. Our baby is no longer tiny. His little frame has been replaced by deliciously round rolls. His head of hair gone (except in the back in true Zickafoose baby fashion), and in its place a shiny, fairly bald head with new little wisps coming in every day. We love him in every way possible. Now, a letter to my son.

Dear Jack Ryan,

Today you are six months old! Do you know how happy you make us? Daddy thinks you are a cool little dude, Mommy can't stop smooching you, and your sisters are still smitten even after six months. They love to make you smile and laugh and they squeal with delight when you pull their hair. You are the most mellow, happiest, most smiley baby I have ever known. How did we ever get so lucky? Rarely do you fuss. Usually only when you are hungry. At most any other time, all someone has to do is look in your direction and you reward them with one of your fabulous grins! Your grins are the best.

Mister Man, you have gotten so big! You go for your well child check next Tuesday, and I am curious to see what you weigh. I bet you are around 17 pounds! My very favorite feature of yours are your sweat cheeks. They are so perfect for smooching. You still love to eat, and you still want to be fed every three hours, except for through the night. Most mornings now you dine on rice cereal and applesauce or bananas. When I am feeding you, you get your tongue going a mile a minute and I can't spoon it in fast enough! This week we will start you on some veggies. I know. You can't wait.

Jack, you are still a great sleeper. You don't really nap throughout the day, just cat naps here and there, wherever you happen to be. At night you give 8 - 9 hours straight. No complaints from this momma! You are so happy, you are never any trouble.

You have some new tricks! You can now roll, roll, roll. Finally! You also can reach for your toys and bring them to your mouth now for the ultimate taste test. You still must be supported when you sit up, but you are oh so close to sitting independently. It won't be long now. When we started school, Mommy bought you a exersaucer and you love it. We love you.

Jack Ryan, you are my snuggle bug. If you ever get sad, you like me to hold you close to my chest and kiss your sweet head. You look into my eyes and rub my face with your chubby hands. And I fall a little bit more in love with you every single time.

We love you Mister Man. These past six months were wonderful, but they went way too fast. Please slow down. I wouldn't care if you were my baby forever.

Love, Mama

* We got Jack's six months pictures taken a coupe of weeks ago. They turned out precious, but I can't upload them onto here because of copyrights. So imagine with me if you will, a precious round baby boy wearing a chocolate brown and cream Hawaiian print shirt, khaki shorts, and a brown fedora with matching Hawaiian print trim. That's right. He looks like a complete doll in them!












(Whew! This growing thing is hard work!)

Tuesday Nights

I love Tuesday nights. Every Tuesday night Emma and I have a couch date to watch 19 Kids and Counting. Kate would be invited, but she is always asleep. By the time the show starts, the rest of the house is always in bed, so it is always just the two of us, my biggest girl and I. usually we snuggle up on the couch under a comfy blanket. Tonight we drank our first cup of hot cocoa (complete with marshmallows) of the season. Bliss. I like watching the show because I love big families (regardless of the controversy surrounding them). Emma loves watching all of the kids antics. It's our thing. Our Tuesday night couch date. A night we look forward to and plan for every other night of the week. Just wanted to record that memory here.

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In other news, I have a question. I know there are several family members (and maybe friends!) that visit this spot every week and never comment. That is completely fine and dandy. But this week all opinions matter.

If you had been given a small (only not that small, but very, very generous!) sum of money, what would you spend it on? We are supposed to put this money towards something fun for our family. It is not to be used on bills or debt. I think we have it narrowed down to two items: a king sized bed or a golf cart. Don't judge. Both of those items are a bit frivolous and are not things that we would ever buy for ourselves under normal circumstances.

On one hand, I want the bed. my favorite part of visiting hotels is the king sized bed. I have wanted one ever since we were married. We are not co sleepers in our family, but we are firm believers in the occasional sleepover and definitely love early morning snuggles that last until the sun comes up. While I value my space and my relationship with my husband (in believing that our room should be our room), we both believe that snuggling children is absolutely high on the list of things we are going to miss once our kids are grown. But lately I have been turning children away from our bed. There is just no room! I foresee many good movie nights, sleepovers, and snuggle fests were we to invest in a larger bed. One of my children casts her vote for the bigger bed. Can you guess which one?! Ha!

On the other hand, a golf cart has been on my list of dream "toys" for a few years now. When I was younger we visited some friends who lived in the country and had a golf cart that we got to drive all over the neighborhood. It was awesome. And once on vacation we rented a golf cart so that we could tour the island we were visiting. So fun! As you know, we live in the country and I think having a golf cart out here would be a blast. One of our neighbors has a work cart that she drives around, and her grandchildren have so much fun riding around in that thing! It is pure joy on their faces while they are in it. If we had a cart I could see us driving all over the lanes on this piece of land we call home. I could see us driving it to have picnics by the lake. Also, Boss and his buddies have built themselves their own little golf course out here, so of course having a cart would be a bonus for them. I can also see Boss teaching our children how to drive it one day. I just think it would create some really special memories for our kids as they grow up out here. My other bigger child votes for the golf cart.

So what do you think? What would you buy? Which of these sounds like a better choice? Or is there something we aren't thinking of that would be even more fun? I realize this post is completely materialistic and pointless, but won't you help a sister out? You will? Great!

Happy Tuesday, friends. Hope your day was blessed!

First Day of First Grade

After three weeks of kindergarten review we finally started first grade today! Look at our big first grader! And check out those two missing bottom teeth. I just love scraggly tooth grins. There's just something about them. Anyway, back to our first day of first grade. Somehow we managed to get everyone up, dressed, and fed by nine am. Quite impressive for Emma and I. We like sleeping in, and waking up before eight in the morning is just painful for us. Emma got herself dressed and brushed her own teeth and hair. She is getting so big and independent. After she was ready, Daddy came home and took her first grade picture in front of the big tree in the yard. Then we were ready to start.

We schooled from nine am until twelve pm. That is a full day of schooling for us. Today we covered Bible time and journals, spelling, handwriting, language arts seat work, reading comprehension, science, history, and math. That sounds like a lot, but it really isn't so bad. Emma is so great at listening and getting all of her work done.

After school we had a picnic outside on our front lawn for lunch! We got out our favorite picnic blanket and set up our Hello Kitty dishes. We enjoyed the sunshine and the afternoon breeze and chatted while the girls ate. Jack chilled in his bouncer seat and then rolled around a bit on the blanket. After lunch I read aloud to the girls from Beezus and Ramona. My own mother read all of the Ramona books aloud to me when I was a child, so I have especially enjoyed sharing these books with my own girls. We decided that we would make every Tuesday our official picnic and read aloud day for as long as the weather will last. We definitely read at other times, but Tuesdays is our special picnic date. When the weather will no longer cooperate we will move inside for tea and story time. That sounds pretty heavenly too. After our picnic I rocked Jack on the porch and gave him his bottle and the girls fancied up the front walk with side walk chalk. It was a beautiful, simple day and I feel so thankful to get to spend my days mothering these three.

Going To Town

Most every Saturday, unless we already have set plans, the teenagers and I "go to town". When you live in the country like we do, you can say things like "going to town". (Even if you are less than ten minutes away from civilization, if you are surrounded by nothing but cornfields, you still have the right to say the phrase "going to town".) We usually go to town to get groceries (we are Wal-Mart kind of people. Don't judge. They sell more for less), maybe stop by the bank, and sometimes we even get a treat (think large vanilla coke from Sonic!). I like going to town with the girls because they are usually pleasant company and then I also have help carrying the groceries inside when I return home. They like going to town because then they get to spend their allowance money and pretend they are normal teenagers for the afternoon. You see? It is a win, win situation.

I have fond memories of going to town as a child. My family lived in the suburbs of a very large city, so we could not say things like "going to town". We lived in town. But every summer we would visit my Dad's parents (also known as Dick and Granny), and they lived in the country. In fact, I think my love of living in the country originated from loving visiting them as a child. They had a huge front yard, and it always felt like their house was a very long way from the main road. In reality, it was not very far from the main road at all, but as a child used to suburban life, it sure felt like it. I have many fond memories of visiting Granny's house. Orange plastic drinking glasses filled with sweet tea, homemade tea cakes, playing on their acreage, catching stray cats and begging my parents to let me keep them (they always said no), taking "dog" walks down the lane, eating watermelon in the back of the pick up truck, playing croquet in the front yard, eating Church's chicken after Sunday worship, and last, but certainly not least, "going to town". Every time we would visit, at least once we would go in to town to Wal-Mart. Every single time my Granny would give each of us kids a ten dollar bill to buy a treat. I usually spent mine on everything Barbie. For some reason that memory has stuck with me. "Going to town" for me means so much more than accomplishing the task of getting groceries. It means togetherness. It means wandering the aisles of the store and choosing the treats that you want the very most. It means going back in time to when things were simpler and less rushed.

Our culture is so busy. Not many families make it a priority to stay at home and just be together. There are always social gatherings to attend, lessons and practices to go to, eating out, and running constant errands. We are continuously on the go, and I am guilty of all of these things myself. My family eats fast food way more often than we should. I run to the store whenever I need things, instead of planning one big trip. If my little girls are bored we hop in the car and go to the mall play place instead of creating our own fun at home. Go, go, go. Sometimes our homeschool feels more like "van" school. Things like "going to town" are no longer special, because we literally go into town every single day. It's crazy. So, this winter I plan to make a change in our family. More days spent playing together at home making our own fun. More meals served around our big family table. Less activities being said "yes" to. I want to try and take my family and those that live with us back to a simpler time and way of life. I want "going to town" to hold as special a place in their hearts as it does in mine. It's going to be a new season here in the Zickafoose Zoo. I'll let you know how it goes.

My Mini Schooler

Today I dropped off my littlest girl for her very first day of mini school. She was so excited! She got dressed in one of her new outfits and put on her new tennis shoes. She ate her breakfast in a hurry and then I fixed her hair. Today there was no yelling over tangles. I informed her that mini schoolers are too grown up to yell. We shall see if that lasts. Once we were all ready (on time I might add), Daddy popped home from work to take some first day of school pictures. There was lots of hugs and kisses, Daddy said a prayer for God to watch over Kate as she was away from us for the very first time, and then we were off. Once at the classroom, Kate put her backpack and lunch in her cubby, sat at her desk, let me take one last picture, and then I left her with a smile. (I did my crying yesterday in the produce isle at Meijers. I have no idea why I cried. I did not cry when Emma went to preschool and that was four days a week instead of one!) We left the building and headed to the parking lot and I thought all was well. Then Emma burst into tears. She said she missed Kate already, and couldn't we just turn around and go get her? She was sure Kate was not ready for this big step. I love how much they love each other.

Anyway, I took my biggest girl and my baby boy to breakfast at Panera Bread. That is Emma's favorite, so it was a treat. Then we came home and played board games together and watched Camp Rock Two. I am sure there was school that could have been done, but today was about being together and counting the hours until we could go and get our middle girl. When we finally got to pick her up she was all smiles! Today she learned about the letter A and the shape of the square. She also enjoyed story time, playtime, circle time, and much more I am sure! She said her favorite parts were play time and lunch time because she was starving. This I believe! Ms. Jenny said that Kate did get a bit sad at one point, but she was easily distracted by her friends. Our girl loved mini school and she can't wait to go back next week!