My Prima Ballerina

Tonight was Kylie's first attempt at dance, or "ballet class/school" if you ask her. She has been twirling around the house now for a few months so we decided to give the real with a whirl.  She's in a class for 3 year olds, even though she won't be 3 for a couple more weeks. Me, being the naive mom that I am, thinking my baby was still a baby; pictured her clinging to me for dear life and not wanting to go in the class without me. She's been talking a big game about how excited she is and about how she couldn't wait to go to ballet school.  That's all I heard the whole way to the studio this evening.

In the parking lot before we went inside, showing off her dance bag from Grammy

Once we went in, she was definitely ready to get her shoes on and check the place out.

Ms. Patti walked us around the studio so she could get familiar with everything.

Posing by the ballet bar (not sure the technical term) when she realized this was the room she'd get to dance in

Reality hit when she gave me a hug and a kiss and walked willingly into the room and claimed her place in the circle right next to the teacher.

This is me trying to sneak a picture of my big girl, of course you can just barely see her little pig tail bun sticking out behind the teacher

After practicing their butterflies they got in line and took turns walking with a wand and marching. If you notice, most of my pictures are of her back because we weren't supposed to be watching for a fear of distraction of all the little girls.

Being the line leader to walk like a princess... being sure to stay put exactly where the teacher told her to stand while she started the music

 And, off she goes... and then comes back... (it's the little things that make us moms so proud, right!)

for some reason, I have no clue how to get this video rotated.

taking a break, that walking like a princess is tough work!

walking around the room to "following the leader, the leader, the leader"

Miss Patti, the owner of the studio, also the mom of one of the girls I graduated from nursing school with

There is a certain joy as a parent watching your child try something new for the first time and seeing a never-ending smile on their face while doing so :-) When we left, Kylie announced she couldn't wait to come back again for more of her "ballet school". I'm beyond excited that she enjoyed it as much as she did!

Gettin' all Nestalgic... Happy 6th Birthday Zach!

6 years ago, Dan and I just left to go to the hospital because I had been having contractions for about an hour and a half and they were now just 5 minutes apart. Once I got to the hospital and they checked me, I was already 5 cm dilated. At 3:20am on March 9th, 2005, I gave birth to our first son; Zachary Daniel Krajicek.

He came into the world weighing in at 7lbs. 5oz. and measuring 19 1/4 inches long. Mommy and Daddy were so excited!, as was Grandma who joined us at the hospital over night while Grandpa stayed with Heidi at our house.

Yep, you're not seeing things, they took two footprints of his left foot... Perhaps the nurses were tired in the middle of the night as well?? The next morning, Grandpa brought our 14 month old Heidi to the hospital to meet her new little brother. (Remind me to apologize to Heidi for the mullet!)

Lots of people came to visit us in the hospital, Aunt Leisa and cousin Val were just a couple of them!

We brought our new baby boy home on Friday, March 11 where he had an eager big sister waiting for him. In addition, there to greet him were several of my family members who made the trek to Nebraska, to include my Uncle Kevin who passed away in 2009. I wish I would have known then just how much I would treasure this picture! I love you and miss you dearly, Uncle!

Our doctor's office helped welcome Zach to Gretna, NE as well.

Zach was baptized on my dad's birthday, April 17th, 2005. His Godparents were chosen as his Uncle Michael and Aunt Katie.

Here are some more pictures I came across while looking through Zach's baby book and first photo album.

Summer 2005

First trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch, Columbus Day 2005

First Halloween-- Yoda! I should have known then he was destined to LOVE Star Wars

Summer 2006- 14 months old

He loved looking at the chickens and picking their eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

It's fun to look back and see how much has changed since your babies were born, but it's also sad! I read through Zach's entire baby book tonight with him and the other kids and looked at all his baby pictures. They made me promise that we do this for each child on every birthday from now on. Sounds like a plan to this Mommy :-)


HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY tomorrow morning Zach! You've added so much joy to my life and I look forward to a lifetime of additional memories with you.

So, it's been a while!

Thanks, Tami, for reminding me that I ever started this blog! Funny that I just looked at the last post I made and realized that I wrote it right before I started nursing school. That was the day that my life, as I knew it, was over. Now, I have it back and it's even better :-) Of course, tons has happened, so I will try to slowly update everything. But as for this post, it's just to say that I'm back and will attempt to keep everything current from now on!

This past weekend Heidi tried out volleyball for the first time. All of the programs we can find are usually for older kids (3rd and 4th grade at the youngest) so we were excited when there was a one day camp for the little ones. It's hard telling just how much she enjoyed herself. She had just missed a week of school with pneumonia and had only been on antibiotics just over 24 hours so she wasn't completely up to par. Her favorite thing so far is setting, but she is eager to get more practice at everything when she is not in a group of about 50 or so kids. Unfortunately, her mom isn't the best one to teach her this sport because I was always that kid who wore glasses and got hit in the head with the ball.... Thank goodness that wasn't the case with her! At the end of the day, she says she basketball is still her favorite, but wants to buy a volleyball so she can keep practicing. The next sport she wants to attempt is tennis this summer. I am thoroughly enjoying all the different sports already... I'm going to be one heck of a "sports" mom by the time my kids get older... LOOK OUT!


"bumping" practice...

setting practice