summer days

..................

 {soccer cousins!}

And check out Poppy's new favorite thing...

 {practicing away...}

 {Mom!  I can't practice while you're taking my picture!}

Yup, we bought a piano last week.  Poppy is starting lessons in the fall and she is sooooo excited.  The lessons we are taking are very parent-involved, so I'm looking forward to it too.  And Marc stayed up all night learning how to play the song that the ice cream truck plays.  It was super cute.  So basically it's undecided right now who is the most excited about our new piano - we all really love it.

The craziness of summer has officially begun!  Last week was Poppy's last day at ballet for the year.  Her studio didn't do a full recital, instead they had a little show at the studio for the parents to watch.  Poppy's teacher has been commenting to me a lot lately about how far Poppy has come in just the past few months.  At the Christmas show she just stood there frozen, but at this show she actually performed!

After the girls did their first performance, they had two professional ballerinas dance in their pointe ballet shoes.  It was really neat to watch.  Then the teacher had the girls line up again to do another dance, and as they were lining up Poppy said (under her breath, but totally loud enough for everyone to hear), "Oh boy, this is going to be a lot of work for me!".  Marc and I just about peed our pants.

The performance was adorable, and best of all, it was super simple - no big costume, no stage make up, etc.  The studio had a little party afterwards and I volunteered to make cookies...

I couldn't find a "ballet" cookie cutter, so I went with roses instead.  Didn't they turn out cute?

And then we signed Poppy up for another soccer team, this time an outdoor one.  And her cousins and friends are all at this soccer practice, so it is extra fun for her.  

And now this is her last week of school before summer break.  Anybody have any ideas for a simple teacher thank you gift?