Poppy's first concert performance

*Proud mama alert*

Today was Poppy's much anticipated concert debut.  As I type this, I am still in shock that she did it!  Her teacher asked her if she would like to perform on stage sometime before Christmas and her answer was, "No, I will let you know when I am ready."  And then after Christmas her teacher asked her again and when I mentioned that we would go out for ice cream afterwards, she quickly changed her answer to, "Yes!  When can I do it?!"

Here is the video, followed by a play-by-play in pictures...  (The concert was at her music school - Buffalo Suzuki Strings.)  (and check out Sam trying to get on stage just as Poppy was going on and then you can hear him applauding at the end)

Waiting for her turn to perform...

Introducing herself...

 She did such a great job!

Taking her bow...

And the sweet treat afterwards...

We are seriously so incredibly proud of her.  She has gone through such a transformation over the past few months - growing up both physically and mentally.  And I am so excited that we stumbled upon Suzuki Strings.  It was just this past summer that Marc and I both thought Poppy might like piano lessons and when I checked around for a place that would teach her at 4 years old, Suzuki Strings was the only place that I could find.  It has been a huge time commitment, but seeing how confident Poppy was up on that stage makes everything worth it.  I am a seriously proud mama today. :)

Poppy's piano debut

Poppy is still doing awesome with her piano lessons.  Just a few weeks ago she went from learning little songs on just one hand, to her first real song using both hands.  The first week trying to learn this song was rough.  But one day something just clicked and she figured out how to do it.  She absolutely amazes me.  Especially because I have been practicing this song just as long as she has, and I can't even come close to playing it.  

My favorite part is that she absolutely loves playing!  She loves practicing!  Almost every single time she walks by the piano, she stops to play a quick song.  And Sam is not far behind her with his love of the piano either, I'll have to post one of his videos soon...

3 down, 4 more to go.

My birthday this year turned out to be one of my favorites ever.  It started with Marc and Poppy bringing me breakfast in bed.  Poppy was soooo excited that we got to eat on our bed.  She even requested that we do the same thing for her birthday.  

Then the sun decided to make its first appearance in months!  I was so excited to see my old friend!  As soon as we were all dressed, I loaded up the stroller and we headed to the playground.  Sam slept all morning in the stroller and Poppy had a blast with the playground all to herself.  

Then we headed home where Poppy and I made my absolute favorite cake in the world - strawberry whipped cream cake!  We even used the last of the frozen strawberries that we picked last June.  And yes, some might think it's a little odd that I made my own birthday cake, but I love baking with Poppy.  We really have so much fun in the kitchen together.  I told Marc, I feel like Poppy and Sam both knew to just be extra good kids on my birthday.  There was not a single tear or whining or tantrum or anything.  Everyone was just so good and happy.  It really made my day to be able to spend it with my family.

When I saw a picture of a "ruffle cake" on pinterest (of course!), I knew that I had to try making one myself.  And it was so easy to do!  Didn't it turn out cool?

And everyone surprised me with a Mexican Feast (my favorite) instead of boring old pizza for pizza Thursday.  And the sun was still shining!!!  It was such a perfect day!

I've included a video of everyone singing happy birthday.  I was cracking up when I watched it, it sounds like there were about 100 kids there!

 {Louis loving the fact that he's not the baby of the family anymore - he's a big kid now!}

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

Then today was Poppy's birthday party at her school.  I didn't think all the little boys in her class would appreciate a princess themed party, so we decided to go with owls instead.  Poppy and I made demo crafts yesterday...

 and then we all got up bright and early this morning to decorate her owl cupcakes...

 and I went in and read an owl book to her class...

We read Wow! Said the Owl, which was a really cute book.

then we all made an owl craft!  The kids really seemed to have fun with our owl theme, and Poppy was in her glory with everyone wishing her a happy birthday.

But the real highlight of her day is going to be when Marc takes her to "Day Out With Thomas" tonight.  She's been talking about that all week long.

Still ahead: Poppy's actual birthday tomorrow, mother's day, and more parties!!!

sources:
ruffle cake
owl craft
owl cupcakes 

sidewalk luge

Check out this video of Poppy, the next american olympic luger...



Yep, these are the types of things we do to stay warm around here, especially on days with a high of 5 degrees!

Our little caroler

Have I ever mentioned how much Poppy loves to sing Christmas songs?  All day, every day.  She'll probably still be singing them well into March this year.

And the fact that Santa brought her a Dora microphone has only added to her singing addiction.  First up, Jingle Bells.



And if that wasn't enough for you, I'm pretty sure Frosty the Snowman is her favorite song to sing...



Happy New Year's!!!

apple picking

I am sooo behind with blog posts!  We went apple picking a few weeks ago and I am just getting around to finally posting the pics!

We met up with a few families that adopted from Poppy's same agency (one of the families actually owns the beautiful apple orchard and let's us all pick as many apples as we want for free!).  The weather was perfect and Poppy was so excited to be able to pick and eat an unlimited supply of apples!

Notice that she has a half-eaten apple in her hand in almost every single picture.  She was in apple heaven.

Are you wondering where Sam is?  He was peacefully sleeping the entire time we were there!

Isn't this the most amazing property?  I would love to live there!!!

As much as Poppy loved the apple picking and eating, her favorite part of the day was getting to go on this tractor!

We decided to stop and try to pick up a few pumpkins on the way home.  Poppy has been singing this Dora song non-stop lately and after about the 50th time she sang it, I finally decided to try to catch it on video, hence the lack of enthusiasm she had by this point, but still soooo cute!

We have been crazy busy around here lately.  Here are a few random pics so you can see what we've been up to...

Here's a little peek into our playdate Mondays.  We get together every Monday morning with Tony and Natalie, two of my co-workers that are also taking some time off of work to be home with their kids right now.  Such a fun way to start our week!

Yes, that is her baby doll stroller that Sam is strapped into.  (don't worry, Marc was close by to make sure that no infants were injured during this "walk")

It is so sweet to see how much these two truly love each other.  Anytime Sam hears Poppy's voice, he starts looking around and moving his head so that he can see her (and he doesn't do that for mine or Marc's voice).  And if Sam starts crying while we are in the car, we just have to ask Poppy to sing to him and he almost always stops crying immediately.

Poppy's epic train bridge.  These train tracks take over our entire house.

First of all, do you see any similarities between these two?  Clones.  Second of all, Sam is holding the best invention ever.  That is a stuffed animal glued to his pacifier and it basically just helps to keep it in his mouth (which is what I used to have to do myself all.day.long.).

Walking to "ballerina school".  We switched to a new dance studio this year and I just love the fact that it's literally a stone's throw away from our house.  And how cute is her backpack?

Can you even believe how big Sam is getting?!

Poppy's newest obsession is the Mary Poppins movie, and when she tried this outfit on and we told her she looks like Mary Poppins,  she thought it was hysterical.  I'm taking her to see the Mary Poppins musical next week and I can't wait to see her reaction.

Poppy and I stopped by Marc's office for a visit a few weeks ago.  Marc doesn't typically work in his office, so Poppy has never been there before.  She was beyond excited to be able to sit at his desk and play with his computer and then when Marc showed her the big conference room with a huge whiteboard, I thought she was going to lose it.  Here is a video of her playing "teacher"...

Up next - pics from our apple picking adventures...

Pizza Thursday

So last year, my parents starting having their children and grandchildren over every Thursday night for pizza dinner.  It's a win-win for everyone, I love the fact that I don't have to think about making dinner that night and it's awesome that Poppy (and now Sam) gets to play with her cousins so often.  We all really look forward to it every week.  During the summer, all of our pizza Thursdays were spent outside with the kids running around the yard or swimming in the pool.  But as the weather gets cooler, we head back inside my parents house and things tend to get a little nutty, having so many kids in one little house.  Check out the following videos for a little taste of "Pizza Thursday".

Ok, this first one is just plain cuteness.  This is Poppy and Tucker hanging out in "her room" at my parents house...



And this next one just speaks for itself.  It's pretty long (I'm just too lazy to edit these things) but it's pretty funny to watch it to the end...



Apparently, Poppy is quite musically talent (as our her cousins).  Coming up next, a peek into our "Playdate Mondays"...