Another week...

I'm convinced that the 8th wonder of the world is seeing piano movers work...I initially had that thought when we moved our first piano from Glendale to Pasadena 3 years ago...we lived on the 2nd story of a tri-plex, with a steep set of stairs down to the driveway--2 guys came and manhandled that upright piano like it was a feather, literally. When we had first moved that piano into the apartment, we had 6 or 7 guys from the elders quorum come and kill themselves to get it up the stairs, but then we got smart and hired professionals to move it out, and it's worth it...I've seen several pianos moved since that time, and it's still just as cool to see...and we're not talking several huge bulky men; it's always 2 average sized guys that can flip a grand piano on it's side and maneuver it around easily...definitely worth the money. I was worried about moving our new piano this past week because we have a big dirt patch in the front where we took out the concrete..."no problem" they told me...and literally...no problem. They put it in the dirt (on a small piano dolly), pivoted the thing around, and up onto the porch...no problem. Allison S. commented, "oh now your room is going to look so put together with the piano in there!" Uh, no--it's still the only piece of furniture in an otherwise empty living room...but at least we now own that piece of furniture.

We bought the piano from its original owner---it has sat in this corner for over 50 years...no sun exposure, so the finish on it is awesome...but the best part is that it sounds GREAT...I played a few others while shopping around, but nothing compared to this one...I keep talking about taking piano lessons again, and I'm not sure what I'm waiting for (maybe to settle into life with 3 kids?), but I'll really enjoy playing this...



Maneuvering it through the dirt by our porch...
And up onto the porch...honestly, how do these 2 little guys do that? These things are SO heavy.
And into its final resting spot...

Hard to tell in the photo, but it's got a mahogany finish with walnut tones...the 90 year old lady that we bought it from originally bought it without a bench...we were given all the original paperwork, invoices and appraisals on it, and it says, "no bench"...kind of interesting...so I'm in the market for a nice mahogany bench at some point...



One thing I really enjoy about my girls right now is how well they enjoy playing together...it happens most in the morning before preschool, and then again in the late afternoon after we pick Lauren up...sometimes Lauren gets frustrated with Kate because she isn't quite old enough to "get it"--whatever "it" is that Lauren is trying to play...rocket ship, school, princesses, doctor...Lauren wants Kate to sit on the fireplace so that the rocket ship can blast off into space like Curious George, but Kate is pushing her stroller around the family room...I patiently explain that Kate is little and doesn't understand, and Lauren is usually pretty good with that. But they really enjoy playing together and I love to listen from the other room...


We celebrated my brother's birthday yesterday and his girlfriend whipped up a fabulous vegetarian meal for all of us at my parents' house...he is vegetarian, the rest of us are not...the kids LOVE playing with Uncle Michael and his girlfriend T...they have more energy than Andy and I have!

A round of funny faces...Kate's expanding her repertoire...

That's about it for the week...I've started cleaning out baby boy's room...it's really been a catch all for the past few months, and it's time to turn it into the nursery it needs to be shortly! We inherited 6 really nice beautiful new rose bushes from my dad's office, and so I suppose the planting in the front year needs to begin...we're starting to gather bids on the brick work, but we're definitely trying to pace ourselves (heard about the stock market lately?) My new project is putting together a photo book online of each year, and then having it printed...nice coffee table-like books with the pictures printed right on the page...I'm not into the scrap booking thing with all the papers and stickers and cut-outs...too much work...but this is right up my alley...I can do it all online, with a simple background and captions printed under the photos, and it shows up on my porch! I'm just about done with 2007, and I'm pleased with the way it has turned out...