One post before we sign off for the week - Our piano arrived!

I think one story that got lost in the 3-week gap was the saga of our attempt to shop for a piano. Jason and I have been discussing getting one because both of us have always wanted to learn to play, and we also hope it will be a good influence on the kids to have one in the house - with any luck, we'll convince one or more of them to take lessons eventually. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we decided that "this Saturday, we're going to take the family and shop for a piano." Well, the designated Saturday arrived and presented us with an ice storm - everything was coated in a thin layer of ice,including the roadways. But we persisted, loading the kids in the car and risking life and limb to drive out to the nearest piano store, in Niwot. This particular store rents out used pianos so we thought it might be a good place to start. Turns out trying to take the kids on a piano-shopping trip ranks just above furniture shopping on the list of really bad ideas. Both kids were nightmares, wanting to touch everything (of course) and making an embarrassing range of whining and crying noises to voice their boredom and dissatisfaction with the activity. So, humiliated, we eventually left the store with very little additional knowledge other than that we didn't like any of the available rentals.

After this we decided we'd have to divide and conquer, so Jason was appointed the piano-procurement czar. Along with some great advice and input from my mom, Jason did some great research and the end result is that we have a beautiful, shiny black Bohemia upright piano sitting in our family room. The boys are very interested and it will be covered with fingerprints soon enough, but we're excited.