The Player Piano.

My mom is amazing.  Ask anyone who knows her and they'd same the same thing.  She's a painter, a glass worker, a fiber artist, a singer, an interior designer, and because she has perfect pitch she can play just about anything on the piano - in any key you'd like.   And I love to watch her play - her beautiful hands dancing across the keys.   I wish I could watch her more.  Maybe once she and my dad are back from Brazil...(hint hint, nudge nudge, Mom).

And now, she can do it in my home since yesterday we became proud owners of a piano.  We had a piano in the past - a free one - which means it looked and sounded free too.  So once we realized it had became more like a holder of random papers and water cups than an instrument - we got rid of it.  But lately I've been determined to get back in the game with a better piano.  And I found the perfect fit.  It's an old player piano - refinished and it's "guts" removed and replaced with a digital keyboard.  Pretty cool, eh?

I love that I got the satisfaction of having something used and "seasoned" but also something new with little upkeep.  Golliwog's Cakewalk...here I come.

Sometimes our worst nightmare becomes our happiest dream come true.

Two and a half years ago I said something along the lines of "if that happened it would truly truly be my worst nightmare come true.  It was a couple months after Peter was born and Mike and I were talking about the idea of accidentally getting pregnant.  Little did I know that a matter of weeks later I would find myself accidentally pregnant!  The day I found out I was floored.  You can read the post I wrote to announce it.   I really wasn't sure then if I would make it through the next year and a half of my life.

Peter's first birthday - Asher's one week birthday.

And now, I'm so so SO grateful that my worst nightmare came true.  How happy we are two have "the babies".  I guess since Asher turns two next week and Peter three the week after that they are not really "the babies" anymore but maybe they always will be to me.

And I can't wait to celebrate another birthday week with these guys.  Each year for exactly one week they're the same age.  I'm sure this coming week with double two-year-olds will be filled with lots of mess and tears and bruises - but most of all - with joy.  Here are a few shots of the two of them together from the past couple years.  I can't wait to do a photo shoot with the two of them during the birthday week!

 

So even if you feel like everything is falling apart in your life - know that often it has to fall apart to be put back together as something even better.