The weather was so beautiful today that we just had to play outside. Its hard to believe that its suppose to be winter. All the neighbors and their kids were playing outside too. We live in such a great area for kids.

Andre went up to Dallas this weekend. My grandmother left me her player piano when she died and my cousin has been holding onto it for the better part of a decade. My uncle Russel was restoring it when he passed away and so its in pieces. But we're excited to have a piano and a family heirloom for the girls. I believe the player part has been removed, but I've seen places online where you can buy replacement parts. And you can still buy old player music rolls. It will still work as a piano even without the player, which is how my grandmother used to play.

I asked my dad when my grandmother bought it and he said he didn't know. He said it seemed like she had always had it. From a basic online search, I'm thinking its from the 1920s.

I loved that piano and wanted to take piano lessons so badly as a child. We didn't have a piano when I was a kid and couldn't afford the lessons even if we did. I used to convince my friends who were "forced" to take lessons to teach me songs they learned. I still remember 'The First Noel' and surprised Andre when I played it on the girls' Winnie the Pooh push car/piano. ha

Anyhow, it means a lot to me that my grandmother left me the piano. They didn't have many possessions and I know that piano meant a lot to her. She was a school teacher and won an award one year when her students scored the highest reading scores in the district. She realized that people learn best when they use as many of their senses as possible. And so she taught her students to read by singing out of song books as she played the piano.

It'll be great for the girls. Luckily we have a few years to put it together before they'll be ready to play.