The Great Piano Project 2011

We bought a piano a few months back for next to nothing (like $100).  We spent so little because we didn't know if anyone would play it, and don't know how long we are going to stay in this house and how long we will have room for it.  But Jack loves it and it's staying.  So on to photographic documentation of the great piano project 2011.

Before:

Proof of how beaten up this piano was

It had white paint marks, and glass stains all over the the piano

.

During:

The garage acted as one paint zone

The living room as the other

The tools.  I won't admit to how many cans of sprayer we went through...

And After:

In all it's blue glory.  Too blue, but as I am never painting another piano again it will remain blue forever.

I think its a prettier color in the soft glow of the evening.  And a 39 week self portrait as well.  Check out that belly...

The piano is done

I will post pictures soon.
It is really blue.

...really really blue.  Maybe like what the heck were we thinking blue?

But it's painted and done and will remain blue until the end of time. 

Ok baby, now there is nothing holding you back.  We are ready at any time.

...really really ready.  Maybe like what the heck are you not here for ready?

It's 4am

And this baby is kicking the heck out of me and reminding me he's happy and I should be too despite it being 4 Am and me being awake. I don't remember not being able to sleep in the weeks before Jack was born but man alive it's kinda miserable now. Like I'm lucky to sleep 4 hours a night and then muddle through the rest of my day exhausted.

I've been having piano stress dreams. A few weeks ago we decided to paint our clunker of a piano to help it be not quite so ugly. Why oh why at 38+ weeks did this seem like a good idea? Why oh why did I think either one of us knew enough to paint a piano? And mostly why oh why did I think having a blue piano sounded like a good idea?

I'm convinced this baby won't come until the piano is done so I've been working like mad while jacks at school and then working Zack like mad when jacks asleep. Maybe when it's done I won't have anymore painting and sanding nightmares waking me up at 4am. Maybe then I'll just have sweet little kicks doing it instead.

Yesterday while driving home from a trip to home depot for our silly piano Jack just casually said, hey there's a ball in my brothers car seat. (which finally got installed). It was such a simple statement but I teared up hearing him refer to his brother in such a casual way. Like it's normal for him to has a brother. It reminded me of all the prayers that he has offered asking that our family be sent a baby. So many years of prayers. I am so grateful that I have had so many years to focus on Jack. He is my buddy in so many ways and I know having a brother is going to help him grow in so many ways that I could never teach him.

So baby I am working like a crazy mad woman to finish this piano and then you are welcome any time. We cant wait...

Jack's Birthday Cake

Last year all Jack wanted was for me to make him a Super Mario Brothers cake for his birthday party.  So we found a picture of what his little heart desired and I got to work.

First I made the Bomb-ombs and Mushrooms

What Mario cake could be complete without a few Piranha plants?

Add some bricks, gold coins, turtle shells, and goombas to finish off the job

 And the final product...

Just missing the "Happy Birthday Jack" sign on the flag pole (everything eatable)

 All that work and Jack woke up the day of his birthday party with a raging fever and throwing up.  (Does anyone notice a disturbing vomit trend in my family?)

We had to cancel the party and reschedule for the following weekend.  By then the cake was yucky and old and made Jack sick just looking at it.  So we called it a day, trashed it and brought store bought cupcakes to the party.

I felt like a turbo awesome mom bringing in store bought cupcakes.  I should have made a shirt to wear with a picture of the cake so people would know how hard I tried despite appearances.

Baby

I just got back from my doctor's appointment where he said, "Well it looks like you are never going to have this baby!"

Just as I suspected.  This baby is Zack's child and most likely will show up late.  (But always worth the wait!)

Does anyone elses kid do this?

Jack insists on saying hello, shaking hands, and then taking pictures with mannequins whenever we go shopping.

Is he the only one?   Given the looks we get in the stores, I'm guessing he is.

This is his favorite "smile for the camera face"

Football Mania 2011

It shouldn't be forgotten that Football Mania hit our home in 2011.  Zack and Jack watched every single Patriots game (early Monday morning since they don't watch football on Sundays) and Jack became a die hard Patriots fan. 

One of the best things about Zack being in grad school is his schedule really did allow for a lot of family time.  Or maybe its more accurate to say that Zack made time in his schedule for our family.  Either way most days as soon as Zack would come in the door from class Jack would be waiting to see if they could go outside and play football together.

My camera is full of pictures like this

Striking fear into the hearts of all opposing football players.

And the face and taunts of a winner! (I love that he insisted on wearing his jersey on top of his coat).  The story of the jersey is awesome too.  Another testament of Zack's haggling ability.  It is a Randy Moss jersey, who was cut from the Patriots before last season.  So the sports store had his jerseys on deep sale.  Still when Zack and Jack went in, Zack asked for a larger discount.  The store clerk said, fine buy anything in the store and the jersey (normally $50, on sale for $25) would be free.  So he picked up a $2 ball point pen and asked if that counted.  Welcome home $2 pen and free Randy Moss jersey!

We also took a family outing down to Patriot Place to see the stadium and Patriot museum there. 
The boys had a great time and I was glad to be out of the house during the winter and loved seeing how excited Jack was to be there. 

Makes me cold just seeing this picture!

Real Patriots Jersey and helmet

And uniform...love this look

And this handsome football player especially

Go Patriots!

Team huddle

What a great way to spend a freezing cold winter day in Massachusetts!

Boston Marathon 2011

Zack ran the Boston Marathon!

I have to say we were way impressed with our papa and think he's the best.  He trained through the winter and turned into one of those crazy guys you see running along the Charles River despite the plummeting temperatures and snow.  This was Zack's second marathon.  He ran the last one when I was pregnant and sick with Jack and had not discovered the wonderfulness which is Zofran.  I really wanted to see him cross the finish line six years ago but I couldn't get out of bed or stop throwing up.  So this time, despite being pregnant and sick once again I was determined to see Zack run and cross the finish line.

Jack and I made it to the 5 mile marker by nothing more then dumb luck.  Honestly we were lost, and decided to just follow the crowds, parked close despite not having cash to pay the attendant, and promised we'd run get cash and come back. [read run, see Zack run, get cash and come back].   By the time we got back the attendant was gone (turns out he was not a real attendant and was charging money for someone else's open lot).  But we saw Zack, screamed loud for him and gave him high fives and kisses!

Totally Zack, man do I love him.

We then headed to the mall to get in a little bit of shopping before trying to meet up with Zack at the finish line.  Thanks to the marvels of electronic tracking, we were able to keep checking in to see his progress.  No amount of fancy pants electronic tracking can make up for a lack of smarts though.  I kept seeing his time and adding wrong in my head (yes I know I add for a living).  When I finally realized my mistake, Zack was 20 minutes from crossing the finish line.   I had promised our friends the Jones' that we'd pick them up to go to the finish line too, and they turned out to be my own Boston Marathon angels.  They insisted on dropping Jack and me off a block away from the finish line and letting them find parking.  Jack and I ran to the finish line just minutes before we saw Zack running by.  We cheered and yelled at the top of our lungs (even though he said he couldn't hear us) and then got to hear the announcer announce that some runner had just rolled over the finish line.  The first somersaulter of the day!  That's just so Zack.

We are so proud of all his hard work and so grateful that we could see it with our own eyes this time around!

Father Son Campout

I don't camp.  Don't get me wrong, I think its tons of fun to cook dinner on the campfire, and to eat smores, but once the sun goes down and it's time for bed, I'm ready to hit the road.  Something about sleeping out in the open after so many years of sleeping behind a locked front door just doesn't sit right with me.  Zack will tell stories of our first, and only campout as a married couple.  About 1 am I woke up insisted someone was out there and convinced him to run me out to the car to get a frying pan for protection.  Problem is once I was in the locked car it took all his persuasive skills to get me to agree to leave my secure car  (I blame too many horror movies as a teenager...nothing good ever happened to the couple leaving their car in the middle of the forest at night).

Jack was six months old the first time the option to go on the annual Father Son Campout came.  I don't think I even bothered to stop laughing enough at the suggestion to say no.  Then year after year he asked.  The last few years it didn't happen mostly because we were in new cities, or states and it just wasn't logistically possible.

This year we were in Boston, and Jack was a hearty 5 years old.  Old enough to understand when he heard adults around him talking about a Father Son Campout.  Old enough that I wasn't going to stand in their way even if I could.

So Zack and Jack and our dear friends Jonathan and Rivers packed into JBs car and headed out to their first Father Son Campout.  I have to say I really didn't know what to do with myself without them. I dined on Top Ramen which is my favorite meal to make myself when no one else is home.

The boys all had a great time together despite not being able to find the other people at the campout and Rivers insistence that he saw monsters.   Jack came home and reported that he ate 8 marshmallows that evening.  (He also came home and promptly started to throw up).

Buddies

Men making dinner

Love this picture because you can see how excited Jack is to be camping by his dancing moves

Marshmallows (which number I wonder)

The bench they made.  Jack was way proud that they made a bench all by themselves

Dinner time!

Rivers.  Love that kid.

Zack and Jack brought Curious George Goes Camping to read together in the tent before bed.

Next year maybe I'll let Zack take Jack and this new baby and get a good night sleep myself.  I've heard tell that second time moms are more laid back.  Time will tell.

Celtics Game 2011

Before we left Boston, Zack and Jack, along with our good friends Matt and David went on a boys only trip to see the Celtics.

Jack and David hatched a plan to both dress up like Mario thinking that might up their chances of getting on the jumbo tron.

I think they are in the second to last row.  Who says good seats make the experience!

They didn't make it, but I think they both look super adorable.  They got a lot of attention from other people at the game which the boys loved.  Despite the evening ending in a fender bender in the parking lot, all the boys had a great time!

Padres

Pretty much as soon as Zack graduated he started getting calls from the Padres.  Not job offers, but sales calls to try to get him to buy Padres season tickets.  Although we are not really Padres fans, Zack is always up for a good marketing pitch and agreed to come down to Petco Park for a tour with Jack and hear what they had to say, promising me as they ran out the door that he was not going to buy any tickets.

Here they are in the dugout

And on the field

And in the play park area for kids

Two hours later I got a text.  "I'm buying tickets to 5 games."
Like I didn't see that one coming...

He did convince them to give him extra tickets for free, and arranged for them to go down on the field before the game on the 24th against the Dodgers to meet both teams and take pictures with them.  He was pretty proud of himself.  That's a huge difference between Zack and me (one of many that keep our relationship interesting!)  He doesn't mind asking anyone for anything.  He says the worst they can do is say no, which I think sounds pretty awful.  Years ago we went to go buy our first car together and my insistence that we could afford the ridiculous price they were asking resulted in me not being invited on any more car purchasing trips.  Evidently it's hard to haggle when your wife is working against you. 

I'm glad I stayed home on this outing too because these father-son moments are priceless.

All of us at our first Padres game (and my last).  Jack insisted we stay until the very last ball was thrown.  He and Zack also danced like fools trying their hardest to get on the jumbo tron.  No luck yet, but thanks to Zack's haggling they have a few more chances to make that dream happen!

Niagara Falls Trip 2011

I saw my doctor yesterday who agrees that this baby isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  So before he shows up and throws my schedule into chaos, I want to catch up on all the blog posts I should have been doing this summer.

Starting with our Niagara Falls/Palmyra trip we took in June.

One of the things I said I wanted to do as soon as we moved to Boston two years ago was to go to Niagara Falls.  It took us until our very last month living in Boston to actually make it there.  It was great trip!

We drove the 4 hours up to Palmyra and stayed the night in upstate New York and then headed to Niagara Falls the next day. 

Jack at the Whitmer Farm

Jack and Zack up at tree at the Whitmer Farm

After tree climbing, Jack decided to find a fence to climb

The street we stayed at in Niagara Falls.  It was pretty much like staying at Universal Studios.  Talk about tourist traps!

The Hershey Factory was a stop not to be missed by our family's two Hershey lovers. 

Vacation pictures rock!

We made it to Niagara Falls!

I love this picture.  Mostly because I can't tell you how many shots of me and Dani making this exact face we have. 

I was a bit ridiculous and worried as we took this picture that Jack might get accidentally thrown over board.  Sometimes I wonder what I could accomplish with all my extra time if I quit worrying needlessly...

The Niagara Falls boat might be a curly haired girls worst nightmare.  Jack loved getting wet though.

The best family picture shot we got on the boat.  Pretty impressive I know.

We had a great birthday/father's day meal on top of our hotel.  As you can see the view was fantastic despite the quality of the shot.

Jack and Zack conquered the Sky Wheel.  This picture doesn't do justice to just how HUGE this thing was.  I opted out given my fear of ferris wheels figuring the boys would have more fun without me having a panic attack at a gazillion feet in the air.

Happy Jack on the Sky Wheel

Happy Zack and Jack on the Sky Wheel.  Love the self portraits!

All in all we had a fantastic trip.  Zack and Jack did spend the afternoon at the indoor water park and had a fantastic time.  Jack went down all the huge water slides and has been begging to go find a water park in San Diego to visit.  Our hotel room had a fantastic view of the falls and we watched fire works over the Falls our first night in town.  Except for the nasty border patrol lady who yelled at me for missing a stop sign waiting in line to cross the border (seriously it was hidden) and then doubted my ability to drive in a foreign country (Really?!) the trip was a ton of fun.  Personally I would have thought Canada would have been more grateful for our visit and money.  I'm just saying...

Thank you Zack and Jack for making my Niagara Falls trip happen, just in the nick of time!