After 19 years of marriage we have a dining room with furniture in it! The first townhouse we lived in (for 2 1/2 years) didn't have a dining room. But the Harbour Shore house that we lived in for 9 years and this house that we've lived in for 7 1/2 years both have a dining room. The purpose of the dining room in the Harbour Shore house was for our kid's toys. It got interesting when the triplets were toddlers and it was like a play ground in there. That dining toy room served us well. In our current house the main purpose of the dining room until about 2 years ago was a place to put our Christmas tree and presents in for the month of December. Then a few years ago we inherited Granny's piano and it became "the piano room". 
The curtains, accessories and lighting are still a work in progress, but hey, we have furniture. The kid's reaction to it has been fun. We haven't eaten in there yet but when we do, it will be great. We moved the piano across the foyer to the study. It's a tight fit, and when someone is on the computer at the same time as someone is playing the piano it's a little much, but it works for now.
It was fun to unpack crystal, china, table linens, etc. that we had received as wedding gifts, but had not seen since Jan. 5, 1991. I learned that it's not a good idea to pick out a china pattern in the trendy colors of the day, a.k.a. mauve and light blue, because more than likely you won't like those colors for very long. 
Wow.
We had a beautiful Saturday evening egg hunt at Grammy and Grandpa's house. With new eggs and a couple of five dollar bills to be found the kids were excited as ever. With all the kids equally able to run and find the eggs I think this was the first year that the backyard was not divided down the center with a garden hose with big kids on one side and little kids on the other. It was fun to see Allie dropping some of the eggs she had found back on the ground for the younger ones to find. Allie yelled to Josh after she had dropped one telling him there was an egg nearby and he should go get it. He smiled from the top of the playhouse and said "Allie, I saw you do that". Connor also made a sacrifice and decided to give Lydia ALL of his candy. Later in the car when all the other kids were eating their candy I heard him say to himself "I wonder why I did that?"
We debated about which hike to take and finally decided on the perfect hike in the Elkmont area. There was no destination for us, we just walked along the river and let the kids explore as much as they wanted, skipping stones, collecting sticks, and letting them decide when they were ready to turn around. 
