First. First. First...

Congratulations to Grandpa Dan and Marcia on their engagement!! They surprised us on Sunday by stopping over with the good news. After antique ring shopping that day, they found the perfect ring and dropped by on their way home. Marcia's ring is gorgeous. We had some Asti chilled yet from New Year's. We popped the cork and toasted to the happy couple. May they have many more happy years.

Saturday, Annika and I went shopping with Gramme. At lunch time we stopped by Pottery Barn to pick up Auntie Krystle and then went to lunch at Sydney's. Lunch was fine but towards the end, Annika had enough of the high chair. She was over due for a nap and this was our last stop before going home. Gramme took her out to the mall area to run around while Krystle and I stayed to take care of the bill. When we exited the restaurant, we found Gramme and Annika in the toy store next door. Annika was telling Gramme about how much she liked Sesame Street by hugging and lunging at the Elmo and Grover dolls. Since Annika already has an Elmo doll, Gramme decided to buy her the Grover doll. As they stood at the checkout counter paying, Annika pointed at a porcelain doll on a stand nearby. Gramme handed one to Annika and Annika decided she loved this doll so much she was never, ever letting go. Ever. And then Annika had her first ever toy store tantrum. I took the doll away, gave Annika Grover and walked out of the store while Gramme and Krystle finished the transaction. Annika cried these huge tears and had the saddest little face on while also bucking and flopping and generally having a tantrum. We got her quieted down by playing with Grover and his nose and eyes. Pretty soon, Grover was her best friend again and snuggled him the rest of the way to the car. Since Saturday, she has played with Grover constantly. She likes Grover's floppy legs so she gently shakes him to watch his legs move. Apparently, this is quite funny too according to Annika. Sunday night Annika waved Grover's hand and said "bye-bye" to me.I wasn't going anywhere mind you as I was sitting in the recliner but I thought it was the best thing ever anyway. She used a doll to wave "bye-bye". Isn't she like some genius child or something? For sure. We have also decided that Grover has stinky feet. She stuck a foot in my face so I jumped and said "P U Stinky!" She thought that was hilarious and proceeded to stick Grover feet in my face another 99 times before moving on to another activity. She thought it was so funny in fact that Grover had stinky feet that she was practically falling over she was laughing so hard which of course made me laugh and the game took even longer to play. Ah, that Grover. He is a barrel of good times.

Sunday morning while getting ready for church, I set Annika in one of the sinks in the bathroom so she could "brush" her teeth. Basically she chews on the toothbrush. Hey, it occupies her for minutes at a time! I can actually get ready without chasing her around the house. Anyway, she saw my eyelash curler sitting on the countertop, picked it up and pressed it against her eye. Clearly this is more proof that she is the smartest little girl ever. She knows what to do with an eyelash curler! At 16 months! Maybe this doesn't bode well for the future. She loves shoes and clothes and now eyelash curlers. Her teen years are going to be hell, aren't they.

Sunday night, Annika figured out how to crawl up into her high chair, turn around and then carefully sit down. While this another genius move on her part, it is also very scary for her parents to watch. We now make sure to keep the tray locked on her high chair so she can't climb up it. However, this just makes her mad which leads to more tantrums. Exhibit A would be the tantrum she threw last night that Auntie Krystle got to witness. How lucky for Auntie Krystle.

So, remember way up there when I mentioned getting ready for church? Yes, well, we went to another new church on Sunday. We have now found the 3rd out of 3 churches that we will not be returning to. This one was a free church. Kris and I are apparently more traditional than we thought because the 20-30 minutes of music at the beginning was a bit much for us and then the 45 minute sermon by the "pastor" without ever reading any scripture was enough to push us over. Sure, the "pastor" referenced scripture but Kris and I are of the belief that you can't just take quotes from seemingly random parts of the Bible to make your point. That's like taking random sentences from this entire blog and then trying to make a point with them. Okay, that was a weak analogy, but my point is when you take random snippets from stories, parables, etc. you lose the true meaning of those passages. You need to study the lines in question within the story it appears. Or you need to make it abundantly clear that the context and message you are conveying is really what the Bible intended. And simply putting Romans (xx:xx:xx) after the snippet is not good enough for Kris and I. Annika loved this church though. She danced and wiggled during all the singing. And she loved the drums, waving her arms in the air as if she was the drummer. They even had two electric guitars (complete with a guitar solo) and an electric keyboard to go with the 6 singers. We are quite picky about what church we will attend apparently. We still have 5 or 6 more churches to check out. Hopefully we'll find a couple to pursue further than one attendance! Last night I finally finished my pregnancy scrapbook. Next week I will start Annika's 1st year scrapbook. She's only 16 months old. I'm not that far behind! Ha!