I missed yesterday! That's my second day missing posting this month. Argh! I totally forgot yesterday. We were pretty busy yesterday. First was gymnastics then Kris headed down to his parents to work on the floors one last time before Christmas. While Kris was working, Annika and I were shopping! Hee. We finished up our Christmas shopping for Daddy and now we are all done! OK, so there's two small things I'd like to get yet but if that doesn't happen, it's okay. Annika was such an angel during shopping. In the first store, I didn't have her in a stroller and the store didn't have carts so she was left to walk on her own. And she was so good, staying right by me, not touching all the merchandise in sight and sticking close by me. I couldn't have been more proud. The second store we went to had carts. There was some whining to get out of the cart after a while, but otherwise it went really well. After shopping, we had lunch with Gramme and Auntie Krystle. Gramme was totally smitten with Annika and even scooted her high chair closer to her so she could snuggle and love on Annika. We went to Macaroni Grill for lunch and Annika thought it was pretty cool that she could just color right on the table! She also had to go to the bathroom three times, not because she actually had to go, but because she wanted out of the high chair, I think. After lunch, Gramme and Auntie Krystle said good-bye and I strapped Annika in to her car seat. I said good-bye to them also and by the time I walked around the truck and got in big crocodile tears were rolling down Annika's face. I asked her what was wrong and she said "Where's Auntie Krystle? Where's Gramme?" I told her that they had to go home now and so did we. She didn't want them to leave. I told her Auntie Krystle was coming over to our house that night to play with her and then she was better. We went home and took an almost three hour nap together and before we knew it, it was night time and Auntie Krystle came over. She was babysitting for us so Kris and I could go to a party. Annika hardly batted an eye when it was time for us to leave. We each got our hugs and kisses and then she was busy playing with Auntie Krystle and gave us each a quick wave as we walked out. We had the last martini party of the year to go to at Amanda and Dean's house. It was a nice evening hanging out with friends. John even brought his Wii with and we got to play with that for a while! OK, so Kris played it with others. I was sleepy by then (Hey - it was after 10:30pm and I'm usually sleeping by then - this was a big night out! Ha!) so I just watched the others play. It looked like fun though! And I was laughing right along with the others, even if I wasn't on my feet bowling or pumping my fists running or playing any of the other crazy games.

Today was our first family Christmas party of the season. Annika super excited to see Auntie Shelly and Uncle Dale. She's been asking about them for days. And she spent a great deal of time with them this afternoon. That's when she wasn't running around like a crazy girl of course. She had a great time playing with a little football and other toys, helping some aunts open up their presents, playing with Daddy and Grandpa and Marcia and seeing all the other kids. She asked for them all on our way home this afternoon. "Where's Uncle Dale? Where's Auntie Shelly? Where's the kids? Where's Grandpa? Where's Marcie?" On and on and on... Then as we were stopped at a stoplight, she thought she saw Uncle Dale in a vehicle by us. The car went straight and we turned and she was upset and almost panicked "Where's Uncle Dale going?" It wasn't him, of course, but she thought it was. I told her Uncle Dale had to go home to his house and we had to go home to ours. That was a good enough explanation and while she wasn't very happy about it, she accepted it. Silly girl.

My friend Jen had a baby boy on Friday night. Congratulations Jen, Jim, Audrey and Ava! Little David is such a cutie! She reads this site once in a while. Leave her a congratulations in the comments if you'd like!