We are half way done with our busiest weekend in months. Last night was a baby shower for Kris's cousin Tim and his wife Kari. It was a really nice evening. We don't get to see that family very often as they are pretty scattered across the nation and upper midwest. Annika really enjoyed herself playing with Jack, Emma and Peter. Emma has a super fancy doll house and Barbies. Annika was in heaven playing with those. The downer of the evening was the missing presence of Uncle Jim. He's in the hospital recovering from gall bladder surgery. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

Yesterday afternoon Annika and I were getting ready for the party. After we woke from our nap, we took a shower. Annika was wearing her new bathrobe when we heard Daddy arrive home from work. Annika ran down the stairs to greet him, except she stripped off her robe before doing so. Daddy was greeted by a naked little girl running around the house! Silly girl! As they came back up the stairs I heard Daddy ask Annika if she was getting ready for the party and Annika ask Daddy in reply "Touch Nika?" Daddy didn't know what she was talking about and asked Nika to repeat herself. Annika said "Girls touch Nika?" Then it dawned on us that the last parties Annika has been to are with my side of the family. The little girls, Ann and Beth, that are sometimes there are very aggressive socially. They give Annika big bear hugs and pat her head and kiss her cheek. Annika hates this. She definitely needs her personal space. So she was asking Daddy if the touchy girls were going to be there. Daddy assured her that they weren't and then helped her get dressed.

Today Annika and I spent most of the day at home. Daddy was out running with Uncle Dusty, Auntie Carrie and Uncle Adam and then he headed to the north end of the cities. There, he visited with an old work friend of his and his new baby. And then he headed to Gma's 90th birthday party. In the mean time, Annika and I were getting ready for our next party. This evening was a Christmas party for Gramme's side of the family. When I told Annika where we were going, she wanted to know if the girl and boys (Jack, Emma and Peter from last night) were going to be there. I told her no but there would be other kids for her to play with. And there were. A lot of my cousins are now having children. I think there were kids there from 5 years old down to babies. Annika had the most fun playing with Blaine's dinosaurs. She was very well behaved while we were there, until the very end when we said it was time to go. Then she pitched a fit and cried and tantrumed most of the way home. Ah, good times. How do you handle a tantruming child when in the car. I told her that Mommy wasn't going to listen to her when she was crying and whining and then I ignored her until she calmed down and talked to me nicely. But man, did she pitch a fit in the mean time. When she does that at home she gets a time out but I can't really do a time out at 65mph down the highway. Ugh. That girl has a temper and no patience sometimes. It's really not a nice combination. Tomorrow we have another party and then Monday is our last Christmas celebration before returning to life as normal.