We had a great weekend. Friday night the kids and I got to see Krystle and Pierce's new townhouse before everyone else! Then we all had dinner together (Grandpa Dan, Marcia, all of us, Krystle, Pierce and Uncle Mathias too!). It was so great. Mathias told us all about his repo adventures. (He's in school for law enforcement and his roommate repo's cars once in a while and Mathias has gone with a few times). Annika wanted Grandpa to hold her the whole time. Any time Grandpa would put her down or pay any attention to James she would get so jealous. So Grandpa pretty much held her the whole time we were waiting for our table. And as soon as Grandpa was done eating, Annika was back over sitting on his lap some more. After dinner Kris went back to work and the rest of us went back to Krystle and Pierce's house so everyone else could see it. Annika was hilarious. She decided one of the cupboards in the kitchen is her hiding spot and the 2nd bedroom upstairs is her "running room." She going to hate it when those spaces get filled up! And James of course just beelined it for the stairs whenever anyone put him down. Too bad he doesn't know how to go down them yet! I've been trying to teach him to go down feet first on his belly but he prefers the arms first on his belly approach!

The next morning Krystle and Pierce stopped over before heading out to run some errands. Krystle asked me to do a favor for her - be her maid of honor! Krystle and Pierce got engaged the night before after we all left. Yay! Congratulations Krystle and Pierce! And welcome (officially) to the family Pierce! The ring is gorgeous and Krystle is already a radiantly beautiful bride.

After lunch on Saturday Uncle Mathias came over to play with us a little bit before he had to head back home. And I do mean play. We played games on the Wii the whole time! First he beat me in Tennis. I am not a very good Wii tennis player even though I think it's fun. I always end up with the giggles. Then I took both him and Kris out in Wii bowling. Now there I always seem to do well. And then I knocked Mathias out in Wii boxing. Then Kris got out Rayman Raving Rabbits and he and Mathias had fun playing those silly little party games. And before we knew it, it was time for Mathias to leave. It was a nice treat to have him over. I don't get to see him often enough.

Yesterday we headed down to Red Wing to visit Great Nana. She's been in the hospital since suffering a heart attack on Wednesday. Thankfully she is responding to a change in medications and may be transitioning to a transitional care facility today with the goal of returning back home in a little while. As Great Nana put it - "this tough old Swede isn't ready to go yet!" and boy are we thankful! She was in good spirits yesterday, much like her normal self. After our visit was over we went to Nana and Papa's house for a little bit. Kris needed to do some computer set up work for them there. Annika had a great time playing with the toys and petting the cat and dogs. And James got so excited to see the animals, until Babe bowled him over that is. James quickly recovered from the overly-excited attention that Babe gave him and laughed and crawled after the dogs some more. He especially loved the open mouthed kisses he got from Zoe! Yuck! We tried to watch out for that the rest of the evening. When James saw the cat he was so excited again. He wanted to pet the cat so badly but the cat would always walk away. He got close enough a couple times though. I think Annika's highlight of the night was when she got to ride the goat. Nana and Papa have two goats at their house and Papa brought her outside to run around with them. Then, with Papa's help, she was able to sit on one and "ride" it around on the grass. The goat didn't really do much but stand there. And when it was time to go home Annika was so upset. She kept saying "But I don't want to go home." She was having so much fun. Kris and I are so lucky to have such great families. It warms my heart so much to see my children so attached to their grandparents.