Christmas Day

I couldn't have asked for a better reaction from Dakota on Christmas morning! She woke up happy and excited and asking for "Gamma". We changed her and I went out to get the camera ready and Doug set her loose. My mom (Gamma) and sister were also waiting for her to come out and Dakota came racing down the hall, "GAAAA-MMMMA!!" and ran straight to my mom and sister. She was so excited! She totally thought they were the surprise. When we pointed out the toys Santa had brought, she was flabbergasted. She just grinned and pointed at the toys and looked at us all with surprise like, "Do you guys see those toys over there?!!!" And when we told her to go get them, she was just thrilled! She was perfectly content with the Sesame Street themed doctor kit she received from Santa and did not care to open any other presents. You could push the button on the Cookie Monster stethescope and he would say "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-baam" for a heartbeat and she thought it was the best. She started walking around saying "Ba-bam" and trying to listen to everyone's hearts including her baby doll. Eventually she had us open her other presents for her and enjoyed all of them. We also gave her a Little People Bus and Airplane sets as well as the ABC Leapfrog fridge magnets. Little did she know, that was just he beginning of all the fun things she still had to receive that day! Gamma D gave us a dvd player for our car which we are so excited about! And Auntie Anna and Matt gave her a darling outfit. We enjoyed orange hot rolls, scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast and then rested, played and relaxed the rest of the day. Later in the afternoon, we headed to Grandma Yuk's for dinner. Yukie gave all the great-grand-girls a baby doll set which included a baby stroller, high chair and cradle. Aunt Julie also made all the girls doll clothes which are darling! And Aunt Karen gave them all baby bottles. It was quite a hit! After a great dinner and some play time with all the great-grand-kids, Dakota conked out on the car ride back to Centerville. We were suppose to open presents but couldn't wake her. So we opened ours and left hers for morning. She received a Leapfrog ABC electronic toy from Jichan and Gramma-Ma, an adorable sweater from Aunt Melissa, some learning blocks from her cousin Lucy and a princess paper doll set for the bathtub from Aunt Eri. All in all, Dakota really cleaned up this Christmas! It was wonderful and so priceless to see her enjoy this holiday! Definitely better than last year's sick-baby fiasco :) The day after we went to my mom's for a game night with my family and had a ton of fun. Dakota wasn't too happy to have to say goodbye to Gamma though. She loved spending so much time with both of our families and hasn't stopped talking about them ever since :) (She also started talking up a storm over Christmas and has quadrupled her vocabulary for sure in the last week!)