Overflowing Weekend

Marie had a FULL weekend.

On Friday night we drove to Cedar Falls to be with Aunt Liz as she graduated from Cedar Falls. Next step, graduate school in speech pathology.
Marie didn't sit much for the ceremony. She ran around with all the other babies until she fell asleep on Grandpa...I don't think Papa minded too much.While we were there, Marie enjoyed running around Liz's communication disorders department and mingling with the professors. We got to see Don & Jean, Nate, Andrew, Liz, and Grandpa & Grandma.
Side Note: Marie is saying 'papa' for Grandpa and 'genka' for Grandma...

We made it back to Des Moines on Saturday evening. We needed to get Marie to bed because Sunday morning was going to be our own little Christmas morning before we leave for our extended family Christmas gatherings.

Marie woke up at 5:45 ready to roll. She opened one present, "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?", and decided she had no interest in the others. Apparently she felt she had all she needed. So Dad & Mom opened the rest. Marie did like her presents when she found out what they were, especially the doll clothes and food for her kitchen.Side note: After we opened presents, it was time for Marie's medicine. We mentioned it to her and before we knew it, she was giving her baby the medicine. At one point the baby tried to get up and Marie said "No, medicine."Sunday afternoon was set aside for napping and then on to Santa! Marie woke up from her nap a little groggy until I said "Do you want to go see Santa?" Then she was ready to roll.

Santa was very busy, but we found things to do in the store. She loves looking at all the animals and the big fish aquarium, too.
Pretty soon, it was time. Marie could hardly wait. She kept trying to break loose and run to Santa. She watched intently as the other kids took their turn on his lap sharing their list. Ok, our turn. Marie walked up to him, said "ho ho ho," got on his lap, and....
cried, cried, cried!
I stepped back, assuring her that it was ok, and said in my high pitched mommy voice, "you're ok, this is Santa!"She began to calm down, gave a fake smile for the camera, and stared at his face.All in all, it wasn't too bad.
Hopefully not too traumatic.
Not exactly how we thought it would go.
At least we have a fun story to share with her and she has an awkward picture to share with her kids someday.