Surprise!

MommyToAshley wrote: We struggled with what to get Ashley for her birthday. She's not really into a lot of toys, she mostly plays outside or on the computer. She already has a bike, scooter, etc -- so we didn't need to get her any outside stuff. She's wanted a Nintendo DS for as long as I can remember, but we always thought she was a little young for it. We surprised her with one on her birthday, and here's the expression when she realized what it was that she was opening (she got the metallic pink one):

mammag replied: She looks soooo excited! I love when you really pull off a surprise like that....seeing their faces light up.

Keegan is wanting one already because the older boys have them. He has an old Gameboy Color (ancient thing) that he calls his "ds" now but he wants "the one with the coloring pen".

Kaitlin'smom replied: awww how wonderful. Kaitlin has been asking for one of those since last year. she used to play with Alicia's (sitters daughter) all the time.

lisar replied: I just love it when they are suprised. We got Lexi a really nice stereo for her birthday last year and she cried when she opened it cause she was so happy. I was crying cause she was. It was so sweet

Kirstenmumof3 replied: That's great! I'm sure she will really enjoy it!

Nina J replied: Thats great

I personally want one myself. We had guests a few weeks ago and one of our guests (he was a teenager) had a ds, he showed me how to play it. There is one game called Theme Park that he had, it was very fun. I have considered getting my eldest daughter one for Christmas, but I don't think she is old enough yet. And I know I would end up playing it instead

gr33n3y3z replied: She will enjoy playing
Great choice

MommyToAshley replied:
I forget, how old is your eldest daughter? I thought Ashley might be too young for it, but she loves it. (She turned 6). The great thing about the Nintendo DS is that they have a lot of games geared towards kids (versus the PSP). They do have some adult games, so you just have to watch what games you buy. Although, many of the games require reading (there's a few that don't). At least I don't feel as guilty about buying her a gaming system, it's good practice for her reading. I doubt her teacher will allow me to count that as her nightly reading though.

ZandersMama replied: Im so happy she liked it, what games did she get?

(BTW, i have a pic around here somewhere opening mine at Christmas, and I have the same expression on my face)

MommyToAshley replied:
We took her to the store and let her pick out two games, so she got Cheetah Girls and Imagine Fashion Studio. There was an M&M puzzle game there for $14 so we got that one for her too.

She wanted another game, but we told her that she would have to use her own money to buy any more games. And, so she bought the new Mario Bros game with her own money. She's already saving for the next game.

We might get her some games for Christmas... do you have any suggestions?

ZandersMama replied: mario kart is a big hit in my house, and yoshis island, its alot like mario but you are rescueing princess peach, mario and DK. garfields nightmare is pretty decent for that age to, and runs like a mario game.

my favorite and zanders favorite is princess peach. its a great little game, follows the same principals as mario and you get to be the princess.

one i would not reccomend is super mario 64 for the ds, i couldnt even navigate that one.

Nina J replied:
5 this week.

Maybe I will look in to getting her one for Christmas. I don't actually know any parents whose children around Emily's age have ds' so I don't really know how age appropriate they are for a five year old. I will consider it though, if not for this year then for her 6th birthday. It seems like the kind of thing Emily would enjoy, she enjoys to play with toys but she gets much more enjoyment from being outside or playing on the computer.