American Girl Place

Ahhh....I have to admit..even though I am well past the age of dolls that this place inspires me...I love to walk around and see the little accessories for the dolls and the lunch there is fantastic...good service, good food and building memories with my girls.

We had a dry spell for quite a few years though :( Anna wasn't old enough to like them...she disliked the bitty babies we got her and Katie had outgrown her love of the dolls. But this past summer I was putting the AG Minis in the garage sale and lo and behold...she played with them. FOR HOURS. I immediately took them back only selling the stable...the people we sold the stable to hounded us for days...no wonder..one of those rooms cost $200. And we had a bunch. They are mini houses and have no people but man do we have fun playing with them. At the same time I realized maybe I should take the AG big dolls out and sure enough Anna plays with them for hours at a time.

She has ALL the original dolls...Kristen, Felicity, Addy and so on...and some of the Dolls of the Year...did I mention that Katie was really into them at one point??? So when we told her about the store her eyes got big. We mentioned that we didn't have a lot of money and that she'd have to pick and choose what she wanted. She got really serious and then told me that it was ok to leave Katie at home to save that money from her lunch so she could buy more stuff (giggle). She's a crackup.

We went and had a lovely time. The store has moved into Water Tower Place..which is nice enough - the pros..the store is much more spread out.....so you aren't fighting your way in. They also have more locations around the world so the rude foreigners aren't at OUR store (probably in NY's store now ). But the economy is showing even here as the collections for the girls are much smaller and lots of items weren't even in stock.

AnnaGrace chose a new doll..because you know "momma I don't have a special doll that is all mine that I picked out" and we got her some clothes. We ate a wonderful lunch and her dolls got to eat with us. And I highly recommend reconnecting with your childhood by going w/your daughter or son. To the left is what a fun day at AG Place looks like when you've done it right- complete exhaustion on the drive home!

Love,
Fee

She's Growing up

She's got her first playdate today. I mean her first official one..without Mommy. She brought home a girl's phone number from school and I caught her trying to call from K's cell on sat at 7am. I had no idea she had gotten the girl's number. :) So I left a message asking the Mom to call me back. And told AnnaGrace she couldn't just go make all her own plans.

At Stace's house, I was informed for the first time EVER that NO MOMS ALLOWED...Stacy and I spent our time looking at each other..alternately a little lost and a little thrilled. She's growing up..this fierce little girl that inspires such fierce love from all of us. Such a goose and she's all mine....I must have done something awfully good to be able to become this little one's Mommy.

And that's ok because she's not totally ready for living on her own yet....she still needs me...how sweet it is to see her wings spread and her to fly. From a scared, underweight (13 lbs at 8 mos) little baby to an almost 6 yr old. Amazing!

Thanks for letting me share. She said she's a little nervous for tonight and woke up a few times last night scared....but now she's gonna have Nana's cell phone with her!

Now tonight's playdate..wonder who'll be more worried? :)