Warms My Heart

This absolutely warms my heart! Lindy is reading, by herself, unprompted by anyone, and LOVING it! It has been years since she has really sat down to read anything other than a quick picture book. Thank God for American Girls! What is not to like about anything they have? It has taught the girls every kind of history imaginable, we've used the feelings books and journals, and a host of others.

Santa brought these new American Girl books for Christmas and he must have known they were just what Lindy needed. They are adorable choose your own adventures complete with a map and a host of cute American Girls. Lindy's first one was Braving the Lake, she read all the endings. I had her tell me about the story (she has often in her dyslexia struggle complained that she did not understand what she read and also because they look so cute I want to know!).

She not only recounted the main plot but told me all the different endings. When I asked her which one she liked best she said the third one. Why? The character "stood up for herself and that's something I don't do very much". Very true, Lindy is the ultimate peace maker, the one who will get walked all over if she's not careful. Which is what I love about American Girls they really encourage girls to be true to themselves and do the right things even when its hard.

Kind of like trying to read when its been a struggle and a daunting task. Her confidence has soared in the last couple of weeks because of these books. I brought the other two home yesterday from B&N and haven't seen much of her since!

Keep up the hard work Lindy, its paying off! Daddy and I are blown away by your motivation and drive to be the best you can be. Love you!

Such the little mama! Reading her book surrounded by her dolls.

Lainey Look Alike

Erin found this adorable outfit with a matching doll outfit at Kohl's last week. No questions she "had" to have it! The girls both gave her a makeover and decided that she most looks like Lainey. The curling iron was put into action and they made her a matching head band. She was so excited. She did a full modeling session and wanted to show the back of her hair as well. So sweet!

American Girl Bliss

Oh my what a day. I have been wanting to take my little girls to the American Girl Store since they were born. So that would be almost nine years! Last Saturday was finally the day. After bringing our cousins Emma and Alec back to Chicago we stayed for the weekend and hit the store Saturday morning. Oh my!

First we headed to the hair salon to get our dolls dropped off for their make overs. The girls had been online studying the different styles and had already made their selections before they arrived at the store. With Chrissa, Samantha, Molly, and Rebecca safely dropped off we headed off to shop until our lunch reservation. Lindy had her heart set on a look alike doll and named her Bailey. Paige wanted the Girl of the Year, Lanie, and Erin wanted Molly's friend Emily. While we were shopping a sweet lady named Denise showed up with a huge bag and extra hands to help us. It was a mamma's dream come true! She led us back to the personal shopping lounge where she stored our goodies while we ate lunch and checked on us while we ate and shopped.

Lunch was such fun! We took our remaining dolls to eat and had a birthday lunch party celebrating Emma's 11th birthday and Lindy and Paige's 9th birthday. We had a great meal and finished with a birthday cake and ice cream before heading back to shop more.

Our shopping angel Denise, took our list of last items and gathered them up while we went and looked at all the Historical Dolls vignettes, clothes and furniture. So my AG store tip is, get one of these wonderful ladies to help you out. It made all the difference in my day!

Erin with her Julie.

Lindy and Paige ordered the American Girls Picnic Lunch. So cute, it had a mini hotdog, mini hamburger, mini bowl of macaroni with mini fruit kabobs. They loved it!

Julie and Felicity enjoy tea at the celebration.

Lindy and Felicity

Emma and Ella

Happy early birthday Lindy and Paige, and happy birthday Emma!

Paige was so proud of getting Chrissa's ears pierced.

The real life size rooms were a definite favorite for all the girls. There was a lot of squealing going on!

This was my favorite, Molly's 1944 kitchen.

Rebecca's 1914 Dining Room

Julie's memorabilia

Oh, which mini doll should we get?

Erin was doing a fashion show with the Rebecca clothes.

Paige and Lainey with her nature kit.

Lindy and her new look alike, Bailey.

Erin with her new Emily doll and her new mini Emily.

Taking the train into the city was a fun experience for the girls. Bill had to do last minute hair repair in route to downtown!

Emma and Lindy enjoyed some downtime before the ride home. I know they will always remember spending the day together and celebrating their birthdays. I know I will!

American Girl Doll Camp

Emma and Lindy with the "Cardinals" group.

American Girl Doll Camp has lasted all week and what fun it has been! The best part was seeing Lindy and Paige organize, set up, and get creative with the activities. I tried to stay out of the planning as much as possible (can be hard for me to do!) and just get them started and give them some ideas to get started with.

Paige chose to name their camp Camp Gowonagin after Molly's camp. She made the welcoming sign that hung at the top of the stairs leading to the loft where camp took place. The girls incorporated many of the ideas from their Girl Scout camp experiences.

Twelve dolls attended and we had seven little girls managing their camp group of dolls. Paige divided the dolls into three groups of four and named them the Blue Jays, the Cardinals, and the Robins. The first day each group made a camp flag and decorated it to take to the flag ceremony.

Stations were set up and the groups rotated through crafts, snacks, swimming, camp songs, horseback riding, bike riding, ice and roller skating, nature walks, and gymnastics.

Tonight is the big sleepover. The girls are making smores and then making mini smores for their dolls. We have camp pictures to pass out and all the dolls are sleeping together. More pictures to follow later!

Grace and Paige with the "Robins".

Erin, Rachel, and Julia with the "Blue Jays".

Taken straight from Girl Scout Camp, the girls created "Singing Trees" where the girls gather to learn camp songs each day. 

The girls took their dolls on nature walks each day complete with guide books and magnifying glass!

A makeshift swimming pool, a box covered in dark blue wrapping paper. By day 3 they had rigged a diving board too.

Icecream cones on bugles!

Love this, the girls put all their dolls in a group to play a card game.

Another snack, red M&M's with chocolate made to look like ladybugs.

Can you tell that I have as much fun as the girls?!