American Girl

I had a fantastic time with Reagan today.  Last night I told Reagan we were going to do something special today, but I didn't give her any details.  She begged and pleaded, but I kept it a secret.  Even today, when I told her to bring her doll (she brought McKenna) she didn't guess that we were going to American Girl.  This store is in the Natick Mall, and when we were in the parking lot, she spotted the store and screamed, "I know where we are going!!!".  She was SO excited!

We arrived around 1:00 and walked around the store for a bit.  Reagan saw a lot of things she liked, but she settled on matching sweatshirts for her and her doll and a book.


We had a 2:00 reservation for lunch at the American Girl Bistro.  This was our first time there; Reagan didn't even know there was a place to eat in the store.  We went up the escalator to the bistro and found more items for sale upstairs.  The whole time we were downstairs, Reagan was looking for the dog, Honey, but we didn't see it until we got upstairs.  She has been asking for this dog for over a year, so I knew we were buying it,  but I told her we would get it after lunch.

The bistro is very pretty and very pink.  Everyone was very friendly, and Reagan was given royal treatment.

When our names were called, Reagan grabbed a seat for her doll and we went to our table.

You can see the book that Reagan bought in this picture; it's a geography puzzle book.  I was so excited that she chose it, and I promise I had absolutely nothing to do with her choice!!!!!!

The waitress gave us conversation starters, and Reagan was very into the game.  We asked each other the questions until the waitress came to take our order.

I purchased a birthday package, so Reagan got a crown for her and a crown for her doll, a birthday tee shirt for her doll, a balloon for her doll, a book,

and we also got two appetizers, our beverages, entrees, a cake, and ice cream.  It was a great package!

For appetizers, Reagan had chicken noodle soup and I had warm pretzel bites.  Reagan also ate spaghetti and meatballs, and I had a salad.

After we ate, the staff arrived with Reagan's cake and sang Happy Birthday to her.

I think the expression on Reagan's face in the above photo is funny because she doesn't like cake and I can see her thinking that she has no intentions of eating it!  She enjoyed the ice cream though, and we brought the cake home for everyone else to enjoy (I had a piece at the bistro; I felt obligated!!!).

While we were eating lunch, Reagan pointed out a yellow car on Route 9 that she thought looked funny; it was a VW Beetle, so I told her about Punch Buggy.  A little later, she spotted a white one and ran over to punch me on the arm.  She is laughing in this picture because she thought the whole thing was just so funny.  I LOVE this picture; it's just HONEST CHILDHOOD FUN and I love to see that and be able to capture it!!

Reagan could not wait to leave the bistro.  Don't get me wrong, she was having a GREAT TIME, but she really wanted to go buy Honey and she was very concerned they would sell out!!  So, we bought Honey.  Then, as we were leaving, she spotted Honey's bed.  She didn't even ask, but I saw it on her face and I couldn't leave the store without the bed.

Here she is, as we were leaving, with McKenna and Honey.

It was a great time, and Reagan told me she had a lot of fun.  When I asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she said, "buying Honey"!  I hope she remembers this day for a long time; I know I will!  I loved spending time alone with her, we need to do that more often!

Barbie's New Catamaran

I was searching Family Fun for an easy craft and came across this simple catamaran.  I had everything I needed on hand and the entire process took less than twenty minutes.  For someone with sharper scissors, it will probably be even quicker.  I have to buy sharper scissors.  Anyway, this is how I made it.

First, I peeled the labels off two one liter seltzer bottles.  Then, I taped them together with colored duct tape.
Next, I cut ovals out of the top of each bottle.  I cut them small at first and kept enlarging them until Barbie was easy to put inside.  The last step is to put duct tape around the cut edges so they aren't sharp.

R wanted to decorate the bottles.  She used window crayons because they are easy to use on plastic.

The crayon washes off in the tub, but she didn't care.  Plus, she can decorate it over and over again.  It's not very hard to clean off the tub either.

R was very excited to have a new bath toy and immediately climbed into the tub to play.

I'm sure this catamaran will also carry Spiderman and other superheroes as soon as C sees it.

I tried to tell Barbie that "less is more," but she must have misunderstood.  I was referring to her make up, not her clothing.

The Apple Doll

The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven is the story of a girl named Lizzy who loves to play in the apple tree in her yard.  When she starts school for the first time, she decides to take a piece of the apple tree with her.  She makes a twig body for her apple and names the doll, Susanna.  Lizzy's mother shows her how to turn Susanna into a real apple doll that will last a long time.  Susanna helps Lizzy overcome her shyness at school and make plenty of new friends.

I love everything we have read by Elisa Kleven, and this book is no exception.  The story is so sweet, and there are directions for making your own apple doll at the end of the book.  Of course, C and R had to make apple dolls.

We found two unblemished Granny Smith apples, peeled them, and carved noses, eyes, and mouths on them.

The next step is to place the apples in a bowl and cover them with lemon juice.  I put a bowl on top of them to keep them submerged in the juice.

Thirty minutes later, we removed the apples from the juice, placed them on a greased cookie sheet, and put them in a 200 degree oven for thirty minutes.  Once the thirty minutes passed, we alternated drying the apples in the oven and on a sunny windowsill.  According to the directions, this typically takes about three days, but it was very humid when we started the drying process and our apples were not dry until the sixth day.  Maybe they would have dried faster if I used the oven, but I didn't really like the idea of having the oven on all day long.

When they finished drying, we used feathers, fake flowers from a lei, pipe cleaners, beads, and cotton balls to turn the apples into Grandma and Grandpa Apple.  C and R begged to do make these, but I have a feeling that the apple dolls will never be played with again.

 I think they are kind of cute.  What do you think?

The Paper Princess

I love The Paper Princess books.  They are so sweet.  Honestly, any book or movie that features toys that come to life when they are loved by children, hits me right in the heart.  The Paper Princess books are about a paper doll that was created by a little girl.  In each of the three books, she goes on a different adventure when the wind lifts her into the air and she ends up in a new place.  I love all of the books, but my personal favorite is the second book, The Paper Princess Finds Her Way, where she is carried by Monarch butterflies as they migrate to Mexico.  C loves the third book because the paper princess has a dog in that book, and R cannot decide between the first and the second book and sometimes the third book.  Let's just say that we love the series! 

I knew we were going to make paper dolls after reading these books.  Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile told me about Creatology Paper Shapes and I found some in the shape of boys and girls at Michael's.  C created a boy and R created a girl.  The paper shapes certainly aren't necessary to make paper dolls, but they helped to provide inspiration for my children.  I gave them the doll shapes, some yarn, sequins, buttons, construction paper clothes that I cut out for them, googly eyes, glue, and markers.

R named her paper doll "Abby"; C just calls his "C". 

Thank you to Christianne from Little Page Turners for writing about The Paper Princess in a blog post.  Her daughter, E, made a beautiful paper princess a few weeks ago.

I am linking this post to stArt (story + art = a great start) at A Mommy's Adventures.