American Girl

Before I had children, I had never heard of "American Girl". One of my friends, who had a daughter, mentioned it when my oldest was just a baby, and then she said, "just wait".

Wait? Wait for what?

Then, when my daughter was about five....it started.

The catalogs mysteriously appeared.

And they kept coming.

And coming. And coming. And coming.

With the catalogs, came the nagging.

"I want this!"

"I want that!"

"Look, it's on sale!"

And so, I found out what my friend meant when she told me to "just wait".

*Sigh*

So...."Santa" was asked to bring two little girls a much desired American Girl doll.

Santa went above and beyond, and he made them wooden beds, and Mrs. Clause made them bedding to go with it, and stenciled on the beds to make them extra special.

That Christmas morning, there were two very excited little girls, who were overjoyed with what they found wrapped under the tree....two dolls by the name of Samantha

and Kit



Complete with the story book about their lives.

Fast forward to the littlest sister, and of course, she also wanted an American Girl doll, just like her sisters had. Santa felt that she was not old enough to take care of an expensive doll like that quite yet, so she received a Bitty Baby. (I talked about how to clean the dolls on this post).
When the youngest was six, she received her very own "Just like you" American Girl doll. She named her Jenny.

And the catalogs kept coming.

My youngest daughter wanted to take a trip to the American Girl store. The nearest one to us is in Chicago.

So, when we planned on taking a trip to Chicago, the first place on the list was the American Girl Place.



Here is the glass elevator at the The Water Tower shopping mall where the American Girl Place is located.


It made me a little bit sad that we had never gone when my oldest girls were younger. It is a little girl's dream come true. But, a fifteen year old? Not so much.

My middle daughter still enjoyed it some what, and my youngest of course, never wanted to leave.

She really wanted to get Jenny's ears pierced, and so we got the camera all ready to document the experience.

When we arrived, it was rather anticlimactic, as we were told that they did not do it in front of you, but rather, took the doll to the back, and the machine "pierced" them back there.

So, we sat Jenny in the chair, and the lady brushed her hair, and we took pictures of that.





By the way, we went to the AG store on a Wednesday, and there was NO wait! Definitely better to go during the week, than on a weekend. See? No line! I can't imagine what this place looks like on a weekend...




For $14, the AG store pierced Jenny's ears, and that included a card with six pairs of earrings.

Hubs mentioned he could have just taken her into the garage, and "pierced" them for free, but that wouldn't have been quite as much fun.

And it wouldn't have included earrings.

For those of you who have all boys, or live under a rock, American Girl is HUGE!

Not only can you buy the dolls, but there are literally thousands of accessories that you can buy to go with them.

See the little white dog next to the doll? That is Coconut. She is probably the most popular little "pet" that you can buy for your doll. They also have horses, that cost almost as much as a REAL horse.

FYI....we own Coconut.

We purchased Coconut from a garage sale.

For a quarter :)

My youngest daughter standing in front of the "Just like you" doll case.
With these dolls, you can purchase one that....well....looks just like you! They have all different colors of skin, hair, and eyes, so they can be your "twin".

As you can see, they had already started decorating for the Christmas season. Not a fan of the saying, "Happy Holidays". What holiday are we celebrating?

It is CHRISTmas, people!

Just in case YOU have a little girl who has something from American Girl on her Christmas list, be aware that not only is there "Black Friday", but there is something called "Cyber Monday". This is the Monday AFTER Black Friday.

I was able to get the outfit that "Jenny" is dressed in, for 50% off, on Cyber Monday last year. When a single outfit for the doll can cost $25, that is a good deal!

So....be looking for sales on that day!

I know I will....