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....

Do You Believe In Magic?

My youngest daughter is really into American Girl dolls. She started out with a Bitty Baby when she was around 4 years old.

The catalog listed the dolls in order of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, etc. She made sure to let us know that she wanted C. That is how she got her name, Baby CeeCee.

Bitty Baby has been very loved. Although my daughter has tried to take good care of her, she has been played with a little too rough at times, and accidentally bumped into things. As anyone whose daughter has one of these dolls knows, their little heads will show wear and tear rather quickly.

When the doll is bumped, white streaks or marks can appear on the paint on their head (their hair) or on their face and body. Over time, the doll can start to look old and tired. Kind of like the mother of the girl who owns the doll. Not that I would know anything about THAT though.

My daughter came to me and asked me to "fix" her. Now, you can send the doll to the American Girl "hospital" and get her professionally cleaned. For a small fee.

Knowing how very special this doll was to my daughter, I was a little leery about trying out any home remedies. But, as I try to be frugal with money, I thought I could at least try.

Google to the rescue!

Someone suggested using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.


For those of you who are not familiar with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, it is a great multi-purpose cleaning tool. It comes with two "erasers" in the box, and for the original one, it cost me $1.96 at Wal-Mart. Inside, was a coupon for 50 cents off my next purchase. What a bargain!

It is very simple to use. You just wet, and use. It can be used over and over again.

Now, I regularly use this for marks on the wall. I use it to erase black fingerprints on doors. It took off Sharpie marker on my tile floor. This thing is a miracle worker in many ways.

So...I tried it on a very small spot on the back of the doll's head, just in case it took the paint off.

With a slightly shaking hand, I started to clean it. Gulp.

At first, I thought it was removing the paint. It was looking lighter! Uh oh.

Then, I realized that it wasn't removing the paint, it was removing the years of dirt that had accumulated from years of love. It was starting to look semi-new again!

After I was sure that it wouldn't do any harm, I proceeded to clean the entire doll's head and face. All of the white marks were magically removed. The tiny pen (or marker?) smears remain, but they are hardly noticeable.

Did it do a perfect job? No. But, it is good enough, and since she will most likely just get white marks and scrapes again in the future, it is a great way to save money, and keep the doll looking relatively clean.

If only the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser could be used to "magically" erase these little lines and wrinkles that are somehow appearing on my own face. Sigh.

I handed Baby CeeCee back to my very excited daughter, who told me how thankful she was, and how now, she didn't always have to wear a hat on her to cover up all the scrapes.

Don't worry, American Girl. You will still be getting our money. Just in other ways. There are some items from your catalog that are on a certain little red-head's Christmas list...

* I was not provided with a free Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, nor did I receive any compensation for this positive review. I just discovered that it works, and thought I would pass this information along to all of you :) For more ways to use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and for other available products, go to www.mrclean.com