My American Girlies

I did not have an American Girl doll when I was little. I had a german Zapf version of a Cabbage Patch doll, but my doll did not (to my knowledge) come with the accessories that American Girls come with today.
 (this is the closest google image I could find to my old doll)
I also used to have these:
 
These are absolutely what I played with as DOLLS.
But American Girl, this is a whole new level - of awesomeness or craziness, however you want to think of it - but I loved it! We visited the store this week, while my kids had a little vacation from school. Just the girls, and two grandma's - one grandma and a great grandma actually. Of course we started out with lunch ($22 per person - rated a 10/10 by the girls, probably a 7.5/10 by us adults - mostly due to the cold coffee and sporadic or non-existent refills of our drinks!). I really want that to be the only tiniest complaint, though, because really, we all had a blast and seeing it all through the kids' eyes was great. The three girls are between 7 and 9 yrs, so they were just perfect aged for this. I am realllllly glad this madness didn't start before this age. For MY girls, this is the perfect age. These dolls would have had marker marks, cut hair, and lived in ever-nakedness if my girls had receieved them much before this age. So for grandma's wisdom on that one, I am truly grateful!
I thought I'd share a few of the items my girls bought with their money (you know, chore money plus a lot extra from a loving Grandma):
This lovely bathroom vanity (working lights and makes water sounds from the faucet) is now Alyssa's.


My niece Annie bought this dolly owie mending kit.

Can you even guess who would have bought their doll a 20-dollar doggie companion? Yes, Sidney. This dog is Pepper.

Alyssa chose this camping set to go along with the tent she got for Christmas (the tent was purchased at Target, in their 18-inch doll section, which is wonderful by the way - it is a GREAT tent! Two dolls fit inside and it stays up and it's adorable!!!! Here is the link to see it at target.com http://www.target.com/Our-Generation-Camping-Set-Pink/dp/B003FN6OL8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&keywords=doll%20tent&searchSize=30&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=1038576%7C1287991011&searchPage=1&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-2&qid=1298733372&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=target104545&frombrowse=0#communityReviews






This everyday accessories kit is Sidney's - I love how she chose something so geared toward school - it has a three ring binder in it, as well as a little lined notebook that fits within the three rings....this three ring binder is doll sized, ...oh and the money, which the girls are really bargaining over now. And no, that's not a credit card (thank you AG) it's a LIBRARY CARD! Dave Ramsey would LOVE that!!!!



This pajama set was also bought by Sidney for her doll, Lanie. It is SUPER cute on. I kinda wish I could get those slipper boots in my size. THey look super cozy. Especially for this moment, as I sit in the cold computer room with no socks on.

What I love about this American Girl stuff (I'll give you a hint, it's not the price!) is that it somehow grabs all sorts of little girls' attention. I have a girl who has NEVER been interested in toys thatare based on human-like figures like dolls. Instead, she's always loved animals, animal hospital toys, books about animals, stuffed animals, walking animals, and anything else you can imagine, as long as it's not a human-looking doll! But finally for her 9th birthday after much discussion of if she'd like it or not, she did receive the doll of the year, Lanie, from her grandma and grandpa. We knew we couldn't expect her to play with it the way our other daughter plays with her AG doll (which points to the most opposite way of what I just described) but we hoped for just a little. The handmade bunkbed from great grandpa has really helped out, as well as Christmas coming a few months after birthdays so they got lots of accessories (mostly from Target or JoAnns doll areas) but this store just made me sit in awe of my animal loving girl. Of course, she chose to buy an animal, for her doll of course, but my girl walked around with her doll in her arms all day at that store, and marveled over every little accessory and every different doll, and the museum-like walkway with all the historical settings for the various character dolls, and she LOVED the lunch, even feeding her Lanie a little more than she'd feed a human. :)
I really admire what AG does and how they get into the hearts of little girls and make them really enjoy being a little girl - rejoice in being a little girl even! I love that. A few extra bucks here and there are okay in my book if they're going to such a motivating and encouraging set up!
Now we've been to the store in Chicago, and LA. Which city will be next?
I leave with a few cute shots of us at the store:

Grandma, Sid, Jessy, G-Grandma, Annie, Ally.
We've decided we'll go back in about 6 - 12 months and really get a better look at the entire GROVE, not just this ONE store!