American Girl Doll

 We promised Sadie a trip to American Girl Place for her 5th birthday.  Sadie has been looking forward to this trip for a VERY long time!  Several of her friends have gotten dolls and she was ready for her turn.  I knew I wanted to do the trip with someone so it worked well to visit with her cousin Emery (who loved getting her first doll, Josie, for Christmas).  The girls were both counting down the days.

 Marc and I told Sadie we would buy her doll as her birthday present.  She had mostly talked about wanting McKenna before we went.  Sadie is our most indecisive child so we wondered if it would take her awhile to look at all the dolls before choosing.  We were wrong--it took her all of 2 seconds to find McKenna and it was love at first sight!  Sadie wanted to buy her asap so she could take her out of the box and go shopping with her!  As we were out the counter paying, Sadie could not stop smiling.  I gave her a big hug and she said "Mom, I can't believe I finally get her--I just can't believe it!"

 We bought McKenna for Sadie but we also let her use some money from her savings account to shop with.  and boy did she shop!  We had to go through every section of both floors.  She loaded a bag with all the things she liked best.  After about 45 minutes I told her it was time to make choices.  We laid everything out and Sadie decided what she liked best.

 She used her money from her billfold to pay at the counter--what a BIG girl! (And yes, she already has a Christmas wish list!)

 Emmy and Sadie enjoyed making paper doll ballerinas.

 They also liked looking at all the "doll of the year" dolls.  They started coming out with a special doll each year in 2000.  McKenna will be joining the wall at the end of 2012.

 Macey had fun... and threw some HUGE tantrums!  I originally wasn't planning to take her but it worked out to split girls and guys for the morning.  Aunt Cori helped with Macey a lot.  She took her while I helped Sadie shop.  She had to bring Macey back to me at one point because Macey was kicking and screaming "I want my Mommy" so hard that a sales lady began questioning Cori!

 Sadie and Emmy both had fun posing with the McKenna cutout.

 When Sadie first looked through an American Girl Doll catalog she was fascinated with the headgear set.  I tried to explain to her what it was.  She told me that she was going to get it for her doll... and sure enough!

 As part of our special day we enjoyed lunch in the cafe.  It was so fun and totally worth the $20 per plate.  Our 4 course meal left me stuffed (even after I shared with Macey!)

 Our meal started with a "warm welcome":  mini cinnamon rolls.  Next we had an appetizer platter with mini soft pretzels, cheese triangles, and fruit & veggies with dip.  We each got to choose an entree--Sadie had chicken tenders with tomato soup and fruit and I had a yummy chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries.

 The whole restaurant is decorated in pink and black.  It's so cute!  The napkin holders are little pink hair bows that the girls get to keep.  Each table has little boxes with question starters.  The girls had fun drawing out questions and answering them.

 I was not happy that Macey accompanied us on this trip to American Girl Place; however, I can't wait until she is 5 and we get to go again!

 We were so excited to have Aunt Lindsey and Liam join us for our Chicago trip!  Liam did great on this "all girls" trip!

 Sadie chose hot chocolate to drink (even in the middle of summer) and she loved sharing it with McKenna--in her mini tea cup!

 Such a great time!  It was sad to leave...

Our last course "Sweet Surprises" consisted of chocolate mouse in a flower pot, a mini cake, and a decorated sugar cookie.  Sadie said to Marc and I as we tucked her in at night "Thanks for McKenna--I love her so much!  This was my best day ever and it will stay my best day... until you take me to Disney world!"