Category: Family

Sophie has been wild about American Girl dolls since she got her first mini-doll for her birthday last year. She also got a “big” doll, Marie-Grace for Christmas (I hit the big sale they had on Marie-Grace and Cecile.) and her BFF Cecile for kindergarten graduation. She loves the dolls and the books. She’s way into reading. So far we’ve read 3 Kit books, the Ruthie book, all six Marie-Grace and Cecile books and 4 Addy books. She even goes up to her room and reads by herself now! Sniff, sniff – a girl after her mama’s own nerdy reading heart!

Sophie’s birthday is this Saturday, and a few weeks ago I got the idea that Emily and I should take Sophie and Kate to the American Girl store in Columbus, which is fairly new and only 90 minutes away for us. Kate has several AG dolls and was quite excited! She brought her Emily (get it? LIKE HER MOM!) doll along on our trip. When my niece Murrin,who is almost 16, heard we were going, she asked to go too! I thought it was so sweet she wanted to accompany her little cousins. Murrin was the original AG lover in our family. She has Kit and e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g ever made for Kit, and plans to  hand her down to her own daughter. She took reverent care of her. Even though she’s spending more time with her iPod than her dolls these days, she’s not too old to play with her little cousins! 

Emily and Kate picked us up, then we picked up Murrin and then headed to Columbus! Once there, we quickly found our way to the American Girl store.

And it. Was. PACKED.

I was honestly shocked. I wouldn’t go near the place after Thanksgiving due to holiday crowds, but I really thought on November 9th we’d be ok! WRONG! It was crazy, crazy, crazy. We could really barely move, and no matter what you did, you were on someone else’s way. Clearly American Girl has a great bead on the Columbus market!

Nevertheless, we had a great time looking around. I must confess seeing all the dolls displayed with all their beautiful outfits made me want to buy every one! Sophie had $40 early birthday money from my parents, and set about searching for the Perfect Thing to buy.

While she searched, I couldn’t help but notice the huge line for the doll hair salon and the cute little cafe within the store. It really was neat! I also noticed that the section for the historical American Girl dolls was much more packed than the section for the “my American Girl” section where you can get a doll that looks like you. This kind of confirmed my opinion that the historical girls with their stories are much more compelling.

Sophie finally settled on purchasing Argos, Marie-Grace’s dog, and the Saige movie. Saige is the 2013 Girl of the Year and won’t be around for long. Sophie and I have watched the Samantha, Molly, Kit, and McKenna AG movies together and they are all great, so she was excited to get the Saige movie. And eve more excited to have a Marie-Grace’s furry friend.

Kate settled on purchasing a matching American Girl hat for her and her doll, and Emily and I got in the h-u-g-e line to pay for our purchases while Murrin escorted the girls as they browsed some more.

We thought we’d be in line for an hour – it was THAT long. Part of the trouble with browsing was that the line was so long, it was coiled through half of the historical girls section. And there were 4 or 5 black-clad security guys to make sure no one got cray-cray! (Or stole something, I imagine.) It was also pretty warm, and we had dressed warmly because it was cold outside. We were wishing we’d brought some bottled water! Whew! Fortunately, the store had LOTS of cashiers and the line moved pretty fast. They did a great job getting everyone checked out, and we actually *only* waited 30 minutes.

It was worth the wait, though, to see this! Sophie was excited to make a purchase with her own money.

We were all thirsty and starving, so we headed off for lunch and then treated ourselves to the delicious and legendary Jeni’s Ice Cream with our girls.

Despite the crowds (I was really proud of myself for not having a claustrophobic attack!), we had a great time and a great day full of cousin bonding! The girls watched the Saige movie in the van on the way home and Emily and I enjoyed just talking, which we haven’t had time to do in awhile.

We can’t wait to go back again…on a weekday…in the spring…when the crowds are elsewhere.

Have you ever been to an American Girl store? Apparently the Columbus store is much smaller than the rest of them. What was your experience?

After a rain-out of Beggar’s Night on October 31st, we were finally able to continue our Halloween cousins trick-or-treat tradition on Saturday night. As usual, it was a great time, and although a bit chilly, the weather was much improved! And of course, the kids were adoooorable!

It was really a wonderful night. Emily’s niece and nephew were equally adorable in their handmade costumes. But they aren’t pictured because we’re pissed at Anna for being so crafty and showing us up! Just kidding. I mean, we are pissed, but they are not pictured for privacy reasons. (Privacy? What’s that?)

I’m so thankful we got to continue our trick-or-treat tradition, and I’m even happier that Jonah did so well on his first time walking the block with the big kids. He didn’t even want to put on his costume at first, but he ended up really having a blast! And his “Trick or treat please” was the cutest thing you’ve ever heard!

It was also much more relaxing not having Beggar’s Night be on a SCHOOL night – we didn’t have to rush to get to Emily’s house or rush home to get the kids in bed. It was an all-around success, and I can’t wait until next year!

What did your little goblins get dressed up as for Halloween this year?

Four score and Two weekends ago, Emily’s kids came over to have a sleepover with my big kids., because for SOME reason, Emily thought it would be “more fun” to celebrate Andy’s 40th birthday with some grown-up friends at a Reds vs. Cardinals game and leave her kids with me. (Just kidding, they took the kids to yet another Reds vs. Cardinals game the next day. And also, yes, it is more fun.)

Sophie spent the night with Kate and Sammy back in February when Joshua had some cool guy friends for a sleepover, but this was our first all-cousin bash.

And it was a hit! I wasn’t worried, but since I have memories of Emily and her sis calling their Dad to come get them from sleepovers at MY house at 11 pm, I was trying to keep things fun at our house just in case! You know, make it so they’d never want to leave.

Fortunately, we have a WiiU, and Emily doesn’t have a Wii at all. SO, we were able to indoctrinate the children into the world of video games, and ensure that Sammy WILL be asking Santa for a WiiU, which means he WILL get one, which means Nintendo definitely owes me a commission fee. Even Kate who declared at first that she was not good at video games, quickly learned that she CAN be good at video games, and she loved it!

Mwa-ha-ha-ha!  Then, I turned them into Young Republicans. Sammy went home wearing a white oxford, red tie, and navy blue sport coat. Oh, I kid!

So anyway, we had fun! And if the WiiU wasn’t enough, then we made Minions out of fake Twinkies, icing, and candy eyes! BECAUSE I’M A FUN MOM/FUN COUSIN, dangit!!!!

Too bad Minions aren’t gluten free…

Anyhoo, since we were on a roll in the FUN department, we also got Wendy’s for dinner, popped boatloads of popcorn, and watched “Wreck It Ralph”. After which, at 10:30 PM, the kids had a manic dance rave to the Japanese pop songs on the credits. Joshua was moving SO FAST, I think his popcorn *may* have been laced with ecstasy. It was crazy! He has got manic panic dance moves. All the kids were cracking  me up. I really wish I had that on film.

Then, those 4 kiddos went to bed with absolutely no problem whatsoever and we didn’t hear a peep out of them all night! The ones that I didn’t give birth to even slept in a little!

It was a great night. I sure do love my cousins. Emily really spawned some terrific kids and I’m so glad they are buddies with mine! Can’t wait to do it again!