Summer Memories - American Girl Magic

This summer held a very big surprise for Isabella...a visit to the American Girl Store in the Mall of America and the opportunity to pick out her very first American Girl!

I had originally planned to stay far away from the American Girl 'franchise' until Isabella was 7. Their products are spendy and I thought Isabella should be a bit older. But a special mother/daughter weekend experience with my besties Mindy and Mariah and their daughters caused me to change my mind. Experiencing the AG Store and Isabella getting her first doll with my two oldest friends and our girls...it was just too good to pass up.

Ironically, right as I made this decision, Isabella happened to play with some AG's at her cousin Delaney's house. She told me what they were, I had no idea she knew. After playing at Delaney's, Isabella crawled onto my lap and said, "Um Mom, do you think you and Daddy could come up with some chores for me so maybe I could start getting an allowance?"...I asked her what she needed an allowance for and she said, "Well I know those AG dolls are so expensive and I just want one so bad, so maybe if I do some chores and save some money I can get one". I explain to her that AG's are expensive and very delicate and that she will have to wait until she is 7 to get one. But Grandma Grace has some of the American Girl books, so we could read those. Isabella was EXCITED!

The AG books are 'big girl' books, books with chapters, pretty detailed story lines for a 5 year old, and with very few pictures:) I wondered how Isabella would do with them???? SHE LOVES THEM!!! We had Grandma's Molly books read in no time! Isabella. During a weekend at the lake, we sat on a lawn chair and read for almost 2hours without a break! It was so neat! I loved that we were reading, Isabella was being exposed to characters who are good role models, and she was getting a history lesson all at the same time!

In the weeks before the big surprise, Isabella would bring up wanting an American Girl, but never in a whiney, disrespectful way...just in a very wishful manner, "Oh I can't wait until I'm 7 so I can have an American Girl", "Oh I wish I could have an American Girl so bad", "I will have to save my money for one of those American dolls". It was all I could do to contain myself and keep this secret!!!

So we headed to MSP for our big weekend with Mindy, Mariah, and the girls! We arrived at the Mall of America with Isabella thinking we were going to do the rides. The AG store is right inside the park area so as we got a little closer I stopped Isabella and pointed up to the AG store and asked her if she knew what that was (I didn't know if she would recognize the icon right off the bat). She told me she didn't and I told her it was the American Girl store. She looked at me with big eyes and didn't say anything. I asked her if she would like to go inside and she nodded and than I asked her if she would like to go in and pick out an American Girl Doll and I do not think I will ever forget how she turned and melted into me giving me the sweetest hug of pure gratefulness and excitement...ahhhh, it was one of those moments...I cried. There are times when you plan something really special for your child and you just hope they will appreciate it. Her reaction was above and beyond appreciating...it was so sweet. I will never forget that hug, ever.

I than explained to her that I had been planning this as a surprise along with Auntie Mindy and Auntie Mariah and Isabella just could not stop smiling! It was awesome!!!! Throughout the day she kept asking me, "Mom, why did you want to do this surprise for me? Mom, why did you tell me that I couldn't have an American Girl until I was 7?". She was so funny!

So into the store we went and a nice worker named Emma introduced herself to Isabella and asked her some questions about things she liked to do. Than she took Isabella around and showed her all the different American Girl dolls and told Isabella a little something about each one. Isabella than took some time (a lot of time) to walk around the store and think about what doll she wanted to pick. I did not want to rush her and gave her as much time as I could. Every once in awhile I would ask her if she had 2 or 3 dolls that were her favorite, or I asked her what she thought about Molly since we had read the Molly books. She was having a very hard time deciding. I think her decision was complicated by seeing the dolls displayed in their different outfits. So I finally took her to the front display case where she could see all the dolls together in the outfit she would get them in. This helped tremendously and on our second trip to look at that display case, she pointed to FELECITY without hesitation as her doll of choice!

When asked why she picked Felecity Isabella said it was because of her pretty dress, hair, and eyes. I had a hunch it also had something to do with a horse Isabella had seen Felecity displayed with in the store. Momma decided we couldn't take Felecity hom without her horse, Patriot, much to Isabella's delight!

We purchased Felecity along with her books and took her out of her case and oh my, Isabella was so excited about her new doll, so excited!

Than it was time to head to the American Girl Bistro for lunch! What an experience...so fantastic! Auntie Monica and Piper joined us for lunch so that was really fun!!! The dolls get little chairs at the table and are brought drinks, fruit, and a little dessert to 'eat'. It was sooooooooo cool! Isabella and Veronica both absolutely LOVED it! They loved helping their dolls drink lemonade and 'feeding' them fruit!

On a funny note, when the worker Emma had asked Isabella how old she was, Isabella told her she was 5 and that she had just had her birthday. Emma than put a Happy Birthday sticker on Isabella and everyone kept wishing her a Happy Birthday. Than as they were bringing the desserts out, they brought Isabella's out with a candle and started singing Happy Birthday to her! Isabella was so precious, she looked at me like she was in trouble wondering if she had done something wrong. I explained to her afterwards that it was ok, that it was still kind of close to her birthday and that she had done nothing wrong...it was so funny!

So now we are ALL ABOUT AMERICAN GIRLS! That night at Auntie Mariah's Isabella had to have her hair in ponytail just like Felecity. And she wished she and Felecity could have matching nightgowns. On a hilarious note for the first day or so Isabella could not remember Felecity's name. She kept asking over and over again, "What is her name?" and we would all laugh and laugh and laugh. She was asking every 5 minutes it seemed!:)

Isabella and Mommy read through all 6 of the Felecity books in a matter of days and now she has started the Kirsten series. Isabella treats Felecity so nicely and just loves her to death! She keeps her little clothes and shoes and comb packed up nicely and changes her outfit here and there. Auntie Katie got her Felecity's riding outfit for her birthday and she just loves dressing Felecity up in it! Isabella has also decided that she would like to change her name to Felecity:)

Last weekend we found a Felecity and Samantha American Girl movies at Blockbuster to rent! I was definitely 'mother of the year' in that moment! Isabella was so excited! And the movies were so good! I think it gives Isabella a better visual of the historical period each girl is from. We all really enjoyed watching them as a family...even Daddy:) Daddy's even gotten into the American Girl action and made beds for the girls and a horse fence for Patriot!
We were getting ready to the watch the Felecity movie on the way home from Fargo this week and I heard Isabella in the backseat as it was getting ready to start, "And for the love, and the truth, and the spirit...God help me to be like Felecity, help me to be truthful just like her, Amen"! Than after the movie she was talking like Felecity to me with the little English accent, "Oh thank you Mother" and she told me how if I ever got sick, she would take care of the family just like Felecity did, she would take care of Veronica and Daddy wouldn't have to worry at all!

I love the American Girls for so many reasons. First of all they are a good character role model for girls! I love having the book series that goes with each girl! I love that they teach about historical events! They are kid appropriate, which all 'kids stuff' should be, but so often isn't these days.
American Girl books came out when I was a 3rd grader, so it is also fun to share with her about that. She always asks about my favorite girl and which books I read, etc...My favorite girl is Samantha, so Isabella always tells me she is going to get her for me someday:)

This was definitely a summer highlight for Momma...just a really special moment to share with Isabella! Pure Magic!!!!