American Girl Moments

Near the entrance Atira sat down for a photo of her and Nikki to remember their special day at American Girl.


WOW!! What an incredible day! To begin to tell the tale of this most amazing, fun filled day, I must first back up a month ago, to Atira's 11th birthday.

Atira wanted nothing more than to have her birthday party at the new American Girl store opening up in a nearby city, however it was not planned to be opened until mid July...much too late for her party. Thankfully, her creative grandparents came up with the idea of giving her a lunch date and moola to spend at the store when it finally did open, which thrilled her to her toes! The plans were in process. We jumped on the internet and made our reservations, for 4, a birthday girl, two grandmas and one mommy and now we just had to count down the days!

Atira made the time go by faster by sending out a joke a day to her friends and some family, we enjoyed our conference and camp and then finally...oh finally, the day was here! After a night of waking up three times because she thought it was morning, she finally arrived at the day we were going to American Girl!

Per her request, both the grandmas and the mommy were dressed up for this festive occasion. We headed out an hour early, just in case.....we did not want to miss our reservations or be stressed if there was traffic. As it turned out, we flew down! We were also immediately blessed with an incredible parking spot! We made our way in, Atira and I were holding hands, I could just feel her excitement building, it was such a fun moment. Finally, there we stood...right in front of "AG"!

One of her first stops, the book department! Not THE first stop...just one of them!

We entered and I turned to watch her take it all in. It was precious. She stood there, staring around her at the array of books and dolls and pretty colors, she finally achieved a dream of hers, to go to an American Girl store. We briefly looked through the classic dolls section, then bee lined over to the books (that's my girl!). Then we decided to leave grandma at the books and make a dash to the back of the store and return to grandma so we could get a quick overview of everything there. Oh, what fun...and I should mention, that "dash" turned into a very sidetracked little jaunt.

Finally, her other grandma arrived, hugs all around, let the fun begin! We had about 15 minutes to spend before our reservations, so we enjoyed some browsing time together. Then it was time for lunch. Good thing too as Atira was only able to eat half an apple for breakfast, she was so excited, by this time however, she was really hungry and needed some fuel for the upcoming events!

Lunch, was....well, overall wonderful. We had an incredibly dingy waitress, who made far too many mistakes. Thankfully, true to American Girls high customer service standards, they came through and helped make our event memorable and fun. After several errors on the waitress' part, we were offered 50% off of our bill and a certificate offering us lunch on another visit, for ALL FOUR OF US! WOO HOO!!!! We were all overjoyed and thankful....especially for the opportunity to come back another time all together!

Since this event was in celebration of her birthday we opted for the birthday package, of course! Atira is here wearing her crown and sipping on her strawberry lemonade.

And here is Nikki wearing her birthday crown, also sipping on her strawberry lemonade! ;0) Oh, and notice the nifty chair that hooks to the table for the doll!!

The birthday girls! Oh, and Atira also had a sticker she wore through the story saying it's her birthday, which of course had the employees giving her lots of happy birthdays as we shopped around.

Her appetizer, yummy fruit kabobs with fruity yogurt dipping sauce, yummy!

Nikki's lunch, Atira couldn't let her girl go hungry you know! So she made this bitty burger out of her big one and even cut off pieces of fruit to share with her. I don't believe I saw her share any fries though...hmmm.....

And since it was her birthday, of course there was singing and clapping and these incredibly darling little ice cream cones!! I am going to have to figure out how recreate these little babies at home. What you do not see pictured is those little glass cups are half filled with sugar sprinkles that the cones are held up in, Atira would eat a bit of ice cream, then dip, eat, dip, eat dip. You get the idea, right? She was fully loaded with sugar by the time we left the table.

So, of course we had to capture the incredible features throughout the ENTIRE store....so if you happen to have to go potty while shopping, and you need to take your dolly with you....well, they offer doll hooks to place your doll on, in each stall! They have thought of everything here! Cracked me up.

Lunch is over, LETS SHOP!

We made our way to the back of the store, after all we wanted to tackle this place logically, right? At the very back is the....spa! Atira opted to have her dolls hair done as well as have her ears pierced, seriously, she had her ears pierced. This lovely young lady was incredible! She chatted with Atira about her dolls, books, and we even found out she was also home schooled! What a sweet young lady, it was a pleasure to get to meet her. She also gave us tips on taking care of the dolls hair ourselves. Now, check this out:

They place these mirrors above the stylists so you can see what is going on with the back of your dolls hair while you are on the front! ACK! :)

This photo is nothing more than evidence of my shoe fetish...ridiculous. Also, incredibly cute! This is the little shoe department! I just loved it, little shoe boxes all lined up, and shoes on display, come on, that is really cute, right?

Oh, the final moments....the decision had to be made, which dolly was coming home to be apart of our family? Atira and Nikki looking at the potential girls....and finally, she broke. My little princess, started crying. She couldn't decide, it was just too much. :*( I was holding her and talking to her and then...Grandma Sheila stepped in and offered to give her one doll early as a Hanukkah gift, that grandma! Atira was practically overwhelmed by this as well, two dollies, each from one of her grandmas?! TOO MUCH!! Little sweety, she was so thankful and excited all at once. What a tender and grateful heart she has.

So, in the end, Atira had a wonderful day, as well as this mommy and the grandmas. It was one filled with memories, laughs and tears. The best kind of day. Atira came home with two dolls a few new outfits and some accessories, but more than that she had a special day with some of her favorite people celebrating her precious life given to her by a God who loves her.