Our Special Day

On Sunday, Katie and Mommy went to American Girl Place for our special day in celebration of her big accomplishment: she has stopped sucking her thumb! Mommy is SO proud of her little girl for achieving a difficult goal that requires HARD work over a long period of time, and Katie is very proud of herself.



The day was pure magic. A whole day spent holding hands! The kind of day after which you draw stars and hearts all over it on your calendar.

We dressed Elizabeth for the outing. She wore her Holiday Gown and cloak. Then we drove over to the Grove Shopping Center and had a light lunch (sandwich, pretzel, and chocolate blended creme to share) at the Starbucks Cafe in the Barnes and Noble. We returned the books that Darell and Kathryn had given her (since she already had them) and she decided to pick out a new book for herself at the American Girl store.

At the American Girl Place, we did many fun things together. We saw the show, which featured eight talented girls and four adults performing eight songs depicting scenes from the Historical Dolls' books, as well as three songs about girls' friendships. Katie had seen it before, and enjoyed it even more this time I suspect. I could not help tearing up throughout the performance! Something about watching those girls perform brought back some memories for me!!! One of the last songs was a tap dance, and the two girls in that number wore cool red shoes. The whole thing was great! After the performance, the girls from the show came out and signed programs and talked to the girls and their dolls.



Then it was time for us to have tea. Elizabeth had her own seat and her own cup and saucer. Katie and I chose apple cinnamon tea. They served us tea sandwiches as well as scones and other goodies. At the table there was a box of "Table Talkers." We took turns taking one from the box and asking each other questions.

We also did lots of looking around at all the dolls (each has her own section) and shopping for outfits. Katie had to choose whether she wanted to get Elizabeth's hair done, take a photo with Elizabeth, or buy an outfit(s) for Elizabeth. Mommy said she could choose any two. After much difficult deliberating, she chose to take a photo and buy one outfit (which required another hard decision).

We came home with a framed "Magazine Cover" photo of Katie and Elizabeth (it looks like they are on the cover of American Girl magazine). Katie gets that magazine in the mail (thanks Noni), so she thinks that photo is pretty cool. We also got a book of short stories about the colonial girls (to replace the books from Darell and Kathryn), a red ballet outfit for Elizabeth, and a souvenir miniature doll for Julianna.

We were there for about five hours and enjoyed every minute we spent looking, eating, and talking together. She thanked me many times for giving her such a special day, and I thanked her for all she had done to make it possible! As Katie said, "this will be a day I will always remember!"