An American Girl Mom

Greg was so sweet to get out the Christmas decorations. These are the "before" pictures. A little messy. Heck, Melony still has a mask up by the dashboard. Maybe we should put that in the glove compartment for doctor visits. "Melony, where do you want this box?" "Anywhere is fine." After some cleaning, decorating is easy. Now let's move to the back. This is our traveling sink. Making a Christmas feast on this is a challenge but fun "Melony, I think it's time to hit the grocery store. The only things in here are your bagels, PB & J, and some cans." "Yeah, I'll go tomorrow. Decide what things you'd like for dinner this week." "Hey, Greg, did you know your bango is hiding back here?" "Hm, I wondered where that went." "We should probably clean

I love Thanksgiving! Family, Friends, Food. It's busy but amazing.  This year Julie, Clover, and Kenya are all in a school play about the first Thanksgiving. But before everyone heads off to see these lovely little actors in action, it's time to eat. And we've got it all. Everything is vegan, fresh, and organic. A huge joy for any turkeys. So come fill your plates. Have you tried Julie's Dad's famous humus? Or try Kenya's Mom's sweet corn bread. Pour some beans on top, it's delicious! Everyone in Shedville will be stopping by with a dish to share at some point today. Better leave the front door unlocked. I hope you and your family and friends are having an amazing Thanksgiving! Be sure to go to my  YouTube channel and watch the Shedville's Macy Day Parade. It's a can't miss classic! Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍽️

I wanted to make sure that I finished up these posts about our trip before Thanksgiving because I have another post planned for the holiday. There's a lot to do in Chicago. Now the event that we went to was at 9am on a Sunday. Turns out the rest of the mall doesn't open till noon. The AG store opened to the public at 11, so we had thought the mall would open them too, but we were mistaken. This meant that there wasn't a whole lot to do while we waited for our 11:30 cafe time. And no, they will not seat you early. That place was hopping. But we did manage to have a little fun while we waited. Theres a Lego store right next door. They had a cute interactive thing outside of their store where you could put your hand on it and it would randomly generate a Lego mini fig. This worked for the dollies as well. Kids were lined up for it. So much fun We did not get donuts because they also didn't open till no

We had such an amazing time at the American Girl Store's Holiday Shopping Event. We also decided to get lunch there to celebrate Ayla's Birthday. The tree display was lovely, BUT I was surprised that there wasn't more displays like this for photos. Aayla doll and Ayla's new doll Indigo joined us. And Hubby felt left out so he got a "dinner doll". These dolls were starving! They give you a plate and a cup for them, but no dolly food. Kinda sad since the price is outrageous. Ayla loved the talking points, except most of them were trivia and we've never read any of the AG books so those questions were frustrating. The appetizer was disappointing. The fruit was the best part. But if you go to the cafe, you don't go for the food. Ayla loved getting hot tea. She said it made it a tea party. She got the burger and fries, Hubby and I had the turkey BLT. 

I took my daughter to the American Girl store in Chicago for the first time. We went for their Holiday Shopping Event. It was also part of my daughter's birthday celebration. The drive there was foggy and super early in the morning. But we were all super excited! Since the mall portion of the place wasn't open ( it didn't open until noon), we didn't get to do any exploring before the event. In fact, the moment we got there and got in line was the exact moment the doors were opened. I love this little house set up behind the tables. We came in, they checked our names, and they gave us each a paper to fill out to enter the drawing. Unfortunately they were only picking 2 names, neither of which was us. I would have much rather had them do many drawings for smaller prizes. It would have been more exciting that way. Next, we headed upstairs to the event. Though these o