Dress Up

My girls LOVE playing dress up. While we were down in AL this past October, they played in some of Haley's old dance recital costumes. Ella, especially, had a blast! Little did we know--Hayden enjoys dress up too! By the way, I got permission from Hayden's mom to post these photos!

Happy Birthday to McKenna (again!)

McKenna shares her birthday with her Papa (his is the 31st). So, teh family went to Chuck E Cheese one Friday Morning.

A quick shot with Uncle Dale.

The token rides.

McKenna liked this game a lot. She kept putting in token after token. It's a "jackpot" style game. You slap the button trying to stop the flashing light on the "jackpot" spot.

Ella really liked playing air hockey.

McKenna and I rode the video coaster.

A birthday picture with Chuck.

The honored guests.

Ella got this gift for McKenna.

Bye, Bye Chuck E Cheese!

Happy Birthday American Girl Style

The girls each got their first American Girl Doll for Christmas. They had been planning and hoping for one. McKenna had a plan to get one for her birthday too. So, after some thought and discussion we decided that instead of a party, McKenna could pick a friend and head to the Mall of America and pick out another American Girl Doll. When thinking about a friend to bring, there a few guidelines I thought we should follow:

1. We need to know both of the friend's parents.
2. They need to be okay with us driving the friend to the mall.
3. The friend should probably have her own American Girl doll already.
4. The friend needs to be okay with McKenna getting to pick out a doll and outfit.

L.M. came to mind right away. So we got on the phone and started planning. It worked out nicely. Ella stayed at L.M.'s house to play with her sister, C.M. and I took the older two. It was fun to walk around the Mall with L.M. and McKenna. They had gotten dressed up. I even curled McKenna's hair a bit. We went to the candy store, Claires, The Mirror Maze and the American Girl store. Then ate some pizza for lunch.

McKenna chose a Just Like You Doll (one that resembles her).

Waiting in the long line to pay!

Opening cards from L.M. and Mom!

This is the American Girl Salon Menu! Yep, it's a racket! McKenna wanted to get her doll's ears peirced. So, $14.00 later, her doll has 2 little holes in her ears and McKenna has these teensy, tiny earrings to keep up with.

Here are 2 pictures from inside the mirror maze. There are black lights and music to distract you. It may look like the girls are standing in front of a hallway, but that is actually a mirror. When you first enter the maze everyone puts on plastic gloves. This is to prevent finger prints from guiding you right out. McKenna, early on, thought she saw the way out. She got excited adn took off running. Yep, she ran-full force- smack dab right into a mirror. It was kinda funny-for me and L.M. at least. It's a neat thing to do the next time you are at the Mall of America.

An Art Museum

The girls decided to draw/color a bunch of pictures. Next they labeled them. Last they used A LOT of tape to put them on the wall. Cute idea, I thought.