An Early Birthday

Emma will celebrate her 7th birthday on December 11 and all she wanted was to go to the American Girl store in Chicago. So, Matt, Blake, Emma and I made a day out of it. This was Blake and Emma's first time in Chicago so they were both elated. I dropped Matt and Blake off at the Museum of Science and Industry and Emma and I headed down to Michigan Ave. We parked several blocks away from AG, so as we were walking down Michigan Ave and Emma spotted the store, she was giggling and jumping up and down. She was so excited. Once inside, she knew right away which doll she wanted. I thought she would pick a doll with blonde hair, but she surprised me and picked a doll with way brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles just like her. Emma was in awe of the store. Ag is two stories of dolls, dolls, and more dolls. It has it's own hair salon, doll hospital, photo studio, cafe, and restaurant. We did visit the hair salon so that the doll could get her ears pierced. Yes, you read that right, the doll was taken into a back room so she could get her ears pierced.


Bottom line is Emma had a fantastic time and I am hoping she will always remember going to Chicago to pick out her first AG doll with me. It was alot of fun spending that time alone with Emma, she is such a beautiful, caring, fun little girl.



Matt, Blake, Emma and I met back up at the Lego store before going to dinner at Ed Debevics. Matt and I had eaten there before and really wanted to take Blake. It is a really fun diner where the waiters and waitresses are deliberately rude to the customers. We did not tell the kids that this is what it was, we just wanted to see how long it would take for them to figure it out. Emma figured it out pretty much from the beginning when the waitress threw the straws at her. Blake on the other hand took a little bit longer to figure it out (poor kid). Anyway, they both had quite a bit of fun with our waitress and she even brought Emma a sundae for her birthday.

I also want to add that for lunch Emma and I met up with Melanie and her daughter Olivia. Melanie traveled to China last Thanksgiving to her her beautiful daughter Addison and was kind enough to take pictures of Mylee for us. Melanie and I have communicating with each other for over a year now and I was so excited that she and her daughter were able to meet us for lunch. We talked as if we had known each other for years and Emma and Olivia got along great as well. It was so nice to finally meet Melanie and I cannot wait to meet Addi soon too.