She had picked out the "Hungry Caterpillar" party ware a few weeks ago when we were at Target, so I had that. But, I had nothing to hang on the walls or streamers or anything. So, on the way home from getting my hair done on Monday night, I stopped by Walgreens and got 3 poster boards, not knowing what to do with them. Well, after the kids went to bed, I figured I'd make polka dots, since the tablecloth had polka dots on it. The polka dots alone were boring, since there were only 3 colors, so I decided to draw inside the white ones.
I looked at the designs on the party ware and went to work!
Inside all the white dots, I drew the caterpillar. It made it all complete, so thank goodness for last minute additions!!
I wanted her to open a small something that morning, even though we knew we would be buying her something at the store. Didn't want her to wake up to nothing.
So, I got her this shirt with the number 5 on it!
We also got her this brown sweater to wear with it. It's big enough that you'll see Madie wearing it later as a coat. She left it at home by accident, so she wore it over her other sweater while we walked through Chicago. So, it looked adorable on both girls!
Since we were leaving that morning and weren't getting home until late, we decided to have a birthday cake for breakfast. A coffee cake, in fact. It was really, really yummy! Again, if I had been thinking ahead, I would've made it a fruit breakfast too to tie into the fruit theme, but I wasn't on the ball.
Noah wanted me to take a picture of him with his new sock monkey. He got 4 this Christmas! My friend Donna made it for him. :-)
Finally, around noon, we made it to the American Girl store. They've changed locations since the last time we were there. I honestly like the old location better, but it was still really cool. Here's Livie by the Bitty Baby section. This was her favorite part!
Livie and Madie both loved all the pets. They wanted them all! Livie really liked this kitty.
Madie's first doll was Marisol, the Doll of the Year back in 2005. Here she's holding up "Abby" next to Marisol. :-)
The kids let me take their picture by the dolls of the year, going back to 2001. We're all anxious to see who the new doll will be!!
The place was PACKED! Seriously couldn't believe how many people were there. Wow! So, Livie took a moment to stand by one of the signs to get a breather.
One of the new things this store has to offer is a place called "Creativi-tees". The girls can pick out a shirt design for their dolls and for themselves. She picked one out for Daisy.
It has a little owl on it. So cute!
Right next door is the "Sweet and Savory" shop. We stopped there and got some treats.
We were very lucky to find this empty table. Of course, there were no chairs available, but hey, at least we had a place to set our things while we ate!
Liv got this marshmallow on a stick thing. It was delicious!
They had lots of these fun doll displays around. Livie liked getting her picture taken in front of them.
In the historical doll section, they had these big glass cases of what the world was like when that doll was alive. This was one of the ones for Julie, c. 1974. She's one of my favorites and the girls too. Doesn't hurt that she's the doll created for the year I was born!
Here's Livie standing in front of the other Julie display.
One of Madie's favorites is Josephina. This is her big doll display that shows a lot of the things that are part of the doll's collection.
I had them all stand in one of the lobbies, so you could see the cool signs.
We found an empty bench and took advantage of a quick rest. We also needed to start getting an idea of what the girls could actually afford to buy. Lots of decisions were made about what to keep and what not to.
In addition to loving sock monkeys, Noah's really into horses. So, he really liked seeing Kaya's horses. Livie liked the bear.
After a bit more shopping, we found another bench, made our final decisions, and I went to pay with Madie, while Livie and Noah relaxed. Livie was worn out and we were only halfway done!
With an hour and half before we were meeting my bestie, Michelle, for dinner, we decided to walk down to the Lego Store. A decision I would come to regret, because all that walking in the cold pushed the kids to the breaking point by night's end. But, at this point, the kids were excited and happy and ready to take on the city!
On the way, we passed a window with Daisy in it! That's Livie's dolls with the scarf. :-)
The kids were VERY excited when we got to the Lego Store! Livie saw this t-rex right away and had to get her picture by it!
We liked this t-rex even more though!
Ooooh! R2D2! He's bigger than I thought he would be!
They had play centers where the kids could build. As a mom, all I could think about was how many germs were in that thing! But, I let them play anyway. That doesn't mean the hand sanitizer didn't come out after we left that store though! ;-)
They had another section where you could build people and buy them. We let each kid build a figure.
Noah and Livie found these computers where you could build digitally. Very cool!
The best part?! Why, this Darth Vadar, of course. We want one for our house.
We walked down to Giordanos, where we were supposed to meet my friend Michelle and her family, who happened to be in the city too, but the wait was an hour and a half and I knew the kids would never last that long. So, we waited in the lobby of a nearby hotel until we could figure out what to do. In the 15 min we were there, Livie fell fast asleep. She was exhausted. It was shortly after this that the tears began. Madie was a trooper by the others were just so tired, that walking any more was too much for them.
We finally decided to go to Portillos and walked the other 5 blocks and made it in one piece, with just a little bit of frustration from my kids. We had a really great time there with the Guerreros!!
They even brought Livie her bday present, which perked her right up!
Pete left after dinner to go get the van for us, so the kids didn't have to walk anymore. There was a Walgreens, with a parking lot, right across the street, so he was able to pull in without having to find somewhere to park or anything. It was really nice after that long day. We took a picture of the kids together. That's Michelle's little boy, Alexander. He's just such a cutie!!
Here I am with one of my two best friends!
I wanted her to open a small something that morning, even though we knew we would be buying her something at the store. Didn't want her to wake up to nothing.
So, I got her this shirt with the number 5 on it!
We also got her this brown sweater to wear with it. It's big enough that you'll see Madie wearing it later as a coat. She left it at home by accident, so she wore it over her other sweater while we walked through Chicago. So, it looked adorable on both girls!
Since we were leaving that morning and weren't getting home until late, we decided to have a birthday cake for breakfast. A coffee cake, in fact. It was really, really yummy! Again, if I had been thinking ahead, I would've made it a fruit breakfast too to tie into the fruit theme, but I wasn't on the ball.
Noah wanted me to take a picture of him with his new sock monkey. He got 4 this Christmas! My friend Donna made it for him. :-)
Finally, around noon, we made it to the American Girl store. They've changed locations since the last time we were there. I honestly like the old location better, but it was still really cool. Here's Livie by the Bitty Baby section. This was her favorite part!
Livie and Madie both loved all the pets. They wanted them all! Livie really liked this kitty.
Madie's first doll was Marisol, the Doll of the Year back in 2005. Here she's holding up "Abby" next to Marisol. :-)
The kids let me take their picture by the dolls of the year, going back to 2001. We're all anxious to see who the new doll will be!!
The place was PACKED! Seriously couldn't believe how many people were there. Wow! So, Livie took a moment to stand by one of the signs to get a breather.
One of the new things this store has to offer is a place called "Creativi-tees". The girls can pick out a shirt design for their dolls and for themselves. She picked one out for Daisy.
It has a little owl on it. So cute!
Right next door is the "Sweet and Savory" shop. We stopped there and got some treats.
We were very lucky to find this empty table. Of course, there were no chairs available, but hey, at least we had a place to set our things while we ate!
Liv got this marshmallow on a stick thing. It was delicious!
They had lots of these fun doll displays around. Livie liked getting her picture taken in front of them.
In the historical doll section, they had these big glass cases of what the world was like when that doll was alive. This was one of the ones for Julie, c. 1974. She's one of my favorites and the girls too. Doesn't hurt that she's the doll created for the year I was born!
Here's Livie standing in front of the other Julie display.
One of Madie's favorites is Josephina. This is her big doll display that shows a lot of the things that are part of the doll's collection.
I had them all stand in one of the lobbies, so you could see the cool signs.
We found an empty bench and took advantage of a quick rest. We also needed to start getting an idea of what the girls could actually afford to buy. Lots of decisions were made about what to keep and what not to.
In addition to loving sock monkeys, Noah's really into horses. So, he really liked seeing Kaya's horses. Livie liked the bear.
After a bit more shopping, we found another bench, made our final decisions, and I went to pay with Madie, while Livie and Noah relaxed. Livie was worn out and we were only halfway done!
With an hour and half before we were meeting my bestie, Michelle, for dinner, we decided to walk down to the Lego Store. A decision I would come to regret, because all that walking in the cold pushed the kids to the breaking point by night's end. But, at this point, the kids were excited and happy and ready to take on the city!
On the way, we passed a window with Daisy in it! That's Livie's dolls with the scarf. :-)
The kids were VERY excited when we got to the Lego Store! Livie saw this t-rex right away and had to get her picture by it!
We liked this t-rex even more though!
Ooooh! R2D2! He's bigger than I thought he would be!
They had play centers where the kids could build. As a mom, all I could think about was how many germs were in that thing! But, I let them play anyway. That doesn't mean the hand sanitizer didn't come out after we left that store though! ;-)
They had another section where you could build people and buy them. We let each kid build a figure.
Noah and Livie found these computers where you could build digitally. Very cool!
The best part?! Why, this Darth Vadar, of course. We want one for our house.
We walked down to Giordanos, where we were supposed to meet my friend Michelle and her family, who happened to be in the city too, but the wait was an hour and a half and I knew the kids would never last that long. So, we waited in the lobby of a nearby hotel until we could figure out what to do. In the 15 min we were there, Livie fell fast asleep. She was exhausted. It was shortly after this that the tears began. Madie was a trooper by the others were just so tired, that walking any more was too much for them.
We finally decided to go to Portillos and walked the other 5 blocks and made it in one piece, with just a little bit of frustration from my kids. We had a really great time there with the Guerreros!!
They even brought Livie her bday present, which perked her right up!
Pete left after dinner to go get the van for us, so the kids didn't have to walk anymore. There was a Walgreens, with a parking lot, right across the street, so he was able to pull in without having to find somewhere to park or anything. It was really nice after that long day. We took a picture of the kids together. That's Michelle's little boy, Alexander. He's just such a cutie!!
Here I am with one of my two best friends!
For the last few minutes before we left, Livie and Alexander bonded over her raccoon. It was really sweet. We left shortly after that, around 7:30 and got home around 9. The kids were crying and tired and we tucked them straight into bed. Even through their exhausted states they were able to say they had a great time! Though, I think I've learned my lesson to stick to one adventure per day in the city. Doing too much overstimulates them and makes it awful in the end. At least she had a great bday though! The American Girl Store was a hit!
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