Gracie's birthday always comes around Thanksgiving, and for the last three years, we have headed down to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles during the holiday break to celebrate her birthday! We have such a fun time looking at all of the new outfits, and the store is always decorated so perfectly!
People warned me when Dylan and Gracie were little that the years would fly by so fast. I guess there is no way of really understanding that until you see it happen before your eyes. My baby girl is now 10 and I thank God every day that he gave her to me. I love my boys just as much, but I would have never been able to enjoy this store with them!
The store is located in such a nice mall, that Madison and Delaney were able to do a little xmas shopping of their own too. We have made it a tradition to eat lunch at Cheesecake factory after spending an hour or so in the store (yes, it does take an hour, trying to decide what to get!)
Before Gracie bit into her caramel apple, she wanted me to take a picture of it so she could remember how wonderful it looked!
A few days later we celebrated Thanksgiving with Grammy, Len and Shirley Brown, the Dows, the Graces, and Lori, Chris, Madison, Delaney and Emi.
Couldn't resist snapping a picture of Everlee sleeping so sweetly in Shirley's arms.
Caleb with "his Madison" as he calls her.
Later in the evening, we usually put out the craft bags so that the kids can make ornaments and xmas decorations. Caleb enjoyed the old fashioned spinners that Grammy found for us last year. You push on the button, and Santa spins around showing a bear underneath.
The next morning while Eric was fixing us all a wonderful breakfast, the kids and I started decorating the tree. It's always fun to watch as they talk about each ornament and then start pretending with them. This afternoon I found a pile of the ornaments on the floor with Caleb's Mario and Luigi toys. Dylan told me that Luke and Caleb had been pretending that they were all working together.
I also wait until the day after Thanksgiving to bring out the Rudolph house. It comes with all the characters from the movie. Luke looks forward to this every year.
Caleb had already taken down the Care Bear ornament and started playing with it!
I love how all four of them still come up with funny stories that they act out with the ornaments. I can remember doing the same thing when I was little. I do miss having the smell of a "real" tree, but I love that I can have this tree up for over a month, and it looks great the whole time!
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