Birthday Girl!!!

***Note-You might want to use the restroom and grab a beverage before you begin...we have been busy around here!!!***

Isabel was lucky enough to have a week and a half of birthday fun instead of just a single day, like most people! Last weekend, on the actual day of her birth, we left for Chicago. We checked into our hotel and then walked over to the AG store. The girls have been so excited for this visit for so long!!! Here they are getting ready to go shopping:

I had a special birthday shirt made for Isabel to wear to school, but she liked it so much that she wanted to wear it to Chicago instead of a cute outfit:

The new 'Girl of the Year' doll is Lanie...she is adorable, but not what Isabel had in mind for this trip!
Instead, she had her heart set on Felicity. Aside from the ringlets that make my face itch just to look at, she is perfect for Isabel...she has red hair and loves horses. Isabel still hasn't gotten over her love of horses...and, I still haven't convinced her that they are dangerous.

Don't get me wrong, my girls do fight with the vigor of redheads, but most of the time they are the best of friends. They have separate queen size beds in separate rooms, but they have not slept apart in over a year. They are each other's security blankets. Isabel is my shy/cautious girl and this store is huge and very friendly (I know, sounds like a good thing, but for a girl that has to work up the courage to talk to people that she knows well, it is pretty intimidating to have so many strangers trying to strike up a conversation). They spent much of their time in the store holding hands:
I am not sure if you can read the fine print here, but this is one reason I am willing to spend obscene amounts of money on this company's doll items. The whole concept is based on positive attitudes and behaviors for girls.

Okay, and any company that offers luxuries for dolls such as a hair salon and outfits so cute that I would wear them, is a company that is smart enough to deserve patronage! Here is Ashlen getting Emily's hair prettied up:
I have to admit, it looks much better than when I do it:
Mia's stylist was asking Isabel how she takes care of her doll's hair and Isabel is explaining the process in detail. Did you know that you are always supposed to get their hair wet before you brush? I missed that in AG101 somehow!!!
Finally, the dolls were all ready for their lunch date at the Cafe...we did the Birthday Package and it was adorable. The food was surprisingly awesome! They served cinnamon rolls first (any meal that STARTS with cinnamon rolls is a good meal in my book), then a tray of appetizers. The main courses were huge and really good! At one point, Isabel said "Wow, food in Chicago is so much BIGGER than at home...my tummy can't handle Chicago food!". I do have to give props to Jason for being one of few daddies in the Cafe...he is such a trooper!

After lunch, the servers started their 'Happy Birthday' rounds. Isabel knew her turn was coming and you could just see the awkwardness creeping into her face...she is not a fan of the birthday song. She always gets this 'People-are-singing-and-staring-at-me-and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-my-face-so-I-will-pretend-that-they-aren't-here' face. Here it is:
I love my little introvert so much, but I do often feel the need to get a shirt for her that says "I am not being rude, I am just socially awkward". I can say this because she gets 'socially awkward' from me! =) Ashlen is intimidated by new situations, but overall, she is pretty comfortable with herself...ice cream face and all!

Isabel has been saving her tooth fairy money for this trip for a long time (as you can see from the picture below, the tooth fairy has been a frequent visitor lately). Due to the fact that her tumbling teacher told us she will be moved up to a backflip class soon (remember my fear of horses is due to my fear of a broken neck???), I insisted that a gift from Mommy and Daddy had to be a tumbling mat. So, at the store, she only got a doll from us and anything else had to be purchased with her own money. She found Felicity's jammies in her own size and fell in love! The practical side of me thought they did not look warm enough or comfortable enough for the price, but she wanted them and it was her money. So, she bought a pair for herself and her doll. She did have enough money for a few other items as well (the tooth fairy is pretty generous these days), but she loves these jammies. They are really long and don't go well with my fear of child-ghosts, but as much as she loves them, it was money well-spent.
Of course, the best part of the trip was the swimming pool:
Holding hands, again:
The next morning, we headed over to Shedd Aquarium. It was not crowded at all (honestly, I would do Chicago in January every year because it is not busy at all...everywhere we went, workers were telling us that we picked a good time to come because it is the slowest time of year). There was a new Baby Beluga (anyone else start singing the song??? I did.) born last month and we were there for its first ever public appearance...it was still nursing and very cute (for a beluga).
Isabel was the class Princess of the Pond (a special week that each kid gets to be in the spotlight) this past week, so it was her responsibility to take care of the classroom frog and take it on a special trip. The frog loved the aquarium:
Ashlen was having a conversation with this fish...he seemed to listen:

There is an unwritten rule somewhere that you can't leave the aquarium without a loveable toy to remember the trip. Of course, Isabel's had to be a webkinz and Ashlen's just had to be the softest thing in the store:
I must note that we picked up a Girodano's stuffed pizza for the ride home...it was the perfect finale to our trip to Chicago! Once we got home, I started to work on Isabel's American Girl birthday party. Yes, I decided to do a trip to Chicago AND a birthday party. Yes, it was birthday overkill. But, I am a real dork when it comes to planning parties...I secretly love the details. The favors are my favorite part of the planning...I love to come up with something useful that goes with the theme of the party. This is what I came up with this year:

For the American Girl party, I got a kit that had roles, scripts, and clues for the girls to act out and solve a mystery. Kit Kittredge's mom's necklace was missing and the girls had to figure out who stole it. One of the biggest challenges was limiting the guest list to the number of roles available in the script. We didn't get to invite all the girls Isabel put on her guest list, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because WOW, first grade girls love to scream for fun!!! I think any more might have put me into the fetal position. Honestly, the girls were all good...they did an excellent job reading the script for the play (kudos to Morton 709 elementary teachers!) One scene involves the girls finding a clue as they have snacks in the dining room. Here is the dining room all set up with snacks and clue:

I had costume items for each role (cardigans, headbands, nurse scrub shirt, aprons, etc). I will be honest, I have an apron that I love to have an excuse to wear, so I was happy to play a role! Here are the actresses:

The mystery's clues led us all around the house and finally to a jungle in the basement (Hobo Camp) where the mystery was solved! We ordered pizza for lunch, then cupcake time!!!

Here is the birthday song face again, except this time she is trying to hide a smile:

Getting ready for presents:

When she opened this, I asked her "Isabel, what did you get???". Apparently, my sheltered child hadn't heard of Zhu Zhu Pets yet, because this was the face I got:

I have a rule that my kids can't play with a gift until they have written the thank you note for it. As soon as the last guest left, she was at the table writing the thank you for this one because she wanted to know what it was all about. Now, she loves her Zhu Zhu and wants all of them and their accessories. Which leads me to the last picture of this long post...I found it in the party pictures when I uploaded from my camera. I don't know why this picture was taken, or by whom, but it speaks volumes to me: