American Girl Birthday Celebration

Today the girls had their joint birthday celebration at the American Girl Bistro and Boutique at Northpoint Mall. We struck this deal with them instead of having two big parties this year. They each invited a pal to take along. Riley and Rebecca joined us last night for a sleepover, and we got up bright and early this morning to make our 9:30 brunch appointment.

Anyone who knows the Brinkleys will be amazed to know that we were out the door early even with two extra girls to get ready! It's nothing short of amazing. We decided to wear our finest tea party attire.

The drive there wasn't so bad. We only heard "how much farther" about five times.

We got there early, so the girls had some time to look around. Reagan had already "researched" on line and in the catalog and knew that she wanted Samantha.

Sophie had been looking in the catalog too, but didn't make her decision until this morning. She chose Julie, the 1974 doll. (The year I was born.)

Getting settled in... Notice that each doll has her own special chair that clips on to the table.

Because each girl HAD to sit beside their doll, Romeo and I were stuck in the middle of the table. Does his expression say it all? "Why did I agree to this? How much does this cost? Am I the only man in this estrogen bistro?" Truly, he was such a good sport. I thought surely he would have a coronary when none of the girls were overly keen on their fancy French toast and let the majority of it go to waste. But, nope! He never said a word even though I'm sure the Clark Howard in him was dying to say something. He's a good man. If I could fast forward 20 years, I'm sure I would see a scene similar to
Father of the Bride.

I on the other hand was having a blast living vicariously through my children. Where was this when I was eight?

Sophie and Rebecca showing the menus to their dolls. The waitress brought out tiny menus for each doll. Also, each napkin had a star shaped cookie cutter as a napkin ring. Each one had a word written on it like: strong, friend, true, honest, etc. She had each of us go around the table and make a sentence with our word. The girls did really well.

Riley and Reagan asked for extra plates for their dolls and shared their French toast.

After brunch, we finished our shopping in the boutique. Koodos to Riley and Rebecca's parents - both of the girls thanked us numerous times for the fun outing and were so well behaved! On a side note, it was fun to see everyone looking the girls over in their dresses. I overheard one lady say, "only in the South". I take that as a compliment. Girls should look like girls!