Before I announce this month’s reader photo event, I thought I would share some pictures with you. So many of our readers have asked how many dolls we have and which ones that last night Natalie and I took the time to dress them all in shades of pink, red or purple so I could photograph them all. I already know that I missed our BFC Ink doll Addison, Tender Hearts Emma, our MyTwinn doll Rochelle, and Megan’s first MyAG doll Nicole which  is at my niece’s house, but otherwise this is pretty much it – well, minus all the Barbies, Groovy Girls and Build-a-Bears.

From left to right – Alex (MyAG #21), Olivia (Springfield Dolls), Kailey (LE 2003-2004), Calista (MyAG #39) and Emily (Historical)

From left to right: Nicki (LE 2007), Lily (Terri Lee), and Kit (Historical)

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Ready for a slumber party we have Madison (Springfield Dolls), Sonali (LE 2009) and Marisol (LE 2005).

Madison gets a close up!! Don’t you just LOVE her two ponytails?? I just think she is adorable.

Moving right along we have Chrissa (LE 2009), Erin (Carpatina), Ellowyne (Wilde Imagination) and Gwen (LE 2009).

These photogenic girls asked for a close up. Okay, it was Ellowyne who asked!

Our historical girls – Kirsten, Felicity, Elizabeth, Samantha and Nellie.

Left to right we have Ivy (Historical), Taryn (Maplelea), Emma (Tonner Toys Little Miss Matched), Kanani (LE 2011), Hadley (Tonner Toys Little Miss Matched), Saila (Maplelea) and Julie (Historical).

And finally, we have Daisy (Bitty Baby Twin), Penelope (Bitty Baby) and Fritz (parties all night outside, sleeps all day inside house cat). Our brunette Bitty Twin was still wearing her Halloween costume and didn’t want to be photographed.

So start getting your dolls ready for a Valentine’s Party and take pictures because the February Reader Photo Event will be a Virtual Valentine Party for Dolls!

Now that Julie has her BFF, Ivy here, it was time to get the room set up so the two of them could really kick back and relax!  Check out all the photos below as some of them feature items I picked up at the American Girl store over the weekend and some are from earlier and just haven’t been featured.

The Julie and Ivy room is created by putting two American Doll Rooms together. Ivy’s bed is from Quietude Quilts and her bed cover is just a random piece of fabric we have left over from something, but it works perfect for Ivy.

Julie is super comfy in her Butterfly PJs lounging on her bed. You can see her basketball bag, fuzzy green foot rug, her room accessories and her sound accessories. She even has the American Girl shopping bag we got over the weekend. If you go the American Girl store and buy just a gift card or get something little like chocolate to go in the Bistro, they will give you one of theses super cute doll sized American Girl shopping bags.

On Ivy’s side of the room you can get a better look at the Quietude Quilts handmade wooden bed and the fun bedspread from a bandana. Ivy is wearing McKenna’s PJs and I think they are just adorable on her.

This is a closer photo of the super adorable Berry Purse and Shoes set that you can only get in the American Girl stores. The ruffled corduroy pink purse is just too cute for words. It is one of my favorite all time pieces. The set also comes with “miss-match” socks and red, pink and white tennis shoes. I love how you can mix and match the shelves in Julie’s room accessories to come up with all different configurations.

Julie and Ivy are talking about their favorite records and trying to decide what to listen to next. I vote for Saturday in the Park or something nice and relaxing like that.

The music decision has been made so now it is time to just relax, catch up on girl talk and enjoy the popcorn!

I am so glad we decided to get Ivy on Sunday at the American Girl store. She is quickly becoming one of my all time favorites!

This past weekend was one amazing blur for me!! On Friday night my son had a high school swim meet, Saturday morning Natalie had a swim meet about an hour away, then Sunday morning Natalie had the second day of her swim meet in the morning and Megan had her first gymnastics meet since her surgery in the afternoon right near where Natalie’s meet was. The only problem was there was about 4 hours in between the two meets and I didn’t want to drive an hour home just to drive an hour back to where I had just been. So… Natalie and I decided to go to the American Girl store at Tyson’s corner in between the two events.

When we got the American Girl store it was CRAZY! It was so crowded. We checked in with the Bistro so we could get a time to eat – it was about a 2 hour wait – then headed off into the store to check out McKenna’s collection and pick up a few other things. We were not even 10 steps into McKenna’s section when our FAVORITE personal shopper came around the corner and immediately recognized us and gave us both big hugs! She didn’t have an appointment at that time so she decided to join us in shopping.

We decided that Julie has gone long enough without her best friend Ivy and since we are not getting McKenna until later this year, it only makes sense that Ivy use McKenna’s gym equipment until McKenna arrives.

Meet Ivy! Our personal shopper was so good with Natalie. She pointed out the differences in all the Ivy’s on display and helped Natalie pick the perfect Ivy. I just love her! She has so much personality and Julie will be thrilled to meet her.

We did our shopping and then went into the Bistro for lunch. There were no available tables so we had lunch at the Sweet Treats Bar – which was perfectly fine with us. The ladies making the desserts behind the counter were very talkative and it was fun watching them make all the sweet desserts. I had the spinach salad and Natalie had the chicken tenders. Both were very yummy. Before we headed out we bought a few chocolate bars to take to Megan and her best friend as good luck before their gymnastics meet. I love the little bag they gave us with it.

Here is another view of Ivy enjoying her lunch. Natalie bought the Sweet Dreams PJ set for Ivy. They are a store exclusive and very cute. Ivy wasn’t crazy about sitting next to us in a doll treat seat so she sat on the counter looking at Natalie during lunch.

We had a wonderful impromptu visit to the American Girl store! I have a few more pictures to post of the store later today and then will share photos of what we bought along with Ivy meeting Julie, too.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times – I LOVE OUR READERS! Domenica has shared photos of her Pre-Mattel also known as Pleasant Company Samantha collection. Stunning!!

In Domenica’s own words:

I received my doll in 1992 for my 8th birthday, which was also the year I had a tea party for my birthday just like Samantha! As of October of this year, I will have had her for 20 years! I played with my Samantha doll from the time I was 8 until I was about 14. Her hair is obviously pretty worn, but I like to think that it just shows she’s well loved. I made sure to take good care of Samantha and all of her accessories because I wanted to pass her on to my own daughter someday. Lucky for me, I have a daughter who is turning one in a month. Can’t wait until she’s 8 so I can give her my beloved doll and take her to pick out her very own at AG Place!

As for my collection, I only lost a few items along the way (which is really saying something for a girl with two younger sisters!). I lost her nightgown, kimono slippers, and her “Meet Samantha” hair bow. I have all of the items seen here, including the linens to Samantha’s wicker table, the lemonade set and various Pleasant Company items like Samantha’s paper dolls, the hair care kit, trading cards, books, etc. All items were purchased between 1992-1996. Anyway, I wanted to share my collection since Samantha has been retired!

My Samantha doll in her cranberry dress.

Winter cape (dark navy plaid), kimono, and sailor dress

Tea dress, original “Meet Samantha” dress, and school dress

Samantha and her accessories

Winter cape with hat, muff, and ankle warmers, Wizard of Oz book, summertime accessories (minus the butterflies)

Summertime accessories, Samantha’s doll

Samantha’s trunk, school desk, commode, wicker set, and bed.

Thanks again to Domenica for sharing her priceless collection with us!

Here we are at Shooting Star Academy where McKenna and her teammates train… McKenna is not here today because she has an appointment with the doctor to see if her cast is ready to come off! (Ok, so I am totally making this up, but I needed a lead in for sharing the photos of McKenna’s gymnastics equipment with you!)

McKenna’s gymnastics equipment set comes with the bright pink balance beam with metal “feet” to keep it from tipping over. It also comes with a single training bar that has a metal base and is very accurate for what the girls would train single bar skills and basics on in gymnastics practice like McKenna. There are snap on grips so your doll can do cool tricks around the bar (watch our video of Gwen doing her bar routine to see how it works) and a green wedge mat so the girls can practice their conditioning, do rolls, and all sorts of other cool things. The light pink mat in the photo does not come with this set - it is from the retired American Girl Rhytmic Gymnastics set.

Sonali is practicing her “hollow” shape so she can make her “free hip circle” better. Alex is being coached by the famous Olympic Coach “Olivia Springfieldsky” on her forward stride circle on bars which is in her Level 4 routine.

Coach Kanani is giving Gwen tips on sticking her cartwheel on the beam, starting with “you need to turn your hips so they point to the end of the beam.”

The girls are wearing retired American Girl leotards and warmups. I picked up all the purple set when they were on clearance for $5 a set a few years ago.

We absolutely love this set and highly recommend it if you are adding McKenna to your collection or if you have a gymnastics fan in the house.

Our dolls are upstairs practicing for their next gymnastics competition, but while they are getting their workout in, I wanted to share this super easy, FREE (always good) “how-to” with you. I am not sure I would really call this a craft, but since it does involve tape and scissors, you might think so.

To make an award podium for your dolls you will need:

• 2-3 American Girl (or other boxes)
• Tape
• Scissors (to cut out numbers)
• Numbers 1, 2, 3 (I made it easy for you – click here to print out the same numbers I used)

STEP 1 - Find a large box to use as the base. We used the box that McKenna’s gymnastics equipment came in.

STEP 2 - Place a smaller box on top. We used Chrissa’s Craft Table box and turned it sideways.

STEP 3 – Print out the numbers 1, 2, 3 from the file I linked to above. Then cut the numbers out.

STEP 4 - Tape the numbers on to the boxes as shown above.

Place your gymnasts, swimmers, ice skaters, track stars, talent show winners – or pet show winners in their appropriate places on the podium and you are done!! Easy!

In first place we have Gwen, second goes to Sonali and third goes to Alex. All three of them are wearing the retired purple velour leotard from American Girl.

I better go see how practice is going!

It’s a pretty dreary, rainy, cold day here and I almost wish I had the American Girl Cozy Sweater in my size!! Anyhow, this is one of the outfits Natalie had wanted for her dolls for a while and when we were at the American Girl store at Tyson’s after Christmas they were out, so we had to order it when we ordered McKenna’s stuff.

The outfit consists of a tunic style sweater, soft gray leggings and knit sweater slipper/boots, a headband and a charm.

Calista (MyAG #39) lounging on the Emily Rose Trundle Bed with her new cat Ginger. You get a better view of the buttons on her boots in this picture. While I love her boots – they are a real pain to put on!

Here is another, closer view of Calista and the sweater. I moved the bed into Megan’s room for the picture – what do you think of the color of the walls in Megan’s room? I love them!

Everyone has been saying the the new American Girl of the Year for 2012, McKenna, looks a lot like the MyAG #39. My daughter got the MyAG #39 for Christmas and one of her best friends just got McKenna this week. She brought McKenna over today for a quick photo shoot before swim practice.

Once I got to hold McKenna and stand her next to Calista (MyAG #39), I immediately saw more differences than anything else.

• McKenna’s skin tone is paler than MyAG #39
• They have different face molds
• Their mouths are completely different

The color of their hair is definitely similar, but I think McKenna’s is a little lighter – and much longer than Calista’s.

From the side you can really see the differences in their faces – especially in the cheeks, chin and mouth. Yes, they both look like the come from the same doll family, but each one is unique – just like every one of us!

Now that Natalie has seen McKenna I would be surprised if she doesn’t start saving for her, too! We may just have to take another trip to the American Girl store later in the year and pick out that perfect McKenna. In the mean time, the rest of our dolls are having a blast working out on McKenna’s bars and beam. Look for more photos tomorrow!

While we haven’t ordered the McKenna doll yet, we did order her gymnastics equipment and a few outfits. I haven’t even had a chance to photograph it all, but I did get a quick video of my girls creating bar routines for the dolls.

In their video, Gwen is performing while Sonali cheers her on. They are both wearing long retired American Girl leotards. Watch on YouTube or click below to watch.

At $85, this set is definitely worth the money! The bar has a metal base, wooden feeling bar and authentic styling. The doll has grips that clip on to the bar so she can do front hip circles, free hips, cast handstands and other skills just like the real gymnasts do. There is a sturdy pink balance beam and a lime green wedge mat and the mat that can go under her bars, beam or be used alone.

This set will keep any little gymnast entertained for HOURS – trust me! They will practice being the coach, perfect their doll’s routines, create new and unique skills that only dolls can do and oh, so much more.

More photos of this set and the other items that arrived today will be posted throughout the week.

One of my all time favorite outfits is Emily’s Snowsuit. I have looked at it ever since it came out and just love the shade of yellow in the jacket. When I saw it go on sale again the week after Christmas I just had to get it .. and I’m glad I did as it is not showing up on the American Girl website right now.

The mailman brought me a package today and when I opened it up I just couldn’t help but to sigh. The beautiful butter yellow and blue jacket for Emily was pretty up close than I expected.

It didn’t take me long to get Emily from my daughter’s room and dress her in weather appropriate gear – it’s cold, you know!! The outfit consists of blue bib overalls, the yellow and blue coat, brown boots and mittens – complete with the connector string so you don’t lose just one.

And for a girl who HATES winter, I do LOVE the dolls in their snowy winter gear. From left to right – Maplelea Taryn in her snow gear, Kanani in the Sporty Winter Outfit, Emily in her snowsuit, Maplelea Saila in her meet outfit, and Gwen wearing Chrissa’s snowsuit.

Doesn’t Emily just look AMAZING in this outfit?