American Girl Dollhouse

Grammy and Grand-Dad gave (and built) an American Girl Dollhouse to the girls for Christmas. It took Grand-Dad several days of building along with help from Grammy in the painting and decorating department to put it all together. It is incredible and the girls love it! Thank you so much Grammy and Grand-dad for such an amazing gift! :)

 After Gran-Dad cut the pieces he labeled them and brought them into the house for Grammy to paint 

 Jackson decided he'd like to help with the building too :)

 First floor and back put together

 Adding color to the rooms

 Maybe it should be a dollhouse for McKinley instead?

 The completed product -  I wish I could get a better picture but it's so big it's hard to stand at an angle that allows a picture of the entire dollhouse.

 The top level has the tent, extra clothes that don't fit in the wardrobes and the gymnastics set

 

I'm not sure if the dining room or kitchen is my favorite room. They both turned out so beautifully!

 The living room

 The girls each have a bedroom for their dolls

 The schoolroom is pretty cool too

Even though they have a dollhouse now, Kit's Treehouse is still a popular hangout for our dolls

 Grooming and riding horses is lots of fun too!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our collection of American Girl dolls. Reagan and Kennedy have spent hours enjoying everything you have given them and we truly appreciate it all! Thank you especially to Grammy and Grand-Dad for providing such a beautiful dollhouse which allows the girls to enjoy their dolls even more!

Missy K's Turns 5 - 2013

Kennedy coming downstairs with a couple of her birthday balloons on her birthday morning to check out her gifts and sitting in the special birthday chair our elf, Hermie (who you can see sitting in the cupcake costume on the tree next to the chair), created for her.

Missy K with her presents and new Hello Kitty bicycle

Kennedy couldn't wait to turn 5 and receive her bag of gum. She was extremely excited and opened it up right away. :)

We met Kennedy's godparents, Uncle Barry and Aunt Annette, at Krispy Kreme to celebrate her birthday breakfast. :)

Kennedy brought her new American Girl Doll, Emily, which she received from Grammy and Grand-Dad.

  Daddy and Jackson checking out the donut making process

  Birthday buddies McKinley and Lauren

 Kennedy, Lauren and Reagan

 The Lueker and Hamlin girls

  When we got home from breakfast (and maybe group violin that day as well - I don't remember everything that was going on, but I remember it was a super busy day) Kennedy resumed opening her gifts in her birthday chair. 

 Grammy gave Jackson this construction outfit and tools which he loved! :)

 Since Grammy gave Kennedy the American Girl Doll bicycle she gave Reagan the scooter

 Kennedy thoroughly enjoyed trying out her new bike and Emily enjoyed riding her new bicycle as well. :)

 That evening we met Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden at our traditional birthday dinner place, Chick-Fil-A. Somehow I managed not to get any pictures of the kids but here's Kennedy and her birthday cookie. 

 

Thanks to everyone who made Kennedy's 5th birthday special! :)

Kennedy's NYC Birthday

We celebrated Kennedy's 4th birthday in New York City the Friday after Thanksgiving. We had a few presents for her to open including a new American Doll, Caroline, before heading out for a day of fun. The thing that is funny about this picture is up until this morning Jackson had refused to open any presents (and pretty much refused to open most Christmas presents). For some reason he became absolutely determined to open Kennedy's main gift which was her doll. What a little stink! Thankfully Missy K was pretty sweet about it and let him assist her in opening her gifts.

 Our first stop of the day was the American Girl Doll Place where we had a birthday brunch planned. It was so much fun! The girls, Grammy and I had a blast! The food was delicious and everything was super super cute!!! I would highly recommend doing a birthday celebration for anyone who has a little girl who is an American Girl Doll fan!

 The flower pot is actually ice cream - so cute!

 Missy K with her new doll and birthday cake

 While the girls were celebrating at the American Girl Doll Place the guys started Black Friday at FAO Schwarz. We met them there to see if there was anything we couldn't live without. This is the clock that originally hung outside the store but is now displayed at the top of an escalator (which is always a top attraction for my munchkins).

 Daddy and Jackson picked out a new Thomas train named Kevin while they were shopping at FAO Shwarz. Jackson loves all cranes whether they're truck or train related!

 We spent Kennedy's birthday afternoon seeing The Lion King. We had seen it in DC while we lived there so I thought the kids would really enjoy it. They all three enjoyed the first half but the second was a little long and began slowly for Jackson. My fault entirely, but I'm still glad we tried it out especially since Reagan enjoyed it as much as she did! For anyone who hasn't seen it I would highly recommend the experience for the 5 and up crowd! :)

 Family picture after the Lion King at the theatre

 Grand-Dad decided to pass on the Lion King and spent the afternoon taking pictures around NYC. These are a few of my favorites. 

Friday evening we took a night tour of New York. We've done that once or twice before and other than the cold it is such a nice way to see the city! Thank you again to Grammy and Grand-Dad for helping to make Missy K's 4th birthday so special!!!