All that to say, two months after they got their girls, they decided they couldn't wait to "add to their family" with another American Girl. They started studying the catalog and creating their wish list for us. While this is totally sweet, that was our cue to teach them just how special and expensive these dolls are and help them understand it isn't something we can just get whenever we want to. We encouraged Abby and Ella to make a plan and start saving their own money for their next American Girl. Joe and I promised that if they both saved up the money, we would take them to the American Girl store to adopt their new kids. This was no small task for a four and six year old, but they were up to the challenge and took it very seriously. Ella was saving for Kit and Abby was saving for Lea. We made charts and they saved their money from March to November. Ella reached her goal first (thanks to a July birthday) and assured Abby that she would wait for her as long as it took. She waited and Abby kept saving. Abby finished up sometime in late October, so Joe and I planned a surprise trip to Boston for adoption day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sGWc-tqjfg
We loved seeing the looks on the girls faces as we pulled into the mall and they started to realize what could be happening. I encouraged them to bring Grace and Mary Ellen with us for a ride. I thought they would want to be there for the special moment. :)
Taking my girls to the American Girl store has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, so I loved every minute of it. But, the most amazing part of the whole experience was knowing how hard our girls worked and saved and choose not to spend for months just to have this moment. Watching them experience the fruit of their hard work was so much better than gifting them another doll for Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nHRAt_blE
"Kit! I'm here for you! I'm here to take you home today!" - Ella
Because Joe and I weren't spending any money on the dolls, we surprised the girls with appointments at the hair salon for Mary Ellen and Grace. They got to pick a hair style and special ribbon for their dolls and then watch them make the dolls hair like new again.
We told the girls that we were driving to Boston to meet our friends for lunch, which was totally true.We just never told them about the pit stop we were making before lunch. The girls were so excited by their morning, but pretty wiped out by the time we sat down for lunch with Chrissy, Terry and Devon. Our whole lunch looked like corralling four kids and a whole lot of half finished sentences, but it didn't really matter because we've been friends since we were 12 and we get it. We did look around as we were seated at our table and wonder when we became a party of 8! :) Look at this sweet guy! He reached for me and gave me a hug as we were leaving.
This day was full of surprises. After lunch, we piled into the car and told the girls that instead of heading home, we were going to visit Uncle Tommy who is studying at MIT. We got to see his new apartment and explore his neighborhood a bit. The girls were pretty excited about their first ride on the T. Well...Ella was terrified until she was in her seat, but she didn't want the ride to end once we got going.
We took the T to Harvard and walked around campus for a bit.
We grabbed dinner and made sure we snuck in a quick visit to Uncle Tommy's campus before it was time to head home. The girls got a quick tour of the management school and saw what one of his classrooms looks like. We were so thankful for our time together.
Our day was full of Saturday adventures and lots of new memories were made! It was a great trip.
Welcome to the family, Lea and Kit. We've been waiting for you!
