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American Girl Place Chicago opens this weekend as we previously reported.  The store will be bigger and better than before.  It is a 52,000 sq. ft. all new store at Water Tower Place in Chicago.  Since the original store opened in 1998, 13 million visitors have passed through the doors - quite amazing really.  The new store will have all the attractions you’d expect from AG including a café, photo studio and doll hair salon.

We won’t be able to visit but please let us have your views on whether you like the store.

We just heard that the Kit movie is due to be released on DVD.  Its coming out soon and we’ve been told by familyVideo.com that they will ship DVD on 28th October.  Look out for it!

When I came across this blog and saw the photo of the tee-shirt pictured above I couldn’t believe that it was a home made item.  And the thought that I could actually make something as cool and personalized as this?  Impossible.  Well, wait just a minute… when I read the detailed step-by-step instructions from Andrea McMann, I thought, I could do this!

I am already planning to work with my sister when we are together in a few weeks to create one for our Mum for a Holiday gift.  All of her grand-children together.  My brother’s (should be born any day now) twins will have to wait and make an appearance on next years tee.

Tommy succumbs to a day of running around with Mommy Michelle.  It must have been all that doll clothes packing.  Where are those child labour laws when you need them?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.  This is also an entry to the “Sleeping Angel” contest on 5 Minutes for Mom.

I am sure they are sinful.  But how can anyone resist this photo?  I’m inspired to find a cool autumn beach and build a campfire.  I’ll have these Smores from The Crepes of Wrath in my picnic basket.

I can’t believe it’s Halloween already!! Time to start thinking about costumes for this year.  Emily has informed me that she will be Hermione.  This is great news for Nanny (who makes all of her costumes) because she was Hermione last year.  Apart from a new skirt for her much longer legs (provided by Nanny) there isn’t anything that needs to be done.  Nanny can concentrate on Michelle’s lot!  But what about your American Girl Dolls - shouldn’t they get to go trick or treating this Halloween?

We have some great Halloween costumes for American Girl doll this year.  We are particularly fond of this new witch costumefor your doll.  But we have many, many others to choose from.  How about an American Girl Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz), or a princess, ballerina or doctor?  Come on over and check out the Halloween Page to see what’s on offer.

We found this article on the Milk Your Money website.  It offers some great tips and tricks that will help your household - from saving money to cooking ideas.  We tried these ones already…

Banana Ripening - Take you bananas apart at the stem when you get them home and they won’t ripen as quickly.  I’m not sure if this one worked.  I didn’t notice any difference.  But then again bananas get eaten so quickly in our house we may not have had the ideal testing environment.

Get Rid Of Ants - We have an occassional ant problem in our house. With two cats and a ten year-old in the house I am very wary of chemical treatments.  I was skeptical about this one.  So skeptical that I actually went and googled to research a little further.  Well - I found the same claim on a bunch of websites.  Piles of cornmeal?  Being a gluten-free household we have plenty of cornmeal so I tried it.  So far so good!  We can’t see any ants around the cornmeal, can’t see that the cornmeal has been eaten, but… we can’t see any ants anywhere either. 

Here’s one for Mom!

Shave your legs with hair conditioner - it’s cheaper than shaving cream and will leave your legs silky smooth.  This one worked!!  It doesn’t feel like it is going to work because when you smooth on the conditioner it feels awfully thin.  But the razor slid right over it and it did leave legs a lot smoother than usual.

The next one I am going to try is the dryer sheet in the pocket to ward away mosquitos.  I’ll let you know.  Please come back and comment if you try any and they work for you.

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Here is an exciting offer for American Girl Bath and Body Works.  We came across a terrific offer today on the web and want to share it with you.  How about getting 50% off all AG bath and body beauty sets.  Sounds like a pretty good deal to us.  I keep thinking what great stocking stuffers they would be.  Emily loves the Bath and Body products because they smell so good and she feels like a grown-up when she has her own special products.  Of course they are a real treat for her - usually a special gift from Nanny - but at 50% off I just might stash some American Girl Bath and Body products for those “special occassions”.  Good grade celebrations maybe?