Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Undoing Mistakes

In 2004, I bought 3 Tonner Mary Engelbreit dolls:  Queen Ann Estelle, Sunshine Sophie and Basic Sophie.  Four years later, when I was totally wrapped up in ABJD's, I sold them in order to be able to purchase an SD Souldoll Byeol (who ended up being Catherine).   As much as I love Catherine, and as much as Samantha enjoys having her big sis around, I eventually came to regret selling my AE's.  I love the early ones without the bending knees.  I likes how easily I could plunk them down and get them to stand up and not have to be posed carefully to do it.   I loved having a huge assortment of patterns from the web and in books that I could use to sew for her - without having to do a lot of adjustments.  My AE's had fantastic thick wigs, and I didn't have to worry about messing up fragile eyelashes.  Don't get me wrong, I love the beauty of BJD's, but for a perfect travel doll, Ann Estelle just can't be beat - not too big to carry, not too small to get lost in a photo, not to fragile.  Ann was my perfect doll.  I sold her.  I regretted it.  I missed Ann (and my Sohpies, too).  

This month, I finally decided to ignore the glitz of the latest "new and shiny" doll, and fix a mistake I made 4 years ago.  I found another Ann Estelle, and brought her home.  I found a 1999 Classic Sailor Ann Estelle on eBay.  After a few days of trying to decide, I hit the "BIN" button.  The seller was excellent - a 6:30 AM purchase on a Tuesday was here by 2 on Thursday!  All her accessories were unopened, in the box.  Of course, I never leave a doll in a box, so here's Ann Estelle.  I like the box, so I will probably keep it, something I rarely do.

Ann Estelle with all her accessories

Ann Estelle - Again

Life is good!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas!
from the AG Girls:  Josefina, Kirsten, Kaya, Marie-Grace, Felicity,
Julie, Ivy, Lanie, Kanani, Gwynith Linette,
Rebecca, Kit, Ruthie, Emily & Molly


May God Bless Your Celebration of Jesus' Birth this day!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Alley's Ready

Alley was looking for a plate to put Santa's cookies on, but found some snowmen and got a little distracted!


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Melissa's Christmas Dress


Melisssa wanted to share a photo of her new Christmas dress that she picked out from her favorite dress shop, Jo's Doll Shoppe.

Melissa's Christmas Dress

She wants to wear it to church tomorrow night!

As my DD says:  Today is Christmas Eve Eve!

Hannah's Wall Hanging

Hannah found a little snowman wall quilt to decorate for Christmas!  


It's getting exciting!  Christmas is almost here!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

There's Only One Patsy

Maybe some of you have seen the latest Tonner Patsy?  Yes, she's cute, but she'll never be a "real" Patsy. 


Don't you just love the sweet, nostalgic darling that Effanbee created?

Friday, December 21, 2012

The Shortest Day of the Year!

Fiela hopes you found a little sunshine today!


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Faith's Patiently Waiting

Well, she's trying to wait patiently, anyway!  She's hoping for a new doll for Christmas.  But a lot of our friends probably are, aren't they?


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Mindy loves Snowmen

Mindy is dreaming of a white Christmas.  She would love to build a snowman - but until we get snow, she can play with these!


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What to Wear for the Special Day?

Danielle, Louisa, Luke and Heather have been trying to figure out what to wear to the big Christmas party!  Well, the girls were busy trading clothes and trying new clothes on.  Luke was busy playing, but was willing to stop for a while for a photo.


Monday, December 17, 2012

Natterer Girls are Bundled Up

April, Alvina, Talia, Ellie and Lucy are dressed nice and warm.  They are hoping to go visit Santa Claus at the mall, so they can tell him what they'd like for Christmas...


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christmas Polar Bear!

Gwynith Linette just loves her new polar bear sweater!  It reminds her of the Coca-Cola commercials that had a lots of polar bears - haven't seen those yet this year!  


Weren't they fun?

Saturday, December 15, 2012

More Old Fashioned Christmas Cheer!

Ailene, Betsy and Christine are looking forward to their first Christmas!


These Izannah Walker inspired inspirations were made by Jen in 2012, following instructions offered by Dixie Redmond!

Christmas tree made in Sunday School by M.  at age 4.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Mini Creches for Mini Dolls

Hey, this one is just our size!


Amy, Wendy and Becky found the miniature creche carved by Christians living in Bethlehem out of olive wood.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Jack and Jill are Waiting


Jill:  Are you sure there's enough room for Santa to put our presents down here?
Jack:  Yeah, if the people don't add too much more, we should be okay.
Jill:  Okay.  What kind of cookies does he like?

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Hanging Stockings

Bitty Baby would love to hang her stocking by the chimney with care,


Alas, we have no fireplace. 
We'll make do, somehow.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Old Fashioned Christmas

Emmaline, Meg, April, Johannah, Suzannah,
Kathryn and Louisa


Are dreaming of an old fashioned Christmas!

They love the snow globe's music box music.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Fa la la la la la la la la

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la laloopsy!


He he he - we couldn't resist this pun!  Hope you have a great day!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

The Last New Doll for 2012

Rebecca is so lovely!  


She isn't book Rebecca, though!
She is from 1914, but her family immigrated from Germany,
and she lives in Baltimore.
Her father is a baker.
She has a lot of brothers and sisters, but lives in a tiny house in the city.
She's looking forward to attending the candelight church service on Christmas Eve -
it will all be spoken and sung in German!
Frohe Weihnachten!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Gabrielle's Glad it's Advent

Gabrielle is really glad that Advent's here!  


She loves the Christmas lights on the tree!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Nicole Patrice's Excitement

Nicole Patrice is so excited about Christmas coming, her eyes are glowing and sparkling -


Just like the lights on the tree!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Melissa Has a Name Now!

Melissa arrived this fall, but hadn't selected a name yet!


She finally settled on Melissa.  Her name means "honey bee."
We aren't seeing too many bees in December around here!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

More Candy Canes

Erica likes candy canes, too!


She just wanted to make sure everyone knows!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Maggie's Ready!

Maggie is all bundled up and ready to go!  She's excited about all the candy canes!  We found some that are "Jelly Belly" and "Starburst" flavors! They have some nice bright, happy colors...but I sure hope we can get some of the mint flavored candy canes, too!


Mmmmm....maybe some peppermint candy ice cream would be good, too!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Catherine's Christmas

Catherine loves Christmas!  Do you know why?




Because we celebrate the birth of the Savior!


But you already knew that, didn't you!?!!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Advent's Here!


Today's the first day of Advent!  We're going to try to post more dolly photos on the blog this month.   Sort of like an Advent calendar, but we can't promise a new post for every day - the month is just sooo busy, and daylight is scace at this time of year!

 Do you know what Advent is?

Advent is about HOPE.  Not just wishful thinking, like "Gee, I hope that my Powerball ticket is the winning ticket."  The kind of hope we're talking about is looking forward to something we know will come to pass.  Jesus came to Bethlehem, Jesus comes into our hearts, and Jesus will come again.

Advent is also about LOVE, JOY and PEACE.

Here's a 2 minute video that explains Advent.  We actually saw this at church today, at the end of our Pastor's sermon.  We hope you like it!


We don't usually "do" music (or videos for that matter) on our blog, but this is from The Nutcracker - so if you like that, turn up your volume a little, okay?

- Jen & Samantha, Chief Companion Doll