Nora's American Girl 3rd Birthday party

Nora's 3rd birthday was simply amazing.  We took her about three hours south to the American Girl store near Atlanta, GA.  The store, to our amazement, offered to open an hour early just for Nora.  This allowed us to shop without having to worrying about exposing Nora to germs.  

When we arrived we were given our personal shopper "Andrew" who was so kind and patient - describing each doll to us and humoring us along the way.  We went straight for the baby American Girl dolls but Nora insisted she wanted a big girl doll so the search was on.  After looking at almost every variety of dolls they offer (which is a HUGE selection), Nora picked out a doll that looked like her.  Red hair and freckles.  That of course started the outfit shopping - and we thought the doll selection was huge - hah.  I wanted to get Nora something else too.  Heck she only turns three once! Convincing her was really easy, so she got to pick out a Bitty baby doll as well.  

After the shopping was over, everyone went to a private back room to start the party and I had to do the credit card thing.  Now, if anyone knows about these dolls, they know that most of them are upwards of $100 plus dollars each.  Somehow our purchase totaled up to not nearly what I expected.  As I stood there puzzled, Andrew explained that they had picked up the cost of Nora's big doll.  I was nearly moved to tears at their generosity.  It wasn't about the money - we had expected to pay whatever it cost, it was more that I realized they understood our situation and were doing their part to make things better - at least for that day.

Still shaking my head in disbelief, I joined the party.  The party room was wonderful and large with nifty carpet and furniture.  There was also a bouquet of flower and a goodie bag for Nora.  We had a wonderful delicious brunch with all of us: Jaime's Mom (Grandma), Nurse Kim and husband, Ashley Jones and husband (they recently lost their daughter Skylar to SMA).  Ashley has also updated her blog about the event and posted some beautiful photos as well.  You can visit her blog here.

Once we finished eating, Nora entertained us all with a beautiful rendition of "This old Man" until the cake arrived.  We sang happy birthday with the entire American Girl staff and Nora blew out her own candles one-at-a-time.

We drove back to Knoxville afterwards and upon unpacking, we noticed there were more doll outfit boxes than we actually purchased.  So even after all they did for us, the American Girl staff still surprised us with another gift.  

Overall Nora's birthday was exactly as we wished it would be - memorable!  It was so unique and fun and there are so many moments we can look back on.  This birthday was extremely emotional for us especially in the days leading up to it.  We never dreamed we'd have the chance to see our little girl turn 3.  We are incredibly thankful to the American Girl staff since without them none of this would have happened.  They gave us a truly priceless gift.  Thank you American Girl and a special thanks to everyone who made the trip to Atlanta to celebrate with us.