...how could I not...

My mom reminded me this morning that I have not posted any new posts lately.  Truth is, I have been working on one all week.  I just haven't been feeling it.  The post itself has been very much to release some of my frustrations with a certain little girl that I love dearly but makes me crazy on a daily basis.  It's the story of her.  It's complicated...just like she is.  :)

So for now, I will share a completely different story about her.  One that warms my heart to the core, sends me out to a shop I swore I would NEVER shop at, requiring me to spend an exuberant amount of money on something that should NEVER cost as much as it does, and has me asking "how could I not?"

A couple of weeks ago, Merrick came home wanting to add an American Girl doll to her Christmas list.    I immediately went in to a slight panic as that was definitely NOT in my plan.  And I just happen to be a planner.  So, we had a little talk about how she has never been a "doll" girl, so I was curious as to why she had changed her mind.  She admitted that it was because her friend wanted one and decided that she would rather have a piano instead.  (ummmm....that backfired.)  But, I found a great deal on a girl sized baby grand with 37 keys and was content.  :)

Until Thursday.  One of my good friends had asked if the girls could come over after school to bake cookies.  Yay!  I got to go get my nails done.  And went to pick the girls up.  On our way out the door, Taya asked Camryn if she could borrow one of her "mazagines."  It happened to be an American Girl doll magazine.  Taya has ALWAYS been a "doll" girl.  I mean, like we have so many dolls we don't know what to do with them.  For a while we had a lot of problems going to the store because Taya truly believed that all of the babies needed homes, in particular our home!

So, when she decided that she wanted the Caroline doll from the American Girl catalog, I became a wee bit concerned, but that's just Taya.  She wants everything.

Dave happened to be out of town that night, and the girls got to sleep with me.  Taya was having a hard time settling in, and she kept getting up.  I honestly didn't think much about it.  And then I got up at 1:00am to let the dogs out.  On my way there, I saw this:

If you look closely, you can see our Elf on the Shelf, Oliver, looking down towards the floor.  On the floor is the American Girl doll "mazagine" placed in the direct line of vision of the Elf.  

Melt a mama's heart.  How could you say no to that?  Which is how I landed here this morning:

And it was packed, and crazy, and overwhelming.  But it made my heart happy to think of what a happy girl I would have on Christmas morning.

And, because I could not fathom paying $62 for a set of matching PJs for Taya and Caroline, I stopped at My Red Thread and got a matching set of monogrammed penguin PJs for half the cost!

:)