Tess's Tidbits: Birthday Trip Photos

Hello again, dear readers.  What a pleasant surprise to be able to address you once again in a special post. :)  

As you have probably guessed by now (or already knew from reading Mama's blog), I was the one chosen to accompany Mama and her family on the birthday trip for her daughters.  I was so excited to be chosen!  Mama and I haven't taken a trip together in a while. 

When I first got into Grandmama's van, Lanie, who lives with Grandmama, was there waiting for me.  Lanie and I haven't really had a chance to get to know each other yet, but we connected right away.  (Any doll who wears a fancy dress for a trip out of town is someone I want to get to know!)  I couldn't wait to spend the rest of the weekend getting to know her.

Oh, and you might have noticed my adorable Addy doll.  Some of you may recall Alice's post about her trip to the American Girl Place with Mama several months back.  At the very end of the post, she shared that she had an idea about the Addy doll she ordered.  Well, that idea was to give the doll to me!!  I was completely shocked!  Alice said that she wasn't really into dolls, and she knew how much I really wanted to go with Mama on that trip, so she decided that I should have Addy.  Addy and I have been inseparable since. :)  I will never forget Alice's generosity.  I tried to thank her, but she brushed it off, saying it made her happy to see me so happy.  Isn't she a wonderful friend? :)

One of our first stops was a dinner stop for Mama and the other humans.  I'd never been to In-n-Out before, but I must say it was absolutely delicious!  Especially the fries. ;)

As if that wasn't enough, we had Krispy Kreme donuts for dessert! 

It was so interesting to see how the donuts were made.  Even more fun was the fact that all of these ones were heart-shaped for Valentine's Day. ;)

Here are the donuts we ordered.  Mama chose a plain maple donut and shared it with me.  Her daughters chose heart shaped donuts and a "kiss" donut (there were "o" donuts that were "hugs" as well).

After stopping at the Toys R Us near the restaurants, we stayed overnight at Mama's aunt and uncle's house.  Mama, the girls and I got to sleep in her aunt and uncle's trailer.  It was a bit crowded and a little cold, but we made some fun memories. 

The next morning, we went to breakfast with Mama's aunt and uncle and then drove the rest of the way to our destination: the Westfield Galleria Mall in Roseville!

Mama didn't take many pictures of me at this stop because she was focused more on her girls and Mimi, who wasn't feeling well, poor thing.  But we had a really fun time.  There are more mall pictures to come, though, so don't worry. :)

After the mall, Grandmama checked us into our hotel.  The trees were full of blossoms out front, and the sky was a perfect blue.  Such a lovely day!

The rest of the evening was rather uneventful.  Mama and the girls made a few more stops, and poor Mimi got a ride back home (we missed her very much!).  I stayed in the hotel with Lanie to share some uninterrupted visiting and get some rest.  Later, Mama, Grandmama, and the girls came back and relaxed with us, watching a channel on the hotel TV that had all sorts of shows about cooking.

The next morning, we took it easy and had a leisurely breakfast and a swim in the hotel pool before heading out for another day of shopping.  Well, Lanie and I didn't swim.  It's rather difficult to dry out without smelling mildewy when you're a cloth-bodied doll, after all.  Our first stop of the day was this large Toys R Us store.  I've never seen so many toys in one place!

We headed back to the mall for lunch and ate in the pretty food court.

Then we visited Build-A-Bear Workshop...

...the Sanrio Store (Hailey's favorite!)...

...and the Disney Store for a second time.

I've never been inside a Disney Store before.  I must say it was quite impressive.

The girls, and Mama too, loved seeing all of the Frozen merchandise.

There was a nice section for the new Cinderella movie, too.  Mama's told me all about it, and I'm very much hoping to see it when it is released. :) 

The floor included this fun sparkly pathway.  I can see why this place is such a favorite with Mama and her girls. :) 

After a full day of shopping, we had a delicious dinner at Red Robin.

Just look at this beautiful sunset we got to see on our way back to the hotel!

Since it was our last night that night, Lanie and I stayed up a little later than usual.  Grandmama and Mama let us sleep in this little open closet, which made the perfect little room for us and gave us a bit of privacy.  We spent the first part of the night talking.

After a while, we raided the snacks Grandmama had brought for us and played "Apples to Apples".  We discovered fairly quickly that the game works much better with more than two players. ;)

Grandmama shared some of this delicious "Zebra Popcorn" with us that she'd bought from Popcornopolis in the mall.  It was one of the most incredible things I've ever tasted! 

After a while we were too tired to keep our eyes open.  We snuggled under our covers and fell asleep.

Oh, Mama mentioned that some of you might be curious about our bedding.  Grandmama found Lanie's Frozen blanket and pillow at Build-a-Bear.  My "Beauty and the Beast" sleeping bag is on loan from Emma.  It was one Mama found for her on eBay.  

The next morning, we got up bright and early.  

Lanie and I took the opportunity to enjoy the pretty view from our window. 

Monday was to be our pack up and head home day, so that's just what we did.  We managed to find another Toys R Us on the way home, though. :)  

You can't see it very well in this picture, but there were so many beautiful blossoms on all of the trees.  I just adore the springtime and all of the beautiful flowers and blossoms we get to enjoy! :)

That's all of the pictures I have to share with you.  Things were rather hectic when we got back home, so Mama didn't take her usual picture of me arriving back home to greet everyone.

I didn't end up getting any souvenirs on this trip, but that's just fine.  I have so many things already, and it was pleasure enough just to get to go. :)  It's also nice to be back home and see everyone.  Things have been rather quiet since I got back.  Mama has been busy taking care of the girls, who all promptly caught colds a day or so after we returned.  Poor Mama.  The coughing all night long is really getting to her.  I hope she sleeps better tonight!

Thank you for sharing my trip with me!  I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures and hearing about what I did. :)

Until next time,

Tess

Maggie's Memos: We're Back (Did You Miss Us?)

Selfie!!

Hey there...remember us?  At least a few of you must...we have ten comments awaiting moderation.  Yikes!  That's kind of awesome to come back to. :}

So, I know that in the blogging world, taking an unannounced leave of absence for four months is pretty much against the law or something.  We've never taken such a long hiatus without telling anyone first.  Part of that was not planned.

It started off as our normal, "Yikes, we're behind.  Someone needs to post something!"  But one thing led to another, and we were either too busy or couldn't get to the computer (our laptop is still having connection issues...Tess pretty much uses it for her stories and not much else).  

But then something happened that we've never had happen before.  We lost our consciousness.

You see, dolls can only retain conscious thought if we're an active part of a human's life.  Mama (really, Tess?  You're going to harp on that again?  *Sigh*  Tess wants me to remind all of you that Mama is pronounced Mama, like they say it in all of her Jane Austen movies.  Happy?  Can I move on with my story?) is our human, and usually she's pretty good about at least saying "hi" as she goes by, or asking about our day, or taking us on trips and things.  But she's been super busy...or at least, that's her excuse.  Anyway, after she took Hayden on that trip in the end of January, we hardly saw her.  Even if she came in the room, she didn't say much or even acknowledge we were there.

It was no big deal at first.  I mean, sometimes Mama can be a little too involved.  I think she forgets she's not really our mom.  She's supposed to be more like a guardian and provider of stuff we need, not a big boss.  (I think all that power goes to her head sometimes.)  So to be honest, we were okay with a little less involvement (especially me). ;)  

But it stayed that way for weeks.  Mama didn't talk to us or do anything with us.  She just kept running from one event or activity to the next.  Papa was working late, so she would stay up in the living room and wait up for him.  Then they would both come and crash in bed, exhausted, without a word to us.  And we kept on doing our own thing.  

After about a month, I started noticing an extra stiffness in my legs and arms, and even my neck.  It was harder to move.  I didn't think much of it at first, until Rachel mentioned having the same issue.  We started asking around, and soon discovered that all of the 18 inchers were feeling this way.  We were a little concerned, but we figured it was just some sort of dolly bug going around.

I think all of us knew that we could lose conscious thought when neglected for too long, but we didn't really connect our symptoms with that.  Mama's been really busy before, and we've never had any problems.

Then came the day, about two months ago, when I could barely move.  On top of that, I was super drowsy.  Just like before, all of us were feeling the same way.  I started having my suspicions then, but it was too much effort to get everyone together and discuss it.  

By the next day, I couldn't talk or move.  That's when I started to panic.  I assume everyone else was probably concerned too, but the only other doll I could see was Rachel, and we couldn't communicate.  

Mama came into the room once that day, but it was just to grab something she'd forgotten.  I tried to call her, but I couldn't.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you that I was completely freaking out. (Imagine being stuck somewhere, unable to move or talk.  You'd be freaking out too.)  By the end of the day, I was getting really drowsy again.

The next thing I remember, Mama was leaning over me, crying and begging me to wake up.

That was yesterday.

As you can imagine, Mama was pretty scared when she stopped long enough to notice that all of us were completely still and quiet.  She said it took three days for us to actually start stirring and responding to her.  (Which means she must have stayed busy for a long time, because it's been two months since the last day I remember.)  All day today she's been coming in every few minutes to make sure we're okay.  This could definitely backfire. :}

But the good news is, it shouldn't happen again, and if it does, it shouldn't be for a long time.  Now that we all know what a real possibility it is, Mama's going to be better about making time for us, and we're going to be more proactive about making her notice us when she's too busy.  (I have some great ideas for that.) ;)

So that's why we've been gone for so long.  We're all still a little stiff and groggy from the whole experience, but we should be back to normal soon.  I can't promise we'll be totally awesome at blogging, but we definitely shouldn't leave you hanging quite as long again. :}

The moral of the story?  Don't neglect your dolls unless you want them to be no more than empty shells.  It can happen to the best of us.

I guess that's about it for now.  We've got some catch-up posts to do (from before the deep sleep) and then we should be set. 

Oh, Tess reminded me that I'm supposed to say "hi" from everyone.  They've all missed you guys a lot.  I guess I might have missed you too. :}  I think this whole thing has touched my softer side...there's hardly any sarcasm in this post.  What's this world coming to? ;)

Laters,

Mags  

Tess's Tidbits: On Hiatus

Hello, dear readers.  Thank you for being so patient with us during the past month with our sad lack of posts.

Maggie and I have made the decision to take a break for the month of November.  We'd like to step back and regroup a bit so that when we come back we'll be more focused.  Don't worry, we are not going to quit blogging.  We would just like to make some decisions about the direction we'd like to take our blogging.

Another thing that helped us make this decision is that Mama is extremely busy this month and is focusing on writing her book.  Since she helps us with some of our editing and such, having her available is crucial to our blog's success.

We should be back sometime in December with more posts and blogging fun, so we hope you'll come back and join us then. :)

In the meantime, we thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of our newly arranged doll rooms.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of all of them together, but there are pictures of each individual room.

Basically, Mama was finding it difficult to reach Maggie and Rachel's room when it was up so high, and she found the room I shared with Hailey a bit too low.  To solve the problem, she moved Jenna and Hayden's room over to the dresser next to our rooms and then raised our rooms up a bit.  I think it's going to work very nicely.  Even better, Ella and Alice now have more space than that little area next to the 80s toys curio.

Here is Maggie and Rachel's new room, still located on top of Jenna and Hayden's room, but now much lower and more accessible. 

Just a step up from Maggie and Rachel's room is the sitting room Ella and Alice share.  It is still a work in progress (Alice is looking for some Doctor Who posters for her side of the wall), but I think they've made it quiet welcoming. :)  As you can see, their room is on top of Emma and Charlie's (which is still on top of Hailey and my room).

Just under Rachel and Maggie's room is Hayden and Jenna's.  Hayden told me she is enjoying having a room so much closer than the ground. :)

Charlie and Emma's room has not changed much. :)

Here is our room.  We rearranged the furniture a little, and I think it works much better. :)

One of the wonderful things about this new arrangement is that all of our clothing is now accessible to us, so we don't have to wait for Mama to help us change.  This is a great relief to all of us.  Mama is so busy that sometimes we go for a month or two at a time without changing.  (This explains why Maggie and I are still in our clothing from Ladies Retreat.) :}

I suppose that's all for now.  We'll miss all of you this month, but we'll be back with more to share from our world sometime in December. :)  Happy Fall and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  We'll talk to you soon! :)

Maggie's Memos AND Tess's Tidbits: Ladies Retreat

Okay, so this actually ended up being a Saturday post instead of a Friday post.  Close enough, right? :}  We're still figuring out this whole "getting back to some sort of blogging schedule" thing. 

So Tess and I decided we'd narrate this post together.  Since typing our thoughts in different colors has worked well for us before, we'll do the same thing today.

I'll be in blue...

...and I, Tess, will be in purple.

Thursday morning (September 26th), we left bright and early to head to Ladies Retreat.  I personally wouldn't have minded sleeping in a bit, but apparently I was the only one who felt that way.

It...um...really wasn't all that early, Maggie.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Anyway, we all piled into Grandmama's van.  Chrissa, one of Grandmama's newer dolls,  and Kaitlyn had come along too, so things were a bit crowded.  I wasn't looking forward to a long car ride all squished in one seat.

Our first stop was at one of the newer Goodwill stores.  Mama didn't have much success finding anything this time around, but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. :)

Once we'd finished at Goodwill, the humans decided it was time for lunch.  Good thing, too.  I was starving!!

Mama and Mimi were working on collecting all of the 75th Anniversary Wizard of Oz toys, so we went to McDonald's and got Happy Meals.

We had delicious cheeseburgers...

...and salty fries!

Chrissa and I got the Cowardly Lion, and Tess and Kaitlyn got Elphabas.  Since Tess and I aren't really into The Wizard of Oz, we decided we'd pass our toys along to Tess's little sister Ella, who's a huge fan of the movie. 

The humans made a few more stops, and it was getting a little warm in the car, so whenever they left us in the car, they used Grandmama's windshield shade to make a little mini tent for us.  Classy, I know.

One of the places Mama was most excited about visiting was Toys R Us.  There is no longer a Toys R Us where we live, so whenever she has a chance to visit one, she seizes the opportunity. :)  Mama found some wonderful treasures here, and she even bought Zelfs for Maggie and me.  We decided to wait to open them until we got to our hotel. 

Once we'd finished the never-ending shopping spree (did we ever mention how much Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama love to shop?) and a visit with Mama's other aunt and her friend, we headed for our hotel.  Just when I thought we'd be stuck in the car forever, we finally got there!  Here's a picture of the room we shared with Kaitlyn and Mimi.

Tess and I decided to test out the bed.  Oh, and the bear is Mama's.  She sleeps with him every night.  I guess he was a present from Papa when she was in high school.  He's definitely seen better days.

Here's a look at the other side of our room.

And our bathroom...a room we dolls never have to worry about. ;)

Grandmama's room was right next to ours with a connecting door.

Wasn't her bed just lovely?

Once we'd brought everything in, we decided to open our Zelfs.  I got a pearlized Lil' D and Tess got a glittery Angelala.

Here's a closer look at Lil' D...

...and Angelala.  

Mama said that the Zelfs we ended up with were quite fitting.  Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Shortly after we arrived, Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama headed over to the first meeting for their retreat.  We decided to lay low in the hotel rooms.  

Suddenly, Chrissa popped around the communicating door.  "Guys!  You'll never guess what I just found!"

It was a huge Lalaloopsy stash.  I'm not much of a Lalaloopsy fan (they're a bit too "cute" for my taste), but it was still kinda fun to see so many in one place.

Yes, Mama had mentioned that she and Grandmama and Mimi had found several Lalaloopsies at a secondhand store.  They'd decided to go through them while they were on Retreat.  

What they didn't know is that we sorted through them first! >:}  We kept everything in the packages so we wouldn't get in trouble.

After a while, Grandmama, Mimi, and Mama came back and told us it was time for bed.  Phooey.  We all got into our jammies and went to sleep.

The next day, Mama, Grandmama and Mimi had all sorts of grand plans.  They were going to attend the meetings and visit all sorts of little antique shops and things.  They invited us to accompany them, but we decided it would be fun to have the hotel room to ourselves all day.  It was declared an official "pajama day". ;)

Chrissa invited me to come read with her on Grandmama's bed, which sounded delightful! :)  We settled ourselves against Grandmama's pillows...and to be honest, didn't get much reading done.  We were too busy discussing our favorite Jane Austen plots and characters.  This trip was really the first opportunity we'd had to visit with Chrissa, since she was a newer member of Grandmama's doll family.  It was wonderful to discover another Austen fan amongst our acquaintances. :)   

I had brought my favorite book, of course.

I was amazed at Chrissa's book!  It had all of Jane Austen's complete novels in it!!  The front was beautifully engraved with a portrait of Jane Austen.  I found myself hoping that somehow a copy of that book would find its way to my shelf. :}

And while those two were reading their *ick* Jane Austen books and generally geeking out over random Austen facts, Kaitlyn and I were raiding the snacks Grandmama, Mimi, and Mama had collected from the Ladies Retreat meeting and channel surfing.  

Eventually, Tess and Chrissa got tired of their "reading circle" and came to join us.  And, I'm not at all ashamed to say, this is pretty much how we spent most of the day. :}  Mama doesn't let us watch too much TV at home, and there were too many other humans around for us to do much exploring.  Don't judge. 

I don't think our readers would judge us, Maggie.  I would like to point out that we are usually much more productive with our day. :"}  It was lovely to have no obligations or responsibilities, however. 

Here's a closer look at some of our snacks, just to make you hungry. ;)  Don't you wish you were a doll and didn't have to worry about annoying things like calories? ;)

Oh, this box of "chickadees" from Target was one of Mimi's snacks.  They were so amazing...even more delicious than Goldfish! 

More snacky goodness.

After a long day of snacks and TV (and a few relay races and other random activities that we threw in every once in a while), we all headed to bed.  The next day was the last day of Retreat (and Tess's birthday, too).

Bright and early the next morning, I awakened to the sound of my friends shouting "Happy Birthday" as loud as they possibly could.  

Hah hah...the look on your face when you shot up from under the covers was priceless!!  Did we surprise you?

Definitely!  To be honest, I had wondered if anyone would remember my birthday.  I was thrilled by the gesture, although sleeping in just a bit longer would have been nice, too. :}  It took me a while to figure out where I was and how to respond.

Ah, sleeping in is for wimps. ;)

Um...

Chrissa, Kaitlyn, and I had asked Mama to keep her eye out for a special birthday present for Tess while they were out and about.  We'd quickly wrapped it in a spare napkin that morning while Tess was still sleeping.

I had no idea what to expect when I opened my present...

...but Mama had perfect taste.  It was an adorable little house to go with the other houses I collect. 

Isn't it just perfect? :D

I gave Maggie a huge thank you hug when I found out she'd orchestrated the whole thing. 

But the birthday surprised weren't over.  It turned out that Mama had one up her sleeve.

She had Tess open it, but said it was for both of us to share.  

What could it be?

Oh. My. Goodness.  Our very own LAPTOP!!!!!!  

A sweet little red laptop of our very own.  Now it would be much easier for us to type up posts on our own (or so that was our theory...it obviously didn't work this week). :}

We spent the next several hours hunched over our new computer, figuring out how everything worked.

But all too soon, it was time to clear out of our room.  We realized that we'd never taken a picture beside our door (one of Mama's traditions), so we took a quick one as we left.

Group shot. :)

While Grandmama checked us out of the hotel, we spent some time playing on the huge lawn beside the conference room.  Some of you might remember this lawn from Tess's first Ladies Retreat trip.  This was the same spot that Mama took a million pictures (sooo glad I wasn't there for that photo shoot...this one was long enough!).

Chrissa read to us from Grandmama's little Bible while we waited...

...and then Tess and I lay on the blanket and dreamed while Kaitlyn and Chrissa went to put the Bible away.

I love this picture that Mama got of the two of us...Maggie is such a dear friend.  It's wonderful having special pictures like this to help us remember our trip together.

Aww, thanks Tess.  You're not so bad yourself. ;)

You're welcome. :)

We took one last group shot and then were on our way.

We stopped for lunch at In-N-Out.

Conveniently, Krispy Kreme was in the same parking lot.  Mama had saved her dessert day for today since it was her birthday, too, so she had a doughnut for her birthday. :)

And so did Tess!  Mama brought her a doughnut and a hat and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

The birthday girl.  

We made a couple more stops on the way home (including another trip to Toys R Us...Mama's obsessed!), but this is where our pictures end.  

All in all, we had a pretty cool trip.  Tess and I haven't spent too much time together lately, so it was fun to have a special weekend to ourselves.  Well, with Kaitlyn and Chrissa and Mama and Grandmama and Mimi. :}

I really enjoyed our time together, too.  Somehow, we've gotten so caught up in our own lives that we haven't had as much time for each other recently.  Having rooms three stories apart hasn't really helped, either. ;)

You can say that again!  Do you know how long of a fall it is if you slip off the edge of my room?!  Yeouch!!

I think Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama had a great time.  They kept talking about how wonderful the program was and how encouraged they were by the speakers.  Mama seemed a lot more refreshed than she's been in a while.  I think all humans...and dolls, too...need a break from the routine every once in a while. :)

Anyway, sorry you had to wait so long for this post.  Even with our laptop, we still have to have Mama help us edit things and such.  And as I'm sure most of you know, any time you switch to a different computer, it takes you a while to figure everything out.  We're hoping that October will be a month of regrouping and figuring out what sort of blogging schedule works best for us.  We'll keep you posted! :)

'Til next time, this is Maggie...and Tess...

Hope you enjoyed reading about our Ladies Retreat adventures! :)