My love for Zoey-a Karito Kid

Hi everyone!  The first thing I wanted to say was thank you so much to everyone who has checked out my blog this past month!  I am over 500 views, and am so tickled that there are actually people clicking on here to view photos and see what my little family (both doll and real) are up to. :)  And a big thank you to my 2 followers! :):)

It's been a while since I talked about dolls, which was actually my initial reason for starting up this little blog.  I haven't really gotten my indoor photo situation quite right yet so I've been putting it on the back burner for a bit until I get it all sorted, but wanted to share a few photos I had taken of my lovely Zoey doll when we were still back at my old house.

 

Zoey is a 21 inch Karito Kids dolls initially released in 2007, but has unfortunately been discontinued.  There were 6 different dolls released, each representing a child from a different country and a portion of each purchase was donated to Plan USA, a global children's charity.   There is more information here about the other dolls that were also released with Zoey as well as 2 more lower cost dolls (the Karito Kids Giving Girls.)   

 

You forgot to pull down, my shirt, Farrah!

I first discovered this doll line from Emily's blog "The Toy Box Philosopher" and here is the link to her amazing review of these dolls.  Her review is much more detailed and talks a bit more about the history and charity piece of what makes these dolls so special.

Each doll was sold with her related book at around $99.99.

I ended up finding this lovely gal used on Ebay.  She was missing her book, red hat and black sneakers (I have her skirt, but she's not wearing it here ;)) and she was around $40. 
Zoey's character is supposed to be an American girl living in NYC.  She wasn't on the top of my wish list at the time as I wanted to get a doll representing a different country than the US, but when she became available for such a great price, I decided to get her anyway and possibly give her to Pumpkin Pie as a birthday present. 

Sorry, Pumpkin Pie, but Mommy wants to keep her instead, lol. 

Here she is next to Disney's Elsa who is about 12 inches tall. She's made of mostly vinyl, but the lower part of her torso is cloth, similar to an Americal Girl Doll, but with a larger chest plate.  

She has beautiful, shiny golden wigged hair.  Since I am new to doll collecting, I am not even sure what to do with it.  It is in pretty good shape so I decided NOT to run a brush through it as I didn't want to disrupt her cute ringlets.

Here she is with the only other similar sized doll that I currently have.  Kaitlyn is a BFC Ink doll that I found on Ebay as well (Ebay and I became good friends this summer.)  Kaitlyn has a bit more articulation, but Zoey is much more impressive in person.  Zoey's skin tone is a bit more realistic of a fair-skinned Caucasian, while Kaitlyn looks a tad more orange in real life.  Kaitlyn's face appears much more vacant and cartoonish as well, but she was must less expensive then what Zoey would've origianlly retailed at.
They make good sisters, though. :}

Unfortunately, since Zoey was previously owned, her joints are a bit loose.  She has 5 points of articulation (head, shoulders and hips) and due to the looseness of these joints, she has a hard time standing very well on her own, although I can see that she probably did at one time. 

Kaitlyn is practically like a rag doll.  

 Cute detailed toes. 

 About a month after I got Zoey, I bought Pita as well.  She was a total impulse buy.  I was laying in bed, on vacation in the Adirondacks doing my nightly iPad Ebay scan and saw her used as a Buy It Now option for $45.   She looked like she was in such great condition and was only missing her book (shirt and jacket not shown here) so I quickly scooped her up.  

I am really glad I did as Pita is a gorgeous doll as well.  Pita is a Mexican girl and as you can see they did use a different face mold.  Pita's eyes are rounder, her nose is a bit wider and her smile is a little perkier.  My particular doll's lip paint is a bit faded so I am trying to figure out how to remedy that situation.  :}

Her skin color appears a much more of a beautiful caramel in the photos then in real life.  In real life, she looks a bit dusky, like I need to put a little nasal canula of O2 on her to perk up her oxygenation!  I am really surprised and glad about how much better she looks in photos.  

More on Pita later!  She will get her own photo shoot :)

Here's a closer look at Zoey's beautiful face.  She has inset plastic eyes with both painted and soft applied lashes.  Her eyes are so realistic and detailed up close.  The color is quite striking against her fair skin.  She has a splatter of dainty freckles strewn across her cheekbones and bridge of her nose, which definitely adds charm to this girl. 

Her lips are painted a very natural rosy pink and she has lovely detailed lines and a cute little cupid's bow shape to the top lip.  I think the distinct line down the middle of her lower lip is very endearing and I love that attention of detail and sculpting that was put into this doll's facial features.   

She has such a calm, serene look to her. 

 

Don't forget to check me for ticks!

 

She is a dream to photograph. 

Her nose is dainty, but long and straight.  A nice change from the tiny little celestial button shape noses you find on a lot of dolls. I like a good prominent nose. 

I think they did a great job with the actual ear sculpt.  Looks like a pretty authentic ear.  

Here's a closer look at her incredible eyes.  

We actually call our particular Zoey by a different name.  Her features remind me of a little Swedish girl so I've name her Ingrid.  Zoey from NYC just isn't cutting it for me as I don't think it is unique enough for this adorable doll.  I have always been in love with Scandinavian culture and landscape so I thought this was a bit more fitting.  I am hoping to either make or find some more authentic Scandinavian clothes for her in the future :) 

I hope you all enjoyed my review of the Karito Kids Zoey doll.  I really hope to add a few more to my collection in the future.  I especially love Gia and Lulu-her face is stunning!  

These girls are floating around here and there on Ebay...sometimes you can find pretty good deals on used 

 dolls, so keep your eyes open if you are interested. 

Pumpkin Pie was completely in awe of this doll when I first showed it to her.  She kept saying over and over "Mommy, she's so special, so special."  I couldn't agree more! 

Have a good night, you all :)

Coffee and Crotchet

Good morning!   This morning, I woke up to a bright sunny day.  Love it.  The weather is calling for sunshine and low 80s (27ish C) and I was actually up for a good while before LB and PP woke up.  J was already awake, had his coffee and was out and about at the old house finishing out cleaning the garage so I had the whole morning to myself!  Holy Mary.  

This is a pretty rare occurrence and when it happens I soak. it. up.  It is truly a treat and something I completely took for granted before I had kids.  

I grabbed my coffee and crochet bag and headed out on the porch for the most relaxing cup of Joe I have had in probably over a year!  I actually finished the whole cup without reheating it (which normally, I have to at least 4 times) :)  

Heavenly.

Fozzie came over to check out my progress on Pumpkin Pie's Elsa blanket.  Slow-going, guys, I'm not going to lie!

I sat out here for almost 45 minutes sipping and crocheting before Pumpkin Pie woke up and joined me.    I love these quiet moments with her.  Such a good little egg she is.  In a week and a half she will be starting Kindergarten!! :} 

Yesterday was J and my 6th year wedding anniversary and prior to the move, he and I had planning on dropping the girls off at my Mom's and going camping (tent) at a state beach park in Connecticut for 2 days. This would've been the first time in 5 yrs that we went away for more than 1 night away from the kids.  At the last minute, we ended up canceling the trip, so I'm a bit bummed about that as the weather would've been AMAZING (and we never have luck with that anytime we go to the ocean.)  There was just too much to do with the old house in order to get it ready for the renters that are coming in after us next week.
Hopefully we can take a day away in the fall to visit New England or the beach and if not, there's always next year!  

I hope you all have a nice, relaxing Sunday where ever you are! 

The Farm

It's hard to believe that we've already been in our new home at "The Farm" for a whole week!  The house is finally coming together...things are unpacked, photos and artwork have been hung up on the walls, bookshelves are filling back up and it's starting to look super cozy in here.  

Here is a shot of our first morning.  The sun was big and bright and the girls and I sat outside and ate our breakfast on the porch.  This particular spot only gets a few hours of sunlight a day, so I am used to it being shady (and an awesome spot to watch thunderstorms!), but it does get the early morning sun and the lighting is so beautiful, bathing the floors and chairs in a golden haze.

There really is something about morning sunshine, don't you agree?  I LOVE SUMMER :)

Right away, we made a new friend.  She's kind of a loner here on the farm..a little straggler who just showed up one day and decided to stay according to my uncle (who lives next door and runs the farm.)  She's a guinea hen and kind of keeps to herself, flitting about, hopping on hay bales and her little mannerisms are so comical.  If you've ever seen one in real life, you know what I mean.  I'll try to get a video of her running one of these days, it's a rip :).  Pumpkin Pie named her Miss Sparklepants and it certainly suits her just fine. 

On this particular sunny morning we decided to take a small walk down to the creek.  We saw this little guy.  He looks like a lo moth caterpillar and this is what he will be when he grows up.  

This spot is known as the 1st creek.  I can remember many summer days wading in this water (although it seemed so much deeper when my sibs and I were young) and catching frogs and crayfish.  We had this horribly rusty old trap (which I can't believe they let us play with) that we used to lower into the water in the morning and then pull it up later to see what treasures floated in there during the day. 

Here are Pumpkin Pie and Little Button heading down to the 2nd creek.  

Of course Zoey decided to join us!

And I know you've all been dying of suspense, but here is the 2nd creek :)  If you look farther down, there is actually a deeper area that used to be our swimming hole.  

Beautiful green hills...great for sledding!.  

Now headed over to see if there are any cows in the field.  My uncle raises grass-fed beef cattle.  Little Button is absolutely smitten with cows.  Loves them.  Love her :)

More shots of the 2nd creek.  The water has been very low this summer.  Womp womp.  

Looking for her cows...I think Zoey sees them over there...;)

So far it's been a great week.  As you guys know if you've read this post, I was having bittersweet feelings about moving and leaving our old place and our old town, but now that we are settling in, I am just so happy to be here.  Everything is far away, there's not a lot of take-out choices, and my toy/doll shopping is a lot less inconvenient (!!!), but living on such a beautiful property in an old charming farmhouse filled with character and surrounded by animals has been so good for all of our souls already.  Counting my blessings tonight :)

And we have a porch chicken.  Meet Millie.  She is there every night, despite J shoeing her away.  The girls think this is hysterical. I think she is actually a hen from the coop at the house across the street (which used to be MY house growing up...that's it's own weirdness now), but I guess she wants to live here, lol.  Milli Vanilli.
I am dying to do more toy/doll "reviews" (aka minimal info and lots of glam shots), but am in the process of setting up my little photography area so hopefully more of that soon!
Goodnight all and thanks again for visiting my little nook here on the blog. :)  

Littlest Pet Shop-Thrifty Throwback Thursday

Hello everyone!  I had a crazy day at work today, how was your day?  Everyone was in crisis mode it seemed..that is one of the hardest things about being a nurse-too many patients and only one of you to go around!  Ah, well, I made it through the day and am feeling much better then yesterday ;)

Today I wanted to share a few shots of some adorable toys that were given to me by one of my coworkers.  This is the same nurse that gave me all of these awesome games.

   Check out this jack-pot

 I love second-hand toys so very much.  My girls are still pretty little and I don't really like spending money on lots of toys for them when, in reality, after the initial excitement wears off, the toy gets stuffed in a bin, un-played with until a friend comes over and plays with it and all the sudden it is THE TOY TO HAVE.

Ya'll know just what I am talking about.  (I am so not Southern and feel funny typing that, but I really do love "ya'll" and wish I could get away saying it in real life) :}

Gahhh, beyond cute!

I honestly didn't know "what" they were at first and had to look them up. They look to be The Littlest Pet Shop gang.  Made by Hasbro, this toy line has been around for a while and the lucky little girl who had them before us had QUITE a collection. 

Eeeeeee, love the folded hand-legs.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Cheeky chihuahua.

I didn't really intend to do a post about these toys, but once I started taking photos, I couldn't stop!  They are so darn cute and as a gal with a Zoology degree, I just can't resist all of the different critters that were floating around this inside of that cardboard box.  

The walrus...

The myopic owl....

I had to snap shots quickly as Little Button was very curious as to what I was doing and her natural tendency toward chaos and destruction was running rampant on this particular evening.  See the little foot ready to strike?  :}

The fuzzy penguin....

The canine brigade...although, now that I am looking at this closely, that is probably a rabbit in the middle!

Meow!

(LB is ready to rumble in the back)

My real cat, Fozzie (yes, like the bear) was not as impressed as we were. 

A rainbow ribbon of birds.

Quite possibly the cutest turtles I've ever seen (and a fallen bird at the mercy of Little Button)

Miscellaneous woodland creatures...is that a sloth on the end, do you think? :):)

Even more cats and kittens...

And last but not least...the fish and spiders.  Any toy line that can make a spider that cute gets an A in my book. 

So obviously, this is not a review of the Littlest Pet Shop toys what-so-ever.  Lets face it, I am not a true reviewer...I don't have the time or energy to do my research.  I'm just a little bit (or alot!) of a weirdo that likes to take photos of toys and dolls and share them with fellow bloggers ;)

I really have no idea if these toys are still being sold in stores or what their original prices were, but I do know, that for a child in the 2-5 year old range, these were and still are a HUGE HIT.

The girls have played with these every single day since we got them a few weeks ago so I highly recommend them if you happen upon them at your local thrift shop or garage sale. I am planning on donating a portion of the stash to our local shop as we have quite an abundance and some repeat characters. 

Welcome to our family, little frog :)

I hope you all have a nice, stress-free Friday and I hope you visit again.  I'm still working on editing our trip to the Adirondacks in case any of you are interested in seeing some lovely Northeastern Mountains. :)