American Girl Mini Cecile Rey

Hi everyone!   

I hope you're all having a relaxing and fun weekend.  The weather is beautiful today and I just got back from my mom's Memorial Day picnic.  The girls are tucked in and snoozing away so before I go to bed, I wanted to get this review up as it feels like it's been a while since I've posted.  

I've been a busy bee this May!  I'm sure most of you have been busy as well, as I think it's that time of year where there's a lot more to do outside and school is starting to wide down.  

Our weekends, lately seem filled to the brim! 

Today's review is about the adorable American Girl Mini doll Cecile Ray.  

Back in August, AG had a really good sale on some of their minis.  It was right before they were getting ready to retire the Marie-Grace and Cecile duo and I was just getting into American Girl at that time.  I didn't really know some of the newer characters yet, but something about Cecile made me want to pick her right up!  I ended up getting her, Marie-Grace and Caroline for $10 each.  

(What a steal!) 

I was really excited to see that the packaging was a miniature version of the 18 inch doll packaging.

At first glace I was really impressed by the cute expression on  her face and how detailed the tiny book was.  

A great summary of Cecile's story and character traits can be found here on American Girl Wiki. Her story line takes place during the 1850s in New Orleans.

Her book is hardcover with a matching paper sleeve.  It has some illustrations inside and is really nicely done.  I honestly haven't read it yet, but I'm hoping too!

Here she is next to a regular size American Girl doll.  This is Elizabeth, who I purchased, used on Ebay for a custom project.
Elizabeth, as you know is 18 inches tall, while Mini Cecile is only about 6 inches.
She's almost the perfect sized "American Girl doll" for an American Girl doll.  :)

Moxie Girl Mini, AG Mini, Sparkle Girlz Mini. 

Here she is compared to a few of my other mini dolls.
Her head is about the same size as the other two, but is much more in proportion to her body.

And here she is next to Frozen Fever Anna who is 12 inches tall. 

:)
Now more about Cecile.  I find the best and easiest lighting for doll photos is outside in natural light on an overcast day.  The weather was totally perfect so out we went for our mini photo shoot. :)

Lovely little Cecile comes dressed in a beautiful blue-turquoise dress, white knickers, white socks and black boots.  She has two white ribbons tied in her hair as well.  I think these colors look beautiful against her skin tone.

The little boots are very easy to take on and off and have a simple strip of velcro in the back. 

Cecile has 5 points of articulation (head, shoulders hips.) Her body is cloth and her limbs are vinyl.  I really prefer this older style body for the AG minis as they are exact tiny replicas of their 18 inch counterparts.

Her hair is a little unruly, but not horribly so.  I like how they were true to the ringlets and I can't imagine it's too easy to produce dolls this size with super neat hair without throwing in a ton of gel.
I think her hair is really cute.

She has an adorable little face!  Her skin is a beautiful shade of brown, she as rosy little cheeks and lovely hazel eyes.  Her eyebrows are high and straight giving her a very sweet and child-like appearance.

Once the glam shots were over, we decided to talk a little walk through the forest to an open meadow where I often see various wildlife.

Cecile is a fearless little thing so she took off-all 6 inches of her-leading the way along the path.

We walked for a bit, but suddenly we spotted some deer peacefully grazing in the field. 

Cecile decided to climb up on this tree stump to get a better look. 

There, much better. (Look at that cute face!) 

After a few moments of watching them, Cecile decided to climb a little bit higher to be able to see more of these graceful animals.

 Uh, oh...looks like they spotted us....

"Wait, please come back!  We won't hurt you, we just like to watch you because you are so peaceful and lovely," cried Cecile.

The air grew still...you could hear a faint gurgle from the tiny stream along the path. 

A frog croaked.  No one moved a muscle.  ;) 

The pond was still. 

The deer stopped running and looked back at us again.  

We had a moment. (No joke, this really happened!) 

Cecile thanked the deer for allowing us to be in their presence, and off we slowly walked, leaving them to their peaceful grazing.

I hope you enjoyed today's post on American Girl Mini Cecile.
She's such a charming little doll and I feel like she has so much personality already.  The girls love her and she's easy to carry around and really fun to photograph.
Unfortunately she's been discontinued from the American Girl website, but you can still easily find her on Ebay at her normal price of around $24.95.

More reviews to come as well as some photos from my brother's wedding last weekend!
I wish all of you a very Happy Memorial Day if you're a fellow dweller in The States and thank you again for stopping by. :)
We are off to a parade in the morning!

Farrah xo

Mother's Day

Here are some quick snapshots from our mini Mother's Day hike. :) 

This Mother's Day was so nice!  The weather was HOT and heavenly.  We started our day by meeting my mom for brunch and then went to our local country store to get some pretty flower baskets for the front porch.
After that we headed over to a nearby state park for a quick hike with the girls.  They loved it!  Just as we reached the waterfall and went to turn around, it started to thunder and we could see the rain coming towards us from across the valley.  We booked it back to the car just in time.  After that, Little Button took a good nap and my mother in law stopped by to visit for about an hour.  We sat on the porch and had snacks and caught up and suddenly Pumpkin Pie started to get really weary and clingy.  Turns out she was coming down with a fever (just a mild cold, luckily) so I snuggled with her for the rest of the night and there you have it!
It was a great mix of both our moms, good food, flowers, fresh hair, relaxation and cuddles.

Quick cameo of Pumpkin Pie and me! 

My brother is getting married this weekend so I took tomorrow and Friday off.  I'm so excited to not have to work for 4 days!!
Tomorrow I am off with Pumpkin Pie to her class field trip (going to see a play and then out to eat at a restaurant) and then we will be busy the following day with the rehearsal dinner and wedding festivities.
I have so many doll reviews and photos to catch up on.  I've gotten a few more American Girl dolls over these past few months that I have yet to write about, as well as some mini-AG, some Disney LE dolls and of course, more Monster and Ever After High dolls.

I hope you all have a great night and thanks for stopping by!
xo

Happy Flowers, Happy Mother's Day

Spring flowers are just the best, aren't they?  They make me so happy!  Those daffodils I planted last fall are so worth it now to see in full bloom.  The fragrance is heavenly!

The tulips are bright and cheery as well and I love the splashes of color that are everywhere I look now.  I feel like my eyes are drinking in this amazing play that nature puts on for us every spring and it does wonders to the mood to look outside and see so much green after so many months of brown, gray and white.

I love seeing our lawn sprinkled with bright yellow dandelions and I savor them and beg my husband to refrain from mowing the lawn until he can no longer stand it (even though I know they will grow back.) :)

We've had the most amazing summery weather these past 2 weeks.  Brilliant and warm and balmy.
Lots of coffee and crochet has been enjoyed on the porch this month.

Pumpkin Pie loves going to the mud puddles and checking on her frog friend "Addison". :)
Little Button and I have been having a great time walking about in the hour we have together before I go to work and she goes to the babysitter.

My town is a little higher in elevation than the rest of our area, so we are still waiting on the flowering trees and lilacs, but buds are formed and they are definitely coming.

I hope you are all enjoying beautiful weather where ever you are and Happy Mother's Day!

Lauryce-Hearts for Hearts Doll

Yes, I got another one.  I can't resist these cute little Hearts for Hearts dolls!  

Our newest one is little Lauryce, which I purchased from someone, gently used, on Ebay for about $20. 

I had been looking for Lauryce for a while and I am so glad I finally got her.
What I love about her from a play standpoint is her crimped hair.  It is really hard to mess up, which is great when you have little girls that are very interested in their mother's doll collection ;)

Look at that irresistible little face!  She came with earrings, a silver bracelet and a purple hairband (which you can see on Rahel below) as well as little purple leggings, which I'm not sure are originally hers or not.  The doll in the promo photos aren't wearing them so maybe the owner threw them in as a nice accessory. :)   I removed the earrings right away as to not lose them so that's why they aren't in the photos.  I prefer these dolls without their earrings, anyway to be honest!  

Lauryce appears to have the same face mold as Rahel, which I think is my favorite.  I think it's the cutest.

Her eyes are also very similar (if not exactly the same) as Suri's (Surjan) although in this photo, Lauryce's look like they have a tiny bit of an orange gold hue.

We love her. :)  

Since I've already done a few reviews of these dolls already, this was more of just a photo shoot.  

For more info about her back story and the other dolls in this line (which is unfortunately disconntinued now), you can find her bio and more information here. 

Thanks for stopping by, you lovely readers.   

The weather has been gorgeous here these past few days. 

It seems like we've skipped spring and gone right to summer.  

It's probably just a warm spell, but I'm not complaining! 

Have a good week. :) 

xo 

May the 4th Be With You ;)

Happy Star Wars Day!
Just as an FYI, I'm a huge Star Wars geek.

I know the day is almost over, but this is the only chance I've had all day to sit at my computer!
I'm multitasking by catching up on last night's Game of Thrones episode, so this post is going to be mainly photos of a recent Star Wars Convention that my brothers went to in California a few weeks ago.
My siblings and I grew up loving Star Wars and both of my brothers were really into collecting the original toys/figurines.  My brothers still have a lot of them and it's always fun to break them out with the girls when we visit.

I know they both had an amazing time and gave me permission to share some of their photos so here are a few for your viewing pleasure if you are a fellow Star Wars fan!

Have a good night! 

Feel Good Friday-Hearing Sound for the First Time :)

Finally!!!  A flower!!  Spring is "officially" here :) 

Happy Friday everyone!
There are so many things we take for granted every single day.
Sometimes when I find myself in a bad or grouchy mood, I try to focus on the simple everyday amazing things I can do and experience.  I always say to myself "I'm so thankful I can walk and see."
Here's such a touching video of people being able to experience sound for the first time.
So amazing!  I barely got through the 1st 30 seconds without a tear...the babies...omw!
Such a simple thing that we don't even notice-hearing others-that some people aren't able to do.
I am so glad the technology is catching up to allow deaf individuals the ability to hear if they choose to!

-Farrah-

xoxo