American Girl... Meet Marie-Grace!

To kick off Hannah's birthday week, she and I got to go to Chicago for a night away!  Even though we missed daddy and Jacob, it was really good to have lots of one-on-one time with my sweet girl.

We left on Monday morning and caught the train from Champaign to Chicago.  I had never done that before, but it was a piece of cake!  Hannah loved watching movies and having a Pepsi on the train.

Less than three hours later, we arrived at Union Station in Chicago and caught a cab to Michigan Avenue.

Josh's mom was up there for a work conference, so she invited us to stay with her.  We took our bag by the hotel room and headed straight for The American Girl Store, our main destination.

We had so much fun looking around the store and choosing our favorite dolls and looking at all the cute outfits!  We had a late lunch at The American Girl Cafe with Hannah's Bitty Baby that she got for her 2nd birthday, which was a really fun experience.

 After lunch, we looked around awhile longer, and then shopped all over Water Tower Mall.

Grandma Jody met us there in the evening after her meeting was over.  She let Hannah pick her favorite doll for her birthday gift, and she chose Marie-Grace.  She is IN LOVE with this doll.  She could not be strayed!  She knew she was the one she wanted, and she was SO HAPPY to get her.  She also picked out a couple of outfits, and then we went to dinner at The Rain Forest Cafe.

She liked having the waiters sing to her!

After that, we headed back to the hotel for the night, and Hannah got to wear her new outfit to bed!

The next day, Grandma had more meetings, so Hannah and I had another mommy/daughter day.  We started with breakfast at our hotel.

Then we walked down Michigan Avenue.

We went to the Disney Store, and since we were the first ones there, Hannah got the honor of opening the store for the day.  It was pretty cool!

After that, we headed back to The American Girl Store for a special preschool activity, and Hannah decided to use her piggy bank money for a couple more small items.

Then we just had time to kill so we shopped for quite awhile.

After we had enough, we caught a cab back to Union Station.  Before leaving, we had to find a bowl of broccoli soup; Hannah had been asking for it for days!

We shopped just a bit more and then jumped on the train and headed home to see our boys.  Hannah was exhausted and slept in my arms much of the way home.

It was so great to have so much one-on-one girl time.  I caught a glimpse of her baby years when she slept in my arms on the way home on the train.  But I also caught a glimpse of our future, going shopping and out to eat and just having girl fun. 

I love my birthday girl!!!