Photo Friday 2012 ~ 42 ~

Fall is in full swing around here.  The leaves are gorgeous!  There is this beautiful orange tree in our next door neighbor's front yard that I just love.  The only thing that makes me sad is that it keeps getting dark so early and I know that winter is just around the corner.  And we are about to make it darker even earlier when we switch the clocks in a couple weeks.  Ugh...I am not looking forward to it being dark before we even eat dinner.  Enough of my negativity.  I need to snap out of it!  On to more pleasant things, my daughter has decided to play with her American Girl doll today which totally makes me happy.  I was totally into my dolls when I was a kid.  I had this doll named Ellie (I like to think of my niece as being named after her) :) who I loved.  She was like my daughter.  I even called my mom grandma because she was Ellie's grandma.  Ironic now that she really is grandma to an Ellie!  And my brother used to steal my doll all the time and fly her around the house calling her "SUPER ELLIE!!" and making me scream that he was hurting my baby.  A couple weeks ago when I was babysitting his daughter I made her fly on my feet and called her "SUPER ELLIE!" for revenge. :)  Anyway, I always just assumed that my girl would be into dolls as much as I was, but she really isn't.  So whenever she shows an interest in her dolls I really try to encourage it.  I really think there is a lot to be said for little girls playing with dolls and pretending to be mommies.  It's such a timeless activity with real benefit beyond some of the stupid crap that kids play with nowadays.  Since she was so into playing with her doll today I decided to take some pictures.  And since the neighbors orange tree is so pretty we used it as a backdrop!

I love this!!  I think it should be in the American Girl catalog.  :)  

A portrait of my girl and her doll, Ruby.  When she got Ruby she had short hair just like her and I still think they resemble each other even though Ruby has brown eyes.

I love that she wants to dress like her doll and have me do their hair the same.

Ruby joining us for school today.  Yet another perk of homeschooling.  She had her propped up in a chair on a stack of books and I accidentally knocked her off and she 'broke her leg'.  She spent her recess time at the 'hospital' getting a cast put on.  Then we signed it. :)

Taking care of her poor leg.   I love the sweet look she is giving her doll.

Maybe another American Girl doll is in her future?  We'll see...