4/30/13: Alexander Doll Company Celebrates Their 90th Anniversary

The Alexander Doll Company celebrated their 90th Anniversary today and I was invited to their celebration in New York.  Unfortunately I could not attend but I wanted to share the news with you.  Look at this beautiful Madame Alexander-1923 which is Cissy as Madame Alexander, dressed as she would’ve been in 1923 when she began the company.  And as she is the Madame, renowned doll maker, she comes with two very sweet little cloth dolls.  It is amazing the detail on these dolls.

Love is in the Details. This was the mantra of Madame Beatrice Alexander when she began her doll business in 1923.  The company has grown to include collectibles, play and baby dolls for girls of all ages! For this 90th Anniversary, the Collectible category takes on special significance with an assortment of six unique dolls.  Here is Cissette Celebrates Madame’s 90^th Anniversary who has blue eyes and upswept, curly red hair.

Here is Wendy™ with a Tony Sarg inspired marionette theater.  How beautiful this doll is.

This one is my favorite, it is Wend dressed to the nines to commemorate the anniversary. Of course, each doll arrives beautifully boxed with a commemorative hang tag and Certificate of Authenticity. 

Maggie With Funny is super cute too.  Maggie With Funny are ready for…what else…some fun! 

McGuffey Ana is a pretty little miss.

Madame Alexander continues the celebration with dolls marking the 75th Anniversary of two iconic movies, The Wizard of Oz™ and Gone With the Wind™, which were among the company's first and longest continuous licenses. There are three ”must-have” doll sets for any Wizard of O collector and here is the Glinda the Good Witch.

 And Dorothy with three poppy dolls!  Aren't these beautiful?

For Gone With the Wind's™ 75th Anniversary, the company has created a breathtaking 21” Scarlett O’Hara™ resplendent in her white ruffled Prayer Dress. 

How excited would your daughter be if she got this for her Dance Recital.

They also have cool characters from Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, and Angelina Ballerina and so much more.  This is just a sampling of their beautiful dolls.

Plus I just have to mention some Disney Princesses too!

Here is a collectible Cinderella.

 Plus some washable dolls for little ones.  This is just a sampling.  You can check out all of their dolls on their website.

Alexander Doll Company was founded in 1923 by Beatrice Alexander, designs, manufactures and sells a wide range of dolls - collectible, fashion, baby and play, as well as related accessories. In addition to their own brands, Madame Alexander™ and Middleton Doll Newborn Nursey™, the company holds numerous licenses including, but not limited to Disney®, Wizard of Oz™, Gone with the Wind™, Fancy Nancy™, Pinkalicious™, Angelina Ballerina™, Eloise™, Pan Am and American Ballet Theatre™. 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Alexanderdolls

Disclosure:  No compensation was received for this post.  All opinions are my own.

4/28/13: Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Gift Pack Giveaway

CONTEST CLOSED: CONGRATULATIONS SUE FOR WINNING!

We love eating Pizza in our house.  With Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust with Whole Grain it is even easier to make and healthier.  Read on how you can win all the goodies pictured here.

Instead of ordering takeout pizza make your own at home with Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust with Whole Grain.  I know my kids love making their own pizza and putting their own toppings on and using Artisan Pizza Crust from Pillsbury it couldn't be easier.  Even better is that your family is getting 16 grams of whole grain per serving. 

There are so many flavors you can make.

Plus if you win this package you get:

A VIP coupon for one FREE Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust with Whole Grain

15.5" Farberware Pizza Pan 

Food Chopper with Storage Containers 

Silicon-grip Oven Mitt 

Retail Value: $64

So get baking your own pizza and dream up as many cool recipes as you can.

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below to win the prize pack for yourself.

Disclosure: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills and Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark. No other compensation has been received and all opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4/27/13: Adora Handmade Baby Doll Giveaway

CONTEST CLOSED:  CONGRATULATIONS DEBBIE C. FOR WINNING!
Lauren loves playing with dolls.  She was thrilled when we received an Adora GiggleTime Baby Doll.  Plus I am giving you a chance to win an Adora Baby Doll of your own.  Read on to win.

These dolls are 16 inches from head to toe and have their own baby carrier. All their dolls are handmade, smell like baby powder and have Gentle Touch™ vinyl. Their  bean bag weighted bottom gives them a life-like feel.  We have a lot of dolls in our house and you can tell the difference in quality of these dolls compared to others.  They truly are beautiful.

Look at how cute she is with her little carrier.  Plus the pacifier is magnetic to attach to her mouth.  Lauren really enjoys this feature.

All of the features are amazing on these dolls all the way down to their little nails on their fingers and toes.  Plus they are fully machine washable.  Put her in a pillowcase and wash her in the washing machine on the gentle cycle.  I absolutely love that.

Lauren has been taking her baby with her everywhere.  In fact one time I called her a doll and she said, no she is my baby and her name is Charlotte.

Here is Lauren making sure her baby Charlotte has her pacifier.

They had fun dancing together.

She loves her so much and puts her to sleep and feeds her.

Lauren giving Charlotte some love.  So adorable.  She never leaves her baby doll's side.  She also now tells me that she wants all the Adora Dolls as she loves this one so much.

Enter to win an Adora Baby Doll in the Rafflecopter below and enjoy one of your very own.

Disclosure:  I received an Adora Baby Doll for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4/27/13: 1st Day of Soccer

We were in California for the actual first game of soccer, so today was our first day.  It is Lauren's first time playing ever and she did awesome.

 She is on the Mini Crushers with two of her classmates so she was very excited to play with them.

Here is a great action shot of her (Number 10) during the game.

 Here she is during practice.

  She did really well.  I guess watching her brother all these years helped.

She was really going after the ball.

 

Starting off a game.

Great job #10.

 

Here is Evan playing goal.

 Luckily they both played at the same time.  He is on DC United.

 Slapping hands after the game.

 Hugs for her BFF.

 Aren't they cute?

 Great job girls!

4/26/13: The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA - Absolutely Amazing!

We were extremely lucky to be able to tour and stay over aboard the Queen Mary.  My son has been reading every book he can find about the Titanic recently and loves watching the movie and learning about it so he was really looking forward to going aboard a real ship.

 There are several tours that you can take while aboard the ship.  We took the Glory Days Tour, The Ghosts and Legends tour, the Submarine Tour, a Self-Guided Tour, plus explored the Princess Diana exhibit.  All the tours are listed on their website and packages of tours are available.  Adding to the fact that we stayed over on the ship and ate dinner and breakfast there it was a wonderful experience for all of us.

 Even my husband was in awe of the ship and absolutely loved walking around it.  Did you know that The Queen Mary is much larger than the Titanic?  We learned this on the tour along with some very cool facts about how it used to be on the ship.

 It is so beautiful and you can pretty much walk wherever you want on the boat and check everything out.

Here are the kids taking control of the ship.  Luckily it doesn't move.

So cool!

Amazing!

 Here is a beautiful view of the city from the ship.

We were given a Family Suite to stay in and I must say it was the best hotel room we had out of our whole trip.  We had a King sized bed in one room.  More information is here on staying aboard.

 Plus the kids had a separate room with two twin beds with a door between.  Plus our own private bathroom with shower and tub, and another sink in the kids room.

 Also the view from the port hole was really beautiful.

First we headed to the Princess Diana exhibit.  I was lucky to have a Press Pass so I was allowed to take pictures and give you a sneak peek.  There were beautiful photos of the Princess plus a lot of memorabilia about her life.

We particularly enjoyed looking at all of her beautiful dresses.

Lauren and Evan checking out her vanity.

My favorite items were the personal Christmas cards from the family.  I loved seeing these.

So many beautiful items to look at.

 Dolls showing some of her fashions. 

 Lauren on the telephone listening to a message that was left for Princess Diana.

 Beautiful picture from her wedding.

Her Tiara. 

 Love this birth announcement!

Then we headed back on the ship to take the self guided tour and see as much as we could see before the guided tours.

 So beautiful.

You can go down to the engine room which Evan enjoyed. 

You can even see the propeller lit up.

Here are the beautiful decks. There is one main deck with shops and restaurants.

The hallways.

Here is the Banquet Hall. 

The original bell. 

A view of the Gazebo and deck at night.  You can also have your wedding on board the Queen Mary.  How cool is that? 

 A view of the city at night from the ship.

They have a lot of Ghost Tours on the ship that are cool to check out.  We went on one which the kids made it half way through but then got too scared.  We did get to see the pool at least, and with some special effects there was so fog in the pool after.

 

Here are the kids outside one of the stores with one of the big cute bears.

 This is one of the restaurants we ate at.  It is called the Promenade Cafe and the food was really good.  We ate there for dinner and for breakfast in the morning which was a buffet.

 Here is a view from the restaurant.

 We also took the self guided tour of the Russian Scorpion Submarine.  It takes about a half hour to walk through and there are recordings going on in each area.  I still can't believe 75 people lived on this submarine!

So cool. 

The kids thought this was really cool.

Here is a beautiful view of the submarine from the Queen Mary. 

 Lauren checking everything out.

 Tight squeeze to make it through the compartments.

Can you imagine living on here? 

Lauren checking out what is going on up on the land. 

What an amazing visit! 

 It is an absolutely amazing experience being on the ship and I know my family loved it and so will yours!

 

 Find them online here:  http://www.queenmary.com/
They have a Mother's Day Brunch coming up that you can check out: http://www.queenmary.com/dining/mothers-day-brunch.php

Like them on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thequeen.mary

Follow them on Twitter:  @TheQueenMary

Disclosure:  I was provided free tours on the Queen Mary in addition to a media rate for our room.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.