Restoring my old American Girl doll, "Molly"

I've been holding onto my old American Girl doll, Molly, for a few years in hopes of getting it restored and giving it to Molly at some point. I decided this was the year and thought she was old enough to be excited about it. I was originally planning to send it in to the American Girl company, but after doing a little research online and watching a few tutorials, decided to try to take a stab at it myself. 

Her hair was in pretty rough shape and she really needed a good cleaning.

First I cleaned her all up with a magic eraser, and it really was magic. I can't believe how much dirt came off of her and how easily it cleaned her right up.

Next, we tackled her hair. The tutorial I watched had you wash and condition the doll's hair with regular shampoo and conditioner. Then you saturate the doll hair with fabric softener, brush it out, and let it sit for 24 hours before rinsing it out. 

I could not believe the transformation! It was incredible. It was one of the most satisfying things I think I have ever done. I gave the doll a quick little trim to even her hair back out and voila!

She turned out so cute and even better than I had hoped. With Molly's birthday being near Easter, I had just made her Easter dress. I decided to make a matching dress for her new doll with the extra fabric. It was surprisingly sort of hard trying to make it so small! Thankfully, it worked out and it was a fun little surprise for her.

We gave Molly the wooden dresser that was also mine as a child, and my neighbor gave me the wooden four-poster bed a few years ago that happened to match perfectly! I used an old set of Molly's sheets to make bedding and a pillow for the bed. I still had almost all of the doll's original clothing also. 

This was such a fun little project to work on and I am so happy to see how much she loves it. As I write this several months after her birthday, she still plays with the doll all the time. We enjoy going to the store and picking out a new outfit every once in awhile. Such a fun thing to share with my girl!

Molly turns 5!

We were very excited to be able to throw Molly a birthday party this year after a weird previous year where everyone was social distancing due to Covid-19. Last year we surprised she and Bode with a bounce house in the back yard to try to make their birthdays a little more special. She loved it so much we decided to do it again this year for her party! We were lucky and had great weather.

 

Molly and I laying in the bounce house together after the party. I remember thinking how tired I was and just wanted to take a nap in the bounce house. haha

After her party, she chose Tucanos for dinner with the fam before heading home for cake and presents.

Molly loves Hello Kitty, and even more so after visiting the Hello Kitty store at Universal Studios in Orlando on our trip. She decided she wanted a Hello Kitty cake and after some googling, here's what I came up with. It was simple, and she loved it! 

She got lots of nice presents, but the biggest surprise and her favorite (and mine) was my old American Girl doll, Molly, that I restored for her! I cleaned her up and fixed her hair after watching some tutorials online. She turned out so great! We bought her a few new outfits, and I even sewed her a little dress that matches Molly's Easter dress. 

The other big present Molly was really excited about was her new "big girl bed." She'd been using her crib that converted to a toddler bed, but was getting so tall her feet nearly touched the end. We ordered her a cute new daybed and she loves it! 

Last night in her toddler bed:

Big girl bed!

A few pictures I took to mark Molly's 5th birthday

And Molly's 5-year questionnaire.

I love this girl so much.

Molly's Easter dress

My tradition of making Molly a new Easter dress continued this year and I really, really love this one. I saw a dress online made out of this fabric and searched and searched to find it. I ordered some fabric it in hopes it was the same, and when it arrived I was so excited because it was! It's the perfect peachy/pink and so beautiful. I always let Molly help guide the decision making. She chose the type of sleeves she wanted and decided she liked the sash tied in front more than in back-- and I have to agree with her! She's so fun and I love this little tradition we have together. This was my first experience with having to match up buffalo check and doing fabric-covered buttons. I also really love the bunny fabric lining. She looks darling in this dress!

Can't forget these handsome boys wearing their matching bowties!