My sweet niece turned 9 recently (9!!! It has gone so fast! I remember the day she was born . . . ). This year I gave her a gift certificate for a date with Aunt Jenn and Cousin Kaity. I gave her three choices. A trip to Dairy Queen then shopping at Justice, -or- a round of miniature golf and then out to lunch, -or- a trip to Starbuck’s then shopping at Barne’s and Noble to buy an American Girl crafting or cooking book then on to Aunt Jenn’s to make something from the book(s) she chooses. After a lot of mind-changing, we finally wound up at Barne’s and Noble and made a quick stop at Justice. We came back to our house and set to work. The book she bought was an American Girl Doll Party Book (sorry, I do not know the exact title). The girls got busy decorating the house while I attended to some things. They also prepared a dog show. I attended the show and took pictures. They were fancied up in dresses (we are talking bridesmaid and Easter fanciness here) although Kaity did wear a cowboy hat with her dress. It was then requested that I do a photo shoot of the girls and their dogs. Afterwords, we prepared some American Girl Doll miniature food.

“Here are the dog trainers posing with their dogs. Cailey and Azula are on the left. Kaity and Daisy are on the right.”“My daughter looks far too grown up in this photo.”“American Girl doll donuts. Cheerios with melted chocolate chips for frosting and sprinkles!!!”“I did this, not the girls. I spilled nearly an entire container of these teeny-tiny-bouncy-roll-everywhere-sprinkles. It made for interesting clean up!”“Posing with some of the decorations that came with the kit. Kait is wearing a shirt they picked out at Justice. Cailey has a matching one.”“The girls were making cinnamon toast rolls for breakfast.”“Miniature cinnamon toast rolls.”

These are fun and easy. By trimming a slice of white bread then rolling flat with a rolling pin, you have a beautiful platform for butter and cinnamon and sugar! Roll them up tight then slice. Spread them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and pop into an oven. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes and viola! The brad does develop a little toast like consistency but they are still tatsey little treats. Plus, we drizzled them with homemade icing made from a little butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.

I love my darling niece. She is exuberant, has a healthy curiosity, laughs easily, is extremely bright, fun loving, beautiful. She loves God and I am desperate to see that relationship deepen and strengthen.

“My beautiful niece, Caileanne.”