American Girl started in 1986 with a line of historical character dolls, all hailing from different races and nationalities. Each 'girl' was nine-years-old and lived in a different era of American history. They were 18" dolls that came with a storybook (and, later, a line of storybooks) telling stories about our country's history and that girl's place in it. The dolls were such a big hit (despite their outrageous price tag at over $100 per doll), that in 1995 the company expanded their doll collection and included accessories. Mattel bought the company in 1998.
I admit, I was a bit skeptical of these dolls for several reasons, one being their pricetag was so high, but after Lucy got Julie, a girl growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s with divorced hippie parents, I changed my mind. We have now read all seven books in Julie's collection and I like reading them with Lucy. The books share some of the history of the time period and got Lucy interested in what was happening then, so much so that we ended up researching more about political movements and women's rights. Also, the 'girls' often overcome some sort of adversity in a positive way, which is always a good lesson for our daughters to hear.
Alice recently got a Bitty Baby, American Girl's line of baby dolls for 3-6 year olds. While cute, they aren't really that interesting, as they don't come with a name or a specific story. I didn't purchase either of these dolls or their expensive accompanying accessories (Grandma did). The dolls are standard 18" dolls, though, so you can easily find less expensive clothing at thrift stores, craft fairs, and places like Target. We've made some fun 'bedrooms' for the dolls with stuff we already have, and I made a great haul of 1970s bellbottoms and praire-style dresses for Julie at an antique shop in Idaho Falls recently. The accompanying American Girl books and movies are all available at our local library and are pretty well done, in my opinion. It's been fun to explore American history with Lucy this way, through dolls and play, something she can relate to.
We (okay, rather, my mom) painted it red, green and white using leftover house paint she had in the garage. I bought a used faucet at 
I happened to find plain blue t-shirts for them at the dollar store and ironed on letters I had in my crafty stash to spell out their names. I also found these funky blue paper hats at the dollar store, hot glued some blue silk flowers on and cut out their birthday numbers with some old Contac paper I had. We made our invitations out of paper cutouts of blue balloons tied with blue string and invited our guests to share in the celebration by wearing the color du jour.
I've been a fan of 
It's a visit to the doughnut shop, however, that is the real treat. I'm thrilled that we have one here near Boise, even though it's 
We always keep a stash of whole wheat or white pitas in the freezer, along with a jar of bottled pizza sauce. I take them out as needed; I broil the pitas a bit after rubbing them with olive oil and sprinkling with a bit of kosher salt to crisp them up. I usually take the sauce out of the freezer ahead of time to defrost on the counter or, if I forget, just put it in the microwave for a minute or so. After toasting the pitas, spread on some sauce and whatever toppings we can find in the fridge, pantry or leftover. The individual sizes are perfect for kids and my girls love 'decorating' their own pizzas. They love pepperoni, so I buy large bags of the lower fat turkey pepperoni. I often add fresh veggies to mine and feta if we have it. Leftover taco fillings with salsa as the sauce instead of tomato make great Mexican pizzas, as do fresh tomato slices and basil from the garden during the summer. Toss the toppings on and pop them in the oven. I often broil mine for just a few minutes if I'm in a hurry and, if not, bake on 350 degrees for about ten minutes. And I usually use a cookie sheet to bake our mini pizzas on, not a muffin tin, but it was already out on the counter and I was being lazy.
