Happy 4th of July! (by Samantha)

Hey, it's Samantha! The Fourth of July is a holiday that all of us AG Gossip dolls look forward to, not just because of the fireworks and food. We have multiple fun traditions we do every fourth of July! Yesterday, we started the day with a patriotic breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and blueberries. Breakfast was swallowed fast because everyone was so excited to start getting ready for the annual stars vs. stripes soccer match! Since Team Stripes lost last year, they have been practicing extra hard (especially Kit!) all summer long. The match was really exciting this year! Rebecca (who does commentary on the game) had to talk so frequently that sometimes she couldn't even finish her sentences! In the end, the score was really close. It was Angela who made an amazing kick at the end of the game from halfway across the field, leading the Stripes team to victory! Congratulations to the Stripes Team!!! After the game we all got dressed out of our soccer uniforms and into some very patriotic outfits of red, white, and blue! Molly had some trouble deciding what color ribbons to wear in her hair. "Red or blue?" she asked everyone. There was a tied vote so she wore both! Next we all gathered to put on the parade. When we got outside, nobody was waiting to watch like they usually do. Oh no! We had forgotten to tell the what time the parade would be! Then Felicity had an idea. She got on her bicycle and rode through the neighborhood ringing a bell. She shouted, "The parade is coming! The parade is coming!" It was a nice tribute to Paul Revere! Our neighbors all came outside with their lawn chairs and lemonade and were ready to see our famous annual parade. We had been planning this for a while now, and luckily it wasn't quite as cheesy as last year! Our neighbors loved the parade. One of our neighbor's dogs loved it so much that he joined the parade by chasing us down the street! We were all thankful when the dog was distracted by a squirrel! We ended the parade with a beautiful chorus of "America the Beautiful", well except for the harmonies on the last note... but I'm not even gonna go there. After the parade we all headed down to the park to see the fireworks show. Carely brought a picnic basket with hot dogs, potato salad and yummy apple pie- and she made it all herself! As the sun set, we anxiously waited for the fireworks to start. It was worth the wait; the fireworks were amazing! Nikki brought her camera and shot some equally amazing pictures of us watching the fireworks! What a great way to end a great fourth of July. Also, remember to log on tomorrow for Chat with the Dolls so you can talk to some of the AG Gossip dolls! Happy 4th everyone!

Happy Chinese New Year! (by Julie)

Gung Hay Fat Choy! That means "Happy New Year" in Chinese. All of us dolls here at AG Gossip have decided to learn more about this unique holiday. After researching, we discovered some ways how to celebrate Chinese New Year. People hang wishes written in Chinese on red paper in their homes, write spring couplets, have extravagant parades, and eat large feasts with their families. We all tried to wear a piece of red clothing because the color red is good luck. I didn't have anything red, so I wore pink instead! Hey, that rhymes! Speaking of rhymes, the first thing we did was writing couplets. Couplets are short poems. Here is mine. "Chinese New Year shed your light, bring forth a holiday that's joyful and bright" I was so proud of myself! But, I wasn't the only one who was proud of their poem! Kit up and read hers out loud, "Fortune cookies, so many to pick...I ate too many and now I am sick!" We all laughed. Our next activity was making banners. Chrissa got out some red construction paper and Jessica printed out some Chinese calligraphy and we made banners saying wishes like "happiness" or "friendship". Then we hung them up all over the house. We even found some Chinese lanterns to help brighten the walls! After transforming our house for Chinese New Year we were starved! Luckily, Felicity walked in carrying Chinese takeout for us. She said it was almost impossible to find a Chinese restaurant that was open on Chinese New Year! We had a delicious feast. Of course we had fortune cookies for dessert! Everyone was careful not to eat too many, after hearing Kit's lovely poem. This is what my fortune cookie said, "Take time to acknowledge the achievements of others, you will find satisfaction." Sounds like we need to post the results of our hair do contest. Don't worry, the results will be posted soon! We finished of the day by parading around the house, doing our best dragon dance! We wish you lots of good luck in the new year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

a Fun Fourth of July! (By Angela)

Yesterday was such a fun day! When we woke up, we played our annual soccer match. Team stars against team stripes. Kit accidentally kicked the ball in the wrong goal twice so, team stars won. Next, we put on a parade that was probably the worst parade in the world, but we all had fun. In the first row, were all three chefs singing a cheesy song that went like this:

"Cooking up some food, cooking up some food, I'm in a very patriotic mood!"

To make it worse, they were all holding star spangled spatulas! Next in line, was Marisol and I doing a really cheesy baton twirling act. Then came Felicity riding a fake horse waving a flag. (By the way she was dressed like  Martha Washington) Then came Jessica and Chrissa wearing an american flag bathing suit with floaties on her arms, singing the national anthem. They made a big speech about some boring swimmer being a star american. Then came Kit. No exclamation necessary. Then came Kirsten trying to fly a kite, but there was no wind that day, and you can imagine how things went. Next was Julie. She was wearing a bunch of shiny flashy "bling-bling" bracelets. After that came Josefina dressed as an immigrant walking into the americas. She sang "grand old flag" in a very thick accent, and (it sounded horrible!) Nikki dressed as a traditional american cowgirl, except one flaw: She was riding an electronic bull! Rebecca tried to put on a small scene except there was ten people in it, and she had to play all ten. At the end, everyone attempted to sing america the beautiful, only we couldn't get the harmonies right. If you thought that sounded kinda bad, think again. Everyone in our neighborhood sat out on lawn chairs waiting for us to come by with our famous annual parade. After that, it was starting to get dark. We took a group photo and headed out for the fireworks show! Yesterday was fun!