Lovakin and Bear

Saturday we originally had planned on going to High Falls Water Park, but if you live in GA or really anywhere in the southeast right now, you understand why we didn't make it. So, instead I had some errands to run at the mall and decided to get those done. I took the kids over to Stonecrest where we rode the train, got cookies, and ate Burger King. All of our usual mall treats. But...this time...we did something different! We went to Build-A-Bear! I had been waiting to do this on a special occasion, but I think we all had the blues about the water park being closed, so I thought we'd let the beginning of summer vacation be our special occasion! And, really it wasn't any more expensive than going to the water park.

The boys chose doggies as the animal to "stuff." I had hoped they wouldn't choose duplicates, but lately they do everything the same so that's how it ended up. The dogs are really cute. They put noisemakers in them, too. Thankfully, the worker was smart enough to put them in different paws for each child so we can tell them apart. Here are the boys getting ready to finish stuffing the doggies.
The machine was quite loud and startled them when we first got there. Then, Jackson realized he got to use the foot pedal and was all about it! Preston pushed the foot pedal however and heard the noise and took off running! The worker then found the hand controller for him which for some reason he found hilarious. He would hit it in spurts and giggle in between. It took FOREVER to stuff his dog. I am thinking the lady was ready to strangle us. :)

The finished product like I said was adorable. They remind me of Scrappy from Scooby Doo. Too bad the kids have never even seen Scooby Doo. They placed hearts in them and gave them huge hugs after they stuffed them. If you know Preston, you know he isn't much on stuffed animals. So, I was shocked he even wanted to participate in this. He even hugged it!

While we didn't get all the bells and whistles (I thought if we got clothes and stuff, Daddy would think they were more like dolls and want to kill me...:)), we did print them a birth certificate. If you know me, you know I am really all about letting the kids' projects be their own work. I wanted them to work the computers themselves. Alot of the prompts were like "push the blue triangle" and so forth. Jackson did pretty good considering the letters on the keys were a weird font. Preston on the other hand just as I had expected wanted to rush through it and try out all the keys. :) Trust me, every eye in that place was staring at us. That would mean them and me, the crazy, loud mother working hard to simultaneously take them from step to step together giving them instructions. This part was difficult on my nerves, I will admit. :)

They even got to bathe the doggies before taking them home. This was really cute. Preston scrubbed the doggie hard. Jackson kept saying something about getting all the mud off! :) They are so cute...the dogs and the kids! They each named their dogs. Jackson chose "Lovakin." (don't ask...why?...because I have no idea) Preston chose "Bear." Which I loved because Paul had a dog named Bear when he was little. Then, it was like a lightbulb went off in Preston's head like he suddenly realized he made a dog and not a bear, and he said, "No, I name it Dog." Needless to say I encouraged him to leave it Bear. :)

Whew! It is getting harder to take them out by myself to undertake projects like this. That is the first time I have typed or "said" that out loud. I will finally admit it. I am often in over my head. :) But, it is so worth it! I wouldn't have taken anything for those moments as hectic as they may have been. And, you can tell in the pictures even though they may have been thinking, "Mom's nuts. Wonder why she is so frustrated and stressed?," they had a blast! Even though we had a leaky diaper (thank goodness I had a change of clothes), rain to deal with, a few temper tantrums (theirs and mine :)), and plans for the day gone awry...it was a blessed day. One of the ones I will remember for years to come.


**in case you cannot tell, I walked out without my camera so these were taken with my cell phone...sorry some are blurry :)**