BUILD-A-BEAR....or two, or three!

For her birthday, we bought Rachel a Panda bear from the Buid-a-Bear Workshop online store. The Panda was only available online, so we had her help us pick out the clothes she wanted and they sent the bear already stuffed and dressed. She named her bear Alex, after a friend who moved to Texas.

The twins had Build-a-Bears on their wish lists for Christmas, so Tuesday, we packed up the whole clan and sped off to the Mall (well, you don't actually "speed off" when you have ten people to herd) to get them each their own Build-a-Bear. That is quite an experience, if you've never been to one of their stores before. They have stations set up throughout the store for each step of the process. First you pick out which animal you want, then you go to the Stuffed with Love station, where the bear takes shape and they include the sound if you bought one. Also at the stuffing station, before the bear is sewn up closed, they ask the child to pick out a little red heart, rub it between their hands, give it a kiss, and then it can go inside the bear.


Next you go and find the clothes you want, and to the dressing station to put them on. Your next stop is the computer stations where you name your bear and get a birth certificate. Lastly, of course, is where you PAY for it, the most important step of all.

It was a lot of fun and they just LOVE their animals. Rebekah wanted the Hello Kitty and Renee got a white bear. She bought an outfit and just HAD to buy a hat, too. We had a little trouble finding one that matched her outfit, but Renee finally decided on one. Jacob used some of his own money from Christmas to get Sergeant Brown complete in his army outfit.