We are still here...

Just to let everyone know that we are still here. We took a pause from picture taking while Sean, Hayley and Trevor were sick. Hayley started with a stuffy nose just after the New Year and then a cough followed. During that time Sean developed a very bad head/chest cold that turned into a nasty sinus infection. Trevor, decided to join the fun and came home from school on Tuesday, January 6 with a stomach ache and the next day complained about a sore throat. It turned out he had Strep Throat. The doctor said that some kids experience what they think is a stomach ache when they start to develop Strep. Go figure. So come the second full week of January and Hayley is getting better and Sean and Trevor were both on antibiotics. I thankfully did not get sick during that time. I heavily increased my vitamin intake and added more Zinc. Today is the 21st and everyone is healthy.

I will post some pictures soon. You probably won't be able to tell from the pictures, but Little Miss Hayley is growing again. None of the 4T or 5T pants she has fit her and a few of the size 5 pants I bought her in September when she turned 4 are now too short. We had to get her some size 6 pants from the girls section this past weekend. She is still skinny as can be, but growing taller each day. She is going to be tall like her daddy.

Build-a-Bear Workshop

For Christmas this year we bought Hayley a gift card to Build-a-Bear Workshop. We thought she would enjoy picking out and dressing her very own animal. However, we did not realize that Trevor would also love the idea. We figured he was too old for it and bought him something else. We went ahead and let him make one as well, but now has a HUGE list of chores he must do in order to keep the animal he made.

Here are the animals the kids picked. Trevor chose the turtle whose shell is a backpack and can come off. Hayley chose a monkey. She has Velcro on her hands and can be hooked around Hayley's neck or hung by the tail on something.

Right before it was Trevor and Hayley's turn the Build-a-Bear worker had to add more fluff to the machine. It was neat see the fluff go through the tube from the other side of the store and into the machine. The kids thought it was cool.

Since it was Hayley's Christmas present from us she got to "build" her monkey first. The worker asked Hayley to help by pushing down the step that adds the fluff to the animal.

Next Hayley had to pick a heart for her monkey, give it a kiss and make a wish. She then placed the heart inside the monkey and the worker sewed the monkey closed.

Her is the "all stuffed" monkey Hayley created.

Trevor also got to push down on the step and help add the fluff to his turtle. He knew the drill as he made a Build-a-Bear animal when he was younger. That is why we didn't think he would want to do another one. Had we known we would have have bought him his own gift card and not bought Bakugan toys.

He was very quick to put the heart in his turtle.
It was so fast that is was funny to Sean and I.

After the turtle and monkey were filled with fluff it was time to bathe them and get any extra fluff off of them. There is a step in between the kids that was pressed makes air come out of the yellow shower head above to help the kids remove the fluff and clean their animals..

Then came the time to choose a name for your animal. Trevor chose to name his turtle Turtwig, which is a turtle from Pokemon. Hayley chose to name her monkey Maria, just because she likes the name. Hayley's first baby doll she ever named was Angie and all the rest since then have been named Alice. She started calling all her dolls Alice in early 2006 when she was about 18 months old and has not stopped naming them that since. It is rather funny because each time she gets a new doll we all ask her what the name is, knowing she is going to say Alice. We even thought her monkey would have that name until she said her name was Maria. Okay. Maria it is.

On to the clothes area where the kids have tons of shirts, pants, skirts, outfits, shoes and accessories to choose from. You could spend a fortune in this area, just like we adults do at the mall, if not careful and restrained. Right when you think you have found the perfect outfit the next one is cuter. And don't get me started on the shoes. There is about 25 different pairs to choose from.

Trevor chose an outfit with a hooded sweatshirt that had turtle riding a bike on it and some jeans. He also got Turtwig some Converse looking shoes and sunglasses. Here he is getting him dressed and ready to go home. He was so excited that he was able to make a Build-a-Bear animal. He was beaming from ear to ear the whole time we were in the store.

Hayley chose a Sleeping Beauty outfit with matching glitter pink heels. Since this was her Christmas gift and Trevor ended up getting his turtle we decided it was only fair for Hayley to get a second outfit for Maria. She picked a pink and white jogging suit with a hoodie and Skecthers for the shoes. I tried to get to her to pick something other than pink since her monkey was pink, but in the end Maria has a pink dress, pink heels, pink/white jogging suit and is a very pink monkey.

The finished product. The kids had so much fun today. The store had so much to chose from and the kids can keep getting new clothes for their animals or make new animal friends. Trevor has already asked if we buy Hayley a gift card again can we get him one too. When he said that I actually felt bad that we didn't think of him the first time.

The store provides a safe place for the animals to ride on the way home.
They also receive a birth certificate for the animal they made.

Here they are leaving the store after having such a fun time and making a friend to take home.