Make-a-Friend

For their Valentine's gift this year, Owen and Olivia both received new stuffed animals. These animals are super special because the kids picked them out and "built" the animals themselves. The fun started this afternoon when the kids and I loaded up and went to Make-a-Friend. Make-a-Friend is one of those places where kids can pick a bear (or other type of animal), stuff it, dress it, and take it home. It's kind of like the Build-a-Bear chain of stores. Olivia had a blast. The sales lady even commented that she was surprised by how "into" it Olivia was. Owen, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less. He was more interested in running around the store and checking out all of the stuffed animals on display than creating his own animal. It worked out, though, because Olivia was happy to do double-duty and make sure that Owen's animal got made.

Step one in the process of building the bear was actually choosing the bear. Owen's decision was easy. He saw a penguin right away and pointed to it, so that is what he ended up with. Olivia kept trying to choose the display animals that were already stuffed and dressed. She didn't understand why I was directing her to the flat, unclothed animals. Once it finally clicked that she was going to "build" it, she chose a blue bear (because blue is her favorite color). Step two in the bear-building process was choosing a heart to go inside. Olivia picked a blue heart for hers, but Owen opted for a white angel instead. The next step was stuffing the bear. The kids got to help by stepping on a pedal that made the stuffing come out. Olivia had to step on the pedal for both her and Owen's animals because Owen wouldn't keep his foot on it for any length of time. Owen did manage, however, to find the red button that turned the stuffing machine off and on and he kept trying to hit it. You can actually see him going for the button in this picture.

After stuffing the bear and penguin, it was time to groom them. In order to do this, the animals were taken to a grooming area where there were little brushes and yellow pipes that blew out air. Olivia really got into this part, and the blue bear was well groomed. The neglected penguin, unfortunately, never made it to this station.

After grooming, it was time to choose an outfit for the animals. Olivia chose a pink princess outfit- complete with hat and wand- for her bear. Owen chose a soccer outfit because it came with a little soccer ball and he wanted to play with the ball. While Olivia helped the sales lady dress both animals, Owen threw the little ball around the store. At least this kept him occupied. Once the animals were dressed, it was time to name them. Olivia named her bear "Bluebear" and Owen's penguin was named "Penguin". I know, real original, right?

The kids received birth certificates for their animals, and then it was time to go.

And so, let me present Owen with his new animal, "Penguin" the soccer-playing penguin (and Owen is still more interested in the little soccer ball)

Here is Olivia with "Bluebear" the princess blue bear. Olivia loves the bear and is already talking about going back to Make-a-Friend so that she can groom Bluebear some more.
I think that this will be a Valentine's experience that she will remember. (Owen-not so much).