New Year's Eve shopping

The boys' Christmas money was burning a hole in their pockets, so shopping we went! Almost as soon as Evan realized that he had Christmas money he declared that he wanted to spend it at Build-A-Bear Workshop, and Joel quickly agreed. We discussed different toy options, value vs. cost, etc., and the boys remained determined on BABW. I took them to Target first, just to make sure, but they were in Target begging to go to BABW. Off we went, and then the fun really began!

We had looked at stuff online so that the store would not be so daunting when we got there. It didn't work. Online Evan saw a snowboard that he wanted. Since he already has 2 animals from this store, I thought a snowboard was a great choice. He plays a snowboarding game on the Wii, and his "buddies" could play, too. They had one snowboard left (the display), but Evan decided that he wanted a bear instead. Again, he already has 2 animals from this store, so I tried to steer him away from another one. After trying to persuade, cajole, etc, and Evan almost dissolving into tears I relented and let him pick an animal. That was not quite as trying. He wanted to buy 2 things on this day, so we found the cheapest shirt and don't you know it looked great on his new bear!

Evan and his new bear, "Christmas"

So, one down, one to go. Joel found a pink monkey with pink hearts complete with eyelashes that he had his heart set on. I really thought Steve would flip about this since he wasn't too excited about the whole trip to BABW anyway. They had a really cute brown monkey that I tried to talk him into, but he wouldn't budge. Before the trip he had mentioned getting a stroller, so I tried to talk him into that, too. Again, no luck. Thankfully a good friend joined us about that time, and she was able to sway Joel to the merits of a brown monkey. He is happy with his "baby", but he still sometimes talks about the pink mommy monkey. He wanted to name his monkey "Build-a-Bear Workshop". We tried to tell him that wouldn't fit on the birth certificate. Jenn suggested "George", Joel agreed, and that got printed on the certificate. Since then Joel has changed his mind and calls the monkey "Build-a-Bear Workshop" (Just in case you were wondering, Joel's monkey was more than Evan's bear and that's why he only got one thing. Plus, he doesn't like for his animals to wear clothes. He still hasn't touched his bunny since Santa dressed it like a toy soldier.)

Joel rubbing the monkey's heart on his head so it will know how much he loves it. He also wanted to help stitch the monkey up.

Thanks, Jenn, for your persuasive powers and for taking these pictures with your new camera!

BTW, when I told Steve the saga of the pink monkey he said, "Why didn't you let him have a pink monkey?" Aaarrrghhh!