Meet Eucalypptus...Part 1

Hi Everyone!
This adorable little girl is "Eucalypptus." She is a very special member of our family. It's really amazing she was ever created at all. You see, Eucalypptus was a Christmas gift to me from my 5 children. She is one special bear!

Actually, the real gift would have been a video of the whole shopping process. I can just see my crew (24 yod, 21 yod, 18 yos, 9 yos, 6 yod, 20 yobf, and 2 yogs) bearing down on Build-A-Bear store at the mall. Or, rather, the VERY LONG line at Build-A-Bear (this was Christmas time, after all).

Once inside the store, the first decision was choosing which animal. I understand that Elisa and Darrell chose the koala. They didn't have too much trouble with this as they know I really like koala bears (which the store sells) and giraffes (which the store doesn't sell).

Abbey feels she is a "veteran" of Build-A-Bear creations and she's going to make sure they get it right. She's a take control kind of kid so I have no doubt she was keeping everyone in line.

The next stop was the "sound station" where for a $5 fee you choose a sound for your bear to make. Christopher wanted the bear to "roar." Abbey would ask Christopher to play the different sounds so she could hear what they were - the only problem was that every time she asked for one, he would hit the "Happy Birthday" sound instead - over and over again. Somehow she decided on the "I Love You" sound but nobody else in the group wanted it. My oldest girls asked to hear the heartbeat sound. They liked it but didn't think it would be heard once inside the bear. They briefly dicussed recording a custom sound - but didn't think they could get all their names, much less a personalized message, recorded in the alotted time. That plus is would add yet another $5 to the cost. In frustration they gave up on adding a sound chip to the bear.

Next is the "pick a heart" and "stuffing" area - I'm proud to say Shannon and Abbey chose a red and white gingham heart for my Eucalypptus. At the time of stuffing Abbey was the one chosen to do "the dance." She danced, kissed the heart, the heart was put in the bear and then the stuffing. It was about this time that Elisa said the bear's name should be Eucalypptus. Abbey didn't like that- she wanted it named "Mommy." I've seen Elisa act threatening and I know she had to be running out of patience, so it makes perfect sense to me that I now have my "Eucalypptus."

Stay tuned tomorrow for the next episode of "Meet Eucalypptus" - We'll start out at the Fluffing station!

Until then...