Build-A-Bear & Toys For Tots

Today, Tristan and Savannah went to Jennings to help deliver toys with the Toys For Tots organization.  

The youth spent the month collecting toys at church.  

The Marines invited them to come be elves and help the kids get their gifts.

For Christmas, Savannah got the little boys gift cards to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  The nearest one is in Lafayette and we had planned to take the boys the week after Christmas to cash in their gift cards.  

After the youth activity was announced, we decided to take the kids on into Lafayette while we waited for the big kids to be done.

Ethan had been to Build-A-Bear before, but the little boys were there for the first time and did not really know what to expect.  Jackson had said that he wanted a monkey and Holden had an elephant in mind. 

But when Jackson saw the tiger, he immediately wanted to make a Daniel Tiger.

Holden and Ethan chose the exact same Brown Lab dog to make. 

Here they are doing the "Heart Ceremony."

They rubbed the hearts to make them warm, kissed them to make their animal loving, jumped to make them playful, and rubbed them on their muscles to make them strong and brave. 

Holden decided to name his brown dog Sassy, like his pup at home.

Jackson stuffing Daniel.

Ethan working on stuffing his dog.  He did not know what to name it.  

We had to borrow the Book of Names.  

Daddy helping Holden and Jackson brush and fluff their animals.

After that, we picked out a few clothing items for their dogs.  Daniel got a red sweater and pair of tennis shoes, just like he looks on the show.  Sassy got a hooded shirt to wear.  

We are a little confused with the name Holden picked.  

He keeps talking about Sassy and we think he is talking about the real dog in the back yard.  

We have to clarify. 

Ethan decided to name his dog Max and picked out a hooded shirt and an orange neckerchief.

We had fun and the kids are loving their animals.  We shopped a little bit more in the mall, ate at Chick-Fil-A and went to Target before heading home.

The big kids had a great day too.  They went to the armory in Jennings where the toys were all layed out on tables.  They walked around with the kids who were there to get toys for Christmas and showed them all the toys that they could choose from.  There was a black trash bag that already had three toys in it that their parents had picked out earlier and the kids got to choose one they liked to be added to the bag and taken home to be wrapped for Christmas morning.  After that they all went to McDonald's for lunch.