a blessed Saturday

Pure Happiness

Today Hope received her final birthday present from me... yes, I do realize it is April 6th and the girl turned 4 back in January!  See, I gave Hope a gift certificate on her birthday for Build-A-Bear Workshop, and had every intention of taking her there right away so she could create her gift.  Only... well, intention just doesn't always cut it.  We just never made it over to the nearby town that has the nearest Build-A-Bear store... until today.

So, maybe I'm out of the running for 'Mother of the Year.'  Oh well.  Not in Hope's eyes!  This girl had fun, and it never occurred to her to wonder why it had taken Mommy so long to bring her to make her present.  It was a perfect 'Girl's Day!'  We started at Build-A-Bear, then went out to lunch (where Hope showed off fabulous 'restaurant manners,' a very pleasant lunch companion indeed!), and shopping for bedding for her new big bed!  (Yes, Hope graduated from her toddler bed to a twin bed this week!  Exciting times!)

Anyway, back to Build-A-Bear...  Since this blog is, in fact, mine, I have creative license to now do the shameless Mommy thing and post a bunch of photos of my beautiful daughter having a lovely time making her bear.  What you'll see in the photos is a happy girl, but what you can't see in the photos is just how incredibly polite and well behaved Hope was at the store.  I was so proud of how she acted with the salesperson who was helping her, and especially proud that she required no reminders from me whatsoever.

On to the shameless Mommy's pictures...

Bringing the unstuffed bear over to get stuffed...of course, Hope's choice was a pink princess bear!

The stuffing machine was fascinating...

...and working the foot pedal was so much fun!

The first hug!

Picking a heart to place inside her bear

Here Hope had been instructed to make her biggest wish on the heart that she was getting ready to place inside of her bear, who she named "Punky Bear."

Giving Punky Bear her 'bath'

And, of course, shopping for clothes for Punky Bear.

This time with Hope was just precious to me.  She is a wonderful young girl, and I am completely blessed that I get to call her mine!