build-a-bear firsts

so today we took the boys to the haywood mall to get their picture taken with santa. evan was super excited while standing in line to see santa. he kept yelling santa's name. unfortantly, that was short lived. no, he didn't cry like last year. he just sat there in santa's lap facing forward. he didn't even look at him. i think he was scared or embarrassed to turn around. after all these crazy adults were calling his name, ringing jiggle bells, and taking photos. who really blames him. joel was not fazed one bit by meeting santa for the first time. he looked at us and smiled for the photos, but then he's look over at santa. he was like, who's this guy in the red suit? as soon as we were done meeting santa we felt a sense of relief and accomplishment. another thing marked off of the holiday checklist. next, is driving through the roper mountain lights display.
while we were at the mall we finally got to take the boys to the build-a-bear workshop. from the time when we first found out we were pregnant with evan we've wanted to make a bear. we had some much fun making a panda bear for evan and a tiger for joel. evan picked out the panda bear. they both watched the bears get filled with stuffing with amazement and wonder. joel lit up when we showed him his tiger, and evan now has a new favorite bear. he wanted to bring him into the bath with him tonight. he even put a diaper on it. i did allow the panda bear to join us for dinner at the table. needless to say, we all had a great time making them.