Build-a-Bear Finale to a Week of Birthday Extravaganza

Marielle had her birthday party at Build-A-Bear two weekends ago. Sorry for the delays. Marc's been slow to download pictures. In traditional Barrios style we arrived a few minutes late. We didn’t stress about it too much though because almost everyone else was running late too and it was Marielle’s party so we figured they couldn’t start with out her.

The Build-A-Bear party was a lot of fun, even in spite of the Build-A-Bear employee who kept checking with us every thirty seconds to see if all the children were there yet. Seriously, do the Build-A-Bear employees get paid by the number of children they push through the store?

Anyway, I thought it was cute to see all the kids pick out their bears and participate in the “building” process. Marielle got a black bear, Alex got a dog that he named Gus, Colin got a black bear, Ethan got a Koala Bear, and Isabelle got a pink bear. After they picked their bears they moved to the stuffing machine where they each got two hearts for the bears. One heart each of the kids kissed, made a wish with, and then gave it to Marielle to put in her bear. So Marielle’s bear has six hearts, which I thought was pretty cool.

The kids’ least favorite part of the process was the stuffing machine. It was loud and I don’t think the kids were impressed that to stuff your bear you had to stab it in the back, arms, legs, and head with a cylinder that pushed stuffing into it.


After stuffing the kids groomed the bears and then got to pick out an outfit. I was sure that Marielle was going to pick out a princess outfit for her bear, but when we asked Marielle what she wanted she said “Spiderman!” I asked her if she wanted the Spiderman pajamas for the bear or the costume, she said she wanted the costume. Marc and I thought it was hilarious that out of all the outfits she had to choose from she picked the Spiderman costume. In hindsight I do find it fitting that she choose a superhero outfit for her bear since he has six hearts. You’ve got to think that someone with six hearts could do some pretty impressive things.


After Build-A-Bear we went to California Pizza Kitchen for some pizza and cupcakes. It was nice to get together with such a great group of parents and kids and just talk over some pizza and cupcakes. Marielle got some pretty fun gifts, puzzles, dress-up outfits, a book, and some games. All in all it was a fun day and we are glad that Marielle had some great people to share it with.


The bear theme was continued over to cupcakes and a cake. Marielle was uber-excited to see Lola on her cake as well.

Like Her Dad, She Can Crash Anywhere

Viv has a follow up birthday post planned, but it's still a day or two out. You all (the Nine) can chew on this though. It happened about two weeks ago...

We had kind of a late night coming back from my Parents house after my Mom watched the girls one day. Combined with little to no nap that day, Marielle was exhausted. When I got her out of the car and stood her up in the garage to head for the door, she staggered sideways and almost ate it into the side of the toolbox. I proceeded to let her into the house, sat Harper inside the door, and went to get the last few things from the car. I came back to find this ...



Yes, that is Marielle using Harper as a pillow and makeshift bed. Harper thought it was hilarious.

Getting Used to Her Crib

Several weeks ago we had to move Harper from the co-sleeper in our bedroom into the crib in Ellie's, and now Ellie and Harper's, room. It was a bit of a sad event mainly because it means that Harper's stint at our bedside was significantly shorter than Marielle's. However, it couldn't be helped because the driving factor was the fact that Harper really didn't fit in the co-sleeper anymore. The two weeks leading up to our decision had been filled with restless nights where we kept finding Harper at odds with her tiny confines; she would spend the night pressing against the co-sleeper's wall with her arms and head. Now that she's in the crib, we've really gotten to see what a roly poly she is, as evidenced by the photos below.



We didn't think it was possible to have a child that could be a more restless sleeper than Marielle. The difference between the two of them and there constant movement, however, is that Marielle does it without waking herself up whereas Harper constantly wakes herself up. At the beginning, when they first started sharing the room, we would go up to settle Harper after she would wake up screaming and you'd find Ellie in her bed, covered with her comforter, and arm waving in the air in that sort of, "no, no, no,..." fashion. It was quite dramatic.

Marielle Turns 3

Marielle turned three this week, and although we have had a fairly low-key celebration thus far, this coming weekend should be a lot of fun with a birthday party and a family get together planned.

We spent the weekend at my parents house and headed over to Alex's birthday party on Sunday. He turned three two days after Marielle. We had a great time and love getting invited to their family gatherings. We opted to spend Sunday night at my parents' house and headed in to work Monday morning from there after giving Marielle a happy birthday wakeup call. She had Happy Birthday sung to her straight away and got to eat cupcakes for breakfast! That evening we had cake and opened presents. A few weeks ago, Vivian asked Marielle what she wanted for her birthday, and she said, "shoes." I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that minutes earlier Vivian had been struggling to get Marielle's foot into the Nikes she got back in October. Needless to say, Marielle did get shoes. In fact, three pairs of shoes. Her Nikes had held up pretty well, so she got a new pair of sneaks as well as sandals from them and she got a new pair of Keens. I'm partial to the Keens because I picked them out (they are BA), but all are cute (note: If Viv had written this post, the Nikes would have a link instead of the Keens). By now you all know that infant/kid shoes are our guilty pleasure despite the fact that they typically get outgrown before getting worn out.

Marielle also got some new puzzles and games, but the gift Viv and I were most excited about was the digital camera we got her. It's pink, it's ruggedized, it's for kids, and it deserves a future post unto itself because watching Ellie stand shooting pictures is the cutest thing ever.



We'll follow up this weekend with a summary of the remaining birthday festivities and I promise that that post won't be merely an account of gifts like this one became.