BUILD-A-BEAR! FINALLY!

One of the biggest rites of passage is being potty trained and in our house, when you're completely there, Grammie takes you to Build a Bear! So after months of Griffin being so very close, he finally made it all the way, including staying dry at night and going potty in public places! Hooray! So, off we went for the big event! Collin pondered over which bear to get when he had a choice. Griffin was just the opposite. He walked in, picked one up and said this is it. I barely had a chance to get my camera out!

Then it was time to wait in line with Grammie!

So sweet and patient...

...and shy!

Griffin would barely speak! I'm not sure if he was so excited he was at a loss for words or if he was so shy he just refused to make eye contact with anyone!

Hmmm... he was definitely pondering something here!

Picking out the heart,

then a little rub,

and a little kiss,

then in it goes.

Finally!! Griff had his own bear!

You can almost see a smile in this one!

Then as he ran past me, I almost caught that smile again!

He was ready to bathe his new friend!

Then it was time to pick out some clothes. Collin was begging for the Dolphin football set.
Shelby was trying to persuade Griff to go with Batman instead...
and G.G. thought he needed some big boy underwear!

Griffin was set on the baseball uniform, complete with glove and ball! (And of course was bummed that they had no more Seminole jerseys! I guess those Noles are too popular!) G.G. treated him to the Dolphins uniform as well (you know Collin was happy about that!) ...

...which was great because when it was time for a name, Griffin selected "Dolphin Bear!"

Introducing the newest member of our family, Dolphin Bear, with Big Boy Griffin and Super Awesome Grammie!
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Soon after the Build a Bear ordeal, we went to Macy's. Eden had made it through the entire time sitting patiently in the stroller, but was having one of those "if you don't put me down on the floor to move, I am going to go nuts" moments, so I got her out for a few seconds and she instantly made a friend. He guided her over to the window to take a look outside- seeing as how I had my camera, I quickly pulled it out to snap this precious little moment! Oh, did I happen to mention it was a boy...and he was 2!!! Yikes!

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Then on the way home from our mall excursion the rain let up some and an amazing double rainbow appeared. Imagine that I was sitting in the middle row of seats in the mini van, squished between 2 car seats taking this! Makes you appreciate the rainbow picture even more! :-) It was so neat to hear our kids talking about the promise of the rainbow and to be able to see it in such a clear and vibrant way! God is so good!