i need help

I seriously need an intervention here. I know it has only been a couple of days since Clara's birthday party but I am totally addicted to the little Webkinz she got. I had never heard of them before she got them from a friend on Saturday. They looked like regular stuffed animals but they had a tag with a webcode on it.... you go to their website, log-in, name your pet, get your adoption certificate and then the fun begins. Your little webkinz have a life of their own online... they have a room, which you get to furnish, they need to be fed, bathed and put to bed. You have dollars to spend to buy the things you need... which you then have to replentish (quite often if you have a child you *must* have the funky flower toliet for 350 in kinzcash). To replentish your money, you can play trivia games, go to the arcade or find a job for your Webkinz. Totally, totally, totally addictive. So far we have bought beds for Uni and Piggy (which are, you guessed it, a unicorn and a pig), toys for their playroom, a yard (1000 in kinzcash... yikes!), a pool and a trapoline (a healthy webkinz must get exercise), a toliet, a bathtub and an incredible amount of food. I find myself obsessing about why Uni's happiness meter isn't at 100% when she's been fed, excercised, had a bath and taken a nap... we've even told her that she's a "good pet" and taken her to the arcade! Like I said... I need help.

Today is officially Clara's birthday. We're not doing much today... yesterday was her big birthday outting with just Jeff and me. She really didn't *need* anything for her birthday so we decided to take her on a birthday "date" instead. After lunch, Alex stayed with Grandpa and Grandma while we took just Clara to the mall. We asked her what she wanted to do and she knew exactly what she wanted... to go to Build-A-Bear. She had been there before... once over two years ago for a birthday party and again last year to make a bear to send to their new baby cousin. So, she had never had free rein to make something just for herself. She picked a pink poodle to make... we had a good time, but man, that place was a zoo!!!! After that we did a little clothes shopping... she loves to try on clothes. And for some reason her favorite store in Talbot's Kids. She picked out two jumpers to try on... one was a gorgeous black velvet jumper, the other was an adorable pink jumper with embroidered dots that reversed to green with patchwork looking dogs. She ended up picking the reversible jumper. It is really cute.... plus it was on the clearance rack for $29 with an additional 25% off. I was secretly hoping she would pick the velvet one because it was gorgeous.... but I guess I should be glad that she didn't... she'll get more good out of the one she picked.

From there we went to the Cheesecake Factory to rest our feet, get something to drink and to have a piece of birthday cheesecake. Clara picked the Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake.... it was so good. They brought it with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday to her.

Our last stop was Nordstrom for a new set of PJ's for Clara. Why is it so hard to find decent PJ's for kids? There really wasn't much a selection anywhere we looked. The set we got was adorable though. This is basically the set.... but her's is pink and brown plaid with a pale pink cami underneath. She was desperate for pj's... she's really grown since last winter.

Well... that's it for me, for now... I have more to write about (especially my adventures in flash photography this weekend) but I've got to get the kids fed so we can get to cub scouts.

Here's one pic of Clara and Poodlie (although all you see is poodlie)....