A True Mulberry Moment to Remember

First Day of Kindergarten
This entry was written by LaChelle our VP of Finance and documents her daughter's first day of school.

Well, she boarded the bus without any tears! She actually got on! I was prepared for her to refuse! I don't have any pics because she freaked out when I brought out the camera and was bordering on shut-down mode. I put down the camera, trading a picture for a calm departure. I will get pictures as she gets off the bus this afternoon. Hopefully by then she will be all smiles and forget that I have a camera in my hand a just be excited to be home.
When it came time to hand over the blankee she asked me to put it in the fridge for safe keeping. Why the fridge, I don't know. But I was willing to do anything to keep her calm and give up her blanket for the day.
Since I don't have any pics, I will fill you in with a visual. She had on black legging style shorts and a black Hello Kitty shirt with red croc-style shoes. Her hair was nicely brushed by daddy with minimal tears. Her backpack is half the length of her body and has her cute little lunch in it. There were no smiles from her as she boarded the bus, but she bravely walked up the stairs and turned left past the driver and walked down the aisle to a vacant seat. She then slid to the window and looked out with sad, "Why am I doing this?" eyes. I waved, smiled and blew her a kiss and I could see the tops of her fingers peak up over the window in a tiny wave. And her bus drove off down the hill...off to a land of reading out loud, crayons and play-dough.

Later that day.....
My baby has come back from the land of reading out loud, crayons and play-dough in one piece...and smiling! First day of Kindergarten was a success!
She told me that she followed some neighbor girls through the hall and they finally noticed she was following them and they helped her get to her classroom! How sweet!
She met a boy on the playground. His name is "Green Shirt" and he goes to our gym.
For some reason she did not eat the food from home and instead ate in the cafeteria...Not sure if they all did that or if she forgot it in the classroom. Maybe it was easier for them all to do the same thing? I will be emailing the teacher to see what happened. She actually remembered what she ate which is a new accomplishment! Last year in pre-K she ate "nothing" all year! Today she had pizza, chocolate milk and carrots. I have the menu now and they actually have roasted asparagus on the menu??! What happened to Veg-all? She'll actually eat asparagus though. She calls it "sportacus".
The little kiddos held hands in a long line to get on the bus in the afternoon. All the kids now have luggage tags on their bags telling their name, teacher name and the bus number and the stop they are supposed to get off at. Very cool!
Whew! Glad that is over.

June Happenings

Happy Birthday to Us!
Can you believe Mulberry Toys has been open for a full year? We couldn't have asked for a more successful first year....this has been more fun than either of us had ever imagined. Vanessa and I treasure our friendship, our customers and all the experiences we've had over the last twelve months.

To celebrate our birthday, we hosted the 1st Annual Mulberry Toys Bike Parade. Everyone gathered at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center on Monday, June 23, 2008. The day was beautiful, the bikes, scooters, wagons, and strollers were decorated in style and spirits were high. After a brief safety review, the Madison Police Department lead us around town. Afterwards, the children were treated to a concert in the Hall and an ice cream treat on the front lawn of the Cultural Center. Take a peek!


Earlier in the month we hosted our 1st Annual Art on the Square event. Everyone had a great time creating cards, painting pictures, stamping, creating tattoos, and beading. We look forward to many more events like this in the near future.

We want to thank everyone for all their support and partonage over this past year. It's all about having fun and we're having a great time!

An Officer and a Gentleman

What a day we had on Saturday! Nonstop sales, tons of traffic, lots of gift wrapping...can't really complain.

However, it was at the very end of the day, just before closing, that the excitement really started.

The story began to unfold when two soldiers on leave walked into the store. One had a girlfriend, the other alas did not. The three of them had a great time looking around and acting like kids. After a while, the soldier with the girlfriend rushed over to Mary Ann and asked her to ring up a Star Theater and book without his girlfriend seeing it....and could we wrap it too? It was perfect because just a few minutes later, the girlfriend walked up with two items and exactly the same request. So we were frantically ringing up and wrapping without the two catching on to what was happening.

All the while, our poor lonely, but very handsome soldier played one of the thinking games on his own....taking in the whole situation.

We successfully closed the transactions and the group of friends left to have an ice cream next door. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes later that the solo soldier came back in and asked Mary Ann what flavor of ice cream he should get...supposedly, the line was long and he wanted to know what was best when it was his time to order. She told him that she loved their strawberry ice cream and he left to place his order....or so we thought.

It wasn't long before that same cute soldier appeared in the doorway with a HUGE strawberry ice cream cone which he presented to Mary Ann. It was all very "Officer and a Gentleman" I'd like to say that he picked her up, put his cap on her head and carried her out the door....but that's not what happened.

To be continued...

It's slightly overcast here at Mulberry Toys today, but we've really been rocking. I never get tired of overhearing the conversations between our customers. You know the kind I mean. The conversations in which they speak so glowingly of Mulberry Toys. "This store has the best stuff!" or "Oh, I haven't seen a toy like this in years!" I overhear things like this all the time. Of course, it helps that I'm kind of lurking around. I am really good at that. I recently made a new soup recipe and took it to church for a special luncheon. After several people commented on the deliciousness (not sure that's a word, but it should be) of my soup, I decided to make the rounds and discover what other comments were being made. If I got to a table and no one was talking about it, I would casually say, "Hey, did anyone have the Creamy Chicken Soup?" And then the raves would begin. Yeah, I am really good at lurking. Not in a creepy, "keep her away from my children" kind of way. More like a "Wow, this lady is so nice and is such a wonderful conversationalist" kind of way. Michelle and I would love for you to stop in and visit with us. You'll love Mulberry Toys. Great toys...great conversations...everyday!

Vanessa

Our First Online Sale!

There should have been a hidden camera in our office yesterday when we saw our website live for the first time. By our reactions, you'd never guess that we'd been looking at it 24/7 for weeks! We giggled and screamed like two middle school girls. It was finally live. It was like waiting on a baby to come. You plan, you dream, you worry, you pray, you laugh, you cry...and then you cycle through all those same emotions again and again. That's what we've been doing over our "baby". So we launched yesterday and within minutes we received notification of our first sale. Then the giggling and screaming started all over again; actually it'd never really stopped. Now this customer, our first online customer, was truly a big deal. This wonderful, generous man purchased one of our favorites, Rush Hour. (Go check it out. You'll love it!) He wins Mulberry's Customer of the Year Award. He will forever be a part of Mulberry history. We scrolled down the page to read the name of this historical shopper....and discovered it was none other than....my husband! Now let me tell you something about his man to whom I've been married for 22 years. He takes his finances seriously. If he didn't believe in a product, if he didn't love it, he wouldn't buy it. So there you have it....Mulberry Toys Online Store has earned the seal of approval from the customer who means to the most to me. And hey, if it's good enough for him, then it's good enough for you. Trust me; you'll love it!!

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to our blog. In this space, we hope to give you a peek into the exciting lives of two small town toy store owners who just happen to be moms, friends, and former teachers. We've had so much fun with this new adventure that we thought it might be fun to share our stories with you. Enjoy!
Michelle

"The exciting lives of two small town toy store owners..." I'm still trying to figure out who those people are! I pinch myself everyday because I can't believe that I am living the dream. We're both so grateful that you are on this journey with us and as Michelle said, we want to share our stories with you. And how we southern ladies do love to tell a good story, slightly embellished at times, of course. We'll leave it up to you to sort the fact from the fiction!
Cheers!
Vanessa