The kites are in! The windows are beautiful filled with all the colorful kites. Drive by to see the windows and stop in to get a kite for spring. They say it will be beautiful this weekend…

Has this ever happened to you?  You fall in love at an inappropriate time!  Here for all these years, I have thought I had the real thing, the best thing…until I find something WAY better?  You are wondering what I’m talking about, right?  That’s right “what”– not “whom.” 

When my children were young, I never knew about those Kumon Books, entitled “My First Book of…”  Man, just think how much they could have experienced in tracing, pasting, cutting, crafting, figuring etc. right from those beautifully composed books.  Artfully designed, the Kumon collection approaches these very basic skills in a most creative and captivating way.  Oh my, all those times I attempted the homemade, hand-drawn craft sessions with my 2 and 3 year olds.  What fun it was, though!

I think Mother Nature is teasing us! This past weekend was glorious. We got to get outside with our children, ride bikes, and just enjoy the fresh air without having to bundle up in 18 layers. Now it feels like we’re back in a deep freeze! That little taste of spring sure did get me ready for the real thing though. I could hear birds singing outside when I woke up in the morning. They were ready for it too. Soon there will be kites in the store again and I can bet they’ll fly off the shelves faster than they did last year. Can’t wait to get mine!

Do you remember when you looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons, because that’s when they were on TV?  Do you remember when the family crowded around the radio to hear the latest broadcast of The Sugar Creek Gang?  I’m really dating myself or just showing how much my family was against “the corruptions of television.”  I must admit that some of those same tendencies run in my style of parenting.  But the very cool thing is that there is so much available here at Mulberry just in the line of CDs both in music and stories.  The songs that I hear being played in the store make me smile for good reason.  It takes me back to being a kid again.

Yesterday I was looking around the store at some of the new things that have come in and was struck by the thought that puzzles are completely timeless and for all ages. It’s one thing my three year old daughter, my mother, and my grandmother all enjoy. I remember, as a child, having a Care Bears puzzle that I would literally work over and over again. It had more than one solution and I loved it! Now I watch my daughter sit and work her Mulberry puzzles over and over again. Such a feeling of accomplishment! And, without fail, every year when my family goes to the beach, my mother brings along a huge jigsaw puzzle that takes practically the whole week to complete. What fun!

According to Atlanta’s 11 Alive News team, last Friday was unprecedented, at least as far as we know.  It’s the only date in recorded history in which snow fell in all 50 states on the same day.  I think that’s pretty cool, although I don’t know if my New England and Midwest friends would concur.  I would love to spend one winter in a place that really has winter.  You know what I mean…temps below freezing for days on end, more snow than you can shovel, the whole nine yards.  One real winter might be enough for me, but I’d still like to try it.  Maybe I can make a deal to house swap with someone who has winter like that.  That person could spend a summer in my Deep South home.  A few months of sweltering heat and muggy humidity might just send him packing and longing for a Michigan January.  It’s just a thought…In the meantime, I’ll sit by the fire and play another of my favorite Mulberry games.  Anybody ready for Gobblet?

There’s nothing like a good laugh, one that comes from down deep and just spills over.  Nothing can stop it!  The natural state of a person should be laughing mode, right?  Mulberry Toys is a place suited for laughter.  There’s much good cheer to be had here, so what are you waiting for?  Just do it!   Laugh.

Today I talked to my sister who lives in PA, and they have so much snow that they are sick of it!  The groundhog was right when he said that there would be 6 more weeks of winter.  That is what he said this year, right?  Well, we have the cold, the wind, and the winter down here in the South,  but one thing’s missing!  THE SNOW!  Never fear; there’s now a way for you to have snow, too!    You can make your own snow, right in a tube.  At Mulberry Toys we call it “Insta Snow.”  Imagine snow coming in a packet and all you do is add water.  Voila!  It’s not even a figment of your imagination.  Yes, throw it on the ground, flop down and you can design the prettiest snow angel this side of  the Carolinas!

Two of my children’s favorite things to pretend to be right now are pirates and princesses, respectively. This seems pretty normal for the 3 to 5 year old set, but I was giving it some thought yesterday and wondering if I should be concerned. Are my son’s goals for life to steal, pillage, wave weapons around, and suffer no consequences? In fact, I think he is very impressed by such behavior! And my daughter’s favorite pastime seems to be to just prance around in high heeled, feathered shoes, wear a tiara, and order other people to wait on her hand and foot. Maybe cute for a three year old but won’t be so cute at 23. Then again, maybe we all have a little pirate or princess inside trying to get out?

My grandmother made many beautiful Raggedy Anns in her day.  She gave them to children all over Pennsylvania.  I don’t know how many I collected over the years, but I do have small and large ones that my daughter has enjoyed and I have 2 Raggedy Andys that my sons call their own.  Old toys from the yesteryears are keepsakes, yet Mulberry Toys has many playthings that are educational and fun that will never be old-fashioned.