Good Day Atlanta!

I received some good news on Thursday as I was driving home from a work event - Ali's Aprons will have its first debut on television. Alicia - the owner of Pekuliar Treasures - had Good Day Atlanta come out to her new shop in Historic Downtown Douglasville. She has a quaint little shop with all kinds of local finds - all very tastefully picked I must add. Ali's Aprons will be included in one of her top five gifts for the holidays.

I am thrilled to be getting a little air time and excited that she likes my product enough to feature it. The show airs tomorrow morning - Monday - beginning at 7:00 a.m. There is no way of knowing when our segment will actually show but we are DVRing it and I am sure there will be a link I can send people who miss it or can't view the show because they don't live in our area.

For those of you who have questioned me about my lack of inventory, I am sold out for the holidays but Alicia has plenty on hand down at her shop for last minute gifts (her store is located right next to Gumbeax.). I hope to make up a few aprons before the baby comes and have more in stock on my website for next season. It never fails, though, I always sell out.

I just had to share the news. I will post a link as soon as I have one to the segment that airs tomorrow!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Card (if you didn't receive this card it is because I only sent it electronically this year. So... if I didn't have your email address you didn't get it. We will be sending an announcement in a couple of months through snail mail so look out for something from us then.)


The English Family


Our little entertainer!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. It is hard to believe that we are now a week away from the big day. We are looking forward to our holidays. We will be in Birmingham this year celebrating with Doug's family. Doug's brother will be home from California and it is always a treat to see him. As always it is great to be with family. We will also be heading to Atmore for a weekend to celelbrate my sister Emily's early high school graduation. Everyone will be there and it will be the last official visit with my parents formally living there (they are keeping the house for a while).

I hope you enjoy the pictures. One is obviously our Christmas card and the other two are photos that were taken for a potential Christmas card. The last one I had to share. This is truly our girl in character. She is a little monkey and is ALWAYS entertaining - no matter what we are doing.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday seaon!

Love, the English Family

When the Relatives Came

The Moore Family - From left to right: Doug, Charlotte, Melissa, Dad, me and baby #2, Emily, Mom, Lauren, Adeline, Mary Catherine, Owen, Matt, and Sarah

So I have been unable to post about our lovely Thanksgiving weekend. With the birthday party and family news the Thanksgiving post was put on hold. You can see by the picture above that I have a large family. We don't seem that big to me when we are all together but when I see us in a cluster like this we are a large group.

Anyway, if you have never read the children's book, When the Relatives Came, check it out sometime. It speaks of all the cousins and family coming. They eat all the food, they sleep everywhere and fun and chaos is had by all.

This pretty much sums up our Thanksgiving. Before my family's arrival I had arranged for half of my family to stay at a friend's house so most everyone could have a bed to lay their head on. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving - when some of the family was already here - I received a call from my friend stating that they had a puking virus at their house. Needless to say, we did not bombard them, nor did we subject our large group to such a bug.

We all made do and by Friday night I had all twelve family members asleep somewhere in my house. It made for a memorable weekend and all that togetherness was probably a blessing with the news my parents gave us over the holiday.

So, thanks fam for sticking it out on pallets on the floor, sleeping on couches and basically sharing one and half baths. We all survived.

Now, if I can just get Charlotte and Mo well. All the holiday fun left Charlotte with a double ear infection and Mo in the doggy hospital. Charlotte is screaming now refusing to take her nap so I guess I must go. TTFN. :)

To Everything There is a Season

Today the news broke publicly in my small hometown that my father was closing his medical practice. My parent's shared the news with all six of us children and our spouses over the Thanksgiving holiday. For those of you that do not know me that well this may not seem like anything too substantial. The other part of the story is that my parents are leaving the place we have all called home for the last 26 years to move to Austin, Texas.

This is a great opportunity for my father and I wouldn't want him to squander his dreams - yes, you can still dream over the age of 55 - just because his children want to come home to Atmore, Alabama whenever they like.

We moved to Atmore when I was nearly three years old and it really is the only place I have ever known. When I was first married and had moved away I would pick up my cell phone to call home and I would scroll through my numbers to the one named "home." I would then be very confused when my husband, not my mother would answer.

I still say I am "going home" whenever I speak of going out of town to visit my family. My church was there, all my friends growing up, my memories, I was married there. I always imagined bringing my children there.

You city folks wouldn't appreciate it's quaint atmosphere. There is not realy a hustle and bustle and when there is traffic that means it will take you ten minutes to get somewhere instead of five.

We still have many dear friends there and our family is known throughout the community. It is hard to think that one day we won't have a role in that little community, that we will be forgotten and that people will move on.

The hardest part for me isn't just losing the place I grew up, but losing a close proximity to my parents. My mother and I are exceptionally close and for her to be so far away will be really hard. I talk to her daily and I always know that if I need to see her or her see me we are only an afternoon's drive away. Now she will be a good 14-16 hours away. It is hard to imagine my parents not being as much a part of our lives and our visits will be much more challenging to accomplish because of the distance and the finances to get there.

This is a positive thing for my parents and while I worry about my mother adjusting - you know how us ladies are about where we raise our babies - they get another chance at starting a new life for themselves and following their passions and dreams.

So, here is to Atmore, Alabama, and all the wonderful memories it has given me. Thanks for always being home - you always will be.

Party Time

Our Birthday Girl - in the dress Mommy made her


Mommy and her little girl


Her Birthday Cake - to share


Having fun with Mommy


A girly party - pink flowers and all

We finally celebrated Charlotte's birthday since my entire family was here for Thanksgiving. Doug's parents drove over on there way out of town. Meg, Doug's sister, and his Aunt Mimi were both able to come over and help us celebrate. It was sweet to watch our little girl. Her daddy told me later that the whole thing made him a little sad. Our baby Charlotte is not a baby anymore. I get a little teary eyed thinking about it myself.

It was a fun day and of course I thought she looked beautiful. It was special to be able to share it with so many people that we love and care about. We appreciate our families making the effort to share in this memory with us.

Enjoy the photos...

Paper, cards and bows

Lovin' the bows


Cousin Adeline helping Charlotte with her presents


Singing cards are much more interesting...


Adeline enjoying one of Charlotte's new books

Well, as I imagined, Charlotte was more interested in the wrapping paper, singing cards and bows than she was the gifts she received. It was fun to watch her, along with my neice, Adeline, tear into all the paper - wanting the paper, not to see what was inside. They had lots of fun tearing the paper, checking out a gift, and then back to chewing bows.

Doug and I really appreciated the generosity of our families and were so happy they were there to share in her first birthday with us!

Eating Cake

Singing to the Birthday Girl!


Eating her cake


Getting a little more adventerous?


The "demolished" cake

So this is one of a series of posts so I can get all the pictures from the birthday party in. Miss Charlotte did not dig into her cake as I imagined she would. She was very dainty and neat about the whole thing. She thought it was tasty, but seeing as she has never had cake before - or anything really sweet - she didn't eat nearly as much cake as her mommy did.

She was so cute as we sang happy birthday to her. She smiled and clapped and loved the focused attention on here - SURPRISE! It was so wonderful to have the majority of our families there.