Kristin’s baby has arrived!

All of us at Le Top have been missing Kristin and eagerly awaiting the arrival of her little Elijah. Well… it’s official. He was born on Friday a little after 8 A.M. This big boy weighed in at almost 9 pounds. Mom and baby are doing well.

Here is a photo of him wearing Rabbitmoon to his first doctor’s appointment. I’m sure there will be many more photos to come of this handsome boy decked out in all of our fabulous clothes. We can’t wait to see him in person.

Congratulations to the entire family!

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It’s Official – The Test Confirms our Gift

The first week that I realized I was pregnant, it wasn’t a big shock.  My husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for several months, and finally KABOOM! The test read positive….twice!  The first test we took, I knew something was different.  This faint vertical line was starting to appear. I rocked the stick back and forth, looked up at my husband (Aaron) and said, “I think we are pregnant! This doesn’t look like it normally does…” Sure enough, as the seconds ticked away, the vertical line was now making a “plus” sign that was getting darker and darker.  Aaron wasn’t convinced.  He thought it was too light and too indecisive.  Luckily a few weeks back I had bought a digital test for this exact reason. One of my good friends in Florida had called to tell me she was pregnant! Hooray! She said that her husband didn’t believe the faint lines and made her go get the digital test, then he was convinced.

When our digital test read out “P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T” we both got a big smile on our faces and embraced.  Finally! What we have been waiting for!  

The best part of this story is this: The whole reason we decided to take the test that night was because Aaron’s dad’s birthday was that day. He has wanted grandkids from the day we got married, and has never stopped asking. His mom even promised to handle day care for me if I had a baby by the time she was 53 (she turns 53 this October- do you think I could convince her to still do day care even if it’s a few months late? She’d still be in her 53rd year…!). So I thought, ‘Well wouldn’t that be a great birthday present?’ And sure enough it was!

We had a family birthday party a few days later, and managed to keep it a secret until then, which wasn’t an easy task! We had to wait until the end of the night for the big reveal. Aaron and I had gone out to a local bookstore and picked up four books for his dad’s birthday present: 

The Grandparents Handbook by Elizabeth LaBan

Books by Mercer Mayer

Just, Grandpa and Me, Just Grandma and Me and Bye-Bye, Mom and Dad all by Mercer Mayer .

When Aaron’s dad opened them the first thing he said was “Is this supposed to be a hint? Is there congratulations due?!” “Yes there is!” we said. And the whole family erupted in shouts of joy – all 7 siblings, two parents, a girlfriend of one of the brothers and three close friends.

Then it began….the art of telling, and NOT telling people that we were pregnant!

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Hippity Hop

This weekend my daughter Lilah and I were browsing through the selections offered by our local retailer, in a quest to find the perfect birthday gift for her fellow three year old.  We turned a corner and I saw a Hoppity Ball. “A Hippity Hop!” I exclaimed, startling near by customers.  Childhood memories came flooding back.

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Happy New Year! (Chinese New Year that is!)

In the multi-cultural environment of le•top we celebrate many holidays – but on February 14^th – when most people were buying valentines – we were buying…FIRECRACKERS!  One of our favorite holidays is celebrating the beginning of the lunar New Year – Chinese New Year.   Our fearless leader (my husband Paul) was born in Hong Kong, and we have a great time every year when we celebrate his favorite childhood holiday. 

The most spectacular (and very loud) part of the celebration is setting off firecrackers in front of our building.  Why?  To rid ourselves of any lurking ‘evil spirits’ and start the new year off with a (literal) BANG!  This year we set off 20,000 firecrackers!  We warn our neighbors – and everyone enjoys the spectacle.  We follow this up with a luncheon here in our office – Chinese food of course!  Yummy!

The cycle of the Chinese Zodiac consists of 12 animal signs and the Year of 2010 is the Year of a Golden Tiger, which began on February 14, 2010 and ends on February 2, 2011.   It is a sign of courage. This fearless and fiery fighter is revered by the ancient Chinese as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household: fire, thieves and ghosts.  On New Year’s Day itself, it is beneficial to celebrate, to be happy, to have smiling faces, and to refrain from scowling, quarreling, or criticizing anyone.

Year of the Tiger

The Chinese believe that children have qualities that reflect their birth year, so for new ‘tiger’ babies here is what you can anticipate:

Courageous, active, and self-assured.   Optimistic, passionate and independent.  Rebellious, dynamic, and unpredictable.  Quick tempered but considerate.   Affectionate but careless.  The Tiger is a natural born leader and symbolizes power, passion and daring.

People born in the Year of the Tiger are generally well liked because of their charming personalities.  Tigers are fond of competitions. They simply cannot pass up a challenge.  They may appear cool and are unpredictable, and it would be unwise to underestimate their reactions.  Natural leaders, they have a strong sense of their own dignity.  They are intelligent, alert, and farsighted.  Good strategists and tacticians, they often have a hidden agenda.  As long as they do not risk their luck too often, and keep their restless nature under control, they will enjoy success and happiness.  Generally speaking, people born in the Year of the Tiger are fond of playing, and full of enthusiasm and sentiment. 

Famous Tiger People:  Agatha Christie, Crystal Gayle, Cybil Shepherd, Demi Moore, Hilary Swank, Jodie Foster, Marilyn Monroe, Mary Queen of Scots, Penelope Cruz, Queen Elizabeth II, Rosie O’Donnell, and Tom Cruise.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy New Year!  Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous year of the Tiger!

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We topped our record….

Kids and their entourages everywhere!

Our “Calling All Cuties” casting call was a huge success!  Last season we had a fabulous turnout – we saw over 125 kids come in and try out to be a ‘le•top kid.’  Our Fall 2010 season casting call last week brought out

a whopping 146 kids!  Have you ever been in a small space with oodles of kids?  Let’s just say that it was organized chaos – what a spectacle! Here, there and everywhere – cute kids in our office, our foyer, and spilling over to our front lawn! Of course we had these little ‘stars’ entourages as well…their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and in many cases their siblings. Wow! We love it! 

Our entire Design department was fully committed to this endeavor – shuttling clothes to the next in line (overcoming little problems like twins who ONLY want to dress alike!) – getting all the pertinent information – and sending them in to the inner sanctum!  Our Front Office staff couldn’t help but to join in the ‘fun’ by getting everyone to sign in and helping everyone out in anyway possible.  Hmmm, I wonder if any customers called…I can’t believe a phone could even be heard over all the noise! Kristin, our ace inside salesperson, and Marilyn from our Production department collected kids’ measurements – a real feat when you have a squirmy 1 year old!  It took five and a half hours with minimal breaks for Chris, Karen and Charly to accomplish the impossible task of choosing which of these adorable kids would be our next photo shoot stars.  Very difficult to choose…how does Simon, Randy and Kara do it??? 

Thank you to everyone that came in and weathered the storm!  We wish we could use all of these darling children! 

Next up….the photo shoot.

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Giving Thanks…

The ‘official’ holiday season is upon us, and for many it means looking back at the year that will soon draw to a close.  I know that this has been a year of change – and a year that has gone by very quickly.  We could think about changes that made this a very ‘challenging’ year for many – but I would rather pause to reflect on the many blessings that have touched our lives.  We at le•top do not have to look far to know that we have so much to be thankful for! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends – we hope your day is also full of reasons to be thankful!

Some of our reasons to be thankful!

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Spreading Joy Around the World

Our le•top elves with some of their gift filled boxes - clockwise from the back Daryle, Brenda, Linda, Diana, Robyn, Kristin

The Holiday Season brings thoughts of shopping, food and family – as we use every free moment to prepare for Christmas, Hanukah or Kwanza.  Unfortunately there are many reminders that not everyone has the essentials to make the holiday a true celebration – and in the spirit of the holiday we want to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves.

For the past eight years I have participated in a program through the Samaritan’s Purse Organization named ‘Operation Christmas Child.’  This charity strives to send gifts to children throughout the world, as well as in our own backyard – children who would not be fortunate enough to receive gifts during the holiday season.

This year fellow le•top co-workers Linda, Brenda, Diana, Daryle, Robyn and I participated in this program to assist Santa to make a happy holiday for children in need.  Our mission was to choose a boy or girl (ages 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14) and then to fill a decorated shoebox as full as possible with toys, school items, hygiene essentials, hard candy or other desired items.  We had great fun posing as elves – shopping with local retailers to pick out the perfect gifts for these children.  le•top also donated plush toys and purses to the organization!

This wonderful charity gives us the option to track our shoe box gifts.  Several of the ‘elves’ decided they would love to find out the destinations of their boxes.  Check back and we will post an update on our gifts as the move around the world.

*National collection week for the Operation Christmas Child program, ends this Monday, November 23^rd.  There is still time to participate in this wonderful program.  For more information and a drop-off location near you, please check www.samaritanspurse.org/occ for details.

 

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Itsy-Bitsy Puppy Love

Uh-Oh!  Here we go again…but it’s only puppy love!  We were all reminded of the soft spot we hold in our hearts for puppies when Calvin, a longtime member of our terrific warehouse staff brought in his new Pekinese-Chihuahua puppy Lucy to ‘meet the family!’  Lucy has brought smiles of joy to the office over the past few days – her little bark beckons us, and we pick her up before that sad little bark tears our hearts apart!  She is just so darn cute!

Calvin and little Lucy

This little girl has a big presence, although I am not quite sure she knows her real size.  Cengx’s dog Charmie (the little Pomeranian that has shown off his le•top ‘couture’ outfits in the blog) towers over Lucy – but backs away from her playful paws when she invites him to play.  Lucy then proceeds to chase poor Charmie around the warehouse – totally in charge of this game.  Awww…puppy love!

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Counting through the years…

Our Accounting Supervisor Tiffany shared her photos from Halloween past.  Tiffany is really a ‘doll’ – and her Halloween ideas just confirmed what we already knew!

Counting through the photos:

• Tiffany as a real little princess
• Tiffany channeling her Holly Hobby doll
• This is why she loves dolls!
• Her parents dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy!
• And she never grew up…as a baby doll with her son Josh!

 

 

If you’re looking for a cute le•top costume to dress your little one, try Riley the Puppy with a barking sound. It’s a soft faux fur coverall with hood.

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Trick or Treat!

We are so excited – Halloween is only 11 days away!  October is just flying by!  (Just like a little bat I know!)  Halloween is a holiday that is fun for all ages.  It is the one time of the year that you can dress up and pretend to be someone (or something!) that you are not!  Of course there is the ALL IMPORTANT decision – picking out just the right costume for your little one!  We all know that our photograph album will be graced with the darling pics of “Halloween Past” – and you want the perfect look!  The wonderful le●top staff has decided to step in and contribute their last minute costume ideas. We will be posting our cute and silly photos of “Halloween Past” every day until the “Big Day” arrives!  Be sure to visit our blog to be inspired by pictures of us as kids, or as adults (acting like kids!) in our Halloween costumes.  We are looking forward to showing off the most adorable, the silliest and the spookiest!

Check back – hopefully our costumes will spark some great ideas for your Halloween celebration!

5 Year old Diana in her Pink Fairy Costume

First up to the plate…is me!  Here I am at 5 years old in my very favorite costume.  The ultimate ‘little girl’ look – a pink fairy costume complete with tiara, wand and wings!  After Halloween was long past I would walk around the house wearing my very cool wings – I may have slept in them as well! 

Check back tomorrow for a new costume idea!

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