Preppy Spring Swap goodies!!!!!

I was so excited to receive my swap package the other day! I had so much fun with the Preppy Spring Swap and I hope everyone else did as well! Here are the pictures!

The girls were so excited to open the box with me!


Me with my package, I was even more excited! Coincidentally, we were all wearing pink and green!


What we found when we opened the box, pink and green goodness!


A tote bage (I LOVE tote bags) embroidered in pink with my monogram held lots of treasures! The monogram was beautiful, Preppy Mama is very talented!


E and L were so excited to find a special package for each of them to open as well! I was so touched that she included them, she is so sweet.


Contents of E and L's packages. Everything was so personalized for them, both in their favorite colors. Their packages included (among other goodies) princess stuff for L (her favorite!) and for E, she received notecards with a stamp, because she loves sending cards to her friends and beautiful ribbons for her collection!


Contents of my package! Preppy Mama did a great job picking perfect items for me!


S - Sweet Smelling Soaps The picture came out to bright, but the soaps were beautifully engraved and smelled so wonderful!


P - Pretty Pad and Pen This was so pretty, and I am a list maker so I love having such a pretty pad and pen to make my endless lists on!


R - Ribbon Belt I love my new belt! So cute, I will wear it so much...I already have actually!


I - Ink In pink and green of course! One of my hobbies is stamping and making cards so I loved these!


N - New Kitchen Towels So perfect for Spring and I don't have monogrammed kitchen towels, Preppy Mama is very talented with monogramming. I think I will have to give it a shot someday. I would monogram everything in my house probably!


G - Goodies The whole family enjoyed these with me! Especially my fellow chocoholic in my house L who kept taking my M&Ms and trying to hide them!


Thanks again Preppy Mama, you did a wonderful job picking just the right things for me! I had SO much fun with the swap and I hope everyone else did as well!

Pictures coming soon...I promise!

I was almost done with my post with all the pictures of my swap package when all of sudden, blogger wouldn't upload the rest of my pictures!!! Argh. But the post is almost done and I will upload the rest of the pictures tomorrow, hopefully. I keep getting a message that says my upload is incomplete due to an internal error. I tried a bunch of different times but still not working. If there are still problems tomorrow, I'll just post what I have uploaded already because I am so excited to share with everyone my wonderful package!

I got my swap package!

Yesterday I received my wonderful package from my partner Preppy Mama. It was so fun! I will be posting pictures later today of all my beautiful gifts!

The other side...

In situations like this, you just don't know what to believe. I wanted to post a video that also explained things from the mothers side a bit.

Since I (in the past-but it never ends) have been involved with a bitter custody dispute, been harrassed by my ex's family, had them stand up in court and tell lies, I have seen how these things can happen. My ex's family are of a certain religion (some consider it a cult) and I try my best to be accepting of their faith. But my ex's mother actually told me "My religion tells me that I don't have to tell the truth in court because I do not hold the government, courts, police or anyone above my (God)" which she calls by a different name. But I don't want to offend anyone so I don't want to disclose that.

Thankfully, I had a smart judge and mediatior and they met with E and they knew her father's family lied and awarded me custody.

But what does it all matter when you see these children...they are the ones affected by all of this. Everytime E's dad doesn't show up for visitation, even though she doesn't want to go, she is still being let down. Every time he verbally/physically abused me in front of her, she gets so scared and withdrawn.

My heart goes out to any children who are in situations of any kind that involves abuse, neglect, custody battles, etc. As well as their family members that the children do have that truly love them, whomever that may be.

I am staying off youtube for the rest of the day. I don't close my eyes to these situations, they are all to real for me, however my heart can only take so much. I am going outside to play in the sun with my girls and hug them tighter than ever.

sorry if this makes you cry...

Turn volume up

I just had to post this, it moved me to tears. NO child deserves any abuse and I can't stand it. I volunteer in a women's and children's shelter in a nearby city and it is just so heartbreaking what some children have endured. It is one of those situations where I want to do more to help these children, but I don't know what else to do. My husband and I have always said after one more biological child, we would adopt or even have foster children. But there are just so many children who need help. How can we educate these parents so this can stop? It just breaks my heart.

Thanks Everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes for my mom. She has always been so strong and healthy it took us all by such surpise when she had to have surgery. Then there were complications and she had to go back into the hospital. Nothing life-threatening but none the less it was scary.

My mom has always been a role model for me to be independent, strong, and healthy and it was the first time in my life that I had to care for her like this. It was really hard to see her not bustling around the house, cleaning, picking up her granchildren, etc. I know my parents are getting older but both of them have always led such healthy, busy lives that they seem much younger and look younger than they are. So it was just a hard time to see my mom so helpless and see her frustration at being helpless.

But I am happy to report that she is coming home and is doing better. She has a long recovery time for the surgery but with her good health and good will, I know she will do great.

SWAP NEWS:

I think everything is all straightened out and everyone should have their partners information. A couple mix-ups but everything should be corrected now. The list I posted on my blog is correct. I made one change on the list due to a new participant.

If you have an email with a different name than the one listed on my blog please email me as soon as possible and I will fix it. I think if that happened I caught it in time and sent you a new email, but I just want to make sure. If you have not received an email from me with your partners information, please also email me as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience and for participating in this fun swap!