Thanks From Deb Howatt-Gallants SP!

Hi secret pal,
Thank you soooo much for the beautiful
GYMBOREE outfit! It is adorable! I love how the hair
bows go with the little romper and the ladybug on the
bum of it is precious expecially with the little buttons!
I adore the purse I want to use it myself!
;o( we don't have a Gymboree store here in
Canada but I have heard other people talk about it on
their blogs. Sounds like a beautiful store.
You had said in your letter that you hoped I had
recieved the Jan. gift, I put a thank you on our
junebugs blog , if you wanted to have a peek. Thank you
for all your wonderful gifts! I feel like it is
Christmas every month.
Glad to hear you are enjoying my blog and the banana
split story. Thanks again for everything.
HUGS Deb

Thank you from Tina E.:

Thank you Secret Pal for all the great gifts. I set the tea set out and it looks so cute with her stuffed ladybug. I really like the heart shaped tea set and it will go even better once I've painted the room pink. I've always wanted a little girl to have tea parties with and play dolls. Although it seems like the wait it such a long time, we'll be in China before we know it.

My husband enjoyed the chocolates, since he doesn't get sweets very often. The heart charm is precious, as my little girl will always be in my heart. Thank you again.
Tina



PS: Thank you again for the organizational gifts. The planner is a lifesaver!!

Debra Young - Thank You!

I finally found my camera cord and was able to download pictures of all of the great goodies from my Secret Pal. They are in consecutive order from November through Feb

November 2006 - "Pamper Package" following my surgery.
December 2006 - "Christmas"
I love the bib and the ornament, C loved her T-shirt



January 2007 - "Practical"
Lots of travel goodies - spoons, sippies, and of course a book! The bib received it's own pic, but blogger's being a poop and I can't get it to rotate the right way. Soon!














February 2007 - Chinese New Year
Every month I rave about how great my SP is, and every month it just gets better and better. However, the temptation to peek at the post mark is killing me. B won't let me look and endures my guesses about who this person is. Here's what I speculate:
1. My SP is someone who is thorough and meticulous.
2. My SP is a woman near my age, maybe a little younger.
3. My SP reads my blog and pays close attention my self-absorbed ramblings.

I am still speculating and wondering and can't wait to find out the identity of this person who knows me so well! Thank you SP, you're the best!

Thank you to Julie's Secret Pal

I have the best Secret Pal. Thanks for the great clothes. As you can see Liam has some growing room. This is great. They will last the whole summer. He is pretty sick in this picture. All the kids have been running high fevers all week. So we have been dressing them in shorts and short sleeve shirts. So your gift was very timely since we only have one pair of shorts for him, and he has been wearing his sister's shorts.

Thanks again.

Julie

February Secret Pal Gifts - Robin W.

All I can say is "oh my goodness". My secret pal really outdid herself this month. I could not believe all the beautiful asian gifts to remind us of Chinese New Year. Also, not sure if this was on purpose or not, but the colors are perfect. (scarlet and gray with a little bit of black) :-) I absolutely love the book too. Lots of cooking and crafts to do when Maddy gets here! Thank you so much for your generosity secret pal.!

ps.. Sarah is coming home this weekend and I'll post her gifts as soon as she opens them :-)



Sarah's wrapped presents


our wrapped presents

the total package of our wrapped presents. Don't you just love those little gray and scarlet bowls. :-)

Thank you to Kelly Monnin's Secret Pal!

I sooooo love my Secret Pal!! Every month I am beside myself with the beautiful things she chooses.

This month she sent the most luxurious blanket! It has shiny hot pink floral silky material on one side, and the softest pale pink "fur" fabric on the other. It is so soft and beautiful -- I love it! She also sent a very sweet 2 picture frame that says "angel" and "cute". So perfect for a little girl's room! Then she added two books -- "When You Were Born in China", which I cry each time I read, and "Dragon Dance", about Chinese New Year.

Here's how similar our tastes are. I had planned to order Dragon Dance for myself from my son's Scholastic Book order, but didn't get the order submitted in time because of school cancellations/snow days! I can't believe how much we think alike! I really love opening your gifts every month. Thank you so much for everything! You clearly put so much thought and love into each and every gift. Thank you, thank you!

P.S. I have to admit I've cheated just a little and looked at your return address -- but I haven't looked you up on the site to see who you are. I'm trying to be good :) Anyway, I checked MapQuest to see how close you are to Norman, OK. My brother is getting married there on St. Patrick's Day! We'll be driving there from here . . .not a short drive! He just called -- he got back from his third deployment to Iraq about 3 hours ago!! So relieved and excited to be going to OK to celebrate his wedding. (He's a USAF pilot who is marrying his navigator who was on his team from his 2nd deployment!) I wish you were closer to Norman. I'd really cheat and come meet you ;)

You rock!!
Kelly Monnin

Paulette's Secret Pal

Dear Secret Pal


Let me just say you’re the greatest. Valentines day and Chinese New year all rapped up together. The PJ's are so cutie and the blocks will be so fun to play with. the little bear has an Asian hat on where did you find him.
D-Is For Dragon will be a great way to celebrate Chinese New Year and share so much of her culture. I just love every thing and so glad to have my camera back on line so I can share these great gifts with everyone. I'm so blessed to have such a great secret pal. I hope your V'day and New Years were as special as you made mine.

Love
Paulette

PS: The chocolate bar did not make the picture because it didn’t make it home before it was consumed. It was sooooooooo good :-)

February - My Sweet, Sweet Pal!

Dear Secret Pal,

How could you have known that I so desperately needed this?

How cool is this? We sure love chocolate around here and can't wait to use it!

hmmm. should we make fondue or candy first?

My vote is BOTH!

I wish you were here to enjoy it with us!

Thank you!

much love,

xoxo

Nicole

January - Amazing Pal!

Dear Secret Pal,

If only you could have seen my heart melt when I opened up your package...

I fell in love so quickly!

The lavender coat is absolutely stunning - so soft and warm! The sweater...oh the sweater. so sweet! The accessories are so cute too and I am sure they will get a lot of use. The mittens and hats are so perfect. Did I mention that I love them? LOVE. THEM.

Thank you for being so amazing.

With love,

xoxo

Nicole

December - Merry Christmas Hungry Caterpillar!

Dear Secret Pal,

I LOVE the Red and Green Hungry Caterpillar theme!

It is soooo cute. I can't believe all the trouble you went to!

I feel so lucky!

The stamps are sp precious. I can't wait to use them! The green glass and stamp decoration is definitely going in the girls' room. It will be perfect!

I am thrilled to finally have this book! I didn't have it yet, and the book set is adorable!

Thank you so much!

xoxo

Nicole

November - Learnin' My ABC's!

I. LOVE. MY. PAL.

So cool. So very very cool! I love all of the abc puzzles and books.

How did you know?

Look at the Ladybug! I hope she is able to fly home to me soon!

Thank you so much!

xoxo

Nicole

October - My Spooky Pal!

Dear Pal,

You sure sent me some goodies in October! One of my favorites was the adorable card you sent. You are always so creative!!

The Outfits were absolutely adorable and the pumpkin toy is so cute. I can't wait until we have a little one so I can watch her play with it!

The candy was so yummy, and you may notice that the popcorn ball didn't even last long enough to get a picture! :)

Last, but certainly NOT least:

Thank you for the adorable scrapbook pages and quilt squares! You are so wonderful and I truely appreciate all of the effort you went to! Thank you!

Thank you so much!

xoxo

Nicole

Secret Pal Apology!

Dear Secret Pal,

I truely apologize for posting these thank you's and pictures so late. Between travel, camera and computer problems it seems I have fallen a little behind on everything! So here is the first of several posts to get me all caught up! Please just know that I have loved and appreciated everything that you have sent! I have the best pal!!!
xoxo
Nicole

After a Few Months -- Photos Again! Thanks From Lorrin!

Thank you so much, Secret Pal, for the wonderful Chinese New Year gift. I'm so sorry I haven't consistently posted photos these past few months, but things are much less crazy now as compared with life of late. Rick is well on the mend and no longer struggling so much, which means I'm also no longer struggling to keep up with EVERYTHING. I've posted a photo of the lifebook supplies from last month, but -- truth to tell -- not everything is there because I've used some of it. :) Obviously, I liked all of those, too.

I love, love, love (can I say that enough?) the adorable CNY piggie outfit for our future daughter. I've loved everything you sent, but this is my absolute favorite thing so far. I can't wait to see our daughter wearing it, although it looks like I AM going to have to wait. :)

Again, thanks so much -- you've made the start of our new year that much brighter!

Warmest Regards,
Lorrin

Thank you to Lesa's Secret Pal,,, Finally Photos!!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful things you sent to our family. You thought of everyone, and that was so special opening up and seeing all of those packages in white and with red heart name tags on them. Lacy was here when I opened the box with Wendy. She couldn't believe she was included and especially that you knew the correct way to spell her name. LOL She loved the socks so much that she wore them off to her lab class.
Holly will be here Friday and I will give her package then. I told her over the phone that she had something from our Pal and she was very happy and surprised.
Thank you for thinking of them.
Wendy loved her socks and tattoos she wore both that evening. She looked so cute with two hearts on both cheeks. She insisted on one on each leg as well.
Mike appreciated you thinking of him as well. He sends his thanks for the chocolate, but guess who got the X's and O's, Wendy! Mike managed to get the hearts.
I enjoyed opening mine as well....I especially love the photo albums and heart frame. I love love the Hot Pink color! Thank you for my socks, stickers, and note pad.

Now then, Mylie's gifts were off the charts!!! Thank you so much for the 100 Good Wishes Dishes! I truly love them!! Mylie will be having many meals from them and I will think of you every time we use them. Those little Monkey socks are adorable. I will be taking that Album and either sending it ahead to Mylie or at least taking it with me for her. The reason I say this is because we sent a nice box to Wendy and the box was all crisp and new looking when we sent it. It took a couple of weeks and thinking it should have been to Wendy all of the sudden the Postman brought it to me and it looked round like a ball. Everything was in the box except for the chocolate I sent. Go figure..... I cried my eyes out, because my baby didn't get her package. So, what I did was pack up all I wanted to take to her and gave them to her when we got back to our room. I had hoped this would make it to her for her 1st birthday, and instead we celebrated it with her on the floor of our room. She loves those albums like you sent for Mylie, so I know Mylie will love hers as well.


I've rambled enough now......but I want you to know that you are very much appreciated. You truly out did yourself even on over night shipping! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!


Lesa

Thank you for the valentine card!

Secret pal,

In the previous post, I forgot to thank you for your valentine card you sent! It really made my day ! Thank you!!!!

Anik

So sorry SP!

My sincere apologies to my secret pal! I am so sorry I haven'T post a thank you for the November and December gifts on the blog before. I was under the impression I did, but I guess not.

Thank you so much for these wonderful gifts. I LOVE THEM!

The sign will have a special place in Marili's room. The saying is so beautiful and so true! I love the blanket (so soft), the books and the pink cardigan. Your gifts, as always, could not be more perfect!

Thank you so much

Anik, XXX

Carla's SP

Wow!!! You outdid yourself once again. We all loved our gifts. The little outfit is as cute as can be and the socks!! Love, love, love them!! I also can't wait for the summer to get my toenails polished and wear that ladybug toe ring. The picture frame will look good on my desk at work along with using the notepad and pen there. Can you see that ladybug hugging the fruit puffs? What a cute idea! You can see my youngest in the picture. He is just as excited as I am when its time to open the gifts. Both boys are enjoying the chocolate kisses and my dear hubby says thank you for the chocolate bar. He is going to hide it from me!! :(

Thank you, thank you!!!!!

Thanks from Krista G

My Secret Pal apparently has paid attention and is aware of my secret love for all things penguin. This month she sent a cute penguin shirt and an adorable pair of penguin pajamas. Thanks Secret Pal! I love it!

Thanks to Sandy H. SP!!

OK.... this is so crazy....I can not finds the words to express how much I truly enjoy receiving your gifts. I know I say it every time... but these were the most awesome and creative things I have opened yet~ (and the letter, wow!) Yeah, I could talk about the letter all day, but I won't take up that much space.

I just love the books, Moonbeams, Dumplings and Dragon Boats and The Dragon Dance. We did not have those yet.And the bib, the onesie, and the chintzy piggy bank are so cute! I don't know where or how you found those adorable tissues, but of course, with this wait I'm sure I'll use a few...HUNDRED. The CNY envelopes are going to come in handy on birthdays and other events. ( pooh is great;) Cody may put the pig ornament in his car he thinks. And of course... the "hair pretties" they are just perfect and you can never have too many. The golden pig thing is very interesting.. Thanks again for everything!

Sandy H.

Sherry's January Gift

Sorry SP for the late pictures. I got busy redoing the bathroom and forgot to take pictures. But, I just love the two little pair of jeans at tops. They are adorable. And I just love little jeans - I can't wait to put them on the baby.

And the card is - again - so wonderful. I just love the cards - I have one talented SP.
:)

Thanks again for everything!!
Sherry

Thank you to Kristin M's Secret Pal

Thank you so much secret pal for the wonderful goodies that you sent me this month. I loved your card, too! How fun is it that you found a secret pal card! :) That little outfit is precious and I cannot wait to put it on my little daughter.....someday! :) The matching hairbows and socks are crazy cute. The Chinese New Years goodies are being placed around my house today as we are having guests this week-end. You are so generous and kind and it has been such a wonderful blessing to have your timely gifts arrive to brighten this very long wait. Thank you again and Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentines Day to you!