Day 5 Giveaway- Monogrammed Tote

I could not have asked for a better gift to wrap up my 5 Days of Blog Giveaways, as I am in LOVE with monogramming! I would put our names on everything if I could afford it!


This adorable tote comes to you from Jan's-n-stitches on Etsy.com! This is the shop where Billy's sister ordered Vivi's adorable school backpack as seen here.


So being that I LOVE that backpack so very much, I contacted sweet Ms. Jan and asked if she would like to offer up something from her shop for my giveaway. I would have never imagined she would be giving away something so CUTE!! And just in time for summer as this would make the perfect beach tote or a carry-all around the house. It is made in wipe able fabric (not sure that is a word-but you Mom's know how important that feature is!) and can be monogrammed to the winner's specifications and thread color choice! With shipping costs this gift would retail for $30! Thank you, Jan for this wonderful finale to my Blog Giveaway Week!!

To win this fabulous bag, and to celebrate the end of my 5 Days of Blog Giveaways, you can enter this contest up to FIVE times!!!

First: Go to Jan's-n-stitches and browse around, coming back here to leave a comment with your favorite product that they offer!
Second: "Like" Jan's-n-stitches on Facebook and come back here to tell me you did!
Third: Link this giveaway off your facebook wall or blog and come back here to tell me you did that!
Fourth: Tell me if you won this bag what you would use it for/give it to and why you want it!
Fifth: (this one is all for me!) Leave a comment telling me why you enjoy reading my blog!

Of course- you can choose to enter all 5 comments at once- or wait a day or two to be further down on the list. Either way...best wishes and the winner will be chosen and announced next Friday, May 20th!

Phew!! What a fun...but exhausting blog week! You can review all of my giveaways, here. I loved this so much, ya'll...that I will definitely be doing it again...kinda like a "Laurie's Favorite Things" segment...although I am fairly certain that Oprah copyrighted that phrase. No really...she did. So I won't be calling it that. But nonetheless...I am thinking Spring and Fall Giveaways! That gives me all summer to think up what my wonderful prizes should be. :)

So go enter all the giveaways and stay tuned next week for the winners!

Day 4 Giveaway- Lucky Brand Jewelry Set

**Several of you were so sweet and emailed me the cache'd version of this post so that I would not have to reenter all of the details since Blogger so rudely deleted it!! Great news is, here it is! Bad news is the links don't work and I have to get to typing up Day 5's Giveaway (along with finishing my house cleaning for K and T to come tonight!!), and since Shannon is on vacation and her Ebay site is down anyway- I will do her links when her shop is back. The other bad news is that you all will have to re-comment to win. Because of the annoyingness of it all, I will allow everyone one additional entry!! So you can leave up to 3 comments (vary up the time of day or wait a day or so if you would like to get further down on the line). This will increase your chances of getting picked when my kids do a cake-walk like game to choose the winner ( I will post pics of that as it ought to be hilarious!!) As I said, the winner will be chosen and announced next Thursday, May 19th! So leave your 3 comments to enter to win!!!**

Check out today's giveaway!!!

This is a necklace, earrings, and ring jewelry set that you will love!
It is being offered to you from our long time family friends Shannon and Stephanie who run an Ebay business called Fabulous Fashion Finds. This mother daughter team formed their online retail business several years ago to "boost their vacation fund" as they describe it! They have done much more than that as they have created a booming business of shopping and selling their fashion finds on Ebay! They offer handbags, sunglasses, jewelry, wallets, watches...and more! Can you imagine shopping for a living? That is what they do. (Well...okay...Steph is a also a brand new nurse at a children's hospital while Shannon is recently in remission and building back her immune system after chemo for breast cancer...so they DO do other very important things. :)
And as the sweet friend that she is, Shannon has so generously put together this set of Lucky Brand jewelry for one of my lucky readers to win! The ring is adjustable from a size 6-8 finger.
My plan was to send you over to their Ebay site, but it just so happens that Shannon and her husband are headed off today on vacation for a week so the store is temporarily closed. You can still view their about me page, here. And will be able to view their website and all the products they offer- in about 10 days or so.
In the meantime, you all will be here working the comment box to enter and await as I announce a winner next Thursday, May 19th.
You can enter this contest in TWO ways:First: leave a commentSecond: FB and/or blog about it with a link to this post, and leave a comment that you did.

OH! I forgot to add...Shannon put together this jewelry set just for us and it would retail for:$113 on her site!!That is an awesome gift!!!Thank you Shannon and Steph!
Don't forget to come back here tomorrow for my final day of blog giveaways when I reveal the gift I so wish I could win!!

Day 3 Giveaway- Sleepy Soft Nice Mice!

Look at this adorable pair of mice! So cute, right? But they are not ordinary stuffed animals, they are actually warmers for kids! You just pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds and tuck their toasty little bodies in your kids coat pockets as hand warmers, or in their bed at night as a way to calm and settle your little one.

From the website:
"Filled with love and our "Sweet Dreams" blend of aromatic herbs, grains, soothing lavender and chamomile with a hint of orange." They can also be frozen and used as Boo Boo mice!

This pair retails for $25.

Nice Mice come to you from the same company that owns The Pattycake Doll Company that I featured a giveaway on a couple weeks ago. The owners sent me an email saying that based on the feedback you all gave, after many years with their current website, they are going to spend the summer changing it up!! I think that will go far in increasing their traffic and sales. They asked if I wanted to do another giveaway which of course I said yes to!!

So...to win this pair, you will need to go to www.Sleepysoft.com and browse around. Come back here and leave a comment on what you think about the products. The web design is the same- so they don't need feedback on the site, just the products...what you like, what you would purchase, etc.

And this time around you have more than one chance to enter the contest!!

First- Leave a comment with product feedback based on your visit to www.Sleepysoft.com

Second- Officially "Follow" my blog and leave a comment that you did so, or one that says "currently following" if you have been a follower for awhile.

Thirdly- Facebook and/or blog about this giveaway with a link to it. Come back here and leave another comment that you did that!

This gives everyone up to 3 comments in the comment box to which one lucky reader will be chosen by random and announced as the winner on Wed. May 18th.

Good luck to you all!!

Come back tomorrow for Day 4 of 5 Days of Blog Giveaways.

Tomorrow will be my most expensive gift ever and is one just for you, ladies!

Day 2 Giveaway- Mixed Chicks Shampoo

Today's Giveaway is a bottle of tear free Shampoo from Mixed Chicks new kid's line! From the website: "Finally, a tear free, gentle, natural, safe shampoo for our kids. Now you can wash tender scalps daily without fuss." This 8 oz. bottle retails for $13.00. We have been using Mixed Chicks for almost a year now since last summer when I posted this about how their products have transformed Vivi's hair! We use their adult shampoo/conditioner/leave-in treatment regimen to define her curls. This photo was recently taken to show you what happens when we do Vivi's hair!

Mixed Chicks has been so generous to us in the past as seen here. And so I am very happy they have agreed to be a part of my blog giveaway, as I hand selected only those companies I choose to stand behind.
You can check out their website or go view their *NEW* kid's line! which offers the ability to purchase the Quad pack-including a Tangle Tamer spray!

These products work on curly hair whether your daughter is biracial or multiracial. If she has curls...you will LOVE it! They emailed to tell me they are sending Vivi products from the kid's line, so I am anxious to see what that will be! Enter to win a bottle of Mixed Chicks Kid's Shampoo by leaving a comment! I will announce the winner next Tuesday, May 17th.



Come back tomorrow for Day 3 of my Blog Giveaways.
Side note- The following 3 days offers are not adoption/race related.
You will NOT want to miss these!!

Book Review Monday...and Giveaway!

This is the latest book to hit the Transracial Adoption resource pool. It is written by Amy Ford who with her partner have adopted 3 African American daughters. She lives in Austin, TX and sent me a copy of the book, which at a mere 97 pages- I was able to read in two days. Each chapter is only a few pages long so it would be easy to read in short increments.

What I love about this book is that she begins by really exploring if Transracial Adoption is right for you. There is a questionnaire to assess your knowledge of the African American culture, grooming, etc. but most importantly your willingness to seek guidance and help along the journey of raising a black child. She talks about things that a Transracial family ought to do: like finding a culture camp to send your child to (along with doing your own research of their culture), a support group with other people of color within the group, and what I liked the most was- seek opportunities for you as the parents to be the minority. We have done this by attending Juneteenth celebrations every summer and MLK Jr. parades in January.

I really liked the inclusion of a list of common Transracial parenting mistakes written by Dr. Willie B. Garrett. The ones that stood out to me are: #4 Allowing Others to Intrusively Touch or Violate Your Child's Boundaries. Often times strangers want to touch black kids hair and skin- I think they actually do it more to our families because we are white and they think they can cross that boundary. I cannot imagine that white strangers walk up to black families and manhandle their kids...but maybe they do! The book suggests having a set response of "sorry but I do not allow anyone to touch her hair." The other one I liked was #6 Not Challenging Racism. Dr. Garrett says, "Racism today is less aggressive and tends to be "invisible" in the forms of attitude, voice tone, body language and posture, or institutional practices. Parents must be alert to disparate treatment and advocate on their child's behalf." I had to do this in reference to a substitute teacher Isaac had this semester. I won't go into the details, but Billy and I felt clearly that her day long mistreatment of Isaac had something to do with her bias towards him being the only black child in the class. I addressed this with the assistant principle that very afternoon.

In Brown Babies, Pink Parents the author also spends a chapter talking about "white privilege". She says that as a society, "We are conditioned to believe white is better, richer, cleaner, and more desirable." This is perpetuated in media, in schools, in virtually every single facet of society and the author points out that white privilege is the "undeserved advantages I am automatically given based on my skin color." It is a real issue whether we white people want to acknowledge it or not. I wish she had spent more than two pages on this important topic as I believe white people have to sometimes be convinced that this is a real problem. She did reference an article that can be accessed online titled, Unpacking the Invisible Knapscack by Dr. Peggy McIntosh. I intend on reading this soon.

Amy Ford goes on to discuss self esteem and identity, finding role models, how to care for your child's hair and skin, going in great detail on this, which I so appreciated! She warns against the Four S's with black daughters: Sandboxes, Swimming, Sleepovers, and Self Styling. You will have to get the book to read her informative and hilarious take on why you must be cautious about your daughter partaking in these activities!

My favorite quote from the book is found on page 36, "While I see each daughter as a miracle from God, the world sees them as little black girls. Someday the world will see them as black women, but the bigger question is, how will they see themselves?"

As you probably guessed it- I highly recommend this book to ALL of those who have been blessed to be pink parents of brown babies, and to those praying to one day be.

Amy Ford has graciously offered a signed COPY OF THE BOOK to one lucky reader! So please visit her website www.brownbabiespinkparents.com and leave a comment here to enter to win! You can just enter your name under name/url in the comment box. You do not have to have an account or leave an email to enter.
The winner will be drawn and announced next Monday, May 16th.


And come back tomorrow for Day 2 of my Blog Giveaways!

My Blog Surprise!

You read that right!!

In one week from tomorrow I will be doing

5 Days of Blog Giveaways!!!

I want to commemorate having gained 100 followers (well more than that now! :)

Thank you all so much for choosing to come here to read what I have to say.

The items up for grabs are really, really fun so you will not want to miss this!

Some are for a child some are just for you!

I will post a new giveaway Monday-Friday beginning May 9th, and each day's prize will be given one week for people to leave their comment and be entered in the drawing. You will also have a chance to be entered twice...first by viewing the product's website and leaving a comment with your feedback about the products offered. Then, second by either mentioning the contest and linking it off your blog or FBing about it and then coming back to tell me you did! I hope to generate lots of business for the companies I have hand selected for each day of the Giveaway.

( If that just totally confused you...don't worry, I will repeat the rules during the Giveaway week).

So stay tuned and come back here every day beginning the 9th to check out the wonderful products! And as a heads-up...I have put the products in order leading up to my favs...so the end of the week is going to be some great items, I can promise you that! :)