Thank you, Sandra Boynton!

Just when we thought we couldn't possibly love Sandra Boynton anymore, she sends us this amazing gift! A few months ago Joe was on Sandra Boynton's website, seeing if she had any new books coming out. He came across the contact page and decided to send Sandra an email, telling her how special her books are to us. I fell in love with her books while working in a daycare center in college, and one of the very first things we did when I found out I was pregnant was go buy some Sandra Boynton books so we could read to the babies in utero. Joe read to them every night while they were in the womb, and we read them a Sandra Boynton book every single night of their NICU stay. We read them Birthday Monsters on the 27th of every month for the first year of their lives. When Annaleigh passed away, we used the verses of Personal Penguin on her funeral prayer card. Now, Charlie and and Lily are huge fans themselves. Just yesterday, Charlie started randomly reciting What's Wrong, Little Pookie? to himself. They can both recite The Going to Bed Book from memory and they sing Snuggle Puppy and Personal Penguin.

Anyhow, Sandra's sister Pam, who handles all of Sandra's fan correspondance, wrote Joe back and forwarded his message on to Sandra... and a few days later, Sandra personally responded, which was exciting enough in itself. But then she went ahead and sent us these amazing gift bags! Charlie and Lily each got an autographed copy of one of her book/CD combos and a stuffed animal - and aardvark and a rhinoceros. A gift bag for Joe and me contained two ties (which Joe can't wait to wear to work), coffee, a mom's calendar (that I had put on my Christmas list!) and birthday planner, CD and book.
But our favorite item was one for Annaleigh - an autographed copy of Personal Penguin. Both Joe and I cried when we opened it up. It's something we'll always treasure. Thank you so much, Sandra (and Pam)! You are wonderful! And if you haven't read Sandra's books, you are missing out big time...get thee to a bookstore! I recommend Moo, Baa, La, La, La and But Not the Hippopotamus (two of my personal favorites!). Charlie and Lily are currently big fans of Let's Dance, Little Pookie.