mornings with polly

summer has been soooo sweet.

one of the things i have loved best has been the little morning routine we've fallen into.

we usually start the day outside...to pacify Tulip's constant pleas

it has been smokin' hot this week, so getting out in the early hours has been our only hope for picking beans from the garden and letting sunlight fall like fairy dust in our hair

once i finally convince them to come into the cool house, it is close to Tulip's nap time.

she has JUST RECENTLY started enjoying reading...which is so weird for me

Peach is SUCH a book worm - it has been hard to put Tulip to bed without stories

thank goodness, i've finally got her hooked on books that have animals - as long as i baaaa or moooo on every page, she'll sit through a whole story.....sometimes two :)

once she's softly snoring, Peach and i get some time for us

it always starts with the Good Book

today we read about Moses

then, Peach has several activities that she likes to choose from

they are almost always things that we can't do when sweet Tulip is awake.  some days we cook.  other days we make a project.

today we colored.

then came the question that i get almost every morning:

"momma,  can we play with the pollys?"

i didn't know much about polly pockets until a few weeks ago.

Peach's little friend, Lucy, has been carrying around these little princess dolls that Peach just adored

when I asked lu-lu belle's momma about them she educated me a bit on the polly world and encouraged me to check out a consignment shop in Shakopee

Peach and i had a little date and set out to find some inexpensive starter pollys....I spent $6 on what we thought were a bunch of polly pockets and a car, but upon further inspection when we got home, we realized we got 1 polly and a bunch of other random stuff

but, Peach didn't care - she was happy as a clam with her new polly

fast forward to a dinner date with a family that we adore the following week

that family happens to have a sweet gal going into 4th grade

she showed up at the Olive Garden with a whole ziploc baggie FULL of pollys that she had outgrown!

in the past 3 and a half years i have not had so peaceful a meal....Peach was totally content to dress and re-dress the little dolls over and over again

and since that day we've been rather passionate about the pollys at our house

speaking of houses.....the doll house we had gotten Peach for her birthday, she wasn't really that into 

(reason number 5850843 i am glad that i find the majority of my kids birthday and christmas gifts at garage sales)

so, i sold it on craigslist for the exact same amount that i paid for it and then.....drumroll please.....

i found one that fits these dolls PERFECTLY at another garage sale for.....wait for it.....FIVE BUCKS!

yep - it just needed a new hinge on the door, which J was happy to provide (after a slight eye roll that i was AGAIN buying a dollhouse - he really loves how thrifty I am...he just has to give me a hard time about it)

anywhoo, without futher ado....

welcome to polly's house

i have invested a grand total of $11 in these little gals and she is busy with them for HOURS.....

the make believe just gets bigger every day

so far, we've gone to a Polly concert (her pillow was the stage), "planted" a Polly garden which "grew" plastic tomatoes that were 5 times the size of the dolls, had a pool party, a birthday party and today we went shopping at the Polly store and had a picnic

this one usually ends up to be my girl because we have the same hair :)

polly doesn't go anywhere without her purse

check out all the clothes they found at the store - enough to fill up the hood of the car!  who needs an engine, anyway?

at some point, we usually have a snack

(today it was animal crackers)

and we always share with the pollys and their pets ;)

after lots and lots of pretending, we eventually hear little bird chirping in the other room and make a mad dash to clean up all the little pieces before she can come in and pop them into her beak!

when we close the lid on the pollys, Peach always promises to come back to play with them again the next day - same time, same place

and then the make believe continues....just with bigger babies

oh these days of playing on the floor and pretending

i absolutely could not ask for more