a quiet start

we've had a quiet start to the new year.

after all the excitement of the holidays, we've been enjoying a couple low key weeks and weekends snuggled up at home.

i remember this happening totally by accident last year...just not really planning anything during January.  and i loved it!

it was so nice to have time to explore new toys, slowly say good-bye to the Christmas decor and put the house back together.

so, this year we intentionally left lots of open spaces on the calendar and we've been soaking up

forts, dress up, playing doctor to stuffed animals, reading new books dozens of times, sledding at our newfound hill, baking cookies and our favorite...flashlight hide and seek :)

not to mention some good, quality cousin time as well

as you can see, i've majorly slacked on the picture taking

j says that's because no one gets more into kids toys than i do.

it's true.

i had been itching for Christmas to arrive so the girls could get all the fun stuff that I...I mean SANTA...had been collecting at garage sales all summer

my favorite?

littlest pet shop.

i got this adorable little playground at a garage sale for five bucks and then spent the rest of the summer collecting pets to go with it.

i actually set it up in the basement on several occasions, just to see all the fun stuff i had managed to collect and organize it in a little tub, making sure all the pieces fit just so....and, i confess:

 i played with it...when the girls were in bed...before Santa put it under the tree. :)

i mean, honestly...can you blame me?  just look at that monkey...

i don't know if it is their little bobble heads or their big eyes, but i just love setting up their beds, food station, park and pretending the afternoons away.

the best part is that it is finally a toy that BOTH girls can equally enjoy.  

Peach is in love with this Strawberry Shortcake grocery store that she got from grams and gramps

her Polly Pockets come shopping here and i just adore her little voice telling the customers  "that will be fourty three dollars and nineteen cents, please" when they want to buy a bunch of bananas

she learned about Doc McStuffins from a cute little friend and my parents got her the dvd.  quite by coincidence, i had found a little pet hospital for her and she's been busy playing doctor to the animals, fixing their owies and recording it all in her very own
big book of boo-boos

Tulip has turned into a reading machine and her most cherished activities include looking through books while clutching her new and beloved squinkies.  These are the ones we can't stop picking up.

i did get a few grown-up gifts that i'm enjoying as well...including new pots and pans - NEVER have i enjoyed cooking so much!

and...drumroll please....PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS!  Yay - it isn't up and running on my computer yet.  I need to get an update before I can install it.  But, BIG improvements on my pics as I'm going to be able to do all sorts of fun edits now - yahoo!

all in all, it has been a delicious start to 2013.

eventually, we'll get back to the busy-ness that we enjoy

Peach has been asking about gymnastics

And we've got a baptism, birthday party, scrapbooking weekend and golf get-away coming up

but for now, i'm savoring the slow

high hopes that the rest of the year is this yummy.