If you'd have asked me yesterday I would have told you we could stand to get rid of about 50% of our toys. Board games and books we use, but toys not so much. Of course, there are a few things that get played with regularly like the animals and the Star Wars figurines. Things like Clara's collection of Littlest Petshop and Polly Pockets don't see much action anymore.

Today, at 3pm on the first ped day of the school year I can report that every toy has been touched at some point over the last 6 hours. Clara and Leo have been playing non-stop all day with just about everything we own! The train set is out, the mini Barbie castle is set up, there are princess and fairy figurines carefully placed (in a Little People garage), and the Littlest Petshop animals are lined up. I can't follow the game even a little bit but it is clearly fun and imaginative and has taken them both to another place.

By all accounts school is going very well for both kids, they've settled into their new routines beautifully. However, what has become very obvious to me over the course of the day is just how wonderful it feels to stay home (wearing pyjamas in Leo's case) and loose yourself in pure, imaginative, unstructured play. I'm forever thankful that we can provide this luxury for our kids. They are thriving.