pack it up, pack it in....

getting ready to go home was a bit of a challenge. i finally gave up trying to pack until millie went down for a nap... it was literally impossible to put anything in our suitcases. the plus side: she entertained herself for a solid thirty minutes climbing in and out!

like father like daughter...

i am absolutely certain about where she picked up this skill!

our little lepruchan

there is one negative about spending the month of march away from chicago... missing out on the st. patrick's day craziness that i love so very much! there are no green rivers in the desert.

we thought about making corned beef and cabbage, but decided it was too much work. we settled for bailey's milk shakes instead.

jason took millie for mint choclate chip ice cream (which she loved!).

at least we wore green shirts.

i guess we were plenty wild and crazy for millie!

grandma comes over!

the place where we're staying in arizona this year has plenty of room for visitors - it's been nice to have company while we're here. there's plenty of sunshine to share!

jsaon's mom came to stay for a couple of days. millie loved getting the chance to hang out with her grandma and show off her new big girl skills... lots of walking and talking! 

some local people told us to check out the railroad park in scottsdale... loads of swings and playground equipment to climb all over. there was also a carousal and a little train that rode around the park. we brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the afternoon together.  

i think it burned her little buns... she was clearly not impressed with the slide.

she's like a little old lady with a walker - fearless and really fast. she wore herself right out...slept all the way home. 

b is for...

bubbles!

e-i-e-i-o!

millie got a very fun belated birthday present from alex and ava... she could pick out whatever she wanted from toys'r'us (well, almost anything she wanted!). we wandered up and down the aisles one afternoon a couple of weeks ago and settled in on a little people farm. it came with a tractor and some barnyard animals, and the gates and doors make noises when you open and close them. we've been working on animal sounds and singing old macdonald... i'm not convinced that she can differentiate between any of them just yet, but she definitely studies them very intently. it's quite possible that she thinks all of the animals are dogs. i'm hoping that we'll come across a couple of chickens or a bunny rabbit at some point in our travels (what kind of farm doesn't have chickens?)

she'll hate me for this picture someday... i don't care.

love those cute little buns in the barn.

baseball is back!

 our friends from the heckler came to town from chicago during our first weekend here... always such a great time with them. millie especially loved to tailgate... hotdogs and potato chips, need i say more?

we had lawn tickets for a couple of different games. i don't think we would have enjoyed ourselves quite as much if we were stuck in the seats. millie was a filthy little girl by the end of the day. grass stains on her clothes, dirt under her fingernails, and sticky hair... she was absolutely exhausted by the time we got her home and into the bathtub!

as millie would say, "good day"