The countdown begins!

23 months today! We are officially counting down to MB's big birthday. So much to prepare, but today we decided to eat pancakes and go shopping. Millie requested purple pancakes this morning. We tried to make them purple with blueberries but it didn't really work, so we dumped a bunch of chocolate chips in and called it good. There was some purple when we cut into them :)

After that we checked our growing list for the thrift store and set out on the town.

But first, the Chapstick. Always the Chapstick.

We found lots of treasures! Some mud kitchen and sandbox tools, a Millie-sized spreader to add to her kitchen gear, white crepe paper for art projects, a ceramic egg holder and tiny ramikins for holding art supplies, a great wood-handled knife for play dough, a mini muffin tin to melt crayons, and a beautiful moon and stars throw (thinking of figuring out how to make it a canopy for her bed). All for under $20. Everything was on our list except the throw, and it was too beautiful to pass up. Plus it seems (smells) brand new!

Favorite parts

I have so many stories to share from the last couple of days, but I have to write this one down before I forget! 

While getting ready for bed, Millie was lying on her back and started pointing to parts of her face with both hands (2 eyes, 2 ears, etc). I started asking her "where is your... chin? Where is your... nose?" and so on. I was surprised how fast she could point to each part, so we kept playing faster and faster while we were both cracking up. She got ears, nose, eyes, chin, teeth, cheeks, neck, arms, hands, fingers, elbows, shoulders, belly, bum, back, legs, knees, feet, toes.

Then I kissed the bottoms of her sweet little feet and told her "My favorite part is these toe toes!", which she very well knows. I asked her "What's your favorite?" She thought for a second then said "Emma, Adeline". I said "Your favorite part of you is your friends Emma and Adeline?" She gave me a big smile and nodded yes.

Sometimes this girl really melts my heart! 

*we made some new yellow play dough today*

More later about our lovely visit with Erica :)

Painting and printing

Today we tried out some of the "tools" we've collected for print-making: bubble wrap, rug pad, foil, rubber spiky ring, and big makeup brush. Millie took to it right away and had a blast. And of course there's nothing a girl loves more than spending time with her Dada! We even got a handprint to keep :)

Art collecting

Yesterday we received our first box of found art materials. Millie has been talking about Erica a lot, so imagine her delight when she found a box with her name on it from Erica and Ian! Thanks friends! We appreciate it so much. Millie had a great time sorting through the box, "ooh"-ing and "ahh"-ing.

If you have some things to mail, please consider sending them next week. We are planning to start a super fun color unit for the first week of April. Millie already knows all the colors just through play and everyday life, so I think she will really enjoy this.

I'm planning to do one color a week for six weeks, working on one canvas for the whole week using different mediums. By the end we will have six 12x12 panels that I want to hang up in her art studio as permanent installation pieces. Color study is one of my absolute favorite things to do with kids, so this is going to be very exciting!

Her favorite color is blue, followed by yellow and purple. In fact, this morning she lifted her shirt and told me she has a blue baby in her belly. I pressed her for more information, and she then admitted to having two babies in there. Oh boy.

Here is a picture of the goodies we've collected so far. As you can see, orange and yellow are the most scarce (and it has always been that way in all my years of teaching art.. Not sure why exactly)

Not pictured are the neutrals (besides black) and the natural materials.

Here is just the red isolated so you can get an idea of how enticing this will be to create with:

As extra incentive, each participant who donates stuff will receive a Millie Bea original in the mail as a thank-you. Please help us grow our collection. Our collecting and using these re-cycled materials will be ongoing as well, but like I mentioned I'm hoping to start the first color for this particular project April 1st.

Explaining why she has to climb the table to hang up her picture... Love this girl

My pink bunny

Bring on the mud

"Up up up! Down down down..." 

Millie's favorite phrase

It seemed like this day would never come. The other toddler moms and I had almost given up hope. But it came. Millie spent 4 hours outside today with her girlfriends. Finally a taste of Spring!

Watering plants

Last week Grandma brought us some spring bulbs and a couple of other plants (thank you!), and the daffodils have begun to bloom. Today we gathered up all the houseplants to water and observe them. Millie has been very interested in color for a while now so she began her observation by turning over the leaves to check for different colors. We found green, pink, red, yellow, and a nice shade of blue-green. We also found that one of the plants has lots of baby leaves sprouting up from the soil. Millie sniffed all the plants, but only the lavender, geranium, and daffodil had a distinct scent. Of course she loved watching the water disappear as the plants "drank it". A successful indoor gardening time was had by all :)