The Fair!

Ah. Vacation at last (I have a week off before my new "school" year). We started it well, with a trip to the fair. Lucy loved it, as I'd hoped, and I loved it more than ever because sharing it with her was such fun.

Of course we watched and petted and fed the animals.

But then Lucy realized there was another lure at the fair: "Rides!"

She watched all the biggest, highest, scariest rides with fascination, saying "Rides! Rides! Me?"

"Me?"

And so we ended our day with rides on the carousel. Pure joy. She laughed in glee the whole time. And I felt much of the worry and anxiety I've been carrying around melting away.

In the studio: top secret

Oh, dear. I seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. It's been a rough month here, and I needed to devote my time to my family for a while. I'm sorry for the unannounced disappearance. Thank you for checking back! (And welcome to Pink Picket Fence readers! I hope you'll stay and read a while!)

As a baby step to getting back in the swing of blogging, here's an easy one...what's been happening in the studio this week. Shhh...don't tell. It's a top secret project (hope none of the families in my program are checking this blog!)

We've got one more week left until the end of the school year. This is a super-big end-of-year for me. Four years ago, I started this program in my home with a group of children ranging from 2 months to 2 1/2 years. This year, four of those original children are leaving for kindergarten. They've been here 4 years: 80 percent of their life. And now they're scattering to four different schools, and most of my original group will be gone. As you can imagine, it's an emotional moment for me, and for their parents. We're working on gifts which will be presented at our "graduation" next Friday. For the first time, we're using "real artist canvases."
The kids drew self portraits in front of a mirror, and then copied their drawings onto the canvas. Now, we're in the process of adding color.

I can't wait to see the parents' reactions. But not the tears that will follow.

Please bear with me in this crazy last week; I'm up to my ears in work and food and family visits. But I'll be back!