The good old days

I am titling this post "The Good Old Days" in recognition of the fact that Sonali is officially not a preschooler anymore. Phew, where have the years gone?

But we do still have some important preschool news to catch up on: namely, the annual Barn Art Show!

You may remember that this is my favorite school event of the year, and we anticipate it for months before the big day. When the date was announced this year, we were sad to discover that it was during the week we were hoping to spend in DC while Jason was there on business. We were traveling the week before to a wedding of an old friend, and we figured it would make sense to tack on some time in DC...but then we were faced with a tough decision: do we skip Sonali's last art show, or do we drive back without Jason for the show? Ultimately, we decided to come back on our own and have Didima join us. We were so glad that she was able to catch Sonali's last art show as a preschooler!

But guess who surprised us by flying home early just in time for the show?

Sonali and Dad with the preschool's splatter art

Inspiration: Jackson Pollock

Mom and Nalini with the toddlers' sunrise art

Inspiration: Eric Carle

Sonali with the toddlers' found objects (painted bottle caps embedded in resin on a tray - so cool!) art

Inspiration: John Dahlsen

Sonali's still life (canvas on the right)

Inspiration: posted photo of fruit basket

These were some of the highlights, but we haven't yet mentioned the Van Gogh starry nights rocking chair, the handmade quilt with kids' handprint and footprint squares, the photography, the art deco guitar canvas, the paper mache recreation of a scene from Where the Wild Things Are, or the dollhouse bookshelf, to name a few. We were lucky to win the auctions for the found art (score!), the splatter art, and the starry night rocking chair. All of the proceeds go toward the art fund for the summer curriculum, so everyone enjoys the event that much more.

All in all, the art show did not disappoint and was well worth the complicated travel scramble (did I really serve as the kids' personal bus driver for 600 miles last week?) that got us back in time to participate.

And thus ends an era. Sonali will start kindergarten on Wednesday, and we have a lot to do to prepare. We will be sharing our impressions of the big day soon!