Preschool

I am almost embarrassed to admit how much time I've thought about preschool in the last year and a half.  First it was trying to pick a place that would work for Leo then hoping that I made the right choice because you have to register a full eight months in advance.  And then it was sending off my nearly four year old two days a week (which most parents here send them at nearly three, a year younger than Leo) and hoping it was the right place.  Being a first time parent is stressful. 


Our life experience out here is so different than the way that I grew up.  Back home, we all went to Karma's Kiddie Korner.  The teacher taught a sweet little class out of her basement, just a few doors down from my own.  I have good memories being in the class.  That is not how things are done here.  Preschools are large, formal affairs with curriculums and parent teacher conferences. 

I've seen preschools that immerse your child in another language, that promise to have them reading at 3 or other crazy things.  It's not really the experience I wanted for Leo.  Really, I wanted him to have a place to go and play and to explore the world.  

I remember walking into the preschool and thinking "where is all the art work?"  Because, that is what I thought a preschool was, kids doing the same art project and then hanging them on the wall.  Thinking back on that, I have to laugh at myself.  This is one of the things I like best about his school, they leave their projects open ended and letting the children have more control over what they create.

The highlight has been his teachers.  Mrs. Lundgren has taught there for 30 years and made the transition easier for this nervous first year parent.

Leo's was the only one with color.

 

 Last week we went to his class' open house.  He got to show us all of the zones in the room and to show all of his favorite things.  All around the room, his artwork was on the wall.  It just made my heart burst to see his line drawings.  Thinking back on how far we've come is astounding.  Leo has grown up this year and we're so proud of him.
 

Mountains and Trees

I grew up in Grantsville.  My family has lived in this little town for four generations.  I like to joke that my "people" sacrificed everything to walk across the United States to Utah and now I live in Virginia.

We are coming up on our second anniversary this summer.  That's not completely accurate because out of the last five years, we've spent four of them living in VA.  I guess that I've noticed a shift lately, and especially on our last trip out at the end of March.  Utah doesn't really feel like home anymore.  All those years that I lived away, I always considered my home to be Utah.  My family was there, my best friend, all of my favorite places to shop, a common culture....it was all there but I've felt a shift.  We are settled here in our life and our home.  It's a good feeling to not feel quite so torn between the two places. 

Back in February, my parents announced that they would be taking a job in Chicago.  This doesn't seem like groundbreaking news.  People move all the time, I just read of a good friend here today who was moving.  But, you see, my parents have lived in Grantsville for nearly 60 years.  In my childhood, we lived in two houses, around the block from each other.  You can see how a move to Chicago would be big news. 

I'm excited for them to go, everyone should have some big adventures in their life.  Knowing that this move was imminent certainly changed the trip for me.  People move on, lives change but there was so much about my "Utah life" that didn't really change much.  Yet, now even my most stable anchors are venturing out for something new.  It all has made me realize how much I've changed and all I've experienced as I've moved.

While I was out visiting, I couldn't get enough of the mountain views.  The sweeping landscape is the complete opposite of our home here.  The vast landscapes with no people that stretched as far as I could see were majestic.  There really aren't big wide open spaces like that here.  I think I forgot how open it could be, how big the sky was.  This probably sounds silly but it was like seeing my life, each part so starkly different from the other.  Each has their beauties and their flaws, as does everything in life.  

 

The New Studio

Let me introduce the new studio.

Let me just say that this has long been a dream of mine, although, I never expected that I would ever have something like this in my own home.   I've been sneaking down here in the evenings to create.  It's really my one quiet place in the whole house. 

A few weeks ago, Heber finished the new studio.  I couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome.  There are still a few small things here and there to work on but it is functional and wonderful.  I have felt so inspired in the space and have already created some incredibly exciting new things. Everything is always where I leave it.  Which, if you're a mom too, you understand the beauty of things being in their place.

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to start to sell my glass work.  It's been a big process because I want to do it right.  I signed up for a vendor fair in May and have been working toward producing projects to fill a table.  This shouldn't seem like such a big deal but it is to me.   It's nerve wracking putting my work out there.


As part of putting my work out there, I just barely finished the redesign of my website, gentrigreen.com.  This was a big job and I learned some things about wordpress which have come in handy.  I ordered some business cards which means that I'm about to become a real person.  Any other free moment has been spent designing in the glass studio.  Oh, and you know, being a mom, running a home and our life here.