On Sunday we brought Feeleez to a local craft fair. We set up a booth with the matching game all set up and the poster on an easel. We had a big basket of buttons and a display of the greeting cards. Folks love Feeleez and it was a pleasure to sell these items to people that are yearning for these kinds of tools. Several child therapists picked up a game/poster combo and a school superintendant did as well. Yippee!
But we are a family business so if Feeleez attends a fair, a fair that lasts ALL DAY in ninety-five degree heat, that means our three girls attend that very same fair in that very same heat. So in addition to booth supplies we lug a bunch of toys and more snacks than can fit in a single shopping bag. The girls start out strong, helping to unload the car and carefully place each item where it belongs. Market booths are basically a live version of playing store and that has major appeal. They are also proud, which makes my heart melt. They are proud to be "famous (their words) in this way and want nametags and all the official Feeleez employee accoutrements.
But remember the all day and ninety-five degree heat part?
About mid-day we were all feeling claustrophobic and I was begging the girls to run booth errands with papa, anything to get them out from under my feet with their heat complaints and sibling squabbles. I think they all were crying at different points. Yet they coped. In fact, all the swag they got from fellow vendors went a long way (earrings, hair ties, candy, necklaces - these girls score!) and the ice cream break was helpful as well.
It was eight in the evening before we made it to the river and cooled our exhausted bodies. And I have to say that a pre-bed river dip is a particularly special delight. Peeling off swimsuits and climbing under the sheets? Wow. That's really something.
So you can imagine my surprise when the next day as I plowed through some Feeleez work the girls were drawn to the Feeleez website. I thought they'd groan in misery just from linking Feeleez with that never-ending market day. Nope. The coloring pages caught their eyes and before I knew it a color-fest had begun. A Feeleez color-fest.
What Nathan and I really enjoyed is that as each girl colored they talked through a scenario that caused the depicted emotion. They gave the images names and lives and then gave them empathy for their feelings! As each was finished we'd enjoy it together and moan in empathy or cheer in empathy, depending on the image. They got a chance to operate these characters that are so familiar to them.
And as always, it's fascinating to find which Feeleez kids our girls think are boys or girls. As I drew them I certainly had a particular gender in mind but amazingly there is no agreement in our house on the gender of these characters. I love that!
Even our biggest girl, often nose-deep in pre-teen activities, got in on the act.
They aren't sick of it. That has got to be a good sign.
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