paint by numbers

When I was a little girl, I loved the paint by number sets sold at our local craft store.  It was such a huge treat when my mom would surprise me with one!  I would immediately run outside and sit under the huge oak tree in our backyard, and paint until dinner!  I remember always trying to be very careful, and occassionally painting the wrong the space, and getting angry with myself, because I wanted it to be as perfect as the picture on the box, which was usually my favorite thing in the whole world... a horse! 

Yesterday, I decided to surprise my daughter with a paint by numbers kit, also of a horse.  I had given her one a few years before, but she didn't have the patience to complete it.  Under the barren limbs of our Bradford Pear, she and I painted for about an hour and a half, until it was time to come in and for me to fix dinner.  For a little while, I was a young girl again, painting with a friend.  It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, and a quality project for us.  I want to frame it for her, not because it's great art, but to remind us of our time together.