Tattooed Walls

I have a thing for wallpaper.  I think of it like tattoos, I just can't leave a wall bare!  I went window shopping recently and picked out new designs for the pink house.  

This is my bedroom now.  I love the paper.

This is the only other room with wallpaper.  A small cherry border is in the kitchen.

Now here is my wish list.

The nursery.

 I LOVE this and out of them all it is most likely to actually happen.  Look at those cows!  For the kitchen.

 Homeschool room

Living room or dining room

Bedroom or living room

Mudroom because I love to make it bright.

Perfect for the bathroom!

Building Blocks Friedrich Froebel

Friedrich Froebel, the man who invented kindergarten and forever changed early childhood education, designed the Froebel Gifts in 1840.  They have been referred to as 'the toy that created modernism'.  They are basically blocks, but so much more.  They were created to help children perceive the unity and interconnectedness of art, math and nature.  He was a predecessor  to Maria Montessori and their works have often been compared and contrasted.   Montessori however believed the design of her materials was scientifically based and gave more thought to the readiness of the child.  Her materials are designed for a specific purpose and that is how they are to be used, with out much -if any, deviation.  Froebel on the other hand designed his materials to be open ended.  If you want to read more go here.
Frank Lloyd Wright attributed having the Froebel Gifts as a child to be the basis of all his work. (sidenote; I found it interesting Frank Lloyd Wright's son invented Lincoln Logs in 1916)  One of my favorite artist, Wassily Kandinsky, is another famous person whose works (especially the early Bauhaus pieces) are connected to Froebel.  Here are a couple links if you want to look at this further....
http://www.froebelweb.org/webindex.html
http://www.shopwright.org/froebel-booklet.html
I highly recommend Froebel's Gifts.  They are pricey (basic set about $150) but I believe they are important enough to purchase.

Just a reminder I now have a blog dedicated to Montessori philosophies and how that looks in our home.  Come visit  http://lifeinthepinktower.blogspot.com/

Butterflies For Breakfast

Once a month our oldest daughter has a two hour late start for school.  It is our routine out for breakfast morning.  This month we went to Byways, a small cafe in the Pearl district of Portland.  Do any of you remember when it was Shakers?  I have to admit I liked Shakers more, although I do enjoy Byways on occasion.  Byways has the same vibe- but a little less kitsch and a lot more ptown.  I do miss all the cute salt and pepper 'shakers' on display.  Once you were served on vintage diner ware but I imagine over the years that inventory has been depleted, although a few remnants can be found in the cafe.  The food is standard diner Portland.
I wore one pair of my cowboy boots.  I love the butterflies.  I bought them on a trip to Nashville a few years ago.  The store was buy one get TWO free!  How could I pass that up?

I am 39

Here is a belated birthday post.  I turned 39 on New Years Eve.   It was a great day.  We met our family's bbf's, who live in Seattle, halfway between our house and theirs in little western town called Centralia.   The pub where we met was pleasing to the eye but unfortunately the service was terrible.  (Do any of you Pacific Northwest readers find that is often the case with McMenamins?)  The company of friends was so great though, it didn't spoil our time at all.  Then we came home and did the Mess family ritual of fondue, red velvet cake, games and movies.  I'll admit I was in bed before midnight!

Sekret City Art

I forgot to share this little lovely.  A print by an old friend.  Check out his amazing work here. 

Passage Of Time

Family Timelines

Sequence, history, chronology, are extremely abstract concepts for children.  We have inadvertently created a lesson in a pictoral timeline.  I have always had a wall of our kitchen full of collage frames picturing family.  This helps the girls understand their history and where they fit into the larger picture.  It begins at one end and has grown across the wall in (almost) chronological order.  We have all our meals and spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  I believe all children start out as visual learners and this wall is part of their learning from the beginning.  I also value story telling to pass on family history and this wall of pictures prompts many.