Pinch me, we have PIE

we LOVE Blessings Farm

everything about it pretty much...

we love our wee little town

our lovely region

we EVEN love our neighbors!

and their amazing skills!

and the blessings they bestow upon us

the best of all, their friendship and prayers!

One of the fantastic skills Mrs. M has is baking

and THIS is her latest GIFT to our family!

She baked it fresh

and brought it over warm

sorry the lighting is bad..

it just.. well.. was bad

but this pie..

was not

it was DELICIOUS

wonderful

really delightful! 

it was also Raspberry Pie!

Raspberries are one of my ALL time FAVORITE ever!

Thank you Mrs. M

though you will probably NEVER read this blog

you are LOVED

and so wonderfully well thought of!

Pinch me,

we have PIE!

Littlest Room - Assembly Day!

It's assembly day for the Littlest Room...

and I am beaming with excitement..

As a part of home education..

we see learning as sort of three fold

first 

one watches and learns

second

one comes along Teacher learning new skills step by step incrementally

going from doing a new skill here as the Teacher completes project

building on skills until you get to the third phase..

WAIT !!!

how long does a level  take?  as long as it takes...

Third

one does the project on their own

completely 

Teacher is quite near if student has a question, 

or "gets stuck"

that's it...

WAIT!!!

HOW do Test them?? 

The "Test" comes when it comes.. 

VERY Naturally 

When said "Student" completes the project...

and never once needed assistance...

never questioned "self" and panicked...

and the project is done..

completely

and done well, very very well...

phase 2 is sort of apprenticing on a a job..

THAT is where Buddy is at..

for the most part on projects like this,

he is NO longer a watch and learn guy..

He's super excited! 

Princess is at the tale end of apprenticing on jobs like this..

She is Level Three..

is this going to pass out??

Will this be her "TEST"

She sure is behaving like it..

She has diligently learned to study directions,

 reading the process and drawings carefully

She has learned her tool set and knows how to handle her tools

Little Man has pulled up a chair..

him DECIDING he wants to be a phase 1 guy...

this may change in 3 minutes..it may not..

each kid KNOWS when it becomes interesting

and you know..

because they stay..

they watch..

they want to get you hammers and screwdrivers

and they LISTEN to what you're telling them..

you don't have to force it

if you follow this process

So far Princess has had no inquiries..

She is quiet and careful and taking her time..

regardless of Buddy's taunts that they will "win"

She is now mature enough to know we don't RACE at this sort of thing

The ONLY time she asks her dad for something is...

for her tool back..

Machine Man keeps disappearing with HER screwdriver ! 

see THERE it is again! 

Buddy is really taking instructions very well

learning to have self control

and LISTEN are both important LIFE SKILLS

we want all our children to have before they leave our nest

and while some Life Skills come easy to some children

and other Life skills come easy to other children

we believe they ARE actually SKILLS

needing to be taught, encouraged, and nourished 

Today a skill Buddy is working on..

holding the screw and it's driver very very straight

Buddy is very good at assembly

This comes VERY easy to him..

he's a "natural" as they'd say... 

Princess is at the stage of putting together her drawer here!

Wooden dowels can be tricky,

wobbly

and we don't have replacements..

tension! 

Looking like she's nearly GOT IT! 

Ta Dah!

Job completed

project done well

very very well

and without assistance

looks like Princess passed a Skills Test!

woo hoo!!!

on to the next assembly project!

Here Buddy is a beginner Phase 2

While Princess is clearly end Phase 3

She still has skills to learn here

but will be far more involved in this project 

than when we've done similar projects in the past

parts needing "assembly" 

Buddy is Assembling ! 

mounting side rails! 

helping HOLD STEADY! 

Center beam installed! 

way to go! 

Time for slats!

first side in.. 

all complete 

After C.S. Helped bring in the box thing for beneath the bed

time to unroll our mattress..

it is memory foam

and nice and comfortable! 

unrolled it looks silly

but it needs to FILL with air!

Thankfully we will be gone for a few days

and it can fill while we are away! 

Ta Dah! 

One bed and two nightstands assembled!

What a BLESSING Princess & Buddy were!

Thanks to C.S. for hanging out with Little Man so lessons 

(lessons he has passed out of)

could be learned by his two siblings 

woo hoo!

Littlest Room is nearing completion! 

yeah Team!

little inspirations

I wanted to share

some sweet discoveries

as I found

as we all were working on clearing the garden.

precious 

petite 

purple 

this fern is so small, and growing right out of a crack in the rock

heavenly smells

more delightful than this blend of pinks with yellow and greys 

a view to the farm house

standing beneath the bee tree

it smells delicious

and its colors rapturous

and it sings

yes

sings

it is a bee tree

and at certain times they are humming

they don't even notice us

so busy are they at their work..

Need to call the family bee keeper...

i have got oooodles of questions!

The Littlest Room... completely PAINTED!!

So...

in all that spare time i have (giggling!)

I like checking out different decorating sites here and there...

and quite some time ago...

I came across something called Chalk Paint

not to be confused with Chalk Board Paint..

both SUPER fabulous and SUPER fun

but... different from one another...

Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan seems to create a look

that I just LOVE... that makes me think of 

living in the South of France...

that brings back happy,

joyful memories..

it ALSO seems to really respect the wood

and the ages of pieces..

see our trim is old

very very old.

EVERYONE who looks at it online thinks it's cherry..

it isn't

this was an old farmhouse

there is no way they could afford to have that much Cherry Trim..

they couldn't even stain the whole floor

they stained around the carpets.. remember?

so that said... it's some oak, and some other woods 

sort of hodgepodged with some truly lovely accent pieces 

all stained cherry

and not all done very well...

with lots of .. well issues shall we say?

I think it pulls together quite nicely

as a whole..

having NO desire to take it down

we wanted to respect it's age, and uniqueness..

they really went to a whole lot to make things LOOK really good

and they did it on a dime..

(sound familiar?)

I totally respect that too..

so the thought of putting regular paint on it seemed wrong...

it would chip eventually and look worse..

it would look like I was trying to make it look brand new.. 

I don't want it brand new.. 

I just want to get a new look...

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to the RESCUE! 

now to find a distributor...

there aren't many..

so after lessons one day Princess and I took a wee road trip!

and we met Nancy of Tattered Tiques!

and she is SUPER lovely, 

SUPER helpful

and SUPER inspiring...

we can't wait to go BACK!

Nancy was very informative, 

willing to explain how the paint works 

and just so lovely to chat with!

here's a sneak peak at some of her pieces!

so right up my alley!

it was a blast to go there and see how 

the chalk paint looked up close and not just on the internet.

and buy some we did!

I had saved some money for some many many months

and had exactly enough to buy

this 

(with about a dollar and change to spare!) 

chosen colors?

Paris Grey

and Pure White

I also bought the clear wax.. 

just forgot to get it in this photo..

oops

my plan?

to paint the trim PURE white

and some furniture pieces the Paris Grey 

I have my Coffee

 and the birds are singing JUST outside

the Littlest Room 

I have my Painting Partner, Princess ...

and we are ready to go!

Months of anticipation

planning... dreaming 

I can't begin to tell you how wonderfully this product goes on

I can't begin to blab on enough on how beautifully it stretches...

nor can I begin to tell you 

just how much I hate it on my trim...

time for more of that coffee... 

do it hate the paint? 

or the color...

definitely the color...

it's so washed out..

it looks sloppy on the cherry..

but what else can I do..

I spent a LOT of money..

ALL my money

and I have to get this right 

I need it done before I leave for 

Suburbia

I need it done so when Machine Man comes..

We can assemble the bed ...

and this.. to me this is hideous

so I did what I do 

I prayed..

I drank coffee

and prayed and had the craziest Idea...

what would the grey look like..???

probably worse...

ugh

well.. why not try?  I have NOTHING to lose.. right?

LOVE it

yep I really like the contrast a whole LOT

but will Machine Man??

will he think it's super dreamy and romantic too?

Princess loves it

and she's getting super good with working that brush!

whatcha think?

think I am crazy?

I probably am..

after one gets on the paint,

it's time to wax it on..

I chose the clear wax..

hmm I like it !

here's my little cloth to wipe off the excess...

and Walla!

isn't it lovely?

I can't WAIT to get furniture in here!

and pretty curtains...

oh MY!

so clean and pretty, and honoring of the period..

you know what..

it really does make me think of France.

as for Annie Sloan Paint,

it's a HIT!

and as for the Pure white..

I guess IT will be the color for some furniture! :)

so exciting!

can't wait to get back to Nancy's shop..

thinking.. green for the front door...

wonder what Machine Man will think of all this... 

hmmm