Today is Beatrix Potter's 151st birthday. It has become almost an annual tradition for us to have a tea party on Miss Potter's birthday and today was the perfect day for it. With rain pouring down outside and even a bit of very loud thunder, we baked scones and put out some biscotti and shortbread. Clare--our resident Beatrix Potter expert--insisted on chamomile tea, because that is what Mrs. Rabbit gives Peter after his harrowing adventure in Mr. McGregor's garden.  

You'll notice in the background of this picture a new addition to our dining room--the doll house. As a general rule to preserve my husband's sanity, we don't have toys stored on the main level of our home. Puzzles and games are in cabinets in the family room and can be pulled out when the girls need entertaining. We have converted an entire kitchen pantry closet into a craft and activity closet for the girls. But toys have to be put away upstairs...with a tiny exception. 

Our dining room is a huge room. Once we unpacked our boxes after moving in, I realized that even with a full dining room set, there was still a large amount of unused space. Our dining room has a very old-fashion feel to it with antiques and blue and white china on the wall as well as filling the china cabinet and sideboard. Therefore, I realized, Victorian-era toys would fit in quite well. My rule became if the toys were something with which I might decorate even if I didn't have kids, then they could go into the dining room. At times, a wooden rocking horse makes his home in the dining room (though he also spends a lot of time in our upstairs library). For Christmas, the kids received an electric train set. There is every possibility that the train set was as much for me as it was for them. I love train sets and I happily placed it in the dining room, where our kids and many of their friends enjoy playing with it. 

This past spring, my sister asked me if I wanted our old dollhouse. My grandparents gave it to us when I was probably three. It had traveled with us through our many homes as children and at some point, my sister rescued it from storage and used it for her daughter and then in her classroom. Several years ago, she spruced it up before my girls came for a visit and they enjoyed playing with it at her house. She had previously asked me if I wanted it, but I had to decline because at the time I simply did not have the space. But by this summer, we had the space and if we didn't take, she was going to put it back in storage. I was very happy to take the dollhouse and put it in our dining room.

My sister brought the dollhouse to our mountain vacation. She had it wrapped heavily in plastic for its trip in the back of her family's pickup truck. It sat in front of the mountain house for days before the girls realized what it was. When we unwrapped the dollhouse, we discovered my sister had designed a room for each of the girls. Meg's room had her name on the wall and butterfly wallpaper. Pink bunny wallpaper with a Victorian-style letter monogram made a perfect room for Clare. Anne's room had vintage wallpaper of children playing and, of course, a puppy. My parents and I were amazed how much the girls managed to play with the dollhouse without any furniture or dolls. That being said, they were anxious to fully decorate it. On our trip back home, we found a few dollhouse items at Cracker Barrel and then found these lovely pieces on Amazon (please note my new status as an Amazon Associate--which basically will earn me some money on a gift card if any of my recommendations lead to sale). 

The dollhouse has become a favorite play spot. It is a great place for the girls to play when I am making dinner just a few feet away in the kitchen. Sometimes if I'm reading or blogging in the living room (which is also adjacent to the dining room), Anne will occupy herself at the dollhouse. I placed a nice looking basket just beside the dollhouse to hold any unused furniture or dolls to prevent my husband from complaining about "pieces all over the dining room." The truth is, I very much like the look of dollhouse in the dining room. Though it looks best with one of our sweet girls playing in front of it. 

I have been so busy writing about Faith Quest that I haven't had a chance to share our splendid Monday. We began our Monday with Stories in Art at the National Gallery of Art. You will recall we did this last week as well. This week's artwork was Giotto's beautiful Madonna and Child. The children learned the complicated process of working with gold leaf. They also learned that this artist, who lived 750 years ago, made his own paint. The Madonna and Child at the NGA is one of the only examples of Giotto's work in the U.S.

The book for the week was about the artist Giotto. The book explained that Giotto was a shepherd boy, but he developed the ability to paint very real looking figures which was unusual in his day. He eventually became one of the most celebrated artists of his day.

For their craft, the kids worked with their own version of gold leaf. Meg, inspired by Giotto, stuck with the theme of Madonna and Child in a fancy frame.

Clare went more experimental with a giraffe and a fish floating in a field of flowers. (Hmmm, based on this work, I'm thinking Clare might be a fan of Marc Chagall.)

Following Stories in Art, our focus became Beatrix Potter because Monday was her birthday. Meg and Clare made chocolate scones, I brewed chamomile tea and we pulled out as many Peter Rabbit items as we could. We then had a lovely birthday tea party for Miss Potter. Here is the aftermath of the party.

We love farms. As I have mentioned before, we are regular visitors to Frying Pan Farm Park. We drive very far out to Hollins Farm (pictured above) every fall to pick out pumpkins just because we want to quietly wonder around a farm. When we visit my husband's family in Rhode Island, we always visit Watson Farm, which is an amazing blend of colonial farm life and coastal beauty. So when we decided that a little rest and relaxation was needed, I knew a farm was the answer. 

Let me back up. Among his other jobs, my husband owns his own tax preparation business. From February 1 until April 15, we don't see too much of him and it is my job alone to entertain the kids seven days a week. This is always a stressful time. My husband is tired from working crazy hours. I am tired because I have no time to myself at all. (And of course, in typical married couple fashion, we are each frustrated that the other does not understand how hard we are working.) The girls are tired because I am trying to keep them occupied and out of the way so my husband can finish all of his work. This past weekend we realized it had all become too much for everybody. We needed a change.

With a small amount of research, I found the website Pennsylvania Farm Vacation. The website lists numerous farms where you can stay, help with chores and just hang out on a farm for a few days.  This weekend, the girls and I are off to the farm.

Meg and Clare began packing their bags immediately once I told them we were going. Clare was initially nervous because she imagined us sleeping in a barn on some hay. But she has since packed all of her art supplies so she can paint things she sees on the farm just like Beatrix Potter. Meg insisted on eggs this morning for breakfast because she is looking forward to the fresh eggs we'll have on the farm this weekend. Yes, we are very much looking forward to this farm adventure. Expect many farm pictures and stories to come.

Since becoming a mother, Beatrix Potter has become surprisingly important to me. I have always loved her artwork and knew I wanted to incorporate it into our nursery. Weeks after finding out I was pregnant with Meg, my mom began to knit a beautiful afghan inspired by Beatrix Potter's Tom Kitten in which the girls now cuddle up quite often. (They've also been known to wrap each other up in the afghan pretending to be Tom Kitten wrapped up in the Roly Poly Pudding.)

It was Clare who took our love for Beatrix Potter to a whole new level. When she was not quite two, her favorite book became a simplified retelling of Peter Rabbit. She would have me read it over and over. One day she found a copy of The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and brought it to me to read. As she realized it was a continuation of the Peter Rabbit story, her emotions were a mix of joy at having discovered it and dismay that no one had previously told her of its existence.

Inspired by all of this, I added to my own reading the charming Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. These books are mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert, which have Beatrix Potter as their heroine. I also read Linda Lear's biography of Beatrix Potter entitled Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. It was with the reading of this book that Beatrix Potter went from a favorite artist and writer to a woman I would want my daughters to emulate in many respects. Prior to writing her children's books, Beatrix Potter used her artistic skills to draw fungi. Her study of fungi led her to develop a theory of germination at odds with the experts of her day. She wrote a paper on the topic that at the time was rejected, but since has been proven correct. Also, while being a daughter of privilege, Beatrix Potter made her own money and used that money to buy farm land and keep the land as working farms. 

Perhaps the thing I admire most about Beatrix Potter is how she dealt with sorrow. Meg and Clare have been begging to watch the movie Miss Potter. I have hesitated because, in the movie, Beatrix Potter's fiance dies and I was afraid it would simply be too sad for them. Yesterday, when they asked why the movie was sad, I explained that she loved a man and they were to be married, but he died of leukemia before they could be married. And then I added, "She was very sad, but do you know what she did? She chose to be happy. She moved to her farm. She worked very hard to make it a really good farm. And eventually she met another man that she also loved and they were married for many, many years." That is a life lesson I very much want my girls to learn. Life will bring you many things that can make you very sad, but you can always choose to be happy. Each day you can choose to do things that you love and things that make you proud. In Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, there is a story from Beatrix Potter's early life. She battled a long illness and felt herself going into her head a bit too much and succumbing to depression. Her solution was to memorize Shakespeare plays to keep her mind active and fight the depression. I love to see that kind of fight in a woman and I love that my daughters see her as a role model.

I let the girls watch Miss Potter yesterday. Clare fell asleep (still recovering from the time change). Meg followed the movie, but kept running out of the room to collect her art supplies. She found my wooden lap desk and began to set up a work table that resembled Beatrix Potter's work table in the movie. She reiterated that she would be an artist who made books and began discussing how we would publish her book Fairies of the Sweetness Flower. Yes, I feel quite good that Beatrix Potter is one of their role models.