A Quick Note on the New Look

Yes, I have updated the look of the blog once again! I have rearranged lots of stuff in our house and we will soon be painting the dining room a new color, I am a person that needs change :)

So here are the 3 things I updated and why:
1- The color is now PURPLE! This is usually Rose's favorite color, so I decided to make it the blog color (at least for a bit)
2- The title has changed. I didn't feel that 'Raising Rose' was 100% accurate of what is really going on... Each day I learn as much from Rose as hopefully she is learning from us and those who love her. I didn't read a lot of parenting books before having Rose and even now I rarely look up parenting advice, I'm more interested in observation of family and learning from what works and what doesn't. So we're a family in progress and growing together :)
3- I also updated the quote under the title. I think it sums up our family values of spending time together and supporting each other perfectly!



(don't get too attached to any of the changes...I am a person that needs change...)

Weekly Wrap-Up

What a week! I know I've said that before on here and this was another whopper J

Justin and I were busy finishing up my JBF tags and then Justin dropped off our items Monday night for the sale. I took the whole day off on Wednesday to shop and volunteer J I found some great buys for Rose and helped grandma find some deals for Rose too. One of the best purchases of all time was a Precious Family Dollhouse including the Twin collection, car, and items for EVERY room for only $60!!! We have been slowly adding items to the dollhouse she got for her birthday, but grandma’s came with everything J I was also able to snatch up some train track and items for Rose’s new interest in trains…Justin and I are already busy planning her Christmas present ;)

Saturday Grandma and Grandpa joined us for our trip to the farmer’s market then we unpacked our buys and headed to Lena’s Pumpkin Party!

Saturday after Rose’s much needed nap, we headed to Tractor Days at our church. Rose enjoyed the pony rides (Rose had like a bazillion!) and Justin even competed in the tractor pulls :)

Sunday was also pretty busy with family pictures. Since our little girl thinks 'smile' means: turn away and run, we headed to a local park for some low-key family photos with the grandparents. Jon Carlson took our pictures. Along with being a photographer, Jon is the pastor at Oley Mennonite Church.  We met Jon before Rose was even born, when my parent's started attending Oley Mennonite Church and Justin and I went to some church functions with them. Rose kept us all VERY busy during the session this afternoon and we are all excited to see the finished product :)

Weekly Wrap-up

It was a pretty blah week for me...it seems like everyday I broke, spilled, or messed up something  :( Justin did send me some pretty flowers, though, to cheer me up!

Rose seems to have had a pretty good week, so that's a positive :) Rose enjoys spending our evenings together outside, since it will be too cold before long, we do our best to be outside as much as possible...I have no idea how we are going to get through this winter...maybe she'll finally start watching a few cartoons? When we do have to head inside Rose loves playing with anything baby.

Justin took Friday off, as did my mom and dad, to help my brother and his wife get everything together for their (haha we got married and didn’t tell anyone) Reception on Saturday. I took a half day to get Rose and take her for her nap.

Friday night we decided to head to the Oley Fair. I have gone to the Oley Fair more years than not in my life and this was Rose’s second trip. (I have to share that I do have some angst towards the fair now that I live in a township not touching Oley and thus cannot enter anything in the fair…). This year Rose enjoyed some rides, animals, and fair food!

Mommy made sure Rose understood that you dip fries in the milkshake for maximum yumminess!

Saturday we rested up until it was time for Bruce and Kate’s (haha we got married and didn’t tell anyone) Reception! Although it did end up raining for most of the night, I thought it was lots of fun (honestly, I would rather have it rain than be hot!). 

I didn't get many pictures...there was a delicious candy bar enjoys by kids and adults alike. Uncle Bruce and Aunt Kate made sure Rose left with enough candy to last her until Easter...um, yeah?

The happy couple :)

 Rose made herself right at home with several people during the wedding and had a great time stacking horse shoes with my aunt and uncle. 

There were the yummiest cupcakes for dessert, I got the contact info for the person who made them, so they may show up at my house... Justin and my dad also made the cupcake stands, Justin said he's all ready to go work for 'Cupcake Wars'

This coming week will also probably fly by with another busy weekend on the way. This is the week of the JBF sale in Reading. I am once again trying to rid our home of things Rose has outgrown; but unlike past sales, there is not much I am looking to buy… Due to some good sales and my mom’s thrift store finds, Rose already has a pretty good fall wardrobe, but shopping is still fun J On Saturday Rose was invited to a fall party and in the evening we are going to a fall fest at our church. Sunday we have a horse show and family pictures (yay, for me, remembering to get professional pictures for this year’s cards). Hopefully after all that, our weekends will get back to their normal schedules and Justin will get back to work on the house!

Weekly Update

Last weekend Rose and I broke out some of the fall decorations (I know the season doesn't officially start for a couple weeks, but well, I LOVE fall). This made me think of our home, so let’s have a tour…

Justin and I moved into our house 5 years ago this month! It was after our first home suffered from a fire and we really just wanted to find somewhere new to live quickly. Looking back there were positive and negative things about our decision, but we had a list of ‘must haves’ and a tight budget, so all in all, I think we made a good choice. Considering we weren't even planning on Rose, it has worked out to be within 20 minutes from both our families J

When we bought our home it was 2 rental units, one on each floor, although the house had originally be one home with a stairway, that was then blocked off. We had to keep moving the buying date back because things had to be done for our loan to go through, but eventually all the papers were signed and we moved in! We lived upstairs in 3 rooms for about a year. (During this time we also started fostering dogs and at one time had 5 dogs in this house!) With a bit of money we had my brother put in a new upstairs porch and fence in some of the yard. 

The first BIG project we took on was a new kitchen. We decided to totally gut the downstairs kitchen and start from scratch: new wiring, plumbing, walls, floor, and a totally custom kitchen designed by my dad and me and installed by Justin, my dad, and me J We also turned the 1^st floor bathroom into a ½ bath and laundry room. (I LOVE not having to go to the basement to do laundry or upstairs to use a bathroom…those were things on my ‘must list’). The kitchen still needs some lighting, tile backsplash, and new countertops…but whose keeping track?

It was then onto the living room and dining room (the rest of the downstairs room). We ripped down the plaster and lath ceilings (um, still have to put ceilings back…) and painted all walls. (I need to repaint the dining room, we just used up paint we had, but I want a COLOR!)

Then Justin moved upstairs and started the two front bedrooms and creating a new bathroom for those two rooms to share (a jack-and-jill bathroom as they call it on House Hunters, even if my father who has been a contractor for over 30 years thought I was making the term up!) Poor Justin even had to dig in the yard to hook up the sewer L

During our upstairs renovations we managed to move our bed into each of the 3 upstairs bedrooms, let’s just say we are EXPERT furniture movers!

So in buying an older home, we came to realize that there was no insulation in the walls. Justin and his brother had insulated that attic previously and before we finished the two front bedrooms, Justin blew insulation in the walls to go down to the first floor walls and all the upper walls. Justin then painted and installed new hardwood floors in the two front bedrooms. (Since then we have totally decarpeted this house!!! With a husband, dog, and now a toddler I would rather clean hard surfaces (tile and wood) then try to scrub out carpet stains.)

By this time we also had discovered that I was pregnant! So the push to make our house a home for 3 was really on. We made a list of what had to be completed before bringing a baby home with having two bedrooms, the upstairs bathroom, and the living room and dining rooms floors finished. I got to spend a nice weekend at my parent’s home while Justin sanded and stained the living room and dining room.

(this is now our office, but originally was going to be Rose's room, but then we used it as our room until moving into the master..long story of how all that got switched around!)

We met our deadline and brought Rose home to our unfinished (still unfinished) home.

 This is Rose's room now...let me assure you it was not this finished until the past year.

In the past two years projects have slowed a bit to allow us time with Rose and because we have to work around her naps ;) We started painting some of the outside trim and this will be a big project in the spring and summer (probably into next fall)... We have also been making progress on the master bedroom and have made the final move of our bed to that room. We changed the pitch of the ceiling and added sliding glass doors. The closet and bathroom are the biggest projects yet to finish upstairs.

 The stairway is finally all in drywall and will need paint…have to pick a good color for that!

We still have projects to finish in EVERY room and A LOT of work on the outside of the home. Justin has also been suffering (not silently) about his 1-car garage (a garage was on his ‘must list’) and really wants a pole barn or to enlarge the current garage. 

Anyway in another 5 years we'll see what the house looks like!

If you made it through all of that, here are some pics of what Rose was up to this week :)