Rosemary's New Room

In mid April, Rosemary moved into her "new room," as she calls it. She's transitioned wonderfully. Below are pictures of the room and its transformation from study/guest/everything room to a little girl's room.

My mom and I made this picket-fence headboard. My mom found the instructions here and we modified them slightly to make this one. For the bolster pillow, I just sewed a new pillowcase for a bolster that we already had.
I painted these three canvases for the wall to complement the flowers and butterflies on the comforter.

For the curtains, we'd originally hung the panels that coordinated with the comforter set, but panels just didn't seem to work in the room. My mom found these simple pink valances and I had the pink polka dot ribbon that I ironed on at the bottom.

These butterflies hang from the ceiling directly above Rosemary's bed so this is what she sees when she wakes up in the morning. When the fan is on, they flutter. :-)

Rosemary helped with this one. She and I "painted" the letter, which really meant decoupaging. We just piled on the modge podge, let it dry, trimmed it up, then repeated for the different layers. She is a very helpful little crafter and since she was involved in this part, I think it's one of her favorite parts of her room.
This wall is still a work-in-progress.
I found the 3 wooden flowers at a garage sale for $0.25 each. My mom made the rose quilt on top for Rosemary after she was born. Then on the shelf she has her Minnie Mouse hat and Disney picture, as well as a few other things that are special to her.
I covered these cork pieces because I wanted to have a place to display Rosemary's artwork. I think I may move them lower, but I'm happy with how they turned out. The other wall tile was from a MOPS craft. It's made out of a ceiling tile then I painted the R and the flowers on it.

A few of my friends from MOPS had made picket growth charts last year as one of the crafts. Since I was going to be buying pickets for the headboard anyway, I thought it would be fun to make one for Rosemary too. So I completely stole this idea from them and made one of our own.
Rosemary is not the easiest name to find on a pencil or toothbrush. I only find her name in the garden section...and that's what happened here. I had picked this up awhile ago and had it in her nautical nursery. It didn't really go, but it had her name on it. Now, it's perfect for her butterfly/garden room and is a great holder for her hairbows and accessories.
Rosemary also has a butterfly net that hangs from the ceiling at the other end of her dresser. Unfortunately, it's come out of the ceiling--twice. So I have to get a better anchor to withstand a two-year old who loves to play in the netting and twirl around. Once I get it back up (maybe before the baby comes, we'll see) I'll add that picture too.

What Makes Rosemary, Rosemary

According to blogger, this is our 100th post. I don't have anything monumental to post, but this is something I've been wanting to post for awhile.

Rosemary is really a fun little girl. We certainly have our moments, but really she has such a sweet and joyful spirit. I thought that I would post a few things about her that aren't so easy to catch on camera, but things that really give you a glimpse of who she is and what is so fun about her.

Bedtime Ritual
Bedtime is one of the sweetest times with the girl. Our routine involves a bath (if it's bath night), letting Rosemary pick out her "jammies" (usually a nightgown if one is clean), getting her a cup of milk, the three of us piling into her twin bed, and reading her two stories--one Bible story and one other story. After her last book, we then pray together. She's recently started saying her night-time prayers. In the past week or so she's started identifying grandparents as "Gramma and Pawpaw Peine" and "Gramma and Pawpaw Workmaster" in her prayers. We're not sure why she says "pawpaw," but it's pretty cute when she says it. I'm impressed that she says "Workmaster" so well. After we pray, we get kisses and hugs then put up her bedrail. I joked with her one night that I was going to sleep in her bed with her and she would have none of it. She looked and me, gave me a little nudge and said, "No, get out." She's serious about her bed--and her routine.

Bathtime
This kind of goes along with the bedtime routine, but it's worth noting separately. It could be argued that Rosemary's bathtime is the highlight of her day. She usually gets a bath every other day, but she asks for one every day after dinner. She loves the water.

Cooking
Rosemary has started to like helping me at dinner time. Most nights, I'm able to find something for her to help with, but sometimes, it doesn't work--like when I tried to get her to help crack eggs last week. She is, however, quite good at making pudding. I have to be careful though, because she also really likes to eat pudding. Below is a picture of her devouring one of her most recent batches.

The Stool
Rosemary has a little step stool that we keep in front of the bathroom sink for her to stand on when she washes her hands. She has learned that this step stool comes in really handy in all sorts of ways across the house. It started with her going to get it to turn on lights. Now, she gets it whenever something is out of reach, even if the step stool still isn't tall enough for her to get what she wants. I'm just amazed at how she figured it out on her own.

Saturday Nights with Lawrence Welk
I'm not sure how it started, but Rosemary really enjoys watching Lawrence Welk. Saturday night at 7, Jonathan turned it on for her and she immediately stopped what she was doing and said, "Go get my nightgown," and headed to her room to get the nightgown that she has to wear while she watches the show. I think she likes to dress up because the women on the show usually have gowns on. She sings and dances and wants to dance with us. It's one of those things that I know won't last for long so it's really a sweet time. Below is from this past Saturday--me, Rosemary, and Lawrence.

Reading
Rosemary enjoys being read to and recently has started to enjoy looking through books on her own. Today, while Jonathan and I were getting a few last minute things ready before his family arrived for lunch, Rosemary went into her room, got out her books and started "reading" them. I couldn't resist sneaking in and getting a picture. She was paging through and talking about the pictures.
The Yard
Rosemary likes working outside with her dad. She'll watch the ants, pick up branches, but most of all, she likes to help water the plants. We have 4 trees that we need to plant that she waters with him. She's learned how to use the sprayer and has pretty good aim, especially when she goes after Jonathan instead of the plants.

Curious George
I don't know what it is about the curious little monkey, but Rosemary enjoys watching George. Most of the time, she learns something pretty interesting about science, math, and even music. Maybe she identifies with him because she likes to jump and climb too.

So that's a little bit about Rosemary that may not be the most exciting, but it is pretty precious to us. She's a sweet girl.

Party Weekend

This past weekend we traveled down to Central Florida to celebrate two birthdays. First with the Stiller's, then with the Giammarinaro's.

On Saturday, Logan turned 4. We left Gainesville early that morning to make it to the party and ended up getting there in plenty of time. Bennett and Sara had set up an outdoor water playground that the kids played on. It was cold, but sure looked fun!

We finally had to get Rosemary out to warm her up. Jonathan held her wrapped in a towel while she ate some cheese. I'm not sure what he was laughing at here...or even if he was laughing.
Bennett makes the best birthday cakes. The party had a rainforest theme and I think Sara found a picture of a cake she liked. Bennett then recreated the whole thing. It tasted great too.

On Sunday, we celebrated Sebastian's first birthday with Paul and Cristina. As soon as I got my camera out to take pictures, Rosemary had to go potty (we almost made it to the toilet...that was fun) so I managed to only get one picture of the party. It was great to be a part of that special day. To see a few more pictures, check out Paul and Cristina's blog.

Early May

Below are a few pictures from the first part of May. Enjoy!

A pretty smile from inside her butterfly net. The net came out of the ceiling the next day...it's yet to go back up.

Dynah and Brandi swim during the Cinco de Mayo party at the Searby's.

The girls enjoy the party.
Before heading to a wedding, we asked Janice to take our picture. Rosemary did NOT want to be left out.
She's really gotten into "glasses" lately. Whenever I put mine on, she wants hers. The ones in the picture, however, are mine. She's got princess ones.

On Mother's Day, Rosemary and I paged through her baby book that is finally finished!

Playdate and Playtime

These are a bit out of order because I managed not to transfer them until today.

Last week, Lark, Amelia, and Grant came over for a playdate and all the kids got in the toy chest.

Jonathan and Rosemary had a short "ride" on the scooter.

Potato Print Shirts

On Friday, Rosemary and I hosted a Harvest playdate. The mom's made potato print shirts for the kids from an idea on MarthaStewart.com (check it out here). The kids played while we got to paint. The shirts turned out really cute and were really easy once we started to get the knack.

Brandi made "Brandi bites" which are brownies, topped with chocolate on top of a chocolate chip cookie. Delicious...

Dynah riding around on the porch.
Rosemary, Clayton, and Mekayla playing on the porch.
Josiah wanted to venture outside too. He turns one on Wednesday. Happy Birthday, Josiah!

Vernine and Zach painted some ladybugs.

Mekayla made her very own shirt. So did Clayton and they were both very creative.

Above is the stamp for the alligator that Krystle and Desiree made for their shirts. The alligator proved to be one of the more intricate stamps.

Brandi made a flower shirt with glitter paints for Dynah.

Our shirts, but not all of them because I think some had left by the time I got my camera. I wish I'd gotten a better picture too. They really did turn out cute. Check out Krystle's blog to see a close up of the three that she made--an alligator, turtles, and ducks. They were very cute and we had a lot of fun doing this all together.

These are the two that I made. Lady bugs for Rosemary and a gator for the new baby.

Good News

Some days are just really good days. Yesterday was one of those days for the Peine's and we felt very blessed and thankful. In the morning, Jonathan got some good news at work and that afternoon, I got my CT scan results back and found out that everything was fine and that I, in the words of my doctor, "do not have a brain tumor" which is always nice to hear. I just have really bad migraines (are any migraines not really bad?) and they'll treat me for pain should I have anymore. Less exciting, but still something that we thoroughly enjoyed, there were new episodes of Survivor, The Office, and LOST last night. What a great day. :-)

Playing in the sprinkler

Jonathan and Rosemary played a bit in the sprinklers yesterday afternoon.

Rosemary's big girl bed

Late Friday night we pretty much finished up Rosemary's new room so on Saturday she moved into her new bed. We'd been working on the room for a few weeks and she spent a lot of time in there with me. She even helped with moving her toys and books and we talked about how it was going to be her new room and her new bed.

We put her down for her nap and she fussed a bit--but I think that was more because she was still excited about her mid-day bath. Eventually she calmed down and fell sound asleep (with her head facing the foot of the bed), without getting out of the bed once. When she woke up, she called for us and we went and got her up. We were so proud! And I think she is quite proud of her bed. We had the Gailey's over for dinner tonight and as soon as Bob came in, Rosemary wanted to show him her "new bed."

After she got up from that first nap we were in her old room getting a few things and she noticed that the bedrail wasn't on the toddler bed. She looked at me and said worriedly, "My bed's broken. Fix it."

Sleeping soundly.

Softball

Harvest participated in a softball tournament this weekend to help raise money for the camp. Since Jonathan was writing a paper and putting a presentation together, Rosemary and I went to the game with a friend from our small group. Even though we didn't win, I think our team did a great job. They'd only practiced one time beforehand. And Rosemary got to experience a port-a-potty for the first time. Oh so fun.

Jen at bat.
Jacob at bat.

Mmmm...ice cream

Friday night we headed to TCBY for some ice cream.



She's started saying, "Cheese!" when we take her picture.

Small Group

During the fall and spring semester we've hosted a small group at our house. Initially, Jonathan led our group, but when his schedule changed the remaining group members started taking turns with the lessons. It's really one of the highlights of my week. I love our group.

Beach Day

We took advantage of the warm weather and a slight break in Jonathan's homework schedule to sneak away to the beach on Saturday. We've had some time together in Gainesville here and there, but haven't really had much time for family outings with just the three of us. It was great to spend the day together.