Fall

Wow....So, I didn't realize it had been that long since I last blogged. We have been so busy lately it seems. 
About a week ago, Isabella and I got out the fall decorations during Addison's nap. She was *so* excited to help put away summer flowers (I only do fake because they can't die), and bring out the fall ones. Our small stuffed scarecrow is her new favorite of "Mama's Toys" (just wait until Christmas decorations come out --your days as favorite are numbered Scarecrow..).  As we were doing all this, Bella asked me why we had to change decorations. So I told her, because fall has come to the Ramberg house. And it has. In more ways than one. I love fall. I always consider summer my favorite season, but fall is inching its way on up to the top. I love the change in the air -I'm so ready to be done with the heat. I love the change in clothes -yay for not having to bare my legs in short shorts anymore. Jeans are a Cellulite Sally's best friend. I love the colors -orange has long been my favorite, so a season full of orange is over the top wonderful! But this year, what I've loved the absolute most is getting into our routine! Bella has started preschool (gasp). But we love it! She went for the first time, Tuesday (and the second, today). It's been wonderful!! She loves having her own place to go. Instead of just going on Mama's errands, we go to her spot. She loves being around the other kids too -little social butterfly.  I still, on occasion, find myself in shock that we've already entered this next chapter in our parenting lives, but God is good and has blessed us with a great preschool. #thankful
Another big part of our routine is youth group! We started up on Sunday and it was so good to be back. Even though summer went quickly, it seemed like forever since we'd met. I'm so excited for the year ahead. My small group girls have been great so far! Jon and I also lead a Junior High Bible Study on Wed. nights, which is a lot of fun too. We're doing Case for Christ this semester, and I'm really, really looking forward to it. Anyone read that? I haven't yet, so I'm excited to go through it with the kids!
I'm also attending a weekly ladies bible study in PA with two friends of mine (just started yesterday). Very excited about that too! I'm so pumped for this fall. So many great things starting up in our lives! It's going to be a busy year, but I think it's going to be a really awesome year.


Some verses I've been thinkin' on lately~
Colossians 3:12-14 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 

Love that. So much truth packed in those verses. I need them as a daily reminder...maybe by the time I'm 80 I'll get it. So thankful my Savior is patient with me. Enjoy your beautiful September day! <3

Rejoice!

This morning I was reading in Philippians 3. The first verse says "Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord". Usually, I would read this quickly, as an intro to the chapter, and kind of skim it to get to the "meat".  But today, God stopped me there. I was thinking about it, and wondering how often throughout my day, I actually rejoice in the Lord. After looking up the word 'rejoice', I decided (if I'm being honest), not very often. (FYI: rejoice- delight, celebrate, glory, revel, be overjoyed, triumph). I think I rejoice in certain circumstances or in blessings that are obvious. But that's not really rejoicing in the Lord. If I'm truly rejoicing in Him, it is constant. Regardless of situations, circumstances, blessings or trials -I am celebrating, delighting, reveling, and triumphing in Christ my Savior. #thingstoconsider

All that being said, I have some adorable kids that are easy for me to rejoice in (most of the time.). But this past week was a trial. Addison was teething something awful. Bella never teethed like that. We're talking high fevers, screaming, drool that could fill a swimming pool, and crying -lots of crying. She was beyond miserable. The worst part was there was nothing I could do for her. Motrin was given around the clock as soon as it could be given...but it could only bring the fever down. It couldn't relieve the excruciating pain in her gums. Poor girl. Oh and did I mention, the only thing she was absolutely sure she wanted was me to carry her 100% of the time. It was long week.  But I'm happy to report she is on the mend, and slowly returning to her happy, go lucky self. Praise the Lord.

Bella was such a good big sister during whole thing. Last Thursday (aka, the beginning of our disaster) I came into the living room where Addison was lying on the couch, and saw Bella bending over her giving her a hug and kiss. She also reassured her sister, "When I am sick, Mama takes very good care of me, and then I feel better."   Ummm...Melt. My. Heart.

So, yesterday we decided to play in our new sprinkler (shout out to Grammy Matchett) for a little while. Isabella was in pig-heaven (I think that's the saying right? I'm so bad with sayings...). Louis (our shih-poo who usually hates water) even joined in...Addison on the other hand, was not the biggest fan of water falling on her head. She apprehensively checked it out then ran back to where I was sitting on the porch, and grabbed a towel. She proceeded to place said towel over her head and return to the sprinkler -covered and safe. Maybe I should give the child an umbrella next time?

I'll post some pics...from my NEW CAMERA!!! Jon finally got me the camera I was supposed to get for my birthday (which was in May). In all fairness to him though, he had bought me one on my actual birthday. But it didn't work. So we returned it, and being the incredible procrastinators that we are, we just got around to buying another one to replace it. But I love it. It's a Canon Rebel T3i. It's my new baby.

Poor, sick Addison :o(

Beautiful Bella!

Haha, I can't look at this without laughing! Louis -after some sprinkler mayhem!

Well, that's all for me today.... enjoy your gorgeous Wednesday! :o)

Happy Monday!

Hmm...well, I have written a paragraph and erased it, written another and erased it. Apparently I have nothing good to say. I'm going to blame my lack of brain on the cleanse. Oh yes, I'm on a cleanse. It's supposed to last 3 days...we'll see. I've committed to 24 hrs. I'm such a whimp. It's not even a hard cleanse. It's 8-10 glasses of green tea a day, and nothing but fresh fruits/vegetables. But lemme just say, every food on the face of this earth (minus green tea, fruits, and vegetables) is calling my name! This is me punishing myself for a summer's worth of poor eating. All or nothing with me! SN: three letters...B. L. T. yeeeeesssssssss.

In other news, Jon and I go away on Monday. Nothing romantic though. We're going to Harvey Cedars Bible Conference on LBI with our youth group. Should be a really fun week. The kids are beyond excited, and I kinda am too! My girls are going to a different beach with their grandparents for the week and are equally excited. Bella informed me that the trip down is going to be the best ride of her life. Good to know. Oh and, while I'm on the topic of camp, people need to realize how hard it is to find a one peice bathing suit (that's not cut down to my belly button)! I look everywhere. Finally found one at Old Navy (but it was my 3rd ON...). I had almost resigned myself to swimming in a tshirt and shorts, and who really wants to be that girl?

But anyways, this was a really shore post. I'm sure I'll have mucccch more to say post-Harvey. But for now, this is it!:)

Happy Monday!

Let's try that AGAIN.

Ok, so apparently I'm pretty bad at blogging. Or was. I stopped. For a good year...so it's not even like I can pass it off as "taking a break"....But I'm back, and I'm going to try to keep up this time.

As you can probably guess, things have happened in the last year...like quite a bit!

Let's see, starting last summer and working our way through...

*I went to Memphis! Mama vaca to see my best friend and college roommate...it was great!
*At the start of the school year, we became youth leaders at our church -we lovee it!
*In September, Jon took a job with Flemington Car and Truck Co. (Need a Chevy, Buick or GMC? Call him!)
*In October, we had a hugeeee snow storm and lost electricity for about a week (including halloween)! Thankfully, Jon's sister had power, and we were able to stay with her.
*Addison turned ONE in Nov, she is the happiest little chunk...love her!
*In December took a job as a CNA at a local hospital, found that I absolutely hated it (not even exaggerating!), tryed to stick it out but ultimately, left in April. -And I don't miss it at all!
*Of course, Christmas happened...and New Years. (As they usually do)
*Sweet Bella turned 3 (going on 30) in February, and is completely convinced she is a princess. Why crush her dream? If she's a princess, I'm a queen..fine by me! :o)
*Jon also had a bday in Feb, and he became old. (He's four years my senior, so I can say that!)
*We broke ground on our first ever summer garden! We have wonderful tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, honey dew, cantalope, peas, carrots, strawberries, basil, oregano, lettuce, spinach, onions, watermelon, eggplant, corn, swiss chard, and sweet potatoes. Delish! And lots of fun to work on/watch grow!
* My first baby brother (IE the middle child) got married to a great girl! (and Bella was a flower girl who took her job very seriously!)
*My second baby brother (the real baby) graduated high school -still not sure when he grew up?
*My best friend and college roommate (Yes- Memphis girl) came to see me for Memorial Day (sooo much fun!)
*Jon is taking classes at Liberty again (online) -soo sooooo proud of him! He is going for his dream, and following God's calling on his life. Love that man!
*My grandmother on my mom's side passed away in June and we went to NY for the funeral. Good to see family -not good circumstances.
*We spent the 4th in Ocean City (NJ!) and enjoyed a parade, bbq, the pool, and of course fireworks on the beach!
*I decided to go to hair school, and start at Paul Mitchell in September (beyond excitedddd!).

So, there's our year in a nutshell.  It's been fun...and busy, and a full of learning experiences. PTL!

Here's to hoping it's not another year before I blog again! (Just kidding!)

PS. This pic is from a recent photo shoot with a BFF of mine --Heather Danner Photography, check her out! She's wonderful <3

Love you all!
Becca

Tired Mama..

Tonight I am exhausted. But, I know my grandparents read this (even if no one else does ha) so I am being *that* dedicated and pressing through my sleepiness to blog. Hopefully it makes sense. 

Last weekend was soooo hot (actually the whole week was, but by Friday the girls and I had it!) So, we packed up and went down the shore to Jon's parents campground home away from home (Jon still had work Fri and Sat, but decided he'd meet us there Sat night). Friday was HOT down there, but we enjoyed the pool and AC, and at least I had help and wasn't outnumbered by 2 girls, and 100 degree weather:). Middle of Friday night: Electric aka: AC goes out all the sudden. It's like 90 out at 1am...and no AC. We were a little frantic, but tried to sleep through it anyways. Well, Saturday morning the sun's up and temp's are a'risin. Still no electric, at all. We decide around 8 am to investigate with a quick walk to the campground office. Apparently a transformer blew around midnight and a small front section of the campground (IE: us..) was without electric. The power company is aware, we were assured and all should be well again shortly. Fast forward to 2pm. Temp is 105. Heat index at 116. We're dying. The sun's too hot to have the girls at the pool (grampy enjoyed most of his day there though) So what are a group of girls to do? SHOP. We went for a little retail therapy where, most importantly, there would be air conditioned stores. (HALLELUJAH chorus please) By the time we got home around 5 we were indeed up and running with AC - feel free to sing the chorus again. We did. Late Saturday night Jon and Jen were able to drive down and join us, and Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful day at the beach! The girls loved it in their own unique ways, Bella played and made everyone (mostly me) get in the cold water and play for ever. Or so it felt. Addison chose to sleep in her tent for the majority of the outing. Which was perfectly fine by me:) Sunday night however, there was a HUGE, and I mean huge, storm in OC. The entire Marmora township was left without power -deja vu anyone? We decided to leave Sunday night instead on Monday morning. So glad we went down there to *escape* the heat. It was fun though:)
 
Things have been pretty busy around the Ramberg house this week. I am in the middle of a home-project for my MIL's birthday so things are in complete chaos while I craft my way to the finished product. I'm trying not to lose my head as Bella tries her hand at losing my supplies:). Don't think Addison doesn't get in on the act either. It's a conspired plot in which, Bella's role is to slyly maneuver my things to the floor.  Addison then takes over and rolls away with the stolen goods. Needless to say we're crazy hectic over here:). But I love that.

Addison has moved on this week to eating some (carefully selected!) solid, solid foods. As in, not pureed! We have introduced the cheerio, yogurt melts, and cinnamon puffs. She likes them all. Truth be told, we have yet to find a food she doesn't relish. Probably why we're skipping 9 mo clothes and opting to go straight for 12. Chunky Monkey!! I love, love that fat girl!!

Bella was given her first serious spanking tonight (Yes, we spank. No, I don't want to be told why that's emotionally scaring:)). I was mid-project (are you sensing a theme..it's my life right now) when Jon found her drinking her cough syrup out of the childproof bottle (yeah right..), and pouring what she didn't consume onto the carpet. Nice...red cough syrup on white carpet, and a 2 year old drunk on cough syrup. But you have to see the brilliant-ness of her plan...she: 1) Dragged her little chair from her little table in the family room out to the kitchen -without making noise. 2) Placed said chair next to the exact spot on the counter where medicine is kept. 3) Kept Addison from squawking while she stood on her chair and retrieved her --she knew which one was her's apparently-- bottle. 4) Ran from the kitchen back to the family room and THEN, here comes the kicker, OPENED THE CHILDPROOF LID. 
Her only mishap was...she left Addison in the kitchen alone, so Addison squawked.

These kids. I love 'em. 90% of the time. (just kidding..sarcasm doesn't always translate over type so I thought I'd just make sure you know.. I'm kidding. :)) 

Not much is new with Jon and I. I told you about my project news, so other than that I'm  pretty boring. Jon just works. Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep. I did manage to steal him from work today for his day off. We ran errands...fun right? Oh, and somehow (I still can't wrap my head around it), at Marshall's today, Isabella managed to talk me out of buying the adorable heels I really do need for an upcoming wedding, and into buying her Elmo shoes instead. They're really cute, don't get me wrong. But, I loooove shoes, and for once, could actually justify buying them. Apparently she does too. Maybe that's a gene you just sort of pass along...

I'm including a few pics with this blog. The infamous Elmo shoes:). Bags that the girls and I decorated for them to take along their toys, books, etc on outings --aren't we crafty:). And some beach photos. Enjoy:)

But, alas, I am still tired, and bed is loudly calling my name -I'm serious, I hear it. So goodnight, lots of love and blessings to you:)

my first!

My first blog ever! Decided to try blogging since my family is spread out, and it's an easy way to share what's going on with us. We'll see how well I keep it up:o) 

Life has been insane lately! I finished school (and passed my state tests!), so I am now -officially- certified nurse assistant! On top of that, Jon has been working crazy hours lately...he's been put in charge of doing Swaps for his dealership (for those of us not up on car dealership terminology, this means if someone wants a car with certain specifications they don't own, they contact other dealerships to see if they can swap --hence the name-- one of their cars for the one they need). So, he has kept busy with managing that on top of being a sales person. But he loves his job, and I love that he loves his job! 

Isabella is a HANDFUL of a 2 year old lately! Looove it! She has the funniest bella-isms:o). Yesterday, for example, I was walking across our hardwood floors and my foot squeaked. Bella looked up really startled asking, "What was that?!" I answered, "My foot." She thought about it for a minute before very matter of factly saying, "Your foot was pooping." --Really? Where that came from, I'll never know. She also loves to use phrases she's heard Jon and I saying. One being "It's not bad" after she tries something new. Another - "Just a little bit" Ex: Isabella, did you just feed Addison the dog's food? "Just a little bit."  Last week her and I were making Grampy a birthday cake while Addison napped. As I was banging the spatula full of batter on the mixing bowl Bella said, "Gentle Mommy, Addison is sleeeeeeping."  She's also into anything that will "make her feel better".  Ex 2: Isabella get your hands out of the toilet and lets go wash them. "That make me feel better?" -Um, yes, most definitely it will. As I type this she is holding my Ipod up to her ear apparently talking to Grammy Matchett, Poppop and GG. Her phone buddies. 

Addison is entertaining in a completely different way. She now "crawls". I use the term very loosely, and mostly because I don't really know what else to call what she does. She pretty much lays on her stomach and army crawls(?) across the floor. She's getting pretty speedy at it though. She has this knack for finding the tiniest piece of fuzz/wrapper/hair even though I just vacuumed. It's a talent... she makes me feel like my floors are filthy. She's the happiest baby ever though...I love, love her so much! She never misses an opportunity to laugh and trust me when I say, it is the most adorable sound ever! Melts my heart every time.

Anyways, I could go on forever about my babies. They're awesome, love them to pieces. Same goes for my hubby. He's my rock, and he puts up with my mood swings -props to him. My next post I'll try not to brag as much --it's hard when you've got my family;o)