What did the mommy tomato say to the baby tomato when he fell behind?

Ketchup! Ha.Ha. Here's the latest. 

I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant. The crib is not put together, the bedding has not arrived and we haven't decided on a name. Stressed? Yes. 

We moved a quarter mile up the street a month ago today. We are now in a 4 bedroom house and have a massive garage! Yay! It's a good thing too, since that's where all of our unpacked boxes are hiding. I only have a slight to moderate heart attack when I go into the garage now. 

In other news, last month we also bought a van!! Yes, that's an exclamation mark. Yes, I really am excited :) I absolutely love my van. Seriously. It has automatic doors, a dvd player, stow and go seating and extended trunk space! I'm in my glory, people! 

School is in full swing here. Well, at least for Frank and Kaylee. Frank is taking a few online courses and should have his associates degree in March. Kay has been begging me to start school, and as soon as we found her home school book, that's exactly what we did. She also started Awana about a month go, so far she has memorize 1 John 4:10, the Cubbies motto (Jesus loves me), Romans 3:23 and this week she is learning Romans 5:8. The verses are shortened but she has excelled so far and on Sunday she will earn her first patch! 

Joel has gotten busier and more wild by the hour. He climbs on everything. The window sills, the rocking chair, the train table, into the van, onto Kay's new big girl bed, and now onto the dining room table. Yes, you read that right. The dining room table. Anybody want a cute and wild 16 month old? Free. Overall he's transitioned well. He went cold turkey from crib to toddler bed the day we moved all our furniture to the new house. This week sleep has been difficult for him, he's waking up at least once during his nap, and twice at the night. Joel is obsessed with the toilet. There are 2 times when I can count on Joel being quiet. One when he's sleeping, usually. The second being when he's playing in the toilet. He's put cars, little people, necklaces, really all kinds of things down the toilet. 

Baby Boy, like I said, remains nameless. He's measuring 2 weeks early, which is fantastic news for my Thanksgiving Day plans, but not so much for anything else. I'm afraid Joel will not adjust well to having to share his momma, but Kaylee is excited. She wants to name the baby Peter Pan. Needless to say, her naming privileges have been revoked. 

In my world, there is little sleep. With Joel's nightly crying sessions, well, he really just whines Mooooommmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaa for 30 minutes, plus Kay's nightly potty trip, and my personal trips, sleep has become an afterthought. Of course, it takes like 20 minutes to adjust myself or roll over, and then I usually have to get up again before I can fall asleep. I'd say it's almost comical. Almost, if I wasn't so sleep deprived. Alas, this too shall pass. In a year, or so. I feel sorry for new baby. He will be sleeping in his own room immediately. 

I'm in love with the new Swagbucks app and their tv app. It's so easy to earn swagbucks now, before I might earn a $5 Amazon card over a month or two span but now I am earning one a week! I play the tv all night, sometimes it times out, but since I'm up at least once an hour or so, I can check it and restart the videos. So I wake up in the morning already having earned 50 swag bucks. Plus I downloaded the apps to the iPad for Frank's account and earn double bucks when I search on his. I also discovered Mpoints. I can earn $3-$6 a week in about 10 minutes a day. You earn points for opening apps, watching videos, taking short (1 question) surveys, etc. It's a really easy way to earn free money. 

My craft supplies are s.l.o.w.l.y getting unpacked. I have a November wreath to finish, and at this pace, I'll be able to hang it on my door by Thanksgiving Day. It's finally time for me to make a new batch of laundry detergent. I made my first batch last July, it cost me $20 to make and I washed over 400 loads. I'm becoming quite efficient at menu planning, something I never tried to do in the past. But I love only grocery shopping once a week and it's really helping me manage my food budget. I've completely taken over the budgeting, which is both good and scary, only because I'm afraid to mess something up. But since we have started to seriously budget and budget for every.single.thing it's become almost a game. Almost. 

Well. These children are begging for attention. And by that, I mean nap time is over and I should get them a snack. Plus I can't think of anything else I could possibly update you on. I probably passed that interesting/annoying line paragraphs ago. Until next time, friends. 

Hormonal Rants Beware

What is it about pregnancy that makes me want to rant? Hmmm? Seriously, I can usually control the urge to open my mouth but that goes right out the window when the hormones are flowing... Let's get right to it.

I have to know, why, WHY would someone post a question on Facebook instead of just Google-ing the answer? These are the questions I mean... What is the telephone number to ____? ... When are (insert town name here)'s firework display? ... What are the hours for ____? ... Seriously. How lazy can you be? First of all, you are already on the internet! No really, you are. Just open up another tab and type your question into the search bar. Chances are 1. You are going to get results much faster than waiting on someone to answer it for you (on a side note, they probably GOOGLED it for you!) and 2. It's going to be accurate. Seriously next time someone asks for a telephone number I'm going to list a number for China. Or some kind of hotline. Yea, that'll teach you.

And. Breathe.

Next. Oh my. I can feel my blood starting to boil. Emoji. When did emoticons become an acceptable form of communication? It's like electronic Ebonics. I've noticed this has become increasingly popular with the older Facebook and/or texting generation. Please stop. Please. I'm begging you. If I get a text from you and it's full of roses, anchors, hearts, cakes, smiley faces, tear drops, cats and umbrellas, I delete it. I don't want to look at that ridiculousness. Please don't send it to me. Ever. Again. And I do mean EVER!

Why are there sidewalks? Seriously. Why? And bike lanes? They make no sense to me. People ride their bikes down the MIDDLE of the street, and I'm not talking about my residential neighborhood. All over base, on the main streets of Aurora, people just ride their bikes wherever they want, but not on the side walks. Why would that make any sense. And please, since you are riding your bike in the middle of the busy street, let's please, please put in both ear buds so you can make sure you can't hear someone honking their horn at you, because you're about to ride out in front of their car.

I have a religious rant also. I'm seriously not trying to get people all upset. But the whole thing with Christians and gay marriage is really starting to bug me. First of all, gay marriage is not Biblical. It's not. And since God invented marriage I believe that His definition should be the end all. When we say we know better than God, we are inviting His judgment upon us. Again, completely Biblical. I believe we should love all people, regardless of sexual preference. (Biblical) What I am having issues with is people saying the gay community are like the modern day prostitutes and tax collectors Jesus hung out with. Um. No. First of all, homosexuality is not new. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? (Just in case, that's Old Testament, Jesus is New.) There were homosexuals when Jesus walked the earth.

Now, I'm not I'm blameless, Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"... I sin, I admit it, I gossip and lie, I complain and judge, I am prideful, I am many things the Bible says not to be. But Jesus did not condone sin, in John 8 a woman caught in adultery is brought before Him. The Pharisees want to stone her, and Jesus says, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw the stone at her."(7) Jesus is standing among all these men, and He is that man, the ONLY one without sin, and yet He does not throw a stone, He does not condemn this woman, but He tells her, "Go now and leave your life of sin." (11) Leave it! Sin no more!

What are we saying as a church when we neglect to preach against a sinful lifestyle? The Word has become so watered down, we have lost our saltiness and we are so concerned about what the world around us will say if we preach against sin! Would you attend a church where the Pastor is openly living in an adulteress relationship? The church is a hospital for the broken. Yes. Definitely. But why are we so afraid to say, stop living like that? Romans 6:1 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" People say equality of rights is a "good" thing. All I can think about is Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..."

The bottom line is homosexuality is a sin, and we as a church think in order to love gay people we must condone their lifestyle. That's just not true. Jesus walked this earth sinless, blameless and He loved everyone but He never said to keep on sinning. He challenged everyone He met to repent (which does not just mean to say sorry and keep living however you want to, it means to completely turn away from, do a 180, go in a new direction). Why are our churches not preaching or neglecting to preach the same?

I should just stop. Religion is hard. People have such strong opinions about what's right and wrong. But hey, it's my blog for a reason. I didn't force you to read my opinion, you chose to. Do me a favor though, if you disagree, write your own blog, don't post it on Facebook where I am forced at least once to read it before I 'hide' it. (Love that new button!)

Consistently Inconsistent

Well... I think you would agree, the only thing that I consistently can manage to do is be inconsistent. At least in blogging... The rest of my life seems rather consistent. And by that I mean busy, but isn't everybody? It's been about, um, 7 months since I've even looked at my blog, let alone thought about writing. So! It's time for an update. A lot has happened since October... Here are some of the highlights...

October...
Our search for a home church finally came to an end! Praise the Lord! After 8 months of searching, and 9 churches later, we discovered we were only miles away from the Marilyn Hickey Ministries home church, Orchard Road Christian Center. We first heard of Marilyn the month prior while we were in Hamilton, AL for the women's conference. I heard her speak and fell in love with the 81 year-old fire ball! It took us an entire month to figure out that Marilyn's ministry was in Denver, but looking back, it's so awesome to see how God was moving and putting things in front of us to find the church.

Also in October, I celebrated my 28th birthday. (Which I am having a hard time believing now, since I'm a few short months away from turning 29. YIKES! It doesn't seem real!) My granny, gramps, and mom all came to visit and celebrate with me... Well they really came to see the kids, but, you know... Plus Frank can't make a birthday cake. ;) The day before my birthday my mom and I hiked down Pike's Peak, while Frank and his chief hiked up. 13.1 miles each way. Let's just say at the end of the day we were glad it was over. It was awesome and I'd do it again, but I'm not in any hurry. You know how every year people ask you on your birthday if you feel any older? Well, this year, I did! I could hardly walk, and forget about going down the stairs! Just forget about it!

I also got a very special and fantastic present for my birthday...  The Kitchen Aid Waffle Baker! Oh how I LOVE this present! It has served us well!

 



And don't forget Halloween!

 

 

 

November... We spent 19 days in North Carolina visiting. Frank had to attend some training in Norfolk for a week, so the kids and I went the week before, and stayed a week later. We celebrated Frank's birthday in North Carolina. We came home in time for Thanksgiving and we got together with some friends for Turkey day.

December... Kaylee turned 3! My family came (No shocker there). We celebrated Christmas too while they were in town, so the kids were spoiled, big time.

 

 

 







 

And we celebrated Kay's birthday with her friends at Chuck E Cheese's the next week. She had a great time and cleaned up in the ticket booth!

 

Projects were few and far between this fall... It seems like we were always coming or going, or someone was coming to visit. But we managed to get together to make felt Christmas trees and ornaments, so the kids could decorate and re-decorate their very own 'tree'.

We managed to get away for a weekend and drive up to Winter Park for some fun in the snow :)



 Oddly enough we had some beautifully warm days in December and still managed to squeeze in some walks. And Joel had to try out his new wagon. The kids still fight over who gets to ride.

And snow, of course. This was our first snow of the winter. 

 Christmas Tree Waffles... M&M ornaments for Kay and mommy, bacon for daddy.





 

January... Was the first month since moving to Denver that we neither went to visit someone, or had visitors. We saw some snow, but not nearly as much as we expected. Kaylee started taking ballet lessons. And Joel did everything! He started to eat more table foods, and really enjoyed them! He also cut teeth and started crawling!

 

February... Granny came for a visit! She left on Tuesday and my brothers flew in on Thursday (Valentine's Day). We spent the weekend in Winter Park with them and my Nebraskan cousins. Frank and I snow boarded, I was royally bad and sore. But we had a great time. We took Kaylee tubing and it was AWESOME! And Joel (10 & 1/2 months) took his first steps!!! Of course I missed them. I only spend all day, every day with him.

 

March... Honestly the only thing I can remember about this month is snow. We celebrated Easter and then...

 

April... 2nd we arrived in North Carolina. We spent 3 weeks at my mom and dad's. My brother Nick and his wife Lisa had since moved in with my parents, and Matt had moved home from Raleigh, and Josh, well he never left, so needless to say it was a packed house. Plus my grandparents drove down for almost 2 weeks, and Frank was there for a week, and Matt's girlfriend Maggie, visited a few times. Joel turned 1!!! What a fast year! We celebrated his birthday in North Carolina, then again with our Denver friends when we got home!

 

We also got some exciting, but shocking news in April... That's right... Baby Ehbrecht #3 is on the way! I actually found out I was pregnant while I was at my mom's and had to keep it a secret from Frank for 3 days until he flew in... Then we waited to tell our families until we got home and saw the OB. Let's be honest. This was a complete and utter shock to us. As I have been 1. Nursing full time, 2. Taking birth control and 3. Haven't had a normal cycle in 18 months. TMI> I had 2 periods in 4 months, and they were not in consecutive months. So needless to say we had no idea how far along I was. And I didn't take a pregnancy test thinking I was in fact pregnant, I hadn't been feeling well and took it to rule out pregnancy. Regardless of what we had planned or expected, we know God had an incredible plan for this baby and we are really excited! Baby E 3 is due November 20th. 

May... We spent the month sick. All of us. First Kay had the flu. Then Frank had scheduled surgery, he had 14 days off to recover and got sick during that time off. Then Kay got sick again.  Frank went back to work and worked 9 days straight, on his only day off during that the 14 day stretch, I spent it throwing up, and that continued for 3 days (not pregnancy related!) Then Joel got sick. We finally managed to kick the sickness and things have been on the upswing since.

I have been volunteering at church in the High School ministry since March, and Frank has started to get more involved too. He has been working with the Men's ministry and floating around to wherever he's been needed. We love our church family and we are really excited to get involved.

Which finally brings us to JUNE! Whew! We're gearing up for Kay's ballet recital. In fact, we have dress rehearsal tonight :) And on Friday Granny flies in to visit!

Yesterday Joel pretended to feed me, he even made smacking sounds with his lips! He's so mechanical and smart. I also caught him crouching on top of their little tyke's table yesterday. He's a climber and brave. Since he's become more mobile and active I find myself constantly saying, "Get that out of your mouth! Don't touch that! Don't put that in your mouth! Get down! Stop that!" Ha! Boys! In fact, I just found him, sucker in his mouth (he found this in my purse, unwrapped it and started eating it), going through my purse searching for more snacks. Of course. Joel was dedicated to the Lord on Mother's Day. It was an awesome service!

I started to home school Kay. We took a break in April but it's been hard to start back up since we've been sick. I'm hoping this week we can review the letters we've learned so far and get back into it. She is as busy as ever. She loves ballet and is constantly practicing and showing off her moves. She loves going to church and she is our prayer warrior! She is a great big sister! She shares well with Joel and they can get each other laughing in an instant. She is excited about the new baby, and she insists that we are having a girl! She even has some names picked out, Pink, Strawberry, and Curious George.

 

I promise it won't be another 6 months before I update my blog again. My friend Becca and I are planning a wreath day soon and on my to do list for this week is to organize my craft supplies. No telling what I'll find or get motivated to do :) Also on my list for this week is to finally menu plan and freezer cook. I'm starting to feel better and have more energy but mentally at the end of the day I'm too tired to figure out dinner. I'm thinking scheduling our dinner plans will make my daily life easier. Now I just have to find the time to sit down and write it out.