Weekends

Since it is the weekend I have been thinking about writing a post on the change in our weekends over the last few months.   In our current situation (with Tim and George in Fort Myers for work and school) we only get to be together as a family on the weekends.  

    It is a really hard transition because . . .   Well, number 1 - I miss them like crazy and so does Ethan.   Number 2 - I have to be a 9 month pregnant, single mom to a crazy 2 year old Monday thru Friday.   Number 3 - It is a really difficult to transition between having the house responsibilities to myself for five days and then sharing them for two.   It is definitely not ideal, and one of the worst parts is that we don't have an end date.   We don't know when we will all be together.   We can't find a permanent place in Fort Myers until we sell our house here.   And at this point we are no closer to selling than we were on August 1st when Tim started the job.   I don't want to complain because I know there are plenty of people who deal with much worse on a daily basis.   I want to be thankful despite my circumstances.   Thankful that I have two healthy, thriving little boys and adding a little girl to the mix in the very near future.   Thankful Tim loves his job.   Thankful George is absolutely dominating kindergarten.   Thanksful for parents and in-laws who are willing to do so much to help.   Thankful for Jesus and His shoulder to lean on.   Thankful for a roof over our heads.   Thankful that we do get to be together on weekends because some don't even get that.   I want to keep that perspective minute by minute because usually I am wallowing.   It is very unbecoming.   I know "this too shall pass."   And I am praying it will pass quickly:)   

Obsessed

I have a confession.   I have an obsession.   With Pumpkin.   With the change in season comes my favorite flavor of anything ever.   This is my list of treats that I savor from September until Christmas (which is usually when places stop carrying it).  

 

Pumpkin Coffee.

 

Iced . . . Decaf (most of the time) . . . cream only.

 

I could kiss it.

 

 

Pumpkin Cookies.

 

Favorite. Dessert. Ever.

 

I make the recipe times 4 and freeze a million to have on hand at a moments notice.

 

I should give them away, but . . .

 

They are my favorite and all.

 

 

Pumpkin Bread.

 

Moist, delicious, and chocolate chips.

 

This is my first year making this, but I can assure you it won't be my last.

 

 

 

And last, but certainly not least, pumpkin ice cream.

 

Again, this was a new one this year.

 

Pumpkin flavored ice cream with chunks of pumpkin pie and crust mixed in.

 

Seriously?

 

Yes, seriously.

 

Beat Clemson

As of 36 weeks pregnant my doctor said no more traveling.  

 

Ethan and I had been in Fort Myers with Tim and George for the three weeks preceding that, so we came home to stay until Lexi would be born.

 

But . . . that very same weekend was the FSU vs. Clemson game in Tallahassee, and my brother's best friend said he could get me into the President's box.

 

 

 

So I went.

 

36 weeks pregnant and all.

 

And we all made it back in one piece (although my dad probably asked me 300 times if I felt ok . . . I think he was nervous my water would break in his nice car).

 

The game was AWESOME!

 

 

But to say I didn't enjoy the food spread almost as much would be a lie.

 

They had so many delicious choices, and since I am eating for two and all that, I got to be a total pig without anyone questioning my sanity.

 

Win, win.

 

My brother and his wife live in Tallahassee while he is in law school, so while Peter and my dad used the season tickets in the stands, Whitney came with me to sit in the box.

 

 

Yes, she is lovely and skinny.

 

And yes, my belly protrudes right into hers.

 

And then there is John, Peter's BFF and the angel who got us in.

 

 

He was my year book editor when I was the advisor way back in my days of teaching high school.

 

He is such an awesome guy.

 

Even more awesome now that he allowed me this special treat and last hurrah before baby number 3 comes into our lives.

 

Thanks, John.

 

And "GO NOLES!!!!"

 

 

Small Changes

We are going to start small in this whole "processing change" thing.   Ethan now owns a Kindle.  His very own.  

    My parents decided he needed an electronic toy, so they bought him the new kindle for his 2nd birthday.   He loves it.   I, on the other hand, find it a little frustrating because I don't know what games to download.   He pretty much switches back and forth at this point between Angry Birds and Counting Apples.   It is pretty pathetic.   Anybody know other preschool games that I can download for free or cheap???   Help a sister out.   Sidenote:  George isn't here during the week, but on the weekends he loves to "share" the Kindle with Ethan.   And surprisingly, Ethan is usually pretty happy to oblige.   On Sunday morning last week George brought a whistle into the bathroom to show me that he had found it in the toy box because he had never seen it before.   I told him that Nicole gave that whistle to Ethan a few days before while George was still in Fort Myers.   His response (verbatim), "Man, Mom, Ethan got a Kindle tablet and a whistle.  He sure does get a lot of stuff while I am gone."   Perspective.   Of a 5 year old.

31 days of change

I don't want to have to start this post with "It's been a while," but . . .   IT'S BEEN A WHILE!!!!   I still read certain blogs almost daily even when I am not writing, and I came across a really great idea over at The Nesting Place the other day.   She is hosting a "linky" party where bloggers pick a topic to write about for the next 31 days of October (well, now it is actually 29 days because I am late to the party, but whatev).   I have been wanting to write more on all we have going on, but it is so overwhelming to try to express it all in one post.   Not to mention the fact that no one would ever be able to get through it because it would be so long.   All this to say . . . I have decided to dedicate the month of October to change.   I am going to try (very, very hard) to blog everyday.   I want these posts to piece together all that is going on in our lives, what we are learning, and how I am feeling.   I really want documentation of this insane time in our lives because I know (KNOW, KNOW, KNOW) God is teaching us so much, but sometimes I just don't have a way to actually process it.   I want to process it.   What better way than writing it out to have for all time.   So . . . bear with me as I share our life with you the best way I know how throughout the month of October (all 29 days that are left of it).  

Two Years Old

I know it has been a while since I visited my own blog.   Busy doesn't even begin to describe our lives, and that is all I have to say about that.   Moving on . . .   Ethan turned 2 on August 24th.   I can't believe it either.  

  (I know you love the gnome as much as I do)   During this "transition" time in our lives he and I are getting to spend even more quality time together than usual.   It is so funny how different your kids can be when they are alone without siblings.   I know I have talked about it before, but it is just so interesting to me.   Anyways, on every birthday I write my kids a letter in a journal that I will give them either on their 18th birthday or when they get married (haven't decided yet, but thankfully I think I have a few years to make a final decision).   I just finished Ethan's "Two year old" letter today, and I felt like I wanted to write out some of it on the blog to share about him.    

Dearest Toddler Ethan,

         

            It has been a true joy to watch you discover so many things over the last year.  It is so hard to think about you not being my baby anymore as of October.  I can’t believe we will have another baby to kiss and hold.  I am a little sad that you will officially be an “older brother,” but I am also excited to see you in that role.  You didn’t hold onto to the baby stage too tightly, so I know you are going to enjoy this big brother thing a lot.  I know you will teach Lexi so many things, and I know you will enjoy having a playmate at home now that George goes to kindergarten every week day. 

            Oh Ethan, where does the time go?  You are such an animated and adorable little man.  I have enjoyed watching you grow more than I could have ever imagined.  You are so entertaining and so determined.  I love all the time that I get to spend with you, and I hope you always know how much you are loved.  Even though we will soon have three little people in our household sharing our attention, I want you to know that you are special.  You have a place in our hearts that no one else can fill.  I am so thankful that God brought you (exactly you) into our family two years ago.  You are just what we needed and more than we ever wanted.  Always thank Jesus for your special life.  He has blessed us so much, and we want to always give him the glory.

 

 

 

I love this little boy so much, and I hope he always feels it.

 

I was truly given an irreplaceable gift with each of my boys, and I couldn't be more grateful.

 

Bettelli Updates

Well . . . I guess it is about time to post a big ol' update on our family happenings.   Even some of our closest friends don't know everything because in all honesty we haven't had time to take the few moments to tell them.   I will start back in January . . .(but keep it as short as I can at the same time).   Tim decided he wanted a new job.   Circumstances just weren't lining up for him to be a lawyer/partner in my dad's office, so we made the decision to look elsewhere.   This was a big deal because we have been planning for most of our marriage to work for my dad and stay in this area with our family.   He knew he didn't want to work in the legal field but also believed his legal degree wouldn't go to waste.   He applied for a few random business positions but wasn't too excited about any of them.   Around April he began to think about getting back into Christian education.   If you know Tim, you know he is a natural teacher.   He communicates extremely well, and he is comfortable in front of people.   He used to be a high school Bible teacher but left that position when it was clear that a Bible teacher's salary could not provide for the large family we wanted to have.   All this led us to the decision to persue administration jobs within Christian schools.   It seemed like the best of both worlds and something God had really molded Tim to do.   So the applying began . . . and resumes went out all over the country.   I don't know how to explain my thoughts at this stage in the game.   On the one hand I was trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we could possibly be moving from the only place I had ever called home.   But I also didn't want to jump the gun because nothing was set in stone yet.    It would be stupid to start freaking out before anything was actually happening.   Over the next few months Tim had quite a few interviews, and a good handful of those seemed very promising.   A couple pretty much told him he got the job and then changed their mind for one reason or another at the last minute.   It was a trying time to say the least, and I hated watching his hopes rise and then crash.   Fast forward to mid-July . . . I started to feel like we needed to begin looking other places besides schools.   The school year starts in August, so the majority of hiring happens between March and mid-summer.   After that you pretty much have to wait until the next year to secure a job.   God seemed to be telling us this wasn't the time, and we began to entertain the thought of waiting.   Tim was getting pretty desperate at this point, so he applied for a couple teaching jobs too just to get his foot back in the door of education.   About the third week in July one of those schools called him for an interview.   The school is in Fort Myers (Southwest Florida Christian Academy), and we took a day trip as a family to check it out.   Tim really liked the school, and they seemed to really like him.   We had been down this road before, so we definitely didn't get our hopes up.   I also started to feel really anxious because school in Lee county started on August 8th, which didn't give us much time to get this whole thing figured out.   Tim waited a little over a week, and they called him to tell him they would like him to teach middle school history and Bible for this coming school year.   When he interviewed the headmaster told him that they were looking for a "Spiritual Life Director" (which is an administrative job) for the 2013-2014 school year, and he looked like a prime candidate.   All this to say, the headmaster was very encouraging that the teaching job would last a year and then they would begin moving him to an administrative position since that is what he is really looking for.   Tim really felt like this is where he was supposed to be, and he started the job August 1st.   George is attending school as a kindergartener and started August 8th.   So . . . at the present time George and Tim are living in Fort Myers with a teacher who had an extra room available, while Ethan and I are living in Largo trying to sell our house.   It has been a whirlwind to say the least, and your prayers are welcome:)   I do  want to end this never-ending post by telling you that I did have a moment where I knew God meant for us to go to Fort Myers . . .   When I saw the sign for Bagel, Bagel (so good they named it twice) . . . that is hands down my favorite place from Tallahassee, so that really made my day:)   Life is crazy, and I am so glad God (who sees the whole picture) is in control.