Happy Halloween

Well it finally came. I haven't looked forward to Halloween this much since I was 6. But now I'm totally into it again. Not any of the scary stuff (we have a rule in our house that all our decorations are "happy"), but the funness in general.

We're getting ready to head to the Spider Party that's put on by my mother-in-law, first grade teacher at Killearn Lakes Elementary. And it's just continued craziness until our group of about 20 goes trick-or-treating tonight. The first thing Tommy said when he woke up this morning, after "Tommy awake now!" was "Tommy eat candy?" He's never really eaten it before and we decided we'd let him have some this year. In moderation, of course (I know, try telling that to Uncle Todd, Uncle Bennett, and Uncle Jason).

Confession: Much to my surprise, I find myself wanting a collection of holiday shirts, sweaters, earrings, and necklaces. I was always one that made fun of women who were into the gaudiness (secretly, of course), but now I think I'm joining their ranks (I'm thinking this has to do with having a two-year-old, because all my friends my age without kids haven't talked about these desires. It must be all the brain cells lost during pregnancy that are never recovered after childbirth). Today I would like nothing more than to wear a long sleeved black t-shirt with puff paint pumpkins and ghosts, all happy of course, with dangly pumpkin earrings. There, I said it! Next year, I'm totally making all my apparel. Happy Halloween!

Conversations with a Two Year Old

This morning we went to visit Tommy's great grandma in her assisted living home. One of the highlights for him is to see the fish in the many little "ponds" and tanks throughout the facility. Here was our conversation while watching the fish:

"Mommy, fish taking a bath?"
"Yes, honey, they're taking a bath."
"Fish naked?"
"Yes, I suppose they are."

All In a Day's Work

Yesterday was a crazy, yet somewhat typical day in the Inserra household. After my morning with the munchkins, I headed home to teach 5 piano lessons. Immediately after that, our dinner guests showed up (actually they showed up during the lesson, but that was the time we had given them... oops). Since dinner was in the crock pot, I threw some beans and noodles on the stove. We were sitting down to eat 15 minutes later.

After our time with them, I quickly threw Tommy in the tub (well, I gently placed him in there) and our next crowd of poeple arrived as I was just getting him out. You see, yesterday was the somewhat annual Inserra Halloween Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza. So I rolled up my sleeves, handed Tommy a sugar cookie loaded with frosting to keep him occupied, (it was already past his bedtime so I figured what's the difference) and began to carve. Matthew Robinson brought sustenance for all - cookies and a cake called Chocolate Explosion from Publix. The carvers were Todd and Sarah in a group effort, Matt Long, and myself. About 5 other people came to watch.

When all was said and done, Matt had done a pretty cool pirate ship, I did a window with a spider, a pumpkin, and a cat sitting in it (see picture), and Todd and Sarah did a pumpkin that said The Well. I think they were sucking up, personally, but that one was really good.

Some might ask, "How do you do this while keeping your sanity?" Glad you asked. I have a pretty laid back personality, which is very helpful in these situations. But aside from that, I don't freak out about making sure the house is spotless at all times. I mean I try to keep it clean, but if it's not perfect I don't develop an ulcer. I also try to plan ahead. Dinner in the crock pot is my best friend. And I also try to keep a sense of humor about everything. At one point, I had flicked pumpkin across the dining room (my planning ahead failed when I realized we had to put our pumpkins right on the table to carve them because I had no newspaper to put on the table), Tommy's face was covered in frosting, he was single handedly entertaining 10 adults and it was after 9, so I knew he needed to go to bed. When I told him it was time to brush his teeth, he started to throw a fit and really wasn't to thrilled about the idea. So Sally and I started singing the Raffi song, "You Brush Your Teeth", and everyone joined in. Tommy thought it was hilarious and so did I. We both ran to the bathroom and he didn't argue with me after that. Matthew Robinson commented that he had never been anywhere where people just spontaneously broke into song like that. Welcome to the Inserra House, Matt!

Tis the Season

The last couple days I have been in major "preschool mom" mode. I guess the cold weather and the fact that Halloween is coming is doing this to me. Now, I'm not crafty by any stretch of the word, but Tommy and I have spent all month using Halloween cookie cutters to cut ghosts out of white construction paper, and pumpkins out of orange construction paper and tape them to our windows.

Then yesterday we graduated to cutting those ghosts and pumpkins out of actual cookie dough! It was Tommy's first baking experience - after I had successfully wrapped him in plastic to keep the flour out of his clothes, he sat at the table with me and proceded to cut all sorts of shapes out. He kept trying to do shapes on top of shapes, which, admittedly, frustrated me. But the end result was pretty cute, I must say. And a bit messy.

Today wasTommy's Mothers' Morning Out Halloween party, and it was my day to volunteer (making it a mother's morning in). So he was an adorable fireman and I was a dalmatian... thanks to Sarah Wags for giving me the idea. I also had to carve out the inside of a pumpkin so the kids could take turns pounding a triangle cookie cutter in to make the eyes and nose. Yes, we gave a bunch of two-year olds hammers. My fingers are a little sore, but I'll survive :). So I was up til 11:30 last night (way past my bedtime) carving out a pumpkin, roasting seeds, and drawing black dots on the inside of gray sweatpants. Then today I chaperoned a party with 15 two-year-olds in costume (changing diapers was loads of fun). But I loved every minute! Was I born to be a room mom? Perhaps.

PS - This morning at 8:15 (and roughly 40 degrees) I discovered Dorsi had escaped from our backyard due to the broken gate and so I had to go running after her... dressed as a dalmatian. Quite a sight, I'm sure.

Movie Time!

I love smoothies, or "movies" as Tommy calls them, so I'm always on the lookout for a new healthy recipe. I just started getting Everyday Food Magazine (which I absolutely love!), and am currently sipping on the Banana-Oat Smoothie. Because I couldn't find the recipe online, here it is:

1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup lowfat plain yogurt
1 banana, cut in thirds (I prefer frozen)
1/2 cup lowfat milk
2 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Puree all in blender, add ice cubes if desired. Enjoy!

Reflections

Last night at the Well , Dean preached a pretty charged message on racism. He was talking about James 2 in the beginning section about not showing favoritism. It's sad that we live in the "Bible Belt" and yet we are by far the most racist part of the country. This is a hot issue that usually is not preached in church but Dean presented it really well. Did he upset some people? I'm sure. But I've learned that the Gospel upsets people, and as someone once said to Dean, if you're not making people mad, you're probably not doing your job.

Confession time: It makes me nervous when Dean preaches hard truth that may offend people. I worry about the fact that there's not a whole lot of security in church and Satan doesn't want people to hear this. Does this show a lack of faith on my part? Possibly. But I never want him to stop preaching Christ just because it looks like it might one day get dangerous. I'm really proud of him for his guts and fortitude.

I had a great time on the Couch with Matthew Robinson last night. Although some of the pictures were slightly embarrassing (thanks, mom), it was fun just to be up there answering his questions. The funny part was that I answered the serious and more difficult questions pretty well, but when he asked which store was my favorite at the mall, I just froze. I still don't have an answer to that question.

Confession number 2: I knew what I wanted to "challenge" people with, but I didn't have a scripture reference to back it up. It was basically that I wanted people to take ownership of the church and realize it's not about them but about people who aren't here yet. So even though I didn't have a verse, I still debated on bringing my Bible up there because just about everyone else does. I didn't want to look bad. Isn't that silly? But it's true. And I also had one of those experiences falling asleep last night where I kind of did a mental forehead slap about all the things I said that I can't believe I said in front of 300 people. This is just one of the many incidents that shows me that I absolutely don't have it all together.

Saturday Wrap-Up

Well, we made it back from Cordele. Tommy had lots of fun seeing Thomas, but he was also completely overwhelmed. It was set up like a state fair complete with funnel cakes and all sorts of attractions in tents everywhere you looks. And more kids under 5 than you can imagine. Of course we had to buy a huge mylar balloon in the shape of Thomas (which almost got away) for $8 and he got some sort of Thomas push toy. He'll probably play with it twice. I don't know what it is, but whenever parents take their kids somewhere remotely exciting, they turn into these souvenir nuts, fully knowing it will probably be in the back of the closet next week.

Just notice the top picture. That's Tommy getting his first tattoo. And he's really pumped about it too. It'll wash off tomorrow probably, but definitely fun.

Tomorrow is Sunday again. As Dean says, Sunday always comes. In our house the tradition is for Dean to plant himself on the couch for some much needed relaxation and football watching before the craziness that is Sunday. It'll be an interesting one for me too. I'm working in the nursery (Yay to all the Well Kids volunteers!) and I'm sneaking out halfway through for an interview on the Couch. A little nerve wracking for me since I'm not really a huge fan of talking in front of lots of people. Then I'll head straight to the keyboard to play O Tannenbaum for the offering. Yes, you read that right. It's a Christmas song. In October. But it's for a very important announcement that will be made regarding our Christmas service this year, so stay tuned!

The Island of Sodor

No, it's not a far-off destination in Lord of the Rings or something from Harry Potter. It's the home of Tommy's favorite character, Thomas the Tank Engine. And today, for about 3 magical hours, we will go to the Island of Sodor, also known as Cordele, Georgia. We're heading out in a few minutes and he's so excited to "ride on Thomas". I'll let you know how it goes!

Friday Fun

Every week we have a group of moms (and our kids) that get together and do something different around Tallahassee. Shout out to Jen Simmons for organizing it! This week we went to Zoinks, which is a sort of heaven on earth full of bounce houses and arcade games. But it's clean and wears the kids out. Tommy is very cautious in general, so when his friends Caleb, Dominic, and Nicholas were climbing to the top and then belly flopping into the bounce house, he was clapping and saying "Yay Dominic!" or yay to whoever was jumping.

Tonight, if it ever stops raining, he'll go with Aunt Sally and Uncle Bennett to the Fall Festival at Bradfordville Baptist Church. We are totally into the whole Halloween thing, and of course we'll take him trick or treating and all, but this is just a fun thing for him to do. I always wondered if trick or treating and doing the Santa and Easter Bunny thing would disqualify me from being a real legit patsor's wife. Guess not.

I'm really looking forward to tonight. It's one of my favorite parts of being a pastor's wife, actually. Dean and I get to meet some of the parents of a few college students at The Well. They'll be in town for Parents' Weekend, and they want to have dinner with us. Of course I love going out to dinner, but more than that, it'll be great to meet the families of some of our students. I love to sit back and watch kids' lives change. Then the kids get on board with what we're doing, take ownership, and talk to their families back home about it. It just really excites me. For whatever reason, God has allowed us to take part in this process and it's such a privilege. So we'll be off to Food Glorious Food!

Say Cheese!

Today Dean and I took Tommy to see pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch. You gotta love the easy hour of entertainment that is simply running back and forth around groups of pumpkins. I thought I would get some great pictures out of this. I thought wrong. We took 55 pictures and I think we got 3 smiles. I guess that's pretty true to how all our pictures are. But he sure had a blast!

The Morning Lineup

I'm not a morning person. I never have been but I assumed that when you have kids and have to get up early every morning, you suddenly become one. Apparently that's not the case. Tommy was up at 5 this morning and I was able to get him back to sleep but there have been lots of mornings in the last few weeks where I wasn't so successful. I've told him that when the sun isn't up, God is not awake yet and it's certainly not a good idea to be up before God is! That's terrible theology, I know, but as my brother-in-law Bennett reassured me, Tommy still thinks inanimate objects sleep, so theology might not be that important yet.

So now that I've been getting up early EVERY SINGLE DAY (no weekends... still getting used to that), I've become quite a kids show watcher. Right now I am watching Martha Speaks (a cartoon about a dog who eats alphabet soup and is able to talk) - a show I must admit I kind of enjoy. Sshh, don't tell. We watch this, Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, and a few others on a regular basis. It's sad when you find yourself enjoying watching a monkey living with a nameless man with an obsession for the color yellow and you begin to beg for new episodes. But don't feel too bad for me... every so often I get to sneak a "Regis and Kelly" episode in there.

I Finally Gave In!

For the last few months I've been reading a number of blogs, just enjoying a glimpse into the days of the writers. Of course I read Dean's blog every day (my personal favorite). I've laughed at Lindsay Knipple's stories of delivering babies and raising her own. I even bought the Chocolate Banana Vivano from Starbucks because Ainsley Arment said it's amazing (it is really good). And now I've decided to take plunge and try this for myself.

So I'll start with the basics. I've been married for almost 5 years to Dean, who's not only an amazing husband, but also a great pastor. We planted the Well here in Tallahassee just over a year ago. It's been a crazy ride since then, but one I wouldn't trade for anything. Tommy turned two in August and since I get to stay home with him during the day, he keeps me on my toes. I teach piano lessons at home 3 afternoons a week and have 14 students, ages 6 through 14. And to make sure I don't get bored, I lead a community group from the Well of twenty-something ladies. At least that's what we're calling it this week.

And that's me!