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!