It's just one more pumpkin, so why....

I don't know why I am so hung up on this.... so I'll vent on my blog.
Yesterday, Hannah came home with a pumpkin & note from her teacher.
The note read that it was such a wonderful time of year & just a great opportunity to have fun with our kids. So here is a pumpkin. We needed to decorate it with our child & return it on Friday. It encouraged us to have fun & be creative.
The first thing I thought, and this may be my bad attitude coming out, is haven't I've been fun & creative enough? I mean I have:
1. Took the kids to Gardner village over fall break.
2. Made caramel apples with them
3. Carved pumpkins, and only grumbled a tiny bit to myself as it took 2 hours to clean up after (ok, I grumbled alot, but really, I kept it to myself.)
4. I am helping with Kaitlyn's class spook alley by setting up after school today.
5. I shopped for all the costumes.
6. I am making pumpkin shaped pancakes & homemade eggnog for breakfast tomorrow.
7. I am going to the school's Halloween costume parade tomorrow.
8. I am making spaghetti & breadstick bones for dinner tomorrow & kitty litter cake for dessert.
9. The girls are having a Harry Potter movie marathon with their friends after trick or treating tomorrow.
Isn't that fun & creative? Hannah followed me around all day yesterday.... whining about how we needed to decorate her pumpkin..... and I had to help.... because her teacher said so. So, I told her after homework, chores, & dinner were over. Hannah thought I meant her chores & homework. So she hurried & cleaned her room, did her spelling page, & read her book. She was absolutely crushed when she asked me if we could decorate her pumpkin, & I had to tell her not right now because I had to run Jonathan to the store to buy a compass so he could do his Geometry homework. Guess who was waiting at the door, pumpkin in hand, when I got back? She was just plain ticked when I said we had to eat dinner & on the verge of a meltdown when I told her I still had to help Emily study her spelling & do her math page...... I was feeling more & more resentful that the teacher put one more thing on my overflowing plate.....
Then, all became right in Hannah's world .... Kaitlyn finished her homework & chores, & was willing to help Hannah with the pumpkin. At first Hannah wasn't so sure, after all, teacher said Mom was supposed to help. But then decided Kaitlyn would do. So, as I sat & worked with a crying Emily who was overwhelmed by 30 3- digit subtraction problems, Kaitlyn & Hannah decorated the cutest pumpkin.
I appreciate the teacher's intention to make a fun & creative Halloween experience for the kids. But please, send the pumpkin home earlier next time!

ok, I feel better. Now I'm off to type a 15 page paper for Stephen that's due tomorrow.