"My Crazy Kids"

The Best Christmas Ever By Allan Olson “This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” Abigail exclaimed one day just over a week ago. Alivia echoed that sentiment, repeating the same exact words. No, they didn’t get to unwrap a present early or anything of the sort. I simply told them that they would get some ice cream that night. So with that opening statement, was it the best Christmas ever? I don’t know, but as far Christmases go, it was still a lot of fun – and definitely very filling. We started our Christmas on Thursday night when a last-minute gift idea for my wife (a pie plate) turned into a situation where Abigail and I were making a pie and we needed a pie plate, so mom got to unwrap the first present. Keeping in the spirit of things, Abigail quickly ran to the tree for another present for mom. Surprisingly, she didn’t go for one of her own. I made her take it back, and we continued making pies for my siblings. Now the majority of the presents had been wrapped and...

It’s Christmas Time By Allan Olson Okay, like it or not, we are stuck with a virtually brown Christmas. There is barely a glimmer of snow showers in the forecast. What little snow we did have was taken care of by Sunday’s heat wave. With temperatures inching into the mid-40s above the donut, my daughters proved exactly how warm it was. Upon request, Abigail agreed to empty our food scrap bucket for the birds and whatever other animals we have in our backyard at night, and Alivia quickly volunteered to tag along. “You don’t have a shirt on, and you’re wearing shorts,” I said. “You’re going to get cold.” Apparently that didn’t matter to her. She grabbed her jacket, slipped on a pair of shoes, and was ready to go. “You’re wearing my shoes,” her mom said. Now Alivia, just like the rest of the kids, is growing fast – but not that fast. She just grinned back at mom, and Abigail, dressed in her winter jacket and boots, said, “Let’s go” (in a kind of ‘let’s go before they stop you’ whisper), ...

 Doing Chores By Allan Olson. Why is that whenever there is work to be done that the kids suddenly come down with the urge of “I gotta go to the potty,” or “I’m tired,” or “do I have to it by myself.” Since we don’t have wood to cut, or animals to feed (except our fish) the chores around our house is really limited especially considering, the grass stopped growing and I stopped mowing in September. The chores around our house are really basic like - clean your room; pick up the mess you made, help with dishes etc., the normal stuff most families deal with. Over the weekend Marcus was asked to help with something and all of a sudden fatigue just overwhelmed him as we was too tired to possibly help with anything. The result was he ended up in bed since he was too tired to help he was obviously too tired to stay up, he really didn’t like that option either. Alivia is a mix, sometimes she offers so much help that she becomes a nuisance other times she couldn’t possibly be asked to lift...

Oh, Christmas Tree By Allan Olson It finally happened. After being married for over 10 years, we finally turned the corner and got a real Christmas tree for the first time. This came after years of having a variety of substitutes – mainly a small approximately three-foot artificial tree, to paper trees that the kids made and would hang on the wall for months, to a couple years with no tree of any sort. Let’s not forget that this decision also came after several years of me complaining about the fake tree. Of course, the real reason we finally ventured into new territory and went with a real tree is the fact that we actually have space where we can put one up. We moved from our bursting-at-the-seams mobile home and the fake and paper trees to our new “mansion” with a real tree. I cut the tree down during the last weekend of deer season and dragged it all the way home with me. I’m sure I got a few funny looks on my two-hour drive. The kids were all excited when I pulled in with the tree....

By Allan Olson Holidays are always remembered differently by everyone, and the memories created – good or bad – usually last a lifetime. This Thanksgiving holiday was truly one to remember for us. For starters, it was our first Thanksgiving in our new home, a house that had room for everyone to sleep, without laying on top of each other. It had room for the kids to play without feeling like they were going to run us over (although sometimes we still wondered if they would), and best of all, we had room for everyone to eat in one room. On Wednesday, the day prior to the big feast, the oven was hard at work making pumpkin pies, cherry pies, apple pies and in the off time it needed to be cleaned, so we let our hands rest and let the oven do its magical self-cleaning. At about 6 p.m. I started my “world-famous” caramel rolls, with the aid of a couple nieces who were up for the holiday weekend. Largely, I made them do the work; I just supervised. I made the caramel and took ...

Give Thanks By Allan Olson It’s hard to believe that it’s getting to be the big holiday season already; with Thanksgiving here this week, it will only be a few weeks until we are celebrating the Christmas holidays and then we start another New Year. It’s funny how time flies by. At the beginning of the year, we are looking forward to some warmer weather. When that weather finally arrives, we look forward to some less humid temperatures. In all, it’s a cycle that never ends. This time of year, many families are getting together to celebrate the holiday season, and are appreciative for their short time together. As we get caught up in our daily lives, we often forget about the little things that we should be thankful for. Personally, I can say I’m thankful for my family. I’m especially thankful for my four children. We might not always see eye to eye – like when I ask them to help out with something and I get a whine in return, I don’t feel appreciated then. However, a random...

Hunting Walk II By Allan Olson For the second weekend in a row, I braved the elements and headed out hunting. Not that it paid off for me, but it was still an interesting weekend. Also for the second year straight weekend, I ventured on a hunting walk with Abigail. This time, I added Alivia to the mix. Two girls, one hunting walk, one dad – I was outnumbered. The questions and conversation were endless from the get-go – especially from Abigail. “Where we going?” “Can I go back now?” “I’m cold.” “I’m scared.” The list went on. I asked her to be quiet. That lasted for a few steps, then she would say something else, and the odds of me seeing a deer went down even further. Alivia, while not her usual chatterbox-self, still added her own conversation to the mix. At least she would whisper (loudly) her questions or comments. Then we throw in the difficulty of trying to walk slowly with two girls who kept wanting to walk in front of me. It was an interesting venture. The route I had planne...

Rowdy Kids By Allan Olson Every parent thinks their kids are the rowdiest, the loudest or rudest – especially in public settings (i.e., church, stores, public functions), even if it is only the parent that notices them. My children are as normal as the next. They like to have a good time, wrestle, tease and torment each other, along with (on occasion) actually being civil to each other. However, it seems like they are always on their worst behavior in a public setting. While my children haven’t done anything horrendous (yet) in public, even minor things can make a parent embarrassed, like the child not sitting still, or talking above a whisper when they are supposed to be quiet. On more than one occasion, I’ve felt mortified when my child acted out in church, only to be informed later that I have such good little children. I think to myself, “They can’t be talking about my kids!” The rowdiness gets exponentially more intense as the number of children gathered in the same lo...

Go To Sleep! By Allan Olson It’s a struggle that virtually every parent goes through: getting their child to go to sleep when they want them to. The struggle lasts from the time they’re born (at least for dads), sitting up at some awful hour of the morning when you have to go to work and/or school the next morning and the little one is fussing (or just plain old wide awake). The parent is trying to get the child to sleep and in need of toothpicks just to keep their own eyes open while attending to the sleepless child’s (or in our case, children’s) needs. I remember the halcyon days of yore when the youngest one was born – nearly four years ago. It seemed like we had just gotten past midnight feedings or changings (oh wait, we had), and middle-of-the-night crying sessions (or was that us, due to the lack of sleep?). It seemed like those days would never end, but just as it did with the other three children, this stage also, thankfully, ended with Number Four. Still, the battle to get th...

We Survived MEA By Allan Olson It was nice to have a long weekend without having to wake the kids up early, get them fed and dressed and off to the bus or school before a certain time. There was no morning drama – or at least very little of it that we had to deal with, as there were no time constraints on the morning. Of course, all that extra time together meant that there was also time for more fights, more time to irritate the parents because of the fighting or fits thrown because somebody wasn’t helping to clean, or someone else was being mean – and that was just the first two days off from school. To celebrate the extra family time, we got out the Wii bowling game again, and all the kids took on each other. It didn’t take long to determine who was going to be in close contention. Each of them have their own method of throwing the ball, and each of them managed at least one strike. The game was decided in the tenth frame with big brother Nikolai forging ahead of his youngest sister...

Are my children perfect? By Allan Olson Last weekend we took a trip to town. At our previous digs a few miles outside of Bemidji, a trip to town was a normal occurrence. At our present location, a trip to town is an exciting adventure for our family – or at least it is for the kids. The children, for the most part, spend their days shuffling back and forth from home to school, and that is the extent of their week. When we stay home all weekend (which I prefer), they have to be content playing in the yard or trashing their rooms. On this trip to town we visited only two stores in a span of several hours, and the kids – and the stores – got on my nerves. It’s not that they were doing anything terrible, but the little nuances that only a parent perceives as bad started to bug me. Whether it was Alivia, who spun the sunglasses case too hard (resulting in the majority falling to the floor), or the incessant questions from all of them asking “Can I have this for my birthday?” (o...

The Weekend By Allan Olson By all accounts, it was a great weekend to spend at home, aside from leaving a couple of times for work-related functions. A lot of work on the house was accomplished. This last weekend marked my wife’s and sister-in-law’s annual pilgrimage to a friend’s home in the larger metropolitan area south of here. That left my brother and I in charge of the kids – all at my place. This year we weren’t all crammed into a tiny trailer; we actually had room to breathe, and the kids had plenty of land to roam. The bonus was the surprise addition of my wife’s older niece, who came to help out with the kids as well. That meant my brother and I could leave all seven of the kids (ages 3-11) with her and go fishing. The weekend work started on Friday afternoon when, with the aid of my brother’s pressure washer, we started spraying down the siding of my house, trying to get it looking cleaner than it had been in many years. The kids, home from school, soon were playing outside ...

Total Drama House By Allan Olson It seems like there is always drama at our house. We can’t escape it because the drama is created by our kids, and escaping them is not an option, because they always manage to find us. The drama is occasionally created by us, because we issue unfair demands on our children. We cause undue and unfair stress on them by asking them to do strenuous tasks, such as cleaning their room. Okay, I admit that is a strenuous task. On some occasions when they start on this project, the toys cover the floor and you would hardly know that there is even carpet in their rooms. Some of the other horrible tasks we project on our children are things like clearing the table. Does that mean I have to wash it, too, they ask. Frustration builds. Yes, washing the table is included in that. Why do I have to all the work? It never fails, whether it’s one kid or all four kids working on the project, each of them thinks the weight of the world is upon their shoulders, and they mu...

Grandparents By Allan Olson There is just something special about grandparents. Recently my grandparents have been on my mind; perhaps that is because of the usually overlooked Grandparents Day earlier this month. I was fortunate enough to spend plenty of time at my grandparents’ growing up. One grandma lived less than 10 miles from us, in the town closest to our rural residence. It was always fun to go to grandma’s house, even though she lived in a small one bedroom home on a small city lot. Over the years, it became our “hang-out” or in-between place while we waited for swimming lessons or baseball games or other various things we might have been doing during the year. Of course, we were also required to help with dishes, mow her lawn or go get her mail at the post office. That might’ve been the hardest task to master, as there was no simple key to her box. It was a turn the knob right, left, around and around backwards/forwards kind of thing. We learned to figure it out, eventually....