"My Crazy Kids"

It’s beginning to feel like home By Allan Olson It’s funny how life works sometimes. In the not too distant past, it seemed like we would never – or at least not in the foreseeable future – leave our small dwelling and move into new digs which would more conveniently and efficiently house our family. Achieving the dream of homeownership (I will tackle that subject in a future column) is finally here, as two weeks ago we became owners of a large house that easily holds the family, complete with a yard and a view of an area lake. When we first drove past the place, we knew the location was ideal for us; a yard, a large house, and a quiet neighborhood. My wife and I started the ball rolling to get the process completed. We also started talking about it with the kids. They had heard us discussing it, and had seen the outside of the house when we drove by one day nearly two months ago. “Do you want to move to a new house?” I asked them. “Is it the one I like?” Marcus asked. ...

A Moving Adventure By Allan Olson It’s been a few years since I last moved, and then I had only one kid, and we moved just a short distance from the previous location. Prior to that it was just my wife and I, and as newlyweds and poor college students, we didn’t have much that one truckload (or two) couldn’t handle. This past weekend we moved again. This time, we moved 20 miles from our previous home of four years. We also moved with four kids and over nine years of accumulation from living in the same trailer park. It was a crazy, whirlwind three days. We knew this day was coming, so we started packing early. We thought we would easily be ready, and it would be a simple process of loading the trailer and unloading. We picked up the 28-foot moving trailer provided by the realtor on Thursday, and a friend dropped his horse trailer off to be filled. Well, it turns out we weren’t as ready as we thought. Our storage unit was nearly full and our house was looking empty, but we ...

Young Imaginations at Work By Allan Olson What would it be like to once again have an imagination that really runs wild and free? Only a child is really aware of what that is like. My kids are pretty good at letting their imaginations run wild. One day, my three youngest were playing their version of hide-and-go-seek. It seldom includes hiding, and if they do hide, they give away their location quickly. Alivia was it, and had to find Marcus and Abigail. “One, three, five, seven, eight . . . not or ready, here I come,” she said. Then she starts out on her mission to find the other two. This usually isn’t a hard task, since they are either still looking for a place to hide or hiding together, and likely laughing the entire time. Those three are usually pretty good about finding games to play. Another of their favorites is a playing house. Usually, Marcus is the dad, Abigail is sometimes the mom and other days the daughter, and Alivia usually plays the role of the family pe...

It’s Bedtime By Allan Olson “It’s time for bed!” is a favorite saying of many parents of young children. Bedtime symbolizes approaching quiet time, perhaps time to watch a show, read a book, catch up on housework or spend some time with your spouse. At our house, we enjoy the quietness of bedtime, but the process of getting there can be a chore in itself. We found that it usually works best to give them some time, a warning to let them know its coming up soon. The process leading up to that is getting them ready to get in bed. The girls are usually the most challenging to get in bed. And since mom has them the majority of the day, that job is usually mine. Since our girls share a room and go to bed at the same time, they are quick to pick up on each other’s delay tactics. “It’s bedtime,” mom or I will inform them. “I need a drink,” they will say to delay a few more moments. Once in bed, then the rest of their tactics start. “Cover me up.” “No, not my Straw...