"My Crazy Kids"

Christmas Weekend  The gingerbread masterpieces were finally complete, and it was time for that “finished product” photo. The next day, the kids enjoyed eating on one of their creations, and the other one, well, it disappeared into the great white beyond. Photo by Nikolai Olson. By Allan Olson Since Christmas falls in the middle of the week this year, it’s hard to determine which weekend, exactly, is Christmas weekend. For us (and I’m sure many of you) both this past weekend and next be Christmas weekends. Saturday was a busy day for me. I attended the Big Bear Wrestling Tournament in Cass Lake, watched a lot of exciting matches, and enjoyed some tasty food. I had Abigail with me, and she was greatly amused with the fact that I had to spend money to feed her – especially since I ended up spending more on her for food in the first couple hours than I did the whole day previous with Nikolai. We visited the malt machine and, while the prices were affordab...

Weekend of peace ---It looks like Santa told a couple of these kids that they were getting a lump of coal for Christmas! They probably didn’t believe him anyway. By Allan Olson It was mostly a peaceful weekend, which means the kids weren’t fighting (much) – they like to save that for in the vehicle – and since they were “good,” it made for a more peaceful weekend. On Friday night, however, instead of the normal late night because of the weekend, it was normal bedtime for our children as their attitudes earlier in the week dictated that it be so.  That meant it was a normal bed time for me, too – YEAH! The best part of sending the kids to bed early is that I can do the same. On Saturday I slept in – I think I made it until about 7 a.m., a full 90 minutes later than my usual rollout. Our plans were set for the day – my wife was heading to shop for a few Christmas gifts and household items with her mother, while I and the youngest three were heading to the ...

A chilly weekend Oh, Christmas Tree! The kids get enthused every year about the prospect of hunting for the right tree and then decorating it. By Allan Olson Regardless of what the calendar says, winter is officially here, with the 16 inches (or more) of snow that dumped in the area last week, followed by the sharp blast of cold winter air that dropped temperatures down to near 30 below on Thursday morning. I think it safe to say that winter is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. The weekend kicked off with all of us taking in the basketball games on Friday night at Cass Lake-Bena. Both teams played well, but unfortunately, they didn’t both win. Our entire family was there for the evening, although the younger three left for home at halftime of boys game when mom decided that the kids were getting restless and tired and it was time to go. Nikolai and I stayed for the duration, and what a game we saw! It featured multiple lead changes, ...

Thanksgiving Weekend #8241---With the decent temperatures over the Thanksgiving weekend, the kids were tempted by the recently-frozen Big Rice Lake and decided to explore. This beaver lodge appeared to attract the most interest. Even the dog found the large conglomeration of sticks, grass and mud interesting. By Allan Olson Oh, what a weekend! All week we had been working, working and working some more to get the house in order for the loads of company we were expecting on Wednesday, Thanksgiving and into Friday. We didn’t know exactly who was going to be staying how long, but it didn’t really matter, since our plans were to stay home. After the kids finally got their rooms cleaned – all I have to say is that if they would have put half as much energy into working as they did into complaining about working, their rooms would have been cleaned much faster, but eventually everything was picked up and ready for the vacuum cleaner. (Their bookshelves have...