Fly on the Wall: Kid’s Defense

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Cathy O

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 8 bloggers are inviting you to catch a Fly on the Wall Post glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Here’s who you’ll be hearing from in my house:

Me, Mama O.
Daddy O.
Big Sister, age 8
Little Brother, age 6

A Snuggly Keychain?

Little Brother has started collecting keychains and adding them to his backpack. With some birthday money, he purchased this fluffy keychain.

keychain

After attaching it to his backpack, he said, “Anyone want to snuggle my keychain?”

Me: No, thanks, I prefer to snuggle humans or stuffed animals – not keychains.

Dinnertime Favorites

The crazy talk seems to come out most often at dinnertime in our house! Here’s a few things we have overheard:

Little Brother: I hate potato sauce (means tomato). YUCK! Mom, wipe it off the pasta!

Me: No, sorry!

Big Sister: I ate the chicken soup even though it looked like puke.

Daddy O: Let’s not talk about food like that when we’re eating.

I asked Big Sister what she had for hot lunch at school. Her reply, “I wanted to try the Asian Chicken, but my mouth said hot dog.” Cute, right?

Daddy O: “My wife said it couldn’t be done. So then I had to prove her wrong…some candles, the small marshmallows, Nutella on Graham crackers, and voila! indoor ‘smores!”

S’mores over candlelight. I was just glad nothing caught on fire!

Maybe I’m a strict parent?

Nothing says good Monday morning like a little voice saying at 3am, “Mom, I puked in my bed.”

That’s what I wrote on my Facebook status prior to Thanksgiving. Poor, Little Brother.

While he was hanging his head over the toilet, he said to me, “I suppose you’re going to make me go to school.”

Wow! Am I that strict about school attendance?

“No way, buddy. You are staying home with me to make sure you’re okay before you go back to school.”

Little Brother Highlights

After pumpkin carving, he asked, “Does my pumpkin look greedy?”

greedy pumpkin

Kid’s defense is farts and burps.

Gross – and you’re only six. I assume this will only continue for years to come.

Dad said my nails were so long that I was growing wolf claws!

I know that Christmas is not just about presents. It’s about family. (YES!!)

Can’t you Smile?

Big Sister received a collection of awesome Shel Silverstein books for her birthday. When they saw his picture on the back of one of the books, they kept saying, “He looks creepy!”

Shel Silverstein headshot

C’mon, Shel, can’t you give the camera a smile? For all the creativity and fun in his books, this headshot just doesn’t seem to fit!

Don’t Take me Literally!

Me: Okay kids, time to hop in the shower.

Big Sister: Mom, that’s dangerous. We can’t hop while we’re in the shower.

Tooth Fairy Troubles

Little Brother lost his first tooth and was super excited for the tooth fairy to come. Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy didn’t come right away.

Me: Maybe the Tooth Fairy was on vacation?

Daddy O: No, the Tooth Fairy couldn’t come because we had a fire in the fireplace last night.

The next morning comes, and still, nothing has arrived from the Tooth Fairy. Daddy O. acted quickly while Little Brother was out of the room, and I said, “Oops, see if it fell out of the tooth pouch.”

Little Brother: Maybe I missed it the first time.

Whew!

Big Sister added that morning at breakfast, “I think the tooth fairy makes a castle out of teeth.”

Interesting!

Our Cat, Sumo

Sumo Kitty

Kids: She looks annoyed.

Me: Annoyed is her normal.

Tis the Season

During the first snowfall, Big Sister exclaimed, “It looks like we’re in a snowglobe!”

Pretty, big snowflakes. We hope we’ll have a White Christmas!

Daddy, Mama O, our kids cutting down our tree

Cutting down our tree on a 50-degree day in Wisconsin! We named our tree Chris.

Enjoy the fun festivities of the season! Cheers!

Now go read those other fantastic blogs for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado http://www.BakingInATornado.com

Menopausal Mother http://www.menopausalmom.com/

Searching for Sanity https://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com

Spatulas on Parade https://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/

Never Ever Give Up Hope https://batteredhope.blogspot.com

Bookworm in the Kitchen http://www.bookwormkitchen.com/

The Blogging 911 http://theblogging911.com/blog

On Being Thankful

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Cathy O

Thanksgiving and the holidays really are a delightful time of year. My kids (ages six and eight) really are at a sweet age – old enough to start understanding more about the meaning of holidays we celebrate at church and with our families.

For Thanksgiving, they brought home numerous projects that shared what they were thankful for. It appeared that both kids made a similar project, so I just had to share them here:

Pictured on the top: my 8-year-old daughter’s picture, Bottom: my 6-year-old son

A few things that I love about these pictures: both include a cat. I am surprised she made it into the picture because she and the kids don’t have the best relationship. She’s a fat, old, grumpy, but cute kitty, who prefers us adults much more than the kids. Still, I’m glad they appreciate her.

Instead of family, my son is thankful for his tv. We only have one, and he doesn’t watch it that often, but I guess that tv time is precious to him. It’s good to know where his priorities are.

I think there’s an age difference reflected in these pictures. My daughter is very sweet, and while my son can be sweet too, he definitely has a more independent, stubborn side, sometimes acting as if he is an only child.

In all fairness, he did create other pictures that did say he was thankful for family, so all hope is not lost for him.

I’m grateful for teachers helping reinforce the importance of being thankful at school because it’s something we certainly talk about at home.

Mini Fly on the Wall

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Cathy O

Hey there! My Fly on the Wall friends just posted yesterday, but I wasn’t organized to sign-up in advance to participate. After reading the group’s posts, I thought I would join in with my own post. Better late than never, right?

For more Fly on the Wall, hop on over to this writing challenge founder’s blog: Baking in a Tornado.

South Dakota Vacation

We ventured to South Dakota during summer, and had an awesome time! It was a great family destination for our 5 and 7 year old kids. Before we went, my 5 year old son asked, “Do they speak English in South Dakota?”

On our drive from Sioux Falls to Desmet, our kids decided to make a honking sound whenever they saw an animal. This continued throughout the entire week. Sigh. Fortunately, there are open fields for long stretches where you don’t see much at all, like this:

View of the prairie from the Ingalls Homestead in Desmet, SD.

The drive up to Desmet from Sioux Falls though beautiful, went through a quite rural part of the state. The population density is quite low in much of South Dakota, so I told Daddy O., “If we ever want to live off the grid, we can move out here!”

When driving past the many farms and lush green fields, my son observed, “I bet that farmer has 5 green thumbs.”

We could almost picture what it must have been like for the first settlers in the 1800’s who arrived here. The Ingalls Visitor Center consists of the Ingalls homestead, a sod house, shanty, church, barn and one-room classroom. We even rode on a covered wagon and learned about what life was like for the Ingalls family. We were struck by the extreme quiet of the land: no sounds of planes or cars zooming by on nearby roads, simply the sounds of the wind rushing through the prairie grasses. Beautiful.

Wildlife Watching

We were excited to see bison, but just saw a lot of cattle, especially on the eastern part of the state. My daughter explained, “The cows are all black, and the bison are chocolate colored.” Can you tell we like desserts?

See, they are chocolate colored! Bison at Custer State Park

We drove the wildlife loop road at Custer State Park, and having been in the car for at least an hour, our kids asked, “Can we watch a show (on our portable DVD player)?”

“No!” I said, “Nature is your show. Look out your window!” So many amazing views:

Top left: a baby burro paid us a visit on the Wildlife Loop, top right: view of the Cathedral Spires, Bottom left: Stockade Lake, bottom right: bison along the road out of Custer State Park

The Black Hills

When we arrived in Rapid City, I said, “Look, kids, the Black Hills. Aren’t they pretty?”

My son’s response, “They look gray.”

View of the Black (gray) Hills from Mt. Rushmore

In Rapid City, we enjoyed an awesome meal and beverages at Firehouse Brewery. We sat in a covered outdoor area (fortunately) and watched a major rain and hail storm come down. The food and beer were delicious – a welcome change from the fast food we had on the trip out to Rapid City. The company was nice too with everyone getting along, and I remarked to Daddy O., “This feels like a date night, except we have our kids along.” He replied, “It’s like our marriage is one long date-night.” Awh….

Hitting the Road

I have memories of my own family vacations as a kid, and we would wake up EARLY, maybe around 5am to get a jump on a day of long driving. I have not been able to replicate this timing for my family much to my dismay.

One morning after sleeping in, my daughter said, “Waking up early for me was unsuccessful.”

This happened on most days, and I just had to go with it. Oh well…

Best for Last

I was talking about the errands I ran during the week, talking about the things I picked up at a grocery store in a quick stop.

My son chimed in and said, “Wow, Mom, you work hard.”

“Yes, dear, why yes I do! Thank you!” He got a big hug for saying that!

Hope you all are hearing sweet things like that in your home too!

Have a great day all! Thanks for stopping by.

Now check out more Fly on the Wall posts, starting with Baking in a Tornado.

Checking out the Como Zoo

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Cathy O

A cancelled camping trip led to a trip to visit friends in Minneapolis – St. Paul earlier this summer. Though we’ve been to the Twin Cities several times during summer, we have covered Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet, but we hadn’t been to the Como Zoo.

We started out pretty early and found parking in nearby lots. We decided to check out the animals in the morning, enjoy a picnic lunch in the park by a playground, and then try some rides after that.

Como Zoo really is a lovely free zoo! There is a suggested donation at the entrance followed by many gift shops, rides, food and other opportunities to spend money. We made it out with two stuffed animals for our kids!

The zoo has a nice variety of animals and it’s small enough to walk through with kids quite easily.

We spent the most time at the Primate House, watching the mom and baby gorilla munch lettuce. They were positioned so close the the glass and just looked so comfortable, hanging out in the shade. I love how the mom is cradling the head of romaine like a baby too – it’s hers! It looked like such a sweet, domestic glimpse into their gorilla family life. Meanwhile the silverback gorilla was out pacing the yard. The gorilla forest was a really cool exhibit, housing seven gorillas in total.

Emperor Tamarin and Mom & Baby Gorillas

After checking out the gorillas, we kept walking through the primate house. I really liked watching Como Zoo’s Tamarin climb and leap from branch to branch in their exhibit. The mustaches gave them a distinguished sort of look.

As a member of our zoo since our kids were babies, I’ve been going to zoos a lot over the last six to eight years, though it seems to be less and less frequent as my kids get older. Still, it is a treat to see endangered animals up close, showing off their normal behaviors, such as eating a head of lettuce with her baby or effortlessly jumping from branch to branch. I / we may never have the opportunity to see these animals in the wild. While that would be preferred, we will enjoy zoo visits and learn the conservation stories the animals and their habitats around the world.

Thanks for a great visit, Como Zoo!

Fly on the Wall: Balancing Crazy & Awesome Days

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Cathy O

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 8 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

A Little Piece of Peace

Never Ever Give Up Hope

Bookworm in the Kitchen

Here’s who you’ll be hearing from:

Me, Mama O.
Daddy O.
Big Sister, age 7
Little Brother, age 5

For more Fly Posts, you can see my Fly on the Wall PAGE!

Yikes! This is only the third time this year that I’ve been part of this blogging challenge. A lot has been going on – major volunteering, launching my marketing business, but I did take some time to hang with my girls and see Boyz II Men and New Kids on the Block. Unfortunately, Paula Abdul wasn’t able to perform due to an injury. My dear BFF (who I knew back when these bands were around) warned me before the concert that we may hear, “Old voices.” I really didn’t know what she meant, so she went on, “You know, they may just sound old and different.” Well…here’s what they looked like:

New Kids on the Block rocking it in St. Paul, MN

Fireworks, lights, Joe getting up close & personal with the fans! They put on an entertaining show!

I didn’t think they sounded old. Boyz II Men still had it too! It was a very fun night!

After that week, it’s been a balancing act of summer school, sports, work, and fun with family & friends. All good things of course!

Fast forward to July 4th, and Daddy O had this to say:

“I feel unpatriotic drinking this beer.”

Some Expressions are Tough to Understand

Me: I need to balance my checkbook. Big sister: What are you balancing it on?

Me: We’ll be carpooling today with our neighbors. Big sister replies, “I hope the water’s warm.” Hmm…there’s no pool in the car.

Summer Grumpiness

Big Sister: Adults almost always ruin my mood especially you Mom.

This is what I get for laying down the law during summer! It’s funny because her comment reminds me of what they said last summer. I wrote about it in “You Might be Home with your Kids for Summer if…”

I was talking to Little Brother about getting along with friends, after hearing that he was name-calling. He went on to say, “those darn friends mess everything up sometimes.” For being five, he sure can sound like a grumpy old man sometimes!

Crazy Little Brother

Little Brother kept saying “subspicious” for several weeks.

Little Brother describing his two recess times at school: I play Ningajo in the morning and monster in the afternoon.

We ended up finding a love seat and two chairs for our living room. Once they were delivered, Little Brother referred to it as a “love couch.”

While helping with chores, I discovered that Little Brother loves to scrub with the toilet brush. “It’s kind of like stirring a big soup,” he said. Stir on, I say!

Me to Little Brother: Stop being crazy!
Big Sister explains: He was born crazy, mom.

Little Brother was sitting on my lap, and asked where my heart was. He guessed, “between those Rocky Mountains?” Yes, referring to my boobs! Ahh! Previously, he told us that, “boobs are enjoyable.” The gray hairs are coming already because of this kid!

Awesome has a New Meaning

Me at dinnertime: My day was productive.
Kids: What does that mean?
Little Brother: Like awesome?
Me: Yes, exactly!

I hope you all have an awesome rest of July! Cheers, my dear readers.

go mama o

balancing kids, life and work on the go

Category Archives: Kids

Fly on the Wall: Kid’s Defense

On Being Thankful

Mini Fly on the Wall

Checking out the Como Zoo

Fly on the Wall: Balancing Crazy & Awesome Days