Extraordinary Mom…
I am an extraordinary mom. Yes I am. I don’t mean the kind of mom that has it all together and has those super powers that some moms do…I am talking about something very different. I’m just not ordinary. So I am going with extra- ordinary. Let me explain:
I am the kind of mom that has no problem tearing open a box of Ho Ho’s in the middle of the grocery store for my children to shove down their throats just to shut them up. Eventually handing the wrappers and crushed box to the check out cashier with the rest of the groceries.
I am the kind of mom that stays at the zoo after it closes and sneaks around with my kids to watch the animals REALLY come alive. It is so amazing to roam the zoo without other people there! We feel like we OWN the zoo and the animals that live there…until a zoo member finds us and tells us to leave.
I am the kind of mom that sticks my kids in the Kohl’s double cart and flies them around the circular path of the store at top speed with their hands held high screaming, “FASTER MOMMY! FASTER!!!” All the while, knocking down displays and running into people that just don’t move fast enough to get out of the way. Eventually, we collide with a Kohl’s employee, and we are asked to stop ‘please’.
I am the kind of mom that takes my kids to a shoe store and hangs out in the back clearance section so my kids can try on hundreds of pairs of shoes, just for fun! They strut around like runway models as I laugh and say, “Oh wow! Those are DOOZERS!!!” Yes, even my little boy finds the leopard print 12 inch heal boots that go up to his waste to sport. Can anyone say, hilarious? I can. My kids still do this when we go to any stores that have a shoe section. It’s our tradition. People stop and stare and laugh and look at me like I am nuts. And I look back at them and say, “Aren’t they a RIOT??” I always promise the anxious store clerks that we will clean the catastrophic mess up…promise!
I am the kind of mom that shoves my kid outside in his underwear when it’s 40 degrees, just to make a point. He always, ALWAYS comes down after his shower, without his pajamas on. Here’s the ridiculous part. He’s always SHIVERING. He whines, “Brrr….I’m cold!” To that I say, “Get some PJS ON!!!! I bought you those angry bird ones at Kohls and you NEVER wear them!” And to that he says, “But it’s not winter yet!”
Funny, he puts on his pajamas now. Point taken.
More often than not, my kids have tacos or hotdogs for breakfast, and cereal or pancakes for dinner. Why not?
I have no problem charging my daughter ten cents an hour for the electricity she wasted while leaving her bedroom light on all day during school.
We have a long-standing poop contest that has been going on for years…who has the biggest? Yes, we show off our bowel accomplishments. You say sick? I say fascinating.
Extra-ordinary. Some may say I’m crazy. Others may say I am completely inappropriate. I just say I’m me.
Extra-ordinary.
What makes you extra-ordinary? I have a good feeling you are NOT an ordinary mom!
Lets keep Cade to manly shoes not heels please. Thanks Dad
Oh, but he looks so cute! Even the store clerks laugh at him! You’re a party pooper…
Until he falls and gets hurt, and then it’s the stores fault!
Ha! SO true.
Who could not picture that precious toe-head sporting the long leopard boots, too funny! I’ll always think of you guys when I see a shoe section! The hotdogs for breakfast thing made me kind of gag, but I just had milk duds at midnight so who am I to judge!
You are an extra-ordinary mom and woman, that is what makes you soooooo great! If every mom was the same, how very boring indeed the world would be! Your children will always remember those ‘wild’ moments with mom and will look back so fondly!
Oh thanks so much sis!! You know I am the queen of crazy!!
Either they will have memories to laugh about or memories to share with their therapist… memories none the less!!! lol
Milk duds…yum.
Going for the raisinets.
You ARE the most extraordinary-est(?)of Moms! I love that you have those zany moments that your kids will remember always (and you too!) I think too often that we want our kids to be behaved and we don’t let them be kids! Loved the visual of the little man in his heels! I was wondering what Papa would think of that — loved the comment! Thank you for the Monday morning giggle!
Aw thanks hun!!! I think… LOL I’m kinda an “extra-ordinary” friend too, eh? HA! Like I said, they will remember these moments…possibly for therapy sessions!! Thanks so much for your encouragement, as ALWAYS!!! You are the wind beneath my wings!!!!
Feeling a bit alone in the “extraordinary” category. Moms out there- waiting for YOU to share!!! Come on now, I can’t be the only crazy one!!
OH lets see…this weekend Kaeli wanted to show me that she had cleaned up her room. I had JUST sat down on the floor with the baby, and did NOT want to move.”Oh, baby. I don’t want to get up.” I said with a sad face to her. She was very proud of her accomplishment. She said “Hold on” and disappeared to her room. She emerged with carpet sliders. You know those things you put under heavy things so you can slide them with ease? Well, as you envision this, I laid there, no help at all…She rolled me to my side and put one under my butt, and lower back. Along my spine. Then she took my arms and dragged me (drug me…whatever) across the living room, down the hall and into her room. She even navigated my body around corners. We were laughing the whole time! I told her I was going to use her if I ever needed to dispose of a dead body!! HA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I can TOTALLY see you and Kaeli through this ENTIRE scene!! I LOVE it! I knew you would come through on this one! Just knew it.
That is truly hilarious! MORE MORE MORE!!!!! (The crowd roared…)
Another one?…oh, okay
A couple of weeks ago Kaeli started scaring all of us. Like jump out “Rah!” scaring us. Then she would jump around laughing as if she had just pulled off the best stunt EVER
Now, I must tell you, I HATE being scared, and it got to the point were I was uneasy at the house, where ever I went because my beautiful daughter was going to scare me. I was about to boil, then Keegan came to me with rage, tears, frustration brewing in his eyes, and I knw we had to do something. So I began to tell Kaeli when she would scare us, “Keep it up, revenge sucks…Keegan and I are working on a scare so big, you will CRY”
Keegan was so excited, “what are we gonna do, mom…hide in her room, oh oh oh the laundry room…?” I said, “Nothing.” confusion went across his face. “We aren’t going to do anything.” I explained to Keegan that the human mind is far more terrifying than anything we could do. We were going to make her BELIEVE something awful was going to happen. For days we just kept planting seeds, secretly talking when she would catch us, whispers, quiet laughter…
Finally one night, we lead her to believe the scare was imminent. So, Keegan went off to his room presumably to go to bed. She knew something was coming because he did it with no argument or delay.
The hallway was dark.
I then asked Kaeli to go to bed. She started down the hallway to her room and stopped. She started freaking out, begging for mercy. Nope, I told her to get in her room NOW! and to stop being ridiculous. She started crying, but the abuse continued. GET TO YOUR ROOM NOW! Kaeli!
She was convinced that the light in her room was flickering on and off. Convinced Keegan was in there going to scare her. She was flipping out begging us to stop. Keegan came out of his room laughing, I was laughing. Kaeli was crying. Her mind had done all the work.
Mean? I asked her if she learned her lesson about scaring us? “Yes, mommy yes!”
Did I mention, I HATE being scared?
All I can say is… BRILLIANT!!! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I think you need to send me a post on all the “EXTRA-ORDINARY” things you have done in your parenting…seriously!!! Start writing!!!!!
(More…more…more…)
Oh Em Gee! I laughed out loud (while reading this during some down time in a class room at Sophie’s school)! I can totally see you running through Kohls like an absolute maniac and your kids just loving it! Too funny!
I am laughing again too!!! Just your “Oh Em Gee” is enough to crack me up sista!!! Uh, so why haven’t you shared any of YOUR extraordinary moments of motherhood??? Waiting….
One of the many reasons I love you!
We like to jump on the carts at Kroger in the parking lot and ride them.
We sing and dance in the car like crazy people…well, until my kids got too cool to do that.
We have rolled down the grassy hill at school (church…same building) all dressed up, while others just watch.
We play hide and seek at the park, and tag until we get such a big crowd involved it takes on a mind of its own.
My son and I wrestle at the pool while he tries to dunk me and we end up doing a WWF version of our martial arts on each other…
While I was VERY pregnant with my daughter, I would go down the slides at the park with my son while other moms freaked out and warned me I was too big (nah, if I could fit through the tunnel, I was going to go down the slide.
I still climb on the monkey bars and do upside down stuff with them…
Grab onto every moment of life and enjoy! It goes too fast and then they are all grown up and too cool to play.
Tons more fun to have in the meantime, though…
And one of the MANY reasons I love YOU!!!!! WOOHOO!!! Here’s to being an EXTRA-ordinary mom!!! I have been witness to some of your awesome non-ordinary parenting!
LOVE what you shared!
Oh, thought of another one…
Shopping carts… let see if I can describe it, you know the part you push? Down below where the “shelf” is? The kids can hold on to that, lay on the ground as you push the cart, dragging them along. Or they can lay on that shelf part and I make them move the cart with their hands!! Use hand sanitizer after cuz it it totally gross, but sooooo fun!! The looks from people are the best! Ask Irene, she caught us at Target like this once!!
Oh how fun!!! I can just picture them on the “shelf” as you push the cart and onlookers snoot away!! So where does Fagan go? Oh yeah- he probably hangs off the handle swinging side to side squealing!!! LOL
Oh, you are *so* much more fun than I am!! (although I did let my daughter try on 15 different pairs of adult high heels when we went to Rack Room this weekend. She was in shoe heaven) Okay…let’s see..we do have backwards meals where I INSIST they eat their dessert first and we work our way back to the protein. We also sing…a lot…while doing normal chores. Not actual songs, but more like a description of what we’re actually doing. It passes the time.–Lisa
Oh I beleive you are more fun than you make yourself out to be my friend! Your girl and my girl would have a blast at any shoe place!! I could just see them strutting their stuff! My son would join in though…and steal the show! Backwards meals… oh yes! And singing is always a fun time, especially if you are making up the songs as you go!
Hilarious! Kids grow up so quickly, its great that you’re able to be extraordinary. I enjoy the shopping cart roller coaster with my kids also.
Another extraordinary mom! WOOT! Maybe if we lived in the same town, we would literally run into each other! (stupid joke, I know…) Thanks so much for sharing!
You ARE an extraordinary mom! I might steal some of your actions. I love the idea of staying at the zoo after it closes. Personally, I love impromptu dance parties. It doesn’t matter where we are. If there’s some good music on, I say dance!
I am always a fan of dancing too!! I especially am quite good at the 80′s era…(in that pathetically awkward looking like I am drunk kind of way) I even have an 80′s party with my Sunday School class every year! (No alcohol spoken of- so then I am just pathetically awkward looking like I am a goofball) WOOT.
LOL!!!!
I gotta say Michelle, you just HAVE to be some kind of goofy with all of your kids while running your household filled with glee and fun and uh… craziness!!?? Come on now, ya gotta have something!? OH, I GOT IT!! You are actually one of those “real” extraordinary moms! (Super powers and all…) Well to that I say, “YOU ROCK IT!”
Hello from uptight mom…I think the only things I’ve done on your list are opening containers while shopping at the grocery store and served breakfast for dinner.
Well that is a start Andrea!!! Baby steps to “extra-ordinary” behavior…baby steps. LOL
Thanks so much for visiting and sharing!!
WAIT A SECOND!!! I just re-read your bio, and it states, “I like to RUN with craft scizzors”. SEE?? You are TOTALLY extra-ordinary!!! I bet Natalie will be following suit in no time! Tee hee….
{Melinda} I feel like I know you in a whole new way, Chris! And I like it!
I have a perfectionist streak that holds me back from doing quirky things sometimes, but I’ll tell you what — a teenager pushes you into being creative and resourceful in a way you never thought possible. Just wish I’d discovered how gutsy and unembarrassed I could be a long time ago!
Yes, I just put it all “out there” and pray people aren’t disgusted in my behavior!! I seriously thought everyone did this kinda stuff! HA! Apparently, me and a few others are the weird crazy extra-ordinary goofballs that step a bit too far over the line!
Thanks for reading Melinda!!
Love you sister – your stories are so hilarious I’ve seen your kids at Kohls – and I’ve seen the look on the employees’ faces…Ha! You are a wonderful mom – those crqazy memories and traditions are what make the best memorable stories as kids become adults. Loved reading it!!
Thanks sister!! Hoping the memories are not shared in their therapy sessions, but rather at some family dinner when they are married with kids and laughing at it all! Who knows how this all will pan out in years to come, right? For now, I’m gonna rock it!! LOL
This made me laugh. Happy Sharefest!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Oh I LOVE the trying on shoes! I couldn’t help but laugh. My boys love crazy shoes with heels on them. Heck when my oldest was about 18 months old he would put my heels on as soon as I took them off. Funny thing was he could walk better in them than some adults. Oh and the pj thing . . . such a great idea! I’m going to try that one. My middle child does that all of the time. And to make matters even more interesting, he wears winter pjs in the summer and summer pjs in the winter. Please explain the logic in that one?! Oh kids . . . they’re a trip!
Oh thank you so much for reading and commenting Erin! Oh yes, just shove that middle child out in the cold dark night and he will surely race right up those stairs and put on his WINTER pajamas!
BTW- are you in Gahanna? I live in Westerville!! This world just keeps getting smaller!!
I’m totally going to do it come this winter. I’ll make sure to make a post about it when I do!
Nope, not in Gahanna. I live in Indianapolis, IN. Still close to Ohio though
OH yes!! Definately write a post about it!! Make sure there are no “witnesses” that might make it all about the “drama” and call 911.
So Indianapolis huh? Well like you said… pretty close! lol
This seems to be more second-nature to dads, but it’s just because we’re not very mature as a whole. I’m not saying I’m extraordinarily mature, but I will say that the boy in me allows me to play bumper cars with strangers in shopping carts with my kids, run through a water park fully clothed with them, and laugh at public burps while feeling a swelling sense of pride that MY girl did that!
You know what the key behind it all is? Two words you wrote in this post: Why not? That, my dear, is the key to extraordinary-ness.
I do believe we are kindred souls, you EXTRA-ORDINARY DAD YOU!!! Maybe someday we will bump into eachother, or hear eachother’s hoot and hollers around the bend…
I just LOVE that there is a dad out there with the same perspective… enjoying life one snort and giggle at a time. 
Here’s to all our “why not?”‘s. CHEERS.
I LOVE this. I hope as my baby gets older I can be the type of Mom you are!
AW thanks so much Sarah!!! Last night we were at wallmart in the Christmas section dancing and singing to all the christmas songs being played. Oh- you will love those days when the your little one can be silly and you can engage them in all goofy impromptu moments! Thanks so much for reading and sharing!!