- All right, well when it comes to mommy,
our next two guests know how to roll with the punches
and find humor in the most ridiculous of situations.
Let's welcome back the ladies behind the,
"I mom so hard" podcast,
Kristen Hensley and Jen Smedley, y'all.
(audience cheering)
(upbeat country music)
I'm not allowed to hug yet, still.
Like, what's up?
- We're elbow bumping. We're doing it all-
- [Kelly] Oh wait, this is yours.
- Is that me, though?
- [Kelly] This is yours.
- I mean, I have to drive home, though.
- You're classy.
- [Kelly] Yeah, yeah, really? Me too.
- I don't like red wine. That's why.
- Oh, you don't?
- I just, I, it's okay.
- It's good for your heart, I guess.
- Yeah, I know it's good for you, I just don't like it.
- It's good for my attitude.
- [Kelly] I don't drink it because it's good for my heart.
- [Zooey] It means we're like, thirsty.
It's kind of weird.
- That's the whole, it does, and then you drink a little bit
and you're like, I'm really good at darts.
- I don't want to mix water.
(laughter)
- I'm really good at darts?
- [Kristen] Yep.
- [Kelly] but y'all have been busy.
- We have been, well, the kids are back in school,
which is fantastic-
- Woohoo
- Yay!
(audience cheers)
- Yeah, which you'd think would give us time to shower,
but that not-
- No.
- really happening that much either.
- [Kelly] Yeah. You're catching up.
- Yeah, just so much from the last,
And we're finally back on tour because all the shows
we had in 2020 got pushed, so we're so excited.
- [Kelly] That's really cool.
- [Jen] Yeah.
- [Kelly] Life is coming back.
- Yes.
- Life is coming back.
- We need it
It's the it's called "the getaway tour."
'Cause we felt like this was a perfect opportunity
for us to get away from our families.
(Kelly laughs)
And enjoy a night out, and if it becomes five nights,
that is your prerogative and here's to you.
- [Kelly] Dealer's choice.
- Dealer's choice. No judgment.
(Kelly laughs)
- Um, well, it's, it's just a fact
as awesome as it is to be a momma...
It's damn hard work people.
Especially during the holidays it can be chaotic.
'Cause we want to create something magic for your kids.
It all doesn't pan out sometimes.
Um, whenever we have Kristen and Jen here,
we invite our audience to share their comedy of errors,
raising kids with a round of wine to mommy.
So we're all enjoying a glass from Duckhorn vineyards
the go-to wine at the Kelly Clarkson show.
And it's delish.
- [Kristen] Mm.
And we are ready for some real talk about
getting through the most wonderful time of the year.
So let's start with Ashley.
What's going on in your mom world? Ashley.
(audience claps)
Oh you're adorable.
- Hi Kelly. My name is Ashley.
I'm a mom of two, and last year
I didn't explain the whole Santa thing
to my daughter, who was three.
So Christmas morning she wakes up under the tree,
there's all these Christmas presents, and she's like,
"where are these come from?"
And I told her, "oh, this man comes down the chimney.
And he leaves presents for you."
And she's like, "mom, it's Corona Virus!
Um, I don't know if he's vaccinated.
I don't think people can come into our homes right now."
- [Kelly] And you just said a man comes down you chimney.
- Well we say he's a Healthcare worker, so.
(audience laughs)
- Vaccinated last Christmas-
- [Ashley] She's not really a fan of Santa,
and, or Christmas.
I'm going to try again this year.
So my question is, how do you
explain Santa to your children?
- [Kelly] Wow.
- [Zooey] Well I have one.
- This is tricky for me.
I have one. You say, Santa's left, present,
Oh, he left them on the balcony,
which is what he did for us.
I don't know if you guys put the request in,
but like outdoor-
- We're not connected.
- Oh.
- [Zooey] you just put the request in to Santa.
You say Santa, I want them on my balcony.
- [Kelly] Oh.
- [Zooey] yeah.
- The balcony? What do you do?
- Yeah. Well, not that.
(audience laughs)
- [Kelly] Once again-
- I'm learning a lot right now.
You're really leading me to some better decisions overall.
I really need to get my admin together,
but I'll tell you I'm impressed that your little one
has even the wherewithal to think all those things.
And I think they have a bright future in HR.
If I was going to say.
(audience laughs)
it sounds like they're really smart and rule followers.
- Yeah, or like the legal professions.
- Yeah, legal, maybe like a City Inspector.
- Totally.
(Kelly laughs)
Yes.
- Like a comptroller or something.
- Oh my gosh.
The future is bright for your, your, your Santa goer.
- [Zooey] Yeah.
- [Kelly] what do you do? Do you say anything?
Do you say-
- Well, the hardest thing to explain to my kids was,
why there's a Santa at every mall.
And I'm like, well, Santa is magical.
There's one Santa, but he has all these helpers.
Yeah. And if I had the resources and that kind of money,
I'd be really magical too. If I had all that,
I'd be able to pull everything off.
(audience laughs)
- Thank you so much Ashley.
(audience clapping)
- [Kelly] Great question!
- [Zooey] Great question!
- Complicated stuff.
- [Kelly] Complicated, complicated.
(audience cheers)
- We've been swapping hilarious mommy fails
and some impressive mom wins with the audience.
Uh, so let's keep this thing going, shall we?
- [Kelly] Let's start with Stephanie.
Stephanie, what's going on in your mama world?
(audience cheers)
- [Zooey] Woo, woo, woo, Stephanie, yeah, yeah, she's-
- I'm a first time mom of an adorable 2-and-a-half-year old
- [Ladies on Stage] Ohhhh.
- [Stephanie] Thank you.
And my husband and I are both business owners.
We're operating our first retail store this holiday season.
We have a lot to juggle.
We're trying to get over the hurdle
of getting her out of our bed.
- Oh.
- [Stephanie] So we have a king size bed,
but she absolutely feels like the queen.
She has to be in the center of the bed-
- But she's not the queen.
- [Stephanie] She's not the queen.
She has to be in the center of the bed.
She'll pat the pillows to direct us where to sleep.
And uh, it's a struggle. So-
- [Zooey] How old is she?
- [Stephanie] she's two and a half.
- Ooh.
- [Stephanie] Currently two and a half.
- [Kelly] Oh, I'll start.
(laughter)
- I don't believe in children sleeping in beds.
When you're married and you have another person,
because look, that's your time.
(audience laughs)
- [Stephanie] Right.
- [Kelly] Okay. So that's my thing.
I'm like, you need to, and also to make them
feel safe in their environment.
I'm like, this is your room.
And first of all, I shared a room with my brother
and sister in her apartment, okay.
One room with all three of us at one point in my life.
And I, you should appreciate that you have a room to go to.
- [Zooey] I got a warning,
like right when I had my first, like from a bunch
of friends whose kids wouldn't get out their beds
and they're like don't ever, ever, ever let them in.
They'll never leave.
So I felt like happy that I had that,
you know, that I was, that I was warned.
But I think it's hard with your first,
'cause you kind of like have that bonding with them.
- But it's been 5 years-
[Crosstalk 05:57:44]
- Yeah.
- I think one thing we did that,
because we were in this situation that really helped us.
And especially at two and a half,
when you know, you're like, they
get their first big boy bed or big girl bed.
We would say, "you can only read stories
in your big girl bed or boy bed."
We can only do tickle monster
in your big girl bed or a big boy bed.
Cause then would incentivize them.
And they were like, ooh I get, this is cool.
If I'm in this space, I get to do these fun things.
And I felt like that was one way of rewarding them
for staying in their bed, but-
- [Kelly] That's good.
- [Zooey] That's good.
- Yeah.
It's almost like you could,
maybe you can have a podcast about it.
- [Kristen] Yeah.
(laughter)
- All right. Let's keep going with Shaina.
So what do you want to talk about, Shaina?
(audience clapping)
- Hey Kelly, I'm a mom of twin girls.
They're six years old and I also have a newborn.
Um, he's three months old.
And last year was really hard on everyone,
you know, with COVID.
And so my husband and I, we really wanted
to make Christmas extra special.
We pulled out all the stops.
We went completely over the top, you know, with the toys.
Um, just every toy you can think of.
The house was filled with toys,
and then at the end of the day, the only thing
they wanted to play with were these fishing poles
that I got for a trip, a fishing trip with my dad.
And I was like, okay, you know, fishing poles. Okay.
So my question is, should I go all out again this year?
Or do we keep it simple?
What are, what is your advice for buying gifts for kids?
- [Kelly] (whispering) What's your advice?
(Zooey coughing)
- Well we all know With kids
it's not quality. It's quantity.
Especially when they're six years old.
So I would say get 'em one thing
that's like really special that they've been asking for,
and then go to the dollar store,
and just get a whole bunch of,
cause they just love to unwrap stuff.
(audience clapping)
- [Zooey] They just wanna unwrap stuff.
- [Kristen] You know, kids don't have any long-term memories
till they're 4, so I think you can really
save a lot of money and not-
(laughter)
- have to fork out any dough for presents.
And honestly like, don't you feel like
this last year we all did that?
We like, we bought our kids' stuff 'cause we were like
we wanted everybody to feel better.
This was really tough, but it feels like this year
we can get back into like making memories with each other
and do fun stuff, So I think maybe they're at that age.
They're at that wonderful age
where everything is sort of discovery.
So you can go to like a pumpkin patch
or you can go apple picking
or you can go through neighborhoods-
- Set the experience.
- [Kristen] Yeah, I think an experience really gives you
what we've all been sort of missing this last year.
We've been on screens a lot and it's everybody has,
cause we've had two, but now we get to say like,
"no, I'm going to do it different this year."
So I bet if you go with just a few presents
and more experiences, they're going to love it.
(audience clapping)
- I think that's.
- [Kristen] How'd I do?
- Really good, no, that's so good.
- [Kelly] Thank you so much Shaina.
Well, Jen and Kristen will be hitting
the road again next year with their, "I mom so hard" tour.
So be sure to check it out y'all.