Oh the Guilt

Ok, JB you guilted me into it.

Here I am with nothing much to say. All's pretty well with our clan. Maggie and Aidan are in school, 3rd and 1st grade and they seem to be doing really well. Maggie was recently cast as Goldilocks in a play that the school's putting on so that should be pretty fun.

Ike and Ian are still just hanging around. Ian's well into the one year old leaving a path of destruction behind him stage and I'm getting really sick of cleaning up his messes but the other day he came over and kissed me for no reason and suddenly all was forgiven. Ike's still stealing cars every chance he gets and there's a little part of me that's dreading summer because I have a very clear mental picture of the auto theft it's going to lead to (but if it keeps snowing I might just lose my mind so bring on the warm).

Shaun and I are the same as ever, working a lot, hanging on to our sanity a little and just y'know, getting along. the construction on the kitchen's done(ish) and for those interested you can find pictures here. Other than that, I was thinking about going back to school this summer but I think it's going to wait until fall at least, maybe the new year...

And that's all I've got. Adios.

Clan Flannery Checking In

This is late but only by a few minutes (it's 12:39 by my clock) so I'm going to go with it. Overall all is pretty well here in lovely West Valley City. Maggie and Aidan had the entire month of November off track at school (which is roughly translated into a month of torture for their parents) and yet they continue to draw breath (and we only had to go to the hospital for stitches once) so I'm going to call that a win.

Maggie did cut her own hair again but I figure that she's the one who has to walk around looking like that so any punishment I give her is just redundant. She continues to read a lot and watch a lot of Disney channel (although she has not seen the new High School Musical movie) but suddenly staunchly refuses to have anything to do with either Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus (I find I don't miss them).

Aidan has discovered the exciting world of video games (given his father's prediliction it was only a matter of time) but he's still in that "to make my guy jump, I have to jump" phase so he is still getting quite a bit of exercise.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with at my parents' which was nice, but quiet (for an occasion at my parents') with only eleven children there. Shaun had to eat quickly so that he could get to work and therefore missed most of the fun, (chatting, boardgames, Isacc biting his cousin so hard he drew blood) but at least he didn't have too work hard, since apparently the people in the Salt Lake valley all ate themselves into the kinds of comas that do not require medical attention and he came home early.

Isaac, in addition to the biting, has really started talking, and singing, up a storm and now you can rarely get him to shut up. But I find that the "I have poop again" song is starting to grow on me.

Ian at nearly a year old has decided to walk and it couldn't have come at a better time what with all the delicious things to be found on the bottom half of the christmas tree not to mention the sawdust and woodchips now scattered throughout the house.

Speaking of, our kitchen addition is going quite well we've got all the sheetrock hung and the mudding and taping starts this week (I'm just going to tell myself that the white dust covering every surface is fake snow and was part of my decorating plan for Christmas) and then we're putting the floor on. it's actaully pretty amazing to tlook at it and realize that we did it pretty much all ourselves. (Your family tends to be a little, and by a little I mean A LOT, more constructiony than my family so you may not find it amazing but trust me, it is.)

Shaun and I continue to work a whole heck of a lot and (it seems like) not do much else but we're well and hope you all are too.

Oh and Happy Christmas, in case we don't see you,

More from the Flannerys

If you leave this board

(Yes, those are nails.)

laying on the floor like this

then your husband might step on the board and one of the nails might go into his foot far enough that he has to reach down and pull the board (and the nail) off (out) of his foot (And he might have to go to his ER and get a doctor there to clean it out so that it doesn't get infected and give him a Tetanus shot so he doesn't get lock jaw.) and you might feel really bad and really guilty.

If, however, your husband leaves this board

laying on the floor like this and he steps on it. You'll still feel really bad.

But you'll avoid the guilt.

Let me entertain you

Isaac loves cars. I don't let him play in my car but that requires some work on my part. The car must always be locked. (I'm not a locker by nature, my parents not only don't lock, they leave the keys in the cars. And I was raised with that so the locking thing took some getting used to.) But it doesn't end at locking. Ike, he's 2 remember, can unlock my car. He's perfectly comfortable unlocking either with the key fob thing or the key itself. And he makes sure to lock the door behind him. (I may not be a locker by nature but he is.) He likes to turn on the lights and the blinkers and generally do things that make turning on the car very interesting for me the next time I get in it. He also likes to put the key in the ignition and turn on the radio. And because that's not interesting enough anymore, he starts the car.

Let me tell you how fun it is to stand outside a car that you can't get into because it's locked with the key inside and try to talk your two-year-old into turning off the car and letting you in. Really, really not fun. (Here's a hint, if you show any sign of how mad you are he won't unlock the door.) So we keep the keys on top of the fridge where he can't get them. Yet.

It's not just my car that he likes. He's an equal opportunity car lover. He climbs into my mother's car when we go there, He'll climb right into any car he can find. He doesn't talk a whole lot but he can and will identify the "owner" of any car that he recognizes. He knows which car is Laura's and which is Grandma's. He yells out "Ne har" (Sydney car) every time our neighbor drives by. (As an aside, I'll tell you that he calls our van "mine har" that's mine car. In his mind it's not my car, it's his.)

Ike also climbs the fence of our fully fenced yard. He's been brought back by the neighbors on more than one occasion.

Given the above, why was I at all surprised when the Maggie and Aidan came running in the other day crying because Isaac had locked himself into a car that was left parked (but apparently not locked) on the street? (They were crying because they were afraid he was going to suffocate in the car. There wasn't much danger of that.) Whose car it was, I have no idea, but I feel safe saying that Ike has now taken things to a whole other level.

And I thought raising Aidan was going to be bad.

Love to all, wish me luck- Allison

Keeping up with the Flannerys

Shaun and Allison- Nothing particularly interesting to report. Allison has cute new hair (thanks Peg) but other than that just chugging along.

Maggie (8)- Started third grade in July. Loves to read and sing. She's a fantastic help with the babies and often a joy to be around.

Aidan(6)- Started first grade in July. Also a very good reader. We've thankfully had a little respite from the solo trips to Costco but some suspect that he's just trying to lull his folks into a false sense of security before he tries some new stunt.

Isaac(2)- After getting a bit of a late start Isaac has decided that talking is kind of cool after all and now he rarely shuts up. Isaac has also developed a love of all things on wheels. He's very good on his bigwheel (is it normal for a two year old to execute three point turns?) and loves the cars. (to the extent that he gets a hold of the keys and unlocks the car, gets in and starts it up. His parents are not amused.)

Ian(8mo)- Ian has started crawling and pulling up and while it looks like he probably won't walk at 9mo. like both his brothers did, we'd be surprised if he makes it to a year (unless I start pushing him down. I've thought about it.)

Summer has flown by for all of us and there haven't been any fun vacations but we're considering making that a priority, just as soon as the kitchen addition is done.
And that's all she wrote.

I've Heard the Flannery Kids Called Lame (I'm not saying where)

I started a friendly newsy post listing what each member of the family has been doing lately but even I was bored reading it so I decided to repost this from my own blog.

We have literally thousands (OK maybe thousand, look we're not made of money here) of dollars of toys in the "playroom" at our house. Why do I put the word playroom in quotes? No, it's not just that I don't know how to properly use quotes as you'll find here (No, seriously, go. You won't be sorry. I'll wait. ------ Back? OK, let's continue,) It's because no one plays in it. EVER.

The playroom has become the repository for mountains of toys. And the mountain is so big and so high and so tall (1,000), that on one even tries to dig through it to find a toy. Do they look for games? Not a chance. How about dress-ups? Surely the princess wants to dress up. Negatory good buddy (2,000).

The playroom is too much of a mess to do anything with (and some day soon, I'm going to go in there with an empty garbage bag and come out with a soul so very much lighter) so my children, resourceful small people that they are, have found alternate methods of entertainment. Something that they can and do spend hours at a time doing, something that brings joy to their little hearts, something that keeps them relatively quiet and non-fighting for nearly the whole day. What is this magical instrument of fun? you ask.

It's the TELEVISION! And if I have to hear the "i-Carly" theme song one more time I'm going to put a bullet through my head.

Seriously, it's summer. No school, sunshine, the last few days it haven't even been too hot, and all my kids can do is sit on their posteriors watching other kids, inane, bad acting kids, doing things. My kids don't even play the Wii!

I should make it clear here that I'm really just referring to Maggie and Aidan here, Ike will happily ride his big wheel around the yard for hours and Ian is only 7 months old, just give him something disgusting and dirty to chew on, preferably a shoe, and he's set. If he loses his thing to chew on, however, it won't be any of his older siblings who help him out, at least not while "Chowder"'s on. I came in from outside Monday, drill in hand, to find the baby screaming on the floor and both Maggie and Aidan sitting on the couch not 3 feet away eyes glued on Spongebob. Nice.

This morning I made them come outside and help clean up some of the cement from the recent demo of some steps. They fought over the shovel, the work gloves, they even fought over the chunks of concrete (as if there weren't enough of those around) and then started the whining. Finally I said, "hey I know what you can do, you can go sit on your lazy butts in front of the television." And they were gone. Sarcasm (and therefore the majority of what I say) is so lost on my children.

After spending the last two days working on the kitchen and seeing through the window my precious children turning into precious lumps on the couch I finally lost it. I unplugged the TV.

I know, drastic measures. But I couldn't, could not take it for one more minute. Maggie threw a royal fit, something she's been doing a lot since she got home from grandma's (thanks Pen). And Aidan proceeded to follow me around literally hanging on my arm and asking when dinner was. It was 12:30.

Seriously, these kids have bikes. They have scooters (OK scooteR, but still), they have a swing-set and a sandbox and a yard, all at their disposal. Too safe? Well, we are doing construction. There are also hammers and all manner of nails and wood which they are allowed to play with and destroy 'til their little hearts are content. (I do have three boys after all) There are rocks a plenty, and dirt in abundance. I know if they put one ounce of effort into it they could get something really fun going.

But they don't, they sit and whine and look for things to eat and whine and ask if they can play on the computer and whine. This TV unplugged thing is working so well I think the TV may just stay that way for the rest of the summer.

Talking out of turn

I hope I'm not talking put of turn or being too presumptuous by posting as me and not as "family" but I made myself an approved contributor rather than using the generic family account. Blogger just already knows who I am and it's easier for me this way. If anyone else wants to do the same I'd be happy to help you out (or you can probably figure it out on your own, if I can you can) as long as JB doesn't object.
Anyway, Alison Wonderland is the current nom de guerre for Allison Flannery and I imagine that most stuff for the Flannerys (er, young Flannerys? Shaun Flannerys? Salt Lake Flannerys?) will be posted under that name. (See? At the bottom.)

As far as interesting things to tell you, I got nothing, we're just all dying of the plague at my house.