Flanagan Clan

This morning I went out early to do some grocery shopping and mail off something I sold on eBay. On my way to the post office I saw something really interesting. There’s this house off of 136th, about a half mile from our house, that has been abandoned for some time. A few months ago we started noticing that they were beginning to tear the house down by taking out the windows and things like that. We were really starting to wonder what was taking so long… maybe asbestos? Anyways, today as I was driving down 136th I saw a road sign that said “Practice Fire in Progress”. As I drove by the house there were two firetrucks and a ton of firefighters outside the house, but no fire. After I had finished all my errands, I drove past the house again, and was quite excited to see the entire house engulfed in flames and burning to the ground. If I had my camera, I would have taken a picture. Sorry! I didn’t realize that firefighters used real houses in real residental areas… I’ve seen their practice towers that they light on fire from time to time. It was a neat thing to see… I wish I could have watched more of it!

Later, this afternoon, I put away all of Sammy’s 3-6 month clothing and all of Patrick’s 24 month clothing. Since Sammy is so short, he managed to fit into most of his 3-6M clothing for far longer than Patrick did when he was that age. To be honest, I’m actually really thankful that he is short right now, because the vast majority of Patrick’s old 6-9M clothing are more for late Spring-Summertime. Now that the weather is warming down, Sammy will hopefully have no problem wearing them through the Spring and well into Summer!

You probably won’t think this too interesting, but the other really exciting thing that happened to me today was that I found a pair of Sammy’s pants that I thought I had lost for good. Sammy has a really cute little outfit that I bought him, and for the past few weeks I have been searching high and low for the pants that went to the outfit. I had almost given them up for lost until I found them while organizing baby clothes. A few weeks back I had put away some of his 3-6M clothing that he had outgrown, and I must have accidentally slipped the pants in with them. I was soooo happy to see them again. Since I don’t have any little girls to dress in frilly little dresses, I love to dress the boys up instead. Sammy doesn’t care, and Patrick doesn’t like it very much, but it makes Mommy happy (at least for now…)!

Tomorrow night Rachel and her boyfriend, Josh Fey, are coming to visit. They’ll be staying with Andrew and I for a week, and we’re very excited to see Rach and to meet Josh. Now I just need to hurry and finish cleaning the house!

Here’s a little clip of Sammy being cute to start out a brand new week!

This past fall I planted over a hundred bulbs in our front yard. Andrew planted over a hundred in our backyard. Just this week we started enjoying the fruits of our labor when our daffodils started blooming. We’ve noticed a ton of bulbs coming up, some of which we are quite sure we didn’t even plant (thank you, previous owners who planted lots of pretty bulbs for us to enjoy!). I’m excited to see what some of these other bulbs turn out to be!

The first tulip to being blooming.

Two of many daffodils beginning to bloom.

Something we didn’t plant!

Tonight Andrew and I went to Home Depot and bought four different types of clematis plants (they are pronouced CLEM-uh-tis, MOM!) and 4 blue glazed terra cotta pots to grow them in. We plan to stick one on each corner of the awning in our backyard, and hopefully these plants will take off and grow up the awning!

Other fun plant news: I started several different types of herbs and flowers indoors, to be planted outside when the weather gets a little warmer. So far the mint and the parsley haven’t really wanted to sprout (I think they hate me), but I’ve gotten better luck with some morning glories and other similar vine flowers, violas and lavendar. Patrick’s little plants are also taking off. He planted a couple of his favorite things: watermelon and pumpkin seeds (and sunflower seeds as well..). His plants are getting so big that I am wondering how much longer I can contain them in their little starter pots before they find a way to grow out of them!

Tonight we’re expecting a big rain storm, a real “Pineapple Express” (Thanks, Hawaii, for sending the rain!). Hopefully we won’t have any wind like we had in early December, which had shingles blowing off our roof and cause leaking in our master bathroom. Wow, that was a mess… but it was the worst storm we’ve had here for YEARS. Rachel and Josh, hopefully we’ll have sun for you guys, but if not, blame Hawaii! Darn that expensive tropical paradise!!!!

My boys love each other!

Patrick giving Sammy a kiss

Patrick giving Sammy a hug

Sammy loves to smile for Mommy!

Patrick playing with a plastic Easter Egg… he can’t wait to have his first real hunt this year in our very own backyard!
(Notice the shirt:  We got it at Lake Quinault. It glows in the dark! Patrick likes it because it has a moon on it.)

I think that Diane’s fish, Cow, might be on his deathbed. He’s not been doing so well lately. He spends most of his time floating on the top (but he’s still moving! I’m not dumb!). He looks sad. He didn’t eat when I fed him today. I think he’s going to die. I have broken the news to Diane, that her beloved fish might not make it until she gets home this summer. Poor Cow.

Here’s a picture of cow hiding on the bottom after I tried to get him to move a little bit with the fish net. After I stopped, he went right back to floating on the top.

And Patrick is crying and saying “OH NO!” and running around the island in the kitchen, and peering into the bowl to see an almost-lifeless fish.