A Teenager Has Invaded!

We tried to run. We tried to hide. We tried to stop it.

But Sissy declared, "I will be a teenager and you can't stop me!"

And so we entered, unwillingly, into the teen years. We have a teenager!

I took Sissy with me to town and left her brother and sister in charge of decorating the house for her birthday. I left them with a full roll of white streamers, balloons, and paper. This is what we came home to.

The streamer roll was almost completely gone. As was 6,739,286 feet of tape! They were so proud of themselves and the job they had done.

I particularly loved the random places a piece of streamer would be placed.

And when the furnace kicks on, the streamers fly up and make all kinds of noise.

Sissy wanted a number "13" cake in blue.

Happy birthday, Sissy! Now you start counting backwards. Next year she's 12 again!

We Did Have Christmas Here, Too

We had a good Christmas this year. Wait. Let me rephrase that.

 Christmas this year sucked!

We woke up early to get the stockings ready. Then, the kids got up, but had to wait for Nana and Pawpaw to get here before they could open their gifts. Pure torture! For the kids.

We had breakfast and waited. Nana and Pawpaw finally got here and the kids opened their gifts. They all got personal dvd players, headphones, cases and a movie, plus pajamas and a couple other things. It was a good haul for them. Mr Farmer had the camera and hasn't quite figured out how to take a photo that isn't blurry, yet. I found only a couple.

 This next photo was taken by Baby. I don't think she has a future in photography. Like her dad.

The entire time we had to keep pausing to wait while Mr Farmer answered his phone when his mother called. Repeatedly. Over and over again. The whining!  And not from the kids patiently waiting for their long-awaited Christmas presents.

Mr Farmer's dad later ended up in the ICU and we had to leave the kids and run up to the hospital 4 hours away. Before we even left the house, he was doing better, but we had everything packed, so we went. We went somewhere we swore we'd never go again, on a day we did not want to leave, to see people we didn't want to see. Merry Christmas to us! We really missed seeing the kids enjoy their gifts! Not to mention missing the 2 days of vacation that were wasted. Is the bitterness and irritation I feel coming through in my words?

Anyway, we got home and enjoyed the rest of the year together. Mr Farmer always has the week from Christmas Eve until Jan 2 off of work.