Birthdays a plenty

December always seems to be a frantic month for us!  Add to that two birthdays, Mimi and Poppa coming, Brynn's drama performance and I am surprised we even made it alive!

We were so happy to be able to celebrate Isaac turning 13....LOOK OUT WORLD WE HAVE A TEENAGER!

It was a party year...which if I were intelligent, I would have staggered between the children but NO, I have them on the same year.  Goodness...if I only had a brain.  

Isaac decided he wanted to invite his friends to a day of paintballing.  I think everyone had a great time and we love that the place planned everything for us...we just had to show up with cake and drinks!

Isaac has a great group of friends and we are grateful that they were able to come and celebrate with him.  We can't believe where the past 13 years have gone.  I lovingly call him my ox now as he is several inches taller than me.  He is up to Bryce's eyes now.  WOW!  He was disappointed that he hadn't reached 6ft this year and is only 5ft. 11in.  I had to laugh at that one.  He is going through the ups and downs and rollercoaster emotions of hormones and being a teen but he has a great heart and still loves to make us laugh.  He is a smart kiddo and when something peaks his interest....it quickly becomes an obsession (still trying to figure out how to get Spanish to be interesting, though).  

We love this kiddo!

Brynnie also has a birthday in December and turned 11....11!!!  She was going to have a joint birthday party with her dear friend, Paige, but their moms :0) didn't get their act together to reserve and so we came up with plan B (pics to be added later).  We are going to take the girls into London this next weekend for a day of shopping and a High Tea.  We also bribed Brynn with a fun family date and she gets to have a party next year.  (I know, NOW I am thinking!)

Brynnie is our sweet peacemaker in the family...never likes to see anyone hurt, sad, or upset.  A funny story....her teacher at school is a tough cookie but he has been FANTASTIC at preparing the kids for middle school.  He said that his biggest concern is that Brynn never complains about anything so he told her that she MUST complain about SOMETHING before we let out for Christmas.  Brynn was stressing about what to complain about and her teacher kept reminding her and asking her what she was going to do.  Finally, Brynn complained.  She said, "I am complaining that you are making me complain about something!" That is the type of kiddo we are dealing with.  She does get in quite a bit of trouble for spoiling her baby brother though and this child KNOWS how to throw a temper tantrum if she gets too upset about something but BOY oh BOY are we so happy she was sent to our family!  Love that girl!