is there a teenager in the house?

Not my house, silly - in Christina's house in Hinesville!

And the answer is: most certainly!!!

Christian doesn't actually turn 13 until tomorrow...

which means the birthday party today was definitely a surprise!

I'd been called yesterday with the summons, so of course I came!

Michael was there, too, with Alyssa and Leila!

And here was the big surprise: Oma Karin was even in the house!

How good it was to see her again!

When the birthday boy arrived, he came fresh from the barber, where Dad had kept him busy while folks arrived and decorations were set up.

C J didn't have a clue that we would all be there!

Then he did a surprise for me: he gave me a concert, complete with an extra guitarist and even a drummer!

Miyah and Chloe weren't really accompanying him so much as having fun with their big Bubba!

But C J has been taking lessons and he was pretty good on the new electric Les Paul copy that he got for this birthday.

He even played "Smoke On The Water" for me!

That was easily recognized as it has one of the 4th greatest guitar riffs ever!

Very impressive!

He played a Metallica song, too, but I'm more familiar with Deep Purple's work.

Oops, my train had derailed... back to the party!

Here we are in the kitchen, munching out on peanuts boiled that very morning!

That's Karin in the ballcap, and that's my first niece's uber-tanned arm in the foreground.

Christian is across from his grandma, separated from her by all those little blonde heads of his sisters and cousins, all munching peanuts as fast as they could crack them open!

Fortunately, Christina already had the potato salad and chicken pasta ready to go, and Chris soon had the burgers and hotdogs - and steak tips!!! - hot off the grill.

Time to eat!!!

And so we did, filling plates and grabbing drinks and sitting all over the kitchen and living room, noshing out.

Then it was time to open the gifts!

Wait a minute, wait a minute! 

What about singing the song and having cake?

Hey, he's a teenager now, folks!

Better get used to things getting topsy-turvy!

Hahahaha!

Actually, Oma needed to go, so C J wanted to open her present so she could see him do so.

And that, naturally, led to others wanting to see what was in all those gift bags, so...

that's what we did!

And then the cake came out!

(Think those colors on the outside are cool?

The inside was almost psychedelic!!!)

And then we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Christian!

Then Christina got four candles and got them lit...

and the birthday boy made a wish and blew them out...

then they lit back up...

and he blew them out...

and they lit back up...

hahahaha! Hahahaha!

He was laughing so hard he could hardly blow after a while, but the sparkler candles were finally extinguished for good...

and he had lots of wishes for each time they had re-lit!

(smile!)