Happy Sweet 16th Anna

Ok - the party is over. All in all the teenagers behaved well. Excepting one incident which - luckily for me - involved one of my own. So - it isn't as bad... somehow. I would of felt much worse had said such teenage twit been someone elses.
The dogs had a great time and behaved beautifully. Except they attacked each other a couple of times in the jealousy - this is my pizza, chicken or beef kebab and your in my space type thing. Startled a few of the teenagers.
Actually - the teenagers were well behaved, nicely mannered and quite lovely. There was a couple of teens I didn't know that behaved .. somewhat .. dodgy? Trying to hide from the adults and ... preferred to hang around the front road... but I figured the kids I know.. were behaving so well and they were most likely the parents I would have to answer to later... so we only kept an eye on what was happening in the house and out the back.

I assure you the dogs just LOVED the party.
I let the little kids decorate the mud cakes. I think they did a brilliant job.
Big smiles, lots of "bling" and fashion and many forays to the bathroom by groups of girls.
Anna has some really lovely friends. See that huge bottle of tequila Jack is holding? He amused my girlfriends and I by carrying that same bottle around ALL night.. and we swear he never actually drank any. He would swagger past with his big smile and we would say... "Give us a look" .... and it never seemed to be drunk. We also noted you don't see that size bottle often in our bottle shops and that his parents are regular overseas travelers.. and suspect he nicked it from their bar. I reckon he put it back too. Ha Ha.

Anyway - moving onto the uglier story. One of our friends arrived somewhat distraught with her own problems, and encouraged me to allow my youngest daughter Jane a West Coast Cooler. A sweet wine fizzy drink with a small alcohol content. I agreed - even though these really had been purchased for a girlfriend of mine. When I walked past again - Jane had yet another... and I frowned because this wasn't the deal. I made a quiet voice of discontent.. told Jane to stick to the punch I had provided (that had an even lower alcohol content) and ... should of been firmer.

My friend then made a very stupid mistake. She was visibly disturbed by events in her life -and the bubbles (cheap champagne) we shared with her didn't help her judgement. Unbeknown to me - she went and purchased a bottle of Baileys for Jane with the money Jane's father had given her for two weeks allowance while she is at school. Jane is also so dopey she seemed completely unaware that $50 for one bottle of booze with no change was not a ... wise financial decision. I considered giving Jane money this afternoon before she left - they need money at school for personal items - but then decided that that wouldn't assist this lesson at all. My poor baby.

And.. Jane drank the contents of the bottle with great gusto and the teenage bravado of "bullet proof and six feet tall".
I was unaware of the proceedings until she ran to mummy to...... vomit. And vomit. And vomit some more. I bathed her... she tried to tell me I couldn't see her naked in this.. state.. to which I simply made her look into my eyes. She shut up and let me bath her.and afterwards she vomited some more.

Here she is trying to go to sleep in her vomit catcher bowl. Like the chunks on her cheek? I didn't let her go to sleep until she had drank a heap of water and I was happy she was not going to continue vomiting. And I only let her sleep in till 10 am and when she had been fed bacon and eggs for breakfast - I made sure she contributed to the party clean up. At one stage I said "Well - you have just blown your chance at a sixteenth birthday party" and she replied with "I don't want one anyway!"

No shit. Ha ha.



So - this afternoon we put Jane on the train back to boarding school. Sara, Anna and I amused ourselves on the train platform imitating vomiting motions and waving! (I never remember to think someone could see us acting like lunatics and this could be why I tend to make myself a little bit of an "outsider" all the time!)

My friend that supplied this booze to Jane? I am not at all angry anymore. I said my piece when it happened. My Christian and my oldest daughters boyfriend Chris are not quite so... lenient? Both of them are furious with her antics (that included a heap I have left out here). When her parents arrived for brunch this morning I wasn't aware how angry my family males are...and gather I will have to... be mediator for some time.

The odd? thing? Anna and I have argued over this party for months. I mean it we have had rip roaring yelling fights over it. Anna tells me too much sometimes. I hear from her the antics of her peers at parties... and often don't allow her to attend them if I feel .. too many excesses could be indulged. Why? Because I love her and I want her to be safe. She is sure the reasons are "Because you want to ruin my entire life" and "Because you don't trust me". I trust her fine. I don't trust everyone else. And I don't trust that she has learnt who is safe and what the influences of alcohol or worse drugs could do for her. I certainly don't want her to feel "uncool". My beautiful princess frets over ridiculous things. People say mean things to her about her hair colour. She is a beautiful red head. She worries more than I do about if anyone can see that we live week to week and dont live in a beautiful house and don't drive lovely cars.

But REALLY.. the only major... stuff up was my Jane. And I guess I should of kept a better eye on her.


Only one more day of Sara and Jay being here really. Time just flies and never seems to let me catch up.

The good girlfriends that I do have... wow I should so be a better friend. Because their support was just wonderful.

Just one more waffle - when the kids were very little..and they got sick I HATED how they always ran to me to vomit on me. It took me so long to teach them to vomit in another place than on top of Mummy. But scarily - it was... nice? (shoot me) that Jane ran straight to Mummy to vomit last night. ALL over me. The sofas. The carpet. The bath. Etc etc.