Happy Happy...

...Birthday, Daniel dear. Happy days will come to you all year.
Or, as the kids wanted to sing...
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you,
You smell like a monkey,
And your siblings do, too.
I can't believe he's thirteen. I don't feel old enough, but I guess I am. He didn't get a whole lot for his big day since he got a fancy schmancy iPod a couple of months ago. However, he did lay claim to the bottle of coke and the bag of dark chocolate pretty quick. I don't think he's going to share. (Good thing I didn't get him something I like.)
And, alas, I am still a bad mom and didn't have any candles in the house (Julia's birthday, too) so we lit a match and stuck it in the cake. At least the cake didn't catch on fire. That would have been bad. After we cut the cake, Dan proceeded to tell us how many hugs he had gotten that day. Apparently, he is quite the popular thing to hug at school. I'm not sure why the girls seem to like him--don't they know that he is a smelly boy? Listen up girls, he is a SMELLY boy! (Although, he does shower quite regularly. And he is concerned about his appearance. Okay, I admit, he is pretty cute. And tall. Did I mention that he's taller than me? He is. Not that I'm bothered by that...)

Seriously though, I'm proud to call him my son. He is a good kid. He is talented. He is smart. He can be kind. He is a great leader. He is responsible. He is creative. He is incredibly special to me, and I will forever be in awe of the spirit that was entrusted to me to raise.

I hope I don't screw it up.