Dear Eight-Year Old Dane,

Dear Dane,

Hi Dane. It's Mom.

I have this mental image of you 10 years from now, reading my blog and realizing that I completely skipped over your 8th birthday without so much as a recap. It's entirely possible that Teenage Dane will be overwhelmingly embarrassed of his mom for keeping a blog recording of all the little things you did when you were a little boy. Teenage Dane with the Teenage Hormones and the Teenage Angst will just have to get over it.

You had a great 8th birthday. A couple of months ago we got word from your school that a children's book author was coming to school the same week as your birthday. The same children's book author who visited last year, and signed your story after you had won a writing contest. (I just searched through four months worth of posts from 2010 looking to see if I blogged about you winning a writing contest. I didn't. Mom Fail.) You were pretty excited about the prospect of seeing this author again. As you put it, "He already knows me, Mom." Of course he does. So imagine your excitement when one of the birthday gifts you opened was the author's latest book, just waiting for an autograph from the author himself.

And it was also pajama day at school, so you got to wear your (8 inches too long) brand new A&M pajama pants.

(We surprised Aidan with a book to be autographed, too.)

At your request, we waited until "the best day of school ever" to eat lunch with you during your birthday week. Pajamas+Book signing+parents eating leftover pizza (Dane's request) at lunch with you=Best Day of School Ever.

For your big 8th birthday party you wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and have a sleepover. Your silly mommy thought this sounded easier than your traditional parties where we invite everyone we know and throw you all in a rented inflatable in the backyard. Joke's on me!

You, Daddy, 5 (yes, 5) other little boys, and one of our college students (recruited to help drive) enjoyed all manner of spicy wings for dinner, before heading back to the house for some backyard football in the dark. You and your friends played football in the freezing cold, dark backyard for a while, before wandering inside in search of cake and video games.

Mommy was blessed with the beginning of a sinus infection and body aches and feeling like she had been hit by a truck, so Daddy took the late shift and stayed up past midnight until the last of your friends fell asleep. One of your friends woke up before 6am the next morning, and woke all of the other little boys (and your sisters) up. Awesome! I'm sure all of the mommies were so thankful to get their post-sleepover boys back cranky and exhausted for the rest of the day. I think everyone had fun though. Lots of video games, football, eating, and just a little sleeping. What sleepovers are all about, right?

Dane-o, you had a pretty big 8th birthday. I can't wait to see what EIGHT has in store for you.

Love, Mom.

P.S. Teenage Dane, if you're reading this, please quit rolling your eyes when I give you hugs and kiss your face every morning.