Eleven.

Eleven years and one week ago, I became a mother to a tiny little boy who looked just like his daddy.  It was love at first sight, all over again.

Time has passed so quickly.  This kid's hand and feet are almost the same size as mine, and we'll soon be looking eye to eye, even when we don't agree.
To celebrate this great occasion, we kept things simple this year.  I couldn't find my round cake pans, and so I used three bread loaf pans and came up with a lego brick design for his birthday cake.  He requested white cake and white frosting.  I made some chocolate sour cream frosting for a filling...to balance out all that vanilla!

Ready to go with grey sugar sprinkles:

After his requested dinner, inside-out meatloaf, we opened gifts and had cake and ice cream.

He received new basketball shoes, a scout shirt and book, and even an amazon.com gift certificate!

He'll begin his career as a boy scout now.  :)

The magical moment of making a wish...

Happy birthday, my son.  You are a wonderful big brother.  You are our dependable help with any outside chore, and especially with building the house.  I love that you've caught the reading bug and are gobbling up the Harry Potter series.  Fifth grade has been your best yet, and I love to see you enjoy school so much this year.

Here he is a year ago:
Ten.