I know the photo is a little soft, but it is my favorite of Dane on his birthday this week.  It is just so him.  He finally, at age 7, has his first wiggly tooth and in this photo you can still see the precious baby teeth peeking out. His hair is poking out in his trademark flip, and his hands are still small on the box.  A photo doesn’t need to be perfect to be perfect.

Longtime readers of my Personal Notes know that Dane has had a hard time making friends in our new village.  Tomorrow we are going all out to fix this.  It is our last hurrah. Our last fight for acceptance, and we are going big.  We are going full American!

Dave & I rented a bouncy house, not just a bouncy house but the biggest one our Outdoor Rec department had. The Castle.  We have a piñata, and tons of American candy to stuff it with. I have every flavor of American chip, hot dogs, ribs, corn-on-the-cob and watermelon.  All these things are not very German, and the food is not readily available here.  If this doesn’t work, I’m out of tricks.

Dane has been beyond excited for over two weeks.  I filled out two packets of Birthday Invitations and tucked them in his Schulranze (backpack).  On the second day, he was out of invites.. but that was okay, he just invited them mündlich (verbally).  I think we are expecting the whole village.

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