Kate turns 11

 Kate celebrated her 11th birthday tonight.  Wow, eleven years.  Where does the time go?  She is growing into a beautiful young lady.  This year seemed to be a big year of growth for her.  She's not really into Barbies and toys.  Instead of toys for her birthday she wanted harp music, and a dance bag.  She also got some money from grandma Mower and grandma Woolsey, and a new shirt and lotion and bath gel from grandma Black. Kate is very practical.  One example of her practicality is when she said she didn't care what her cake looked like, she just cared how it tasted.  I still remember the days when she was  little. Months before her birthday she would excitedly scour the internet for the perfect cake.  I use to stay up all night long the night before her birthday party decorating the cake.  Then I'd love to see the look on her face when she'd come downstairs and see it.  I remember making butterfly's, mermaids, princess, and ponies.  I guess it's time to put away those childish things and so she chose a cheese cake instead.  It was delicious and also very practical.  It didn't require six hours of baking, and it tasted amazing.   I may still force her to pick out a frilly cake next year, if not for her then for me.  Old habits die hard.   I stopped doing friends party's when she turned eight.  It was just so much work.  I think maybe next year when she turns twelve we will need to do a big bash, but this year was a pretty simple low key celebration.  We invited my parents over and my Grandma over.   I made Kate her favorite meal.  Chicken Scampi.  I found the recipe online, and it turned out pretty good.  Tonight I let her and her brothers off the hook for homework and they are watching a Harry Potter movie.