Leaner-Beaner Turns Eleven!

Our Kathleen, fondly nick-named Leener (or Beaner, or Leener-Beaner) turned a whopping eleven years old today. She quite-seriously informed us that she's now officially a tween. Indeed, Kathleen is currently part of a girls' band called The Tweeners. (They will be playing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"—Kathleen on keyboard—before the Verona Hometown Days parade on June 14th.)

But I digress...

Kathleen invited friends, Frannie & Flavi, to play for the afternoon of her birthday. After squishing goo into molds to make bouncy balls with friends, the birthday girl set off with family to Laredo's for some Mexican birthday dinner. We came home to Kathleen's birthday dessert: homemade cherry cheesecake—her special request. I wasn't so sure the peanut butter ice cream was the perfect accompaniment to the cherry cheesecake, but who am I to argue with a birthday girl?

This was the year of the camera. Kathleen had been wanting a nice camera for a long time, and her wish was finally granted in the form of a very cool birthday gift.

If you don't find our eleven-year-old reading, she's probably sneaking up on you snapping photos.

Happy birthday, Leener!