Our baby girl is 9!

Today is Amy's ninth birthday! We had our family celebrations this past Saturday since Tod unfortunately has to be in California for work this week. Amy's choice of activities? First, visiting model homes. Now this is something Tod and I sometimes like to do "for entertainment purposes only," as we say. And the kids grumble about it, though ultimately they like it too – it's fun! But for Amy to specifically ask to do it? Kind of wild! It was just the three of us - we left Reed at home, first because he grumbled about having to go (shocker) but mostly because then it was just special time with Amy. We visited 3 model homes, including one with a $1.5 million price tag – needless to say we all loved that one. It was a fun time!

Then we went to the Alamo Drafthouse to have dinner while seeing the brand new "Muppets Most Wanted" movie. We don't go to that theater often, it's only for a special treat. A nice birthday outing.

What can I say about nine year old Amy? She still really loves school (thank goodness) and is very responsible about doing her schoolwork. Her current most favorite activity is playing Minecraft on the computer or Xbox. Several months ago it was a Rainbow Loom bracelet addiction (we still have dozens of the bracelets that she hasn't given out or worn!). Reading and drawing are ongoing favorites, never enough time for those activities. We're taking a break from tae kwon do – it was becoming less enjoyable for her and not worth the fight – and I'm not sure if she'll decide to go back to that. Amy has recently enjoyed taking swim lessons at the Cub Run Rec Center.

It's so incredible to watch our kids slowly turn into "real people" and mature. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet Amy.

End of an era

And finishing up Webelos II.

The cutest little Tiger you'll ever see!

Way back in 2009 when Reed was in first grade, he joined Cub Scouts. Tod was never a Scout and I certainly had no familiarity with it. That first year in Pack 282 didn't turn out to be so great – the co-leaders were really nice guys but not too organized. It was no surprise that they didn't continue to a second year.

We realized during that year that if you want something done right, the best way to assure that is to do it yourself. Well, to let Tod do it himself. :) In 2010, we switched Reed to Pack 1148 and Tod became a Cub Scout Den Leader.

Being a member of Cub Scouts has given us lots of great opportunities for being involved in the community, helping Reed learn new things, and getting to know our neighbors better.

Tod has put an extraordinary amount of energy into Cub Scouts over the last 4 years. He's planned bimonthly meetings, organized outings, and his most high-profile role of all – Popcorn Kernel. I hope that one day Reed will look back fondly on his Cub Scout days and realize the effort that his Dad put into making it a positive experience for him and all the other boys in our den. It was really great to see and I'm both grateful for and proud of Tod for all he's done.

Reed and Dad with the Arrow of Light award.

Reed has decided he's not interested in moving up to Boy Scouts, so March 16 was our very last Cub Scout event – the Blue & Gold dinner. At the dinner, Reed received his Arrow of Light award for his achievements. And with that we are done with scouting. It is more than a little sad to lose our connection to the Pack and the community of the group. But there's no rest for Dad, who's got only a couple of weeks off before Reed's flag football season starts up again – this time with a 3-day per week commitment!

"Mom, will you read to me?"

I was very happy to hear those words from Reed last week! In a failing attempt to locate his lost recorder for music class, we unearthed the thick Sherlock Holmes book we started reading together last year. We have less than an inch to go in the 3 inch-thick book, and he wants to finish it up. It's like saying hello to an old friend again, reading Mr. Holmes' adventures. And it's also pretty awesome to read with Reed again.