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.