Abby has transitioned to 6th grade and middle school really well. She likes school, has made good friends, and is doing extra curricular activities. Now that Abby's in middle school, I don't have any pictures from the school. They are all from after school activities. This first picture is from the band's fundraiser at Bob-O's that they had towards the beginning of the year. I first met Abby's "mijas" here. She has made three best friends and they all call each other mija. The other moms and I think it's funny, but even after explaining that it means "my daughter," they still like to use it. Abby's mija's are Cindy Renee, Hope, and Ali (who didn't get to go to the fundraiser). A couple other band kids were in their picture.
Abby's school has a dress code of navy blue and gray with khaki and blue slacks, but occasionally, they are allowed a free dress day. One of those free dress days is on picture day. Here's Abby with her hair all curled and in an outfit of her own choosing for picture day. Beautiful lady!
For Reflections, Abby wanted to enter a photograph that she took. She spent a lot of time trying to find the best shot for the theme "What's your story." She took some pictures after making this collage of things that describe her, but she ended up using a picture that she had taken on her phone. But this is still a good representation of our Abby and her interests.
Abby's been playing the French horn this year, and has picked it up quite quickly. She's very talented. Their first band concert was right around Halloween, so they were able to dress up for the concert.
Abby's been first chair out of 10 horn players in the beginning band. She was also asked to play in the symphonic band, which is the next level up band made up of mostly 7th graders. So she performed with both bands during their Halloween concert.
This isn't really school related, but it's Abby's mijas, so here's another picture. It was taken at our ward Christmas party, which was a Mexican fiesta. Two of her mijas, Cindy Renee and Ali, were able to come with us to the party. They took a picture at the photo booth with Claire Davis, Abby's friend from church who lives down the street from us.
Right before Abby's actual birthday, we had a birthday party with her mijas. We ended up spending the day with them and going to Rockin' Jump, eating out for lunch, and going to a play that Cindy Renee was acting in. It was a full day, but a lot of fun. We took a few pictures before we left the house for Rockin' Jump. We took one with all the girls, and then one with just the mijas - it's Ali, Abby, Cindy Renee, and Hope.
Rockin' Jump is like a trampoline park full of trampolines and foam pits. The girls had a blast. My girls had never been before, so they were all super excited to finally get to go. The older girls' favorite spot was probably the dodge ball area. They beat a group of younger boys who were also there for a birthday party. I grabbed a picture through the netting when they were all sitting together taking a rest too. We spent a lot of time there.
Tessa, Aubrey, and Taryn really liked the joust and the foam pit that you got to fall into. It was fun to watch them compete against each other and against total strangers. They all had a lot of fun.
We left for lunch and ended up eating at Pei Wei. The girls enjoyed their meals and eating with chopsticks. Once you paid the Rockin' Jump admission, it was good for all day. So after we finished eating lunch, we went back to Rockin' Jump for a couple more hours to make sure we got our money's worth.
That evening we kept Ali with us and we attended the play that Cindy Renee was in at UTEP. It was a fun family activity. It was kind of like a double play. There was a jazz version of the nutcracker with some really cool music, and then the play that Cindy Renee was in, A Christmas Carol. It was fun watching that one with the girls because they hadn't really seen it before, so afterwards, they were all about watching all the Christmas Carol shows and movies that we already owned now that they were familiar with the story. It was a great day celebrating Abby's birthday. Ali and Abby took a selfie while waiting for the play to start. It was a cute picture, and Abby wanted me to have a copy, so here it is.
I can't believe Abby's 12! I took one quick picture before she left for school on the morning of December 19th, her actual birthday. She's now officially a young woman, at least in regards to church activities. She started doing activities with the Beehives even before her birthday as they invited her to activities and lessons during the month of December. It was so nice of them to include her, and it made the transition into Young Women very smooth and easy for her. She loves it already!
Abby requested a German chocolate cake for her birthday, so I made one from scratch using my Grandma Jeanne's recipe. It turned out super yummy which I was happy about since it was my first attempt. Abby was very pleased. We had a laid back family party the night of her birthday where we invited Grandma and Grandpa and the Kasallis's for dinner and cake. Abby got mostly clothes and money for her birthday presents, which is what most 12-year-old girls probably ask for.
After Abby's birthday and right before school was let out for the Christmas break, Abby had another band concert. She played with both the beginning and symphonic bands again. This time, they had to dress in actual band concert attire which is white and black for the beginning band and white and black with a blazer for symphonic. I took a picture in her band blazer before we left for the school. It's such a good picture! She looks so grown up and gorgeous!
Before the concert started, I was able to get some closeups of Abby in the beginning band with half of the horn section and also of her on the end of the row with the symphonic band. They played really well, and the symphonic band director, Mrs. Allen, told me after the concert that she wants Abby to play with the symphonic band when they go to competition. She's really doing so well and seems to enjoy playing. We're so proud of her!
Besides band and friends, Abby has stayed busy with school classes. She's continuing to make As and she likes all of her teachers. She participated in the Science Fair in December and did a project on coolers and which one retains ice the longest. It was a long process, but she did really well. She even entered it into the school's fair and won a second place ribbon! She's done so well in middle school and we just can't say enough good things about her. We love our Abby!
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