Back to School

This is Abbie's 2nd full week of school and so far things are going well. I think that she feels much more comfortable being a 5th grader than she did being a 4th grader. With grades 4th-6th all in one class together, it is nice not being the "new kid on the block." She is happily sporting a new haircut for the new school year. It is at least 4 inches shorter, but still not quite as short as she had wanted. Her hope was to get either a bob or a pixie cut, but we convinced her that it is better to ease into these things. :)

Abbie has been very into cooking lately (even more than in the past). She has created a cooking blog to post pictures of her creations and details about the recipes that she has made up. She is also interested in mini cooking competitions like she has seen on TV, so she'll periodically say things like, "Choose a mystery ingredient for me and then give me half an hour to create an appetizer featuring it." Although the creative aspect is good, we have also tried to highlight to her the importance of using established recipes as a baseline and following preparation instructions.

(profile picture from her blog)

Finally, Abbie is enjoying the sounds of a new violin. Apparently she has grown and has moved from a 1/8th to a 1/4th size. The increase in size has resulted in a much bigger sound and she has adapted well to the new finger positions that are required to play in tune. Also, she has had three practices with the string orchestra now and seems to be enjoying it. They have a small, informal concert planned for the 24th, but then their first formal concert is coming up in October. The pieces that they will be playing are more challenging than what she is used to, but she has gotten up to speed well and learned some new techniques in the process. I'm sure that eventually I'll get a short video from one of their performances to share.