What We've Been Doing

 Hello again. What has it been- 2 months since I blogged? Sorry, everybody. Well, I suppose I should tell you what's been happening on the ranch....
 My sisters and I and my cousin Sophie from WI just came back from a 10 day trip to Natchez, MI. We toured a lot of old mansions. That was the main idea - that by the end of the trip, we would say, "If I see another old house, I'm going to jump out of the window!" We had a great time. 
 When we arrived home, we discovered that we had gotten new carpet downstairs! It's really nice. Also, we got a new 46 inch TV!!!! YEAH! Mom and Dad are like, "Let's only watch drumcore on this!!" Well, we have been watching the old Ma and Pa Kettle movies that Grandma and Grandpa loaned to us. We enjoy those. 
 We continue to sort through all of our stuff and give away things in preparation for moving. I doubt that we will be moving any time soon, though - people don't want to buy houses at the beginning of the school year. 
 I guess I'm kind of excited for school  to start....... 
 I have been enjoying a lot of good books lately, such as the Kane Chronicles, and a series by N.D. Wilson, The Ashtown Burials. Now, some people would think that the Ashtown Burials are weird - and I can understand that! But I like that kind of stuff. I like this author's stuff, anyways.
 I also enjoy journaling and sometimes drawing. 
Well, Goodbye for now!
(Well, let's face it - I probably won't be blogging for a long time so lets just say, Goodbye for a very long time!!! Just kidding. ;) )
Love, Izzy

A Delightful Narrative

Well, I suppose I should tell you why I need crutches. Well, it all started about 2 weeks ago on a Monday. I fell and twisted my right ankle. So, I wore a boot for a week and used crutches. Then, last Saturday, we had a competition. It was my third feis in the Preliminary Championships.  

In my first round (the hardshoe round), I rolled my left ankle once, but I felt fine afterwards. In the second round (my softshoe round), I rolled that same ankle once. It started hurting a little bit. I rolled it again. This time it really hurt. I couldn't keep dancing any longer. So, I stepped off the stage and began to cry. 

I hurt the outside bone/place of my left foot. I could barely walk. I had disqualified myself by stepping off the stage. Well, when we got home, I began to use the crutches and have been using them since. 

I went to the Physical Therapist today and she gave me some exercises to help strengthen my ankles. I guess that my ankles were not strong enough from my break. 

Well, Thank you for listening to this delightful Narrative by me. 

Goodbye! 

An Update

Hello. Well, since the St. Patrick's season is finally over, we are now training for the upcoming competitions, which will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center on April 5th and 6th. This will be my first feis in Preliminary Champion, so I am very excited/nervous.

I have finished my biographical essay on my trip to Oireachtas, so now I have to write a fictional story. Otherwise, school is going well for me, and I am almost finished with some of my subjects. I can't wait till school will be over!

We are all looking forward to the time that we will spend together with Granny, G-pop, and Sophie (my cousin) at the end of June. We will be going on our 5th Annual trip. This time, we will go all the way down to Nachez! I am not sure what we will do, but I am quite excited because some of the last destinations include the House on the Rock and a water park in Wisconsin Dells. 

Choir is going very well for Miranda and me. Our theme this year is "The Poet Sings". We will be performing several great pieces of poetry, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn. It is all quite fun.

Well, that is all that I have to say. Goodbye.

Love, 
~Izzy~

Our trip to Great Wolf Lodge (and other matters)

Hello! 
A couple of days ago we got home from our trip to Wisconsin Dells. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge with Granny and G-pop, and Uncle Howard, Aunt Julie, Sophie, Hank, and George. It was really fun! 

We stayed in a very large condo room. Everyone watched the Olympics, and all of the kids went to the water park about 4 times in one day!

We all went down the very large Howlin' Tornado slide, which (if you have ever driven by the Dells) is that huge yellow thing with lights on it. Anyway, you first drop down a very steep drop, and then you slide up the walls (not very far, of course) of that bowl thing. I went at night, too, and then it is all dark, and there are just little flashes of the lights that are on the outside. 

We had a great time with all of our family, having a "Valentine's Ceremony", where we passed out all of the Valentine's cards that we had made to each other. 

After 2 days of fun, we left for home. We had a good drive back. When we got home, we all ate a hasty supper and then left for our evening church service, because it was a Sunday.

So that is my report. I have been busy with school, writing an Autobiographical Essay. I am about half-way through doing it. I have also been reading and checking out new books from the library. I have quite a lot. I also read through the first three Harry Potter books again.

Also: We are almost finished with our St. Patrick's Day training, and we will soon begin shows! (On March 8th or something.) I hope some of you can come to see us. 

Well, that is just about all I have to say. So, Goodbye!

Love, 
Izzy

What has been happening

Hello.
Well, the biggest things that have happened during the time that I have "forgotten" to post are: 
1. Choir started again
2. Oireachtas training began
3. I got a new solo dress!! (It is black and pink; you can see it in the sidebar)
4. My 12th birthday
5. I went to Oireachtas; I did not recall
6. Katie MacMahon concerts 
7. Our choir concert
8. Christmas: going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Granny and G-pop's house and seeing cousins from Wisconsin
9. The New Year's Eve Party 

So I have been very busy and I will just say that I have not had time to post. I will not list what I got for Christmas because I always blank out when I try to think of everything. But I did get a Barnes & Noble gift card and a Kohl's gift card, and I used those up wisely. :) 

A week or so ago us four girls went to stay overnight at Aunt Jan and Uncle Larry's house. We went to the movie Frozen!!! It was very good, and I would like to see it again and again. We went to Paragon Theaters by the Burnsville Mall, and it was very nice. The seats in the theater were very comfortable. We also watched another movie that night called, "Mirror, Mirror". It was a rendition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, but it had a slightly different story line.  So we had very much fun at their house.

We have been easing back into school and dance class. Classes will start again this Friday. They would of started on Monday, but class got cancelled because it was so cold. Today is the second day of school back from break. I think I am back on track pretty much. So, other then that, that is all that has been happening in the past few days/weeks/months. So, goodbye. 
Love,
  ~Izzy~

We got bunkbeds!!

Hello!!
Sorry I haven't been posting for a while. I have been busy with school, and dance just started up again, and Sunday School, and on top of all that WE GOT BUNKBEDS!!! YAY! I will tell you all about it. 

We went to IKEA last Saturday and bought our NORDDAL bunkbeds. They are black, but that is okay. We spent the rest of that day putting them together. It was the most complicated ikea thing that we have ever put together! Dad got mad at it a couple times. We got our neighbor to come over and help dad lift the top bunk on the bottom bunk. I am on the bottom, and Miranda is on the top. We love it very much. Mom, Miranda, and Sonja were at a feis in Chicago while all this was happening, so Dad, Sese, and me had to put it together by ourselves. They also came home at about 11:00 when I was trying to go to sleep. Here is a picture of it: (I got this off the website)

 Isn't it great? (BTW, we put the ladder on the left side) The mattresses are sooo comfortable.  We also got a really nice desk with a storage compartment for the living room, instead of just having an old organ bench. It is very nice.

Well, school has begun. I started a couple days before it officially started, so I'm kind of ahead. Also, last Sunday we started Sunday School. And, yesterday, the Oireachtas season began. So, that's what I've been doing in the past few days!
Bye!
Love, Izzy

The State Fair!!!

Hello.
I will tell you what has happened in the past few days/weeks. I will start with the Two Rivers Feile.

I did very well: I got a 1st in my reel, a 1st in my treble jig, and an 8th in my hornpipe. I don't even know why they even have medals for 8th place. They were gold, too.

Yesterday we went to the State Fair. It was very fun. I will tell you all that I can remember.
We left for our bus at about 8:15 and drove down to the school where you are supposed to park your car. We waited about 5 minutes and the bus showed up. It was pretty packed already, so we had to stand up. It was the most terrible bus ride of my life. Well, we got there and gave are tickets to the people. We decided to look at the Skyride and the Space Tower first. It was all like, 4 bucks a person, so we're like, this is too expensive let's not do this. So we went over to look at the Giant Slide, but that was too expensive so we didn't do that. So we went over to the Midway and we went on the Ferris Wheel, and Sese and I went on a fun ride called 'The Fun Factory', and then Sonja and Sese went on a ride called 'The Alpine Bobs'. Well, we had used up all of our rides tickets so we decided we would get some food, so we walked over to the shave ice stand which is right by the Coliseum. It was very very good. We went inside the Coliseum and ate it there. The English riding horses were there and they were doing their jumps over fences. (I hope you understand what English riding horses mean) I don't really like them. I like the cowboys better. Well, then it was getting to be about lunch time so Sonja went and got herself some fish and chips, and we got a pretzel and cheese sauce, and some spicy fries from Dino's, and Mom got this really good wrap that had lamb meat, and tomatoes, and some sort of sauce that tasted like spicy mayo. We went to Leiny's Lodge to eat our lunch and we saw this band called, 'Mountain Heart'. They were very good. We stayed for a while, but then we went over to the International Bazaar. We looked about in the merchandise and we found a nice little booth that had these little animals that were made out of stretchy fabric and have little beans inside. Sonja, Sese, and I got little dragons, and Miranda got a monkey. My dragon is purple and blue and has sparkles, Sonja's is green with sparkles, and Sese's is white with sparkles and it has a pink stomach. Miranda's monkey is like a neon rainbow color with sparkles. Then Sonja and Sese got a smoothie and Miranda and I got some cotton candy. Well, then we went down to the Horse barns and saw some horses and some donkeys. Then we went to the Sheep and Poultry barns and we saw those things, and we also saw the rabbits. They were adorable. Then I think we went to the Agstar Arena, but nothing was happening there, so we went outside and saw the Clinesdale Horses. They are BIG. Gargantuan size, they're HUMONGUS!! We saw them getting ready for the parade. After that we got a Funnel Cake at the food building and we ate that. Then we went into the Creative Activities building and we saw all sorts of cool stuff that people had made. One person had even made a wig out of pink yarn!! After that we decided we should go home. So we went out to where our bus was supposed to be and waited and waited and waited until it had been at least 30 minutes and we were getting all mad. So then this other bus driver comes and informs us that our bus has broken down. So, they got us a special bus to go in. This time we actually got seats. So, we drove home. Oh, also, sometime (I can't remember when), we went to the Miracle of Birth Center and saw a little lamb being born. So that's all that happened at the fair. But I had a really bad cough yesterday, and my voice got very hoarse by the end of the day. It's funny, my throat feels fine, but I just have a bad goose cough. Well, that's all for now.

Love,
~Izzy~