Thursday, March 26, 2009

Getting Through The Weekdays....

Tuesday ended up being a pretty normal day for me. I brought my American Girl Doll, Kirsten, with me to Zoe's. She was simply thrilled by that. She loves her very much. Now, Mrs. Lydia is thanking me for getting her daughter interested in those expensive dolls!

Tuesday afternoon was just normal. I didn't go to my voice lesson because the rest of my family was going to the Belfour's house for supper, so I wasn't gonna have a ride. I had another dress rehearsal for the play. This time it was my turn to do the lights and sound all by myself. I was nervous! I wasn't doing my normal thing! Fortunately, I had a script to tell me when to do stuff, so my plan was just to get ready way ahead of time for each thing. Unfortunately, Mikie, hadn't written hardly any of the cues in there!!! If he hadn't been up there, I would have missed alot of things! As it was, I was already barely making it in time for each of those cues...

So, my Act 2 in the light booth was almost as stressful as my Act 2 backstage!!

Wednesday morning, much to Zoe's happiness, I brought Kirsten again. We played with her and dressed her. And we had a pretty normal Wenesday. Wednesday afternoon, we went to tutor at the Hill House. I helped Tavian add and subtract fractions...fun!

Then, we had Youth Group. Rachel Vander Molen came again this week! (She came last week, too) That was fun. We played a game sort of like dodge ball, but a little different. When you get hit, you squat, instead of being out of the game. Then, if the person who hit you gets hit, you get to stand up. It was fun! Especially when it started raining! We all just stayed out there getting wet! It was wonderful!

This morning, I babysat the Boagni's. That was pretty enjoyable. Mary-Charlotte is two now and getting so big and she's talking so much! But she's adorable. This afternoon, Natalie Sibille's coming over for awhile and we're gonna watch "Little Women: The Musical". Then tonight, is opening night for "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged". I hope it goes well!! We'll see....

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Double Pirouettes and Dress Rehearsals

I had a very adventurous Monday...

I woke up only be informed that Sophie, our cat, was having kittens. So, we all were in the living room where Mom had set up a little bed for her seeing the brand new baby kittens. There are 3 little kittens. One is white with a gray head, one is a little mini Sophie (a gray striped tabby cat), and the other one is black, I think. They're very teeny tiny! Sophie is being a good mommy. She's really tense and alert. At any little noise, she sits up, pricks up her ears and looks all around. Lottie, our puppy, would really like to meet them, but unless she wants to lose a nose or something, she better stay away. Lottie is like a scary monster to Sophie and her kittens and there's no way Sophie will tolerate Lottie for very long...

Grandma-Mona came over to meet the new additions, too. She stayed for a very long time too! Until almost lunch time! But, in that time, we all had some good conversations. AND we convinced her to come to New York City next month with us!! She and I are gonna be roomates! Woo hoo! She said she hopes I don't snore. I said she should be glad her and Lydia aren't gonna be roomates!

When Grandma-Mona left, we ate lunch. Then we got ready for dancing....then we went to dancing. It was a good day for me in ballet and jazz! Ballet, was just great because I felt like I was getting all the combinations right and really feeling pretty and graceful when I was doing them! In jazz, we were doing some combinations with pirouettes in them. Mrs. Shayna told us that if we were already good at pirouettes, that we could try a double pirouette and that it might fit in with the music better anyway. So, I decided to try. And guess what!?!? I did it!!! I was unbelievably excited!! I got it finally! I'd been trying to do a double pirouette for the longest time! Sometimes I could get around twice, but not well and usually it was just 1 1/2 or 1 3/4...but not yesterday!! Yesterday, I did it a bunch of times, and they felt good and right! I am still very proud of myself for that accomplishment!

From dancing, we headed to the theatre for our dress rehearsal. The way me and Mikie planned to do it was this: Mikie would do ALL the lights and sound for one dress rehearsal and I'd do ALL the lights and sound for the other one. Well, last night was Mikie's night...so I was pretty bored. Ashley Brown didn't make it to rehearsal...we don't know why, but anyway, she wasn't there. So, they were short one person backstage. Since, I wasn't doing the lights, last night, I offered to take Ashley's place backstage. Well, let me tell you, backstage is not easy in this show! Those guys are always running offstage grabbing props, costumes, and in Jay's case, wigs (he plays almost all of the girl characters). Ashley usually is Jay's costume and prop person, so I had my work cut out for me....and on top of all that, I had NO idea what I was doing! It was pretty overwhelming! But, it was funny. One, time Jay ended up with his skirt around his neck....They told me that I actually was helpful...a little...I had fun though!

After practice, I showed Natalie, Mikie, Megan, and Duncan my double pirouettes and they were adequately impressed. When I got home, I tried to show my mom my double pirouette, but it didn't work!! I was so thoroughly angry with myself....I tried and tried, finally I got it, but not as amazing as it felt earlier...

Well, okay...that's my Monday for you!!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Fun Weekend

My weekend was pretty fun! Friday, Natalie S. and I both took a half day of school and she picked me up right before lunch. Then we went to her grandparents house and ate Quiznos (yum!). We had a nice afternoon, just hanging around, doing nothing very special. A little later Ashley Brown and Megan Christie came and met us because we were going to go to Books A Million since "Twilight" was coming out on DVD at midnight! They were having some sort of party thing. So, we all dressed up as our favorite characters. Natalie dressed as Bella, of course, and naturally, I was Alice. Megan was Victoria...(I'll say more about that in a minute...) and Ashley used Natalie's "Elle Woods" wig to be Rosalie. We all ended up looking alot like our characters. I don't have any pictures of us from that night, but I know that the other girls do, so I'll put some up when I can.

Anyway, now I gotta tell ya'll about Megan's costume! In the picture below, Victoria is the girl all the way to the right. You see that fuzzy white thing? Well, Megan actually wore something like that! It was pretty funny and awesome! But, she used a rug! Yes, a white fake fur rug from Wal-Mart. People definetely gave her some funny looks, but that's ok, cause she looked an awful lot like her character. We all laughed, though, even Megan!


Then, on Saturday, I was brought to Krotz Springs at 12:45 to meet up with Jennifer's dad. We were surprising her for her birthday! Actually, her birthday was in December, but so are most of her kids and husband and Christmas, and then New Years Day...so Jennifer never got to celebrate her birthday! So her sister planned a party for her. I was to be the babysitter for 10 kids, although 2 of the 10 kids were a help. So, me, Claire, and Laura Rose took care of Ethan, Blythe, Owen, Evelyn, Jesse, Macy, Drew, and Lily. It was a fun night! We had our own little party over there! The kids were all so sweet and cute and hardly gave us any trouble at all. They all went to sleep pretty well. I'm very proud of Ethan and Blythe. Neither of them had their blankies, but they both went to sleep! (after I sang to them....Owen was so cute while I was singing to him!) The only one that wouldn't go to sleep was Macy, but we didn't mind because she didn't bother us at all. She sat and ate a late night snack of mint-chocolate chip ice cream and laughed and talked with us!

The adults got back at around 11:30, I think....I'm actually not sure, but it was quite late! Apparently, the party was a huge success and lots of fun! Jennifer had been thoroughly surprised! I think she had a really special night!

Sunday was a pretty normal day. We went to church and then came home. I spent the afternoon watching "Titanic" (which is my favorite movie right now). Then me and Mom went to Wal-Mart and got wireless internet for my laptop, which I am taking advantage of right now! At the exact time that we returned from Wally World, Nony arrived at our house. We had barbecued chicken and sausage and potato salad and snap beans for supper! We hadn't had barbecue in awhile since Dad has been having some troubles with his back. It was SO good! And we all watched "Twilight" together. Mom hadn't seen it yet, but she has read all the books. I think she really liked it. I enjoyed watching it with Nony. She had seen it before, so we were whispering to each other the whole time about stuff going on! It was very fun!

This morning, we haven't done any school at all, yet. My mother is being a mid-wife for our cat. Sophie is having kittens right now, as I speak. And I am told that if I go and see kittens being born that I get to skip science for today.....I don't like science, so I believe that I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity. Last I heard there was 2 white ones! :-)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Enjoying Simple Things

We have had a good week in the Feucht household. Well actually, two good weeks in a row! The week before last, there were some mission teams in Opelousas from colleges in Iowa and Tennessee! It was really fun! They painted the Hill House where we go tutor on Wednesdays a bright sunshiney yellow! It's really awesome! You can see it from Main Street. Plus I made some new friends. I met Kelsey, Molly, Chelsea, Samantha, Maggie, Sarah, and Samantha just to name a few. And also, Mirae that had come last summer was here again too! Me and Natalie LaCombe spent a whole afternoon with them. We played games with some of the kids from the Hill. And when they went home, it wasn't quite time for Youth Group, yet, so we hung out at the Hope House (which is across the street from church) for about 45 minutes, just talking to some of the girls. It was really fun! And really cool to meet all these college people who are so obviously living for Christ!

This week started off with me and Hannah Sonbuchner attending little Mary-Charlotte Boagni's birthday party. It was pretty adorable. It was her second birthday and the decorations were all pink and green and flowers and bunnies! So sweet!

Monday, I had dancing, which was marvelous as usual. I particularly enjoyed ballet this week. I usually have one class that stands out each week as being better than the other one. This week, it was ballet. I was just getting all the combinations right, and I felt pretty dancing! :-) After dancing, we had practice for "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged". I am the "Light Fairy" (or some boring people like to say that I am doing the lights for the show...oh and the sounds some nights). It's a hilarious play. Casey Harmon, Duncan McBride, and Jay Mantell (I definetely don't know if that's how you spell Jay's name, but I hope it's right!). They are so funny. I haven't gotten tired of the show yet at all! Usually just watching the show, I get tired of it, but they just always make me laugh!

Tuesday, something wonderful happened! Nony came down from New York for a visit!!!! When she got home, I showed her a chocolate cheesecake recipe that I found in the Kraft Food and Family magazine. Then we decided to walk to Super 1 Foods and get the ingredients that were neccessary to make this delicious dessert. So we did!


And that is what it looks like! (Only we definetely left the blueberries off!) It was quite yummy, I will have you know! Tuesday, I had play practice again. Oh! And it was St. Patrick's Day. I totally didn't wear green and I only got pinched 3 little times: Mom, Lydia, and Natalie Sibille!

Wednesday, was probably my favorite day this week. Alot of marvelacious things happened. We got to see Nony again, which is always a good thing, cause we love her! Then, we went to tutor at the Hill House. When we came back from the Hill House, Mom and Dad had a "surprise" for me. Honestly, I knew all about it. Well first of all I'll tell you what the surprise was, then I can explain much easier. So, here it is, in all it's glory: my new LAPTOP!!!


It's yellow!! Okay, so here's the story: I decided awhile back that I wanted to get a laptop. I thought it would come in quite handy for college and everything next year. I also thought that it would be extremely convenient for me... :-) So, I started searching for a good deal. When I finally found one, I was totally ready to buy it. So, mom said I could. I have plenty of money in savings. So we ordered it!! I was surprised at how readily Mom agreed to buying something so expensive, that's when I got suspicious. Then when Mom wouldn't let me open the laptop when it arrived, I KNEW something was up. Later on in the afternoon Mom and Dad gave it to me! It was wonderful! I really like it!

Yesterday (Thursday) was a nice day, too. It was pretty boring at first, but then Natalie LaCombe got home and we decided that we should get ready together. We were going to see Natalie Sibille and Mikie in their school play, "Big River". It's the story of Huck Finn. They both did a fabulous job! They play was pretty cute, too. Then afterwards we went to eat at Casa Ole'. It was really fun!

This week, Lydia also got a pet bunny. She named him Jo-Jo. He’s cute and soft and fuzzy! I think she’s really liking him!

Today was a good day also. Me and Natalie S. both took a half day of school. Now, we're at her house just hanging out, being friends....talking about silly things...very silly...just enjoying our lives! :-)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Life is good...

My life has been quite enjoyable. Mostly normal things going on. I've got dancing on Mondays, babysitting Zoe and Voice lessons on Tuesdays, babysitting Zoe, tutoring at the Hill House, and Youth Group on Wednesdays, play practice Monday-Wednesday nights, and lots of time in between spent with my dear friend, Natalie Sibille! So, like I said, life has been very nice lately! We had some beautiful weather today! I went and did my schoolwork up on the roof. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice gentle breeze occasionally! Ahhhhh... :-)

Here are some pictures of Gracie's life recently:

"Try on you glasses?"


"Now, you wear dem, Gwacie"
Lottie, our new puppy!


We were princesses!


I'm obsessed with this outfit! Me and my friend, Amanda, went shopping and I had to try on that full length dress! I love it!! I want it!! Now, I just have to convince my mom that I really need it.....

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Oh dear...

Well...it seems that I've done a super super awful job with my blog lately. I bet anybody who ever read it has given up on me by now...Well...I'm back people! So, here's what's been going on lately!

Well, in February, we celebrated Dad, Lydia, Natalie LaCombe, and Uncle Stonnie's birthdays. Natalie's came first, so I'll tell all about that one first. Natalie's birthday is actually January 8 and she'd been planning to have a party, but she works so much that she just wasn't getting a chance to plan it. One night Natalie Sibille and I were talking on the phone (like we do nearly every night...), but we weren't really having anything interesting to talk about. Natalie S. said that it was because we didn't have anything in the near future to look forward to or talk about or plan. So, I said, "Let's plan a surprise party for Natalie!"

We decided to just invite everybody that Natalie LaCombe knew (well maybe not everybody, but alot of people) to meet at some restaurant and have a party for her. We didn't know when the next time Natalie would have a Friday or Saturday that she wasn't working, so we could have the party. We waited only one week to find out that Natalie would have Friday, February 13 off! Well, the restaurant ended up being Chili's. We invited people from the theatre, church, family, friends, her cosmetology school, and OHS (her highschool). Of course, not everybody that was invited came, but we still had a pretty big group! We told her that just me, Natalie S. and her were going to go out to eat, just the 3 of us. And we did tell her that it was for her birthday. She didn't suspect a single thing!!

When we got to Chili's Natalie L. told me to get down and see if there were any tables. (We told her that since it was the day before Valentine's Day there might be a long wait). It was so perfect that she told me to do that because I could go in and see if the other people waiting for us had been seated yet. Well....they hadn't. So I went out and told Natalie and Natalie that there weren't enought tables for us, so we had to wait 15 or 20 minutes before going in. A little while later, I went in again. Mom said to wait about a minute or two, and then come in. So I went back out to the car and we waited a minute or two, then went in. On the way in, though, I could see all our people through the window, so I was pointing to the sky in the opposite, I was saying things like, "Wow...those clouds look really pretty. Look at that star....Oh, there is no way that's a star. It's way to big. It must be a planet. I wonder if it's Venus because if it was Mars it would look redish...."

When we went in, right as we went around the corner where the table was, I covered Natalie's eyes. When I uncovered them, I think she was kinda shocked and had a little minute of taking it all in! Then she turned around and looked at me and Natalie S. (of course we were both bursting with smiles of pride that we actually pulled off the surprise). She said, very bluntly, "I'm gonna beat ya'll."

It was a very fun night. We had a really awesome cake that Natalie Sibille made for her. That was another surprise! Then after we ate, we had another surprise for her. We found out that there was one theatre in Lafayette that was still playing the movie "Twilight". (Actually Natalie LaCombe was the one that informed me of this). So, since Natalie L. was the only one that could drive us there, we told her that she couldn't know where we were going, but we were just gonna tell her where to turn and stuff. Well, it turns out that we got in Lafayette way early, so we stopped at a Starbucks for a little while. I got a chocolatey chocolate frappuchino, which, needless to say, was amazing. Then when we got to the theatre, we blindfolded her. But, when we walked up to the theatre, the fire alarm was going off, so I decided that it would be considerate to unblindfold her. We had to wait awhile and the entire theatre had to be evacuated. Finally they discoverated that some teenagers or somebody had pulled the fire alarm and there was really no need for panic. Then, we finally got to go in and watch the movie. Of course, Natalie LaCombe started falling asleep...it was pretty funny. I kept "accidentally" bumping her arm to wake her up. Then we went to spend the night at the Sibille's house. It was alot of fun!

For Lydia's birthday, she had an American Girl Mystery Party. It was pretty cute. She and her friends had a good time. We all wore costumes. Natalie Sibille came and helped with the party, too. For Dad's birthday we had a cake and I wrapped all the presents in coordinating paper (they looked fabulous, if I do say so myself, the even matched his German Chocolate cake!)


We also celebrated Uncle Stonnie's birthday. It was at my cousin's camp. We went over there and spent the night. It was alot of fun! We spent time with all of my Dad's family because Uncle Stonnie is his brother. We had a great time!

Here are some pictures of the February Birthday Parties:


Natalie's special Twilight cake. It was a white cake, but Natalie Sibille used red food coloring on the inside. Natalie LaCombe LOVED it!

Everybody!

Natalie at the theatre blindfolded and pretending to drink my Chocolatey Chocolate Frappuchino...




Lydia blowing out her 11 candles!
Dad's cake and presents!
Uncle Stonnie (Dad's little brother), Aunt Theresa (Dad's older sister), and Dad.
Nathan fishing out on the docks at our cousin's camp. I thought he looked so adorable with his bare feet and jeans rolled up! Ha ha...
Okay...well that's it for my February. I mean, obviously that's not everything that happened to me, but that's the highlights.
Coming Soon:
March 20- Older sister Nichole/Nony coming home for a visit.
March 26- "Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged" Opens. I'm doing lights and sometimes sound.
April 10- Off school for Easter Break! Nony and Frank come for a visit!!
April 11- My Birthday!
April 17- !!!!!!!!!!!!!LEAVE FOR NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, February 16, 2009

My Visit To My Big Brother's House

Yesterday, we went to Jade and Jennifer's house for the day. In the morning, we went to church with them. That was nice. I liked their youth group alot. Me and Claire went to the Youth Sunday School. I liked it. Then we went over to Jade and Jennifer's house.

But, I was kinda bored because Claire had gone to eat lunch with one of their friends and the adults were talking about budgets and financial things and most of the kids were playing with Nathan's dirt-bike, which I've ridden on a bunch of times and I didn't care to get my clothes muddy, and Evelyn was asleep....so, I was quite alone...

So, I got on the computer for awhile, then went back and talked to Mom and Jennifer for awhile (who were no longer conversing about budgets). And FINALLY, Claire got home! We did some normal fun stuff, then we went outside and tried to play on the zip-line but we couldn't reach it. So, we took turns picking each other up to try to hang on it. Claire is taller, but apparently, I'm stronger, so we were most successful when I picked her up....haha. In the end though, we just gave up and went for a walk far behind their yard next to the canal.

We soon discoverated a tree that had fallen down during Hurricane Gustav. I decided that it would be super fun to climb across it, since it had fallen down right across the water and made a perfect bridge. Claire wasn't so sure....I had to do quite alot of convincing to get her out on that tree ha ha. But, eventually, I did and we had alot of fun climbing on it. Then, we decided to head back to her house to see if supper was ready yet. And YAY! it was. Delicious Taco Soup! (compliments of Jennifer!) We got nice and full of yummy soup and then invtited Nathan and Lydia to come climb on the tree with us before it got too dark. So, we all headed back there to the tree. We had lots of fun climbing across the tree. We decided that we wanted to actually climb down on the other side and walk over to where there was a bridge, though, since it was getting darker. So, once we had all safely landed on the other side we heard a little voice calling "Lydia!! Claire!! Nathan!! Gracie!!"....It was Blythe. And she wanted to come play with us. So, me and Nathan went back across the tree, to the other side of the very wide canal, to get Blythe and help her across. Blythie climbed on my back and we got on the tree and started heading across the tree. Nathan took off real fast, though, and left me and Blythe behind. So, Lydia came to help me with the task of getting this five year old (who really doesn't have the best balance) to the other side of the canal. I realized just getting her past a certain big branch was a feat in and of itself! But we finally reached solid land again. Getting OFF the tree was probably the hardest part it's a pretty big drop to a steep hill, so Nathan and Claire grabbed a long branch and I also grabbed, then put Blythe on my back and Nathan and Claire sorta pulled us to help me land on my feet and successfully get up the steep hill. Then, as soon as me and Blythe we safely on dry land, we realized that it had gotten dark, so we decided that there was no way that we wanted to climb back over that tree with Blythie in the dark. But, thankfully, we knew of a few bridges nearby that we could cross without too much effort. So, we started walking towards the one to the left. We realized that it was much further than we thought, so we turned back towards the tree to walk to the other bridge that looked WAY closer. Except Nathan...he was determined to go to the other bridge. So, me, Claire, Blyth, and Lydia ventured off on our own. Eventually, we passed by the tree again. We kept walking....the bridge couldn't be too much further! Then, we heard a voice behind us: "Wait! Wait for me! I'm gonna come with ya'll!" It was Nathan. He changed his mind and very wisely decided to stick with the group.


We walked a little ways and then we heard a very strange noise. I had never really heard a noise quite like it before. So I asked Claire, "Was that you?" It wasn't. Nathan said "I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!! GUYS, THAT'S A BOBCAT!! I KNOW! I'VE HEARD THEM BEFORE WHEN I WAS HUNTING!!"

Well, it took us absolutely no time to turn around, get Blythe on my back, and head in the opposite direction, back to our beloved tree. We were all freaked out completely and just frantic with panic. Lydia and Nathan climbed on the tree first. Then, we had the task of getting Blythe back up on the tree. Poor Claire was just behind us waiting! Blythe was saying, "Guys! I'm scared! I don't don't even know what a bobcat is! I wanna go home!"

Finally we got on the tree. We all went across: Lydia, then Nathan, then me with Blythe choking me to death, and last Claire. Lydia took off and didn't wait for any of us. Thankfully Nathan stayed behind and helped me with Blythe. Claire passed me up and took off on land. When I got off the tree (which was no easy accomplishment), I just ran! Blythe is heavy and she was holding on very tightly around my neck and very successfully choking me. Eventually, it just became too much. I couldn't run any further with her on my back. I was actually having trouble breathing! I had run a really far distance with that little (I shouldn't say "little"...she's so tall...) girl on my back. And it's a very big field that's behind Jade and Jennifer's house! I took her off and gave her to Claire and Claire helped Blythe the rest of the way to the house.

We burst through the door and Jade said..."Why are ya'll all out of breath?"

Monday night, I broke out in a really bad rash on my neck and the back of my leg. Mom said that it must be an allergic reaction to something. The only thing unusual that I'd eaten were cashews in Rachel's trail mix on Monday afternoon. So, we figured that I must be allergic to cashews.

So, Wednesday we took a visit to the allergy doctor. I was hoping that the itching and swelling would go away really fast! My neck was swollen to the point of me looking like I had a double chin. I really wanted my neck to go back to it nice normal size! As soon as the allergy doctor saw me, he said, “Oh, that’s Poison Ivy.” Which, I, for some reason, always expected. But, Mom was so sure that it wasn’t because it came out SO badly, SO fast. It usually takes poison ivy a few days to come out, but mine started the very next day! We finally figured out that it must have been Blythe that got into poison ivy. Then, when she was holding on around my neck while we were out running the bob-cat, she rubbed it into my skin real good…and that would explain why it was so bad so fast! Anyway, they gave me a shot and the spots on my neck are healing pretty fast, but the spots on my hands and legs are just getting worse…This is by far the worst case I ever had!

I hope it just gets better soon! :-) For now, I’m itching…and trying not to scratch!