Because I'm too lazy...

...I'll just post some pictures of my brothers this time. Here they are in age order:

Aidan-5

Christopher-9

Nathanael-11

Philip-13

I know that the focas is weird, but it's actually the look that I was going for. He and Isaac were playing baseball with our cousin.

Isaac-17

~Livie

Kodak Moment! Oh, wait...

So the other day, my family all went out for the afternoon. When we got back, Walker greeted us warmly as always and I pulled out my camera to get a shot of this cute moment. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized that something might be amis here. My suspicions were confirmed...

...when I magnified it. Ugh. Scroll down if you still can't tell what's going on here.

Yes, at the exact moment that I snapped this shot, Philip's lips came in contact with Walker's tongue. Many people would think that this is sooooo gross but I still think that it's rather cute. Philip wasn't phased by it either and that's all that really matters. What do you think of this "Kodak Moment" gone wrong?

~Livie

My Surprise

So, for those of you actually read my last post, (which is a lot! Thanks for all the sweet comments everybody!) I said that I had a surprise. Well....read on!

I have to start with this. My hair is dark in this because this was after our first attempt to darken my hair for Mulan. This is about 2-3 weeks ago.

As of last Thursday...

Keep going...

SURPRISE!!!

I got my hair cut! I really like it! I'd been wanting to get my hair cut for about a month and a half but my mom said that I couldn't until Mulan was over since I had to put my hair up for that. Tell me what you think!

~Livie

P.S. In reply to Social Butterfly's comment to my last post: My family went to Mackinac over Memorial Day and we also go in September. We don't stay in Mackinac though. We stay at my grandparent's house about and hour and a half south of Mackinac so we usually just go up and spend the day there.

Vacation Pictures!!!!

Here are some pictures of our vacation from over Memorial Day!!!

Molly-in the car and ready to go! This was her first vacation with us.

Me and Philip about 45 minutes into the trip.

Christopher
(sorry about the flash reflectiong off of his glasses...)

Aidan with the first ice-cream of the vacation.
Our fave ice-cream shop turned out to be just as good as
before so we're definitally going to keep going there!
(If you don't understand this, read my post below)

Christopher with his "Super-scoop"
(known as Superman in every other ice-cream shop in the country...that's another story...)

Walker, excited for a walk in the woods. Man, I love this dog!!!

Aidan at a museum that we stopped at on the way to Mackinac

Nathanael skipping stones in the lake next to the Mackinac Bridge

Christopher on the beach in Mackinac

Philip playing on the rocks infront of the Mackinac Bridge

Aidan, moments before tearing his shoes off and wading in Lake Huron

Philip again. You can see Mackinac Island behind him

The Mighty Mac

Aidan took this picture of me on our way home from Mackinac. We didn't end up getting any of Mackinac's famous fudge but we did go to a state park where they had a sky bridge and a zip line! Soooooooooooooooo FUN!!!!!

Philip goofing off with bubble gum on our way back home. This picture was taken about 2.376 seconds before that bubble became a sticky mess all over his face... ; )

So, that's our vacation in a nutshell. We had a lot of fun! Let me know what you think!

~Livie

P.S. I also have a surprise but I'll get to that later...stay tooned!

Vacation!!!!!!!

If you can't tell from the title of this post, our family is on vacation!!! We're staying in a cottage that my grandparents own about 3 hours north of where we live. We came up yesterday and are planning on staying until Tuesday. My parents don't want to try to leave on Memorial Day with all the traffic! I was going to post about it before we left but there was no time with all the packing that had to get done. I also have some photos on our computer at home that I want to post. I'm posting this from my brother's laptop right now. We've had a lot of fun so far. (even though we haven't done much!) We drove for about 3 1/2 hours yesterday and got here at about 11:00 pm. We stopped at Wal-mart to get things for breakfast before we arrived at the cottage. By the time we were unpacked in the house, it was about 12:30 so my little brothers went straight to bed. (no, they didn't sleep in the car, no one in our family has ever slept easily in a car) I got to bed around 2 am...and then woke up at 9. Actually, 7, but I got back to sleep eventually. I had a really hard time sleeping last night too. Not because we were away from home or anything 'cause I don't usually have problems with that. The real reason is because I had to sleep on a cot. There aren't enough beds in the cottage for us all to sleep in a bed so we have two fold out cots. Now, I usually sleep in one of these and I love it-they're very comfortable but it was broken when we set it up this time so it was really uncomfortable!!!! I slept for the first few hours on the couch and then I moved back to the cot until my brother woke me up at 7. Grrrrrrr!!! Morning people....... Well, that was the most excitment that we've had so far. All we did today was drop my brothers off at a park while my mom and I went shopping for the rest of our food for the weekend. We also picked up some clothes for me. then we came home and here I sit, writting about it all for you! We're going to have chicken breast salad for dinner and then we're hopefully going to get ice cream from our favorite ice cream shop! I can't wait for that! The only thing is that when we passed it earlier, we saw on their sign that they were under new ownership so who knows, we might end up with a new favorite this year. :p That's all for now! I'll try to post again before we get home but, who knows? ; )

~Livie

Transported to Ancient China

Welcome to TECH WEEK!!! (If you aren't exactly sure what that means, click HERE) Mulan tech week has been going pretty well so far. I just wanted to update you on some of my physical changes for this show, starting with make-up.

Preliminary make-up design. This will be finished off with bright blue eye shadow and thick black eyeliner. This is, pretty obviously, for my chinese bride number.

Let's just say "Before"

This is "After". If you can't tell, I dyed my hair. This is not photographic fakery! Apparently, light blond didn't fit with Ancient China... Don't worry, it's only temporary. It should come out in 6-8 shampoo's. I might try to make it darker before we open on Friday but that's not been confirmed yet. : p The fierce red eyeshadow?...well that's just an extra.

(it's actually my Mushu's chorus make-up)

What do you think? Should I keep it? I like the color but I don't think I like it that much!!! Let me know!

~Livie

Finally! A picture!

Here is picture of Molly. She really looks like a chocolate lab but we really think that she's part terrier as well. She has a lot of energy and she has the tempermant of a fiesty terrier. When we walk into the house she gets so excited! We've almost got her completely trained on the invisible fence. She really is very smart, we realized that almost immediately. She picks up commands and tricks very, very quickly! (I'm really close to having her be able to balance a treat on her nose) I'm still warming up to her but I can't help but admit that she is our dog now. She's not just a dog that we adopted....she's ours. And that makes all the difference in the world!

~Livie

I'll give you one guess...

What 'look' do you think we were going for with this photo? ; p We had some fun with this one... (lol)

~Livie

P.S. Nicki, you know this already, so don't give it away!!! : )

Photo Contest

I decided to enter the I Heart Faces photo contest again this week. The theme is Reflection. I love this photo that I took on our way home from church on Easter. I had been experimenting with using the mirror to get pics of my brothers and I hit it at just the right moment. I couldn't believe that I had captured such a cute moment!





~Livie
P.S. Join the fun! Click here to check out I Heart Faces!

I Just Don't Have A Name For This One...

I can't tell you how many times I've started this post in my head and then scratched it or not had the time or the will power to actually write it out. I'm sitting here in tears because writing this is stirring up so many old emotions that I thought were dead. I have so many things that I want to say but I don't know how to say them. I feel like this should be, how should I put it?...mature? Please don't ask me what that means because I don't really know yet myself. I just know that I don't have what it takes to make it that way. I'm sorry for being vague. I'll try to get to the point.

I don't know how else to say this so I'll just do it straight out: Jenny is no longer with my family. A few days after we brought her home, we found bald patches on her neck. We all thought that they were hot spots, but they got worse. We took her to the Humane Society vet but they had no idea what it was. They gave us some medicine but the patches continued to worsen and she kept losing hair. That's when we had to make a decision. We decided to turn her back in to the Humane Society for them to...put her down. We would have kept her but we didn't know if it was contagious, and we really, really didn't want Walker to get it. So my parents drove her in the next day. The last glimpse that I got of her was her head peeking out the car window as they drove away. "Bye, Jenny," I whispered as my eyes filled with tears. I sat on the stairs and held Walker as those same tears began falling out of my eyes. I couldn't help it. She was so sweet. She didn't deserve this. But, as always, life goes on. I hesitate to post this because several people have told us that it was foolish or even wrong for getting a second dog and I'm afraid that they'll think that they were right the whole time. The fact is that they were sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong!!!! No one in my family would have traded in a single second that we had with Jenny for anything! She was an amazing dog-our dog-and no one will ever be able to convince us otherwise!

JENNY UPDATE!!!!!!! We got a call from the Humane Society the other day-Jenny is ALIVE! After we surrendered her, they had been planning the put her down, but one of their staff who had loved her before we adopted her decided to take her home! Jenny's in a happy home! We're so happy! Our dog is happy! God blessed us in our pain!

On that note I'll move on to the other news. The day that we took Jenny back, my parents made it easier on everyone by letting us pick out another dog. My parents and my brothers all fell in love with Bianca (a chocolate lab mix). I don't know why but I looked at her and I just didn't like her. Suddenly, I was under interrogation: What about her didn't I like? What's not to like? Could it be that you're just upset about Jenny? I didn't know. What I did know was that this was a strong feeling, but it was 7 to 1. There were a few other dogs that I wanted to visit with but the answer was firmly, no. There wasn't really a good reason for not letting me look except that my family had found their dog and were done looking around. To make a long story short, we adopted that chocolate lab and she's currently upstairs in my parent's room sleeping. We changed her name to Molly after we brought her home. Everyone tells me that she'll grow on me and that she really is a great dog but I'm not so sure. I have to say, that I do like having a second dog hanging around and she is very smart but she's just not my dog. Period.

I know that this sounds like I'm complaining a whole lot and I'm sorry. Please believe me when I say that I'm not trying to complain. I've just been living on a roller-coaster the past few weeks and I needed to dump my emotional baggage somewhere. I won't feel quite so bad tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep. I just wanted to post this late at night so I wouldn't have little brothers looking over my shoulder the whole time as that would make me very uncomfortable. If you've read this and think that I'm deppressed, please know that I'm not! This is just an emotional outlet for me and I will feel better after this. I'll probably feel better after some sleep too. G'night.

~Livie

Introducing...

Jennifer Popcorn!

Okay, actually it's Jenny. The Popcorn part comes from what she was called at the Humane Society but we still just call her Jenny.

Her Story: A couple of weeks ago, a stray showed up in our backyard. She was obviously old and she seemed sick. She was also very overweight and would not stop panting. It was easy to see that she hadn't been taken care of in a long time because her toe nails hadn't been clipped in a while, to put it mildly. My parents decided that we couldn't keep her here so my dad drove her over to the city Animal Control office. My dad visited her every day during the week that she was there. He had gotten attached in the short time that she was with us and he couldn't let her go so easily. Well, after a week at the animal control office she disappeared. We knew that if dogs weren't claimed at animal control within a certain amount of time the were surrendered to the Humane Society to be put up for adoption or...euthanized. We were sure of the latter option because of how old and sick she was. My dad checked the adoption website every day waiting to see if there was any hope for her. After a week, she still wasn't in their adoption listings and my family gave up hope. The next day however, I checked again (this was the first time since we got our first dog that my parents had shown any openness to getting another dog so I wasn't ready to give up yet!). There she was! My mom confirmed my suspicion. Jenny was listed under the name of 'Popcorn'. My dad was so happy that he declared that our whole family was going to visit her this afternoon. So, we went knowing that we were just going for a visit and although adoption was an option, we weren't planning on it. I leaned over and whispered to Philip, "We're going to have another dog." I know my dad too well... We got there and my heart kind of sank when we asked someone and they said that they thought that she might have already been adopted. The lady said that she wasn't sure and we could go into the back and see if she was still there. Sure enough, there she was, and her pink slip was still by her kennel so no one was currently interested in her. We snatched up the slip and took it to the front desk. Before we knew it, we were all siting in the room with her and my parents were saying that we were going to take her home. So, after filling out paperwork, we loaded her into our van and brought her home. Walker was excited but he didn't get rough with her, which we we thankful for! And now, she's just getting used to her new home, family, and name. I should probably get off now and take her for a walk-she still needs to lose a lot of weight!

~Livie

Finally...

Yay! I finally posted again!!! Sorry for the lack of posts the last few weeks. I've been very busy, and tired, and busy. Well, anyway, here you go...

First, let me tell you that I passed my ballet exam! Unfortunately, I didn't pass 'with flying colors.' I just passed. Not pass plus or commended. Just pass. But that's okay (especially considering the circumstances!). I had a rather difficult (*cough* mean) examiner. There was nothing that we could do to please her. She even told us that we had to do something that wasn't in the book! That frustrated me...well, at least the nice lady was the one taking notes! ; ) I am now an official Checetti Grade 2 student! (cue triumphant music)

In other news, Mulan is going very well. My parts are a Bride (in Honor To Us All) and a member of Mushu's chorus! I'm really excited for the show. My mom and I went out today and bought all the supplies for my bride costume. It's going to be shimmery and turquoise. I can't wait to get it done so I can try it on! The only problem is that I have to make it myself...in less than a month...*gulp* I'll try to get a picture up when it's done!

Two more things really quick! I'm going to my BFFNMW's show next Friday and I can't wait! Also, it's snowing here! It doesn't seem right even though I know it's normal for this time of year. It's kind of funny though, because this is the weather that we had in early December so it feels like we should be gearing up for Christmas, not Easter! LOL!

~Livie

So Much To Say...

...and no words to say it with. I don't know. I just don't know. The only thing that I know is that God is God and that He loves me, even though I just don't know. He knows things about me that I couldn't even guess and He still loves me...wow! I know that I'm probably not making any sense whatsoever, but somehow, I'm okay with that. That's where the title of this post comes in. Have you ever felt like there was something really important or insightful that you had to say, but the words just weren't there? That's how I feel right now. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'm depressed or sad or anything. I just feel like I'm weary. But, I know that weariness can't last forever so I'm not stressing. I'm just clinging to the fact that God loves me, even though I still don't know. There is peace.

I Heart Faces Photo

I've decided to enter the I Heart Faces photo contest this week. The theme is No Flash. I took this photo a few weeks after I got my camera. I'm lying on my bed and holding the camera above my head.

If you want to check it out I Heart Faces, click HERE.
Let me know what you think!

~Livie

Please pray

I'm really nervous right now because I found out on Monday that I'm going in for a Ballet exam this Saturday. I'm being tested on the material in Checetti Grade 1. It takes most people about 3 years to get through this grade....yeah.....I'm going in after 6 months... I've barely memorised the combonations, now I have to not only do them, but I have to worry about theory and such! not only that, my exam is at 9:00 am (I have to be at the examiner's dance studio-an hour drive away-by 8:30) which means I have to be awake at 7:00 on a Saturday! No one should have to be up that early on a Saturday! Especially not going to a test where they have to stay on their toes and always thinking about what they're doing! One good thing is that there's another girl who's been preparing for her exam for a while who's going with me so I won't be alone/the only one from our studio. That makes me a little more comfortable. My teacher says that I'm doing great and she's not worried at all, but I have no idea what to expect. I won't get my score for a week after the exam so that'll be the worst! Please pray that I don't spaz at the exam and fail or something!

Thanks!
~Livie

P.S. Tomorrow is my first Mulan rehearsal! I'm really excited about that!!!!

Hmmmm...a lot has happened since my last post but I don't have the time or the determination to sit for a really long time and write about it so this'll be a short post. I did get cast in Mulan. I got the part of a Chinese Worker (they perform in the song Honor To Us All). Not a huge surprise. I also had the performances for the smaller show that I was Stage Manager for....those went well. Actually, I'd say very well! : ) Tech week was hard but everything went really smoothly during the shows. I was especially thrilled when I got to see the program and I was listed not as stage manager but as Assistant Director and Backstage Manager! I also got to be on headset backstage which is totally awesome! I thought it would be hard and I'd mess something up but it was really easy. We did a drama at the church where I go to Youth Group yesterday. It was really great! Everything went well and we had like 3 people taping it so I should get a copy soon. The funny thing is that we did the same drama that my B.F.F.N.M.W. was in at her church about a year ago! We didn't play the same part (she was the lead and I played the representation of Fashion) but it was a cool coincedence! ; )

~Livie

Photos

These are some of the photos that I took with my camera (that can now hold 1000+ photos! Yay!). Tell me what you think. I can't decide which of these two photos (the ones above and below) I like better.Comment on this post or vote on the poll on the sidebar to tell me which you prefer.

My Puppy! Isn't he adorable????

(I know he's not technically a puppy anymore, but, hey,
he'll always be the true baby of the family!)

Excitement before his favorite time of the day-his walk!

I think that this one looks cool with just the rose colored
but you can't see my tiara very well.

I like this one a lot too. This is my mom's favorite.

Oh, it's so girly, isn't it?

These are some motion shots taken with the self-timer feature on my camera. They're both basic ballet moves but they look really cool mid-flight!

Hope you enjoyed them! More to come!

~Livie

Hey! I'm back! Sorry it's been soooooooo long since I've posted! My audition week was really busy and then our computer broke down last week and it just came back from the repair shop day before yesterday. I'll start where I left off...

Auditions went great! I did end up getting a call back for Mulan. I got called back for an ancestor, which includes any featured role as well. The call back went really well and I made it to 'the second round' (they sent some kids home before the acting portion of the audition). The second call back for Mulan was cancelled so I got to go to church on Wednesday night instead of an audition. I had my audition for Seussical on Thursday. I thought that that one went amazing so I was really worried about how I would decide which show to do but when the cast list came out the next day, I found out that I had gotten a chorus in Seuss-the same exact chorus that I had the first time I did this show! That made the decision easy! I'm definitely doing Mulan now. I'm so relieved to have made a choice! I'm happy that it worked out this way too! I found out that the reason that this is going to be EAP's is that the director is moving to New York and getting married! It's upsetting that she's leaving but I'm really happy for her!

The Saturday after my auditions, I was going to go to the University of Michigan Women's Vocal Arts Day (If you've been following my blog from the beginning, you'd know that this is what my very first post ever was about! :] ). Unfortunately, that got canceled so I can't do a cool one-year-update thing...and yes, for those who care, this means that my blog is now officially 1 year old. I can't believe it's been that long! And yet, at the same time, my life was so different a year ago that it seems like ages have passed since I typed my first post! I never was really into the whole 'My blog's a year old!' thing before, but now I kind of understand some. I'm kind of a sentimental person so thinking back to a year ago brings back so many memories from then...oh well, before I know it, my blog will be turning 2 (is it just me or does that sound just a bit odd...) and I'll be thinking back to this year! I hope they'll be happy memories! This goes to good memories in the year to come!

My church drama group performed last Sunday. We were working on a human video (kind of like a music video) to the BarlowGirl song Mirror. It went great! God really moved through it! I couldn't count how many people came up to us girls and told us how touched they were. I know it's from God because He gave me this idea a while ago and now, three or so years later it came into being. Even better than I could have even imagined! My dad filmed it so I may be able to get a copy to some of you if you'd like.

The only other thing of importance that happened in my absence is...............................I had a birthday! I'm 15 now! I can't believe it! I feel waaaaaaay too young to be 15...and yet, here I am! My birthday is January 20th so every four years, I share it with the presidential inauguration. I always complained because all my dad wanted to do on my birthday was watch TV, but not this year! We celebrated by my dad taking me out to breakfast at a coney island and then we all went bowling. When we got home, we ate dinner, had cake and ice cream, and I opened presents. I got a memory card for my camera (now instead of 7, I can hold over 1,000 photos!) and some money. I had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to a great year!

~Livie

Auditions, Auditions, Auditions...

Hey! Sorry I haven't posted about this sooner, I've been too busy to get on the computer the past few days! Last night I had an audition for.................(drum roll)......................Mulan at the theater where I usually do my drama!!! It went really well and I'm feeling really good about it. This was the first audition were I felt better about the singing portion than the acting portion but it all evened out in the end. I find out tomorrow if I got a call-back or not, I really hope that I do! I'd really like to be Mulan or Yun (the ancestor who represents Love). I was kind of wondering if I'd even have a chance at Mulan but my parents keep saying that, if I color my hair, I'd make a great Mulan so now I don't know...If you know me, what do you think???

Now that my Mulan audition went well, though, I have a problem...A while ago, I decided that I would also audition for the City of Novi's youth theater show. They're doing Seussical Jr. (surprise! lol Nicki! ;] ) I think that I have a good chance at a really good part in that show but I need to decide which show I'm doing by next Wednesday (the cast list for Seuss comes out on Friday...the day after my audition) and the cast list for Mulan doesn't come out until the beginning of next month because that theater company is working on another show right now. So it's going to be a big guessing game. Please pray that God gives me guidance. In any regular situation, I'd probably just do Seuss and then audition for the next EAP show, but, I just found out a few weeks ago that Mulan is, well,.....it's going to be EAP's last show. Our director is retiring and moving away...... :*( I just don't want to give up anything that God has for me because I'm being emotional....but I really want to be there for the last EAP show (I have been acting with them for 4 years, after all). Just pray that God will make His path clear to me... : \

Thanks,
~Livie