My New Love

Guess what? You know that package I mentioned last post? The one I was super excited to get? Well it came! And guess what was inside.

I took this photo right before I opened up my brand new lens. I'm sooo excited! And of course, I have pictures taken with my new lens to show you all!

I'm got home from school after dark so I'm super excited to use this lens outside tomorrow in the daylight!
~Mary Kate

Tomorrow

The last day of Thanksgiving break and I'm finishing up homework. Tomorrow I will see my friends at school (I go to a two day a week co-op but we are still considered homeschoolers). Tomorrow I'm getting a super exciting package (more on that tomorrow). Tomorrow I have one of my last art classes of the year. Tomorrow I will be awake to see the sun rise. Tomorrow I will be tired.

But it's still today and even though I have a boatload of Algebra 2 and an hour of Latin and a couple more chapters of Dante's Inferno to read, I'm enjoying one last day of peacefullness before the rush of school begins again.

But in only 3 short weeks we will be done with school for 2011. Sooo exciting! 3 weeks and then we have Christmas break. 3 short weeks which will go by very fast.

And speaking of time going fast, it's already the first Sunday of Advent! Where did November go? And it's Sunday which means:








And guess what? I'm actually linking up on Sunday! It's been quite a long time since I linked up on Sunday instead of Monday or Tuesday or even past that.
This week:
Waiting
Waiting for the Thanksgiving meal:

Foliage

Candid

Knife/Fork/Spoon

Rule of the Thirds
We do Advent Angels all Advent long (each sibling becomes an angel to another sibling and the names are randomly drawn from a hat and it's supposed to be a secret until Christmas Eve). Here's a letter from one Advent Angel to a sibling:

And I can't resist sharing these two photos with you:

My 9 year old brother put one of our kittens in this toy airplane and asked me to take a picture and it was so cute that I couldn't refuse! I'm so glad I took the moment to snap these.
~Mary Kate

Joey Boy

On Thanksgiving I went outside to take some pictures of the kids playing football and playing on the jungle gym and as I went out my mom asked me to take my youngest brother with me. Joey is 21 months, irresistibly adorable and a very funny little boy.  This is Joey:

See, I told he's cute! When I started taking some pictures of him I was holding him in one arm and my stubborn kit lens would not focus on his face!

 Trying to grab my camera:

 I love this little guy so much! He isn't really talking yet, although you can tell he's trying. :) And he shakes his head "no" whether he means "yes" or "no". And he can't suck at all. As in, he can't drink out of a straw or a sippy cup with a spill-proof insert. He's always trying to catch up with his older brothers. He can be very sweet but he's also stubborn and strong-willed and definitely silly.

I know I shared this earlier but it's too cute not to share again:

{I took these pictures about a month ago and this is one of the ten collages I used for a rotating header on our family blog I write.}

I love you Mr. Cutest Joey Ever!!!
~Mary Kate

A Year of Blessings

 I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my amazing family. We had a total of 26 people (including my whole immediate family). Actually only a fraction of my extended family was at our house. My Dad's whole family except for one brother {he's in the Navy and actually he's overseas right now on patrol so please keep him in your prayers} lives near us and were able to come. And one of my mom's sisters came with her family {keep them in your prayers as well - they are adopting a 13 month old girl from China and will be flying to China in a couple weeks to bring her home}. All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I couldn't have asked for a better one!

Speaking of grateful, I saw the ABC's of Thanks hosted over at finding joy and I wanted to join in

And onto more Thanksgiving pictures:

Left: Me all ready for the big dinner, Right: One of the centerpieces

My two stunning grandmothers.

Grandma and her grandson, David

Football in the backyard.

Left: my adorable cousin, Lauren Right: some of the kids playing on our jungle gym

Have a blessed weekend!
~Mary Kate

Party Time!

I've seen a ton of people link up to this...so I decided to do it too.

Hi! This is  me, oldest of 7 kids, homeschooled, passionately Catholic, 16 year old Junior, lover of photography, procrastinator, peace-maker, dreamer and owner of a  much loved Canon T2i. 

1} What's the nerdiest/geekiest/weirdest thing about you?

Ahhhh, well there are probably a lot. I guess one of them being...I'm very particular when it comes to putting away my clothes, I fold each t-shirt perfectly (I have over 20, I counted) and put them in my drawer ordered in rainbow color. Another, I LOVED Geometry last year, passed with flying colors in Chemistry and this year would rather do my Algebra 2 or Physics homework than my Latin or Logic homework. So yeah, I'm a math person.

2} If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be?
Oh it would be the world of Harry Potter. My absolute favorite books of all times! Actually I'll be writing a post very soon about why I think Harry Potter isn't evil. But if you want to see a preview of what I'll be writing, go here and scroll down to the last comments until you see mine. 
3} Little or big, practical or frivolous, what is one of your favorite items in your house?
I have no idea. Probably...our bookshelves in our family room and my bookshelves in my room. We are a BIG book family. As in, every bedroom has a bookshelf (in my case I have two), and before we moved into this house my dad built in two HUGE bookshelves in our family room. And when we go to the library...lol we have easily a couple hundred books in our house, I get about 50, Cecilia (my 13 year old sister) gets about 70-80, my brothers each get about 30 and my youngest siblings each get about 10 and then my mom picks out a bunch of books to read to my younger siblings (probably another 15-20) and then my mom gets a couple books for her to enjoy (like 5). But in all fairness, we don't really go to the library at all in the school year and we keep the books for about 6 weeks. Our library is very nice. :)

One wall (out of two) of our built-in bookshelves in the family room.

 
4} Do you like animated movies? If so, what is your favorite?
Yes! I love animated movies. Well actually there are some very dumb animated movies, I love Pixar and Pixar-Disney animated movies and I like a couple of Disney's animated movies. A favorite? I don't know...Up, Cars, Tangled, Bolt....

 
5} What is your favorite household chore?
Folding laundry or vacuuming/sweeping. 
6} What's your favorite thing to get at Starbucks (or your favorite coffee shop)?

via google images

I have rarely ever gotten Starbucks from Starbucks. However I LOVE their french vanilla frappuccinos (you know the ones in the little glass jars in stores) they are aMaZing!!

7} What is your favorite pizza topping?
Pepperoni or just plain cheese
8} Waffles or pancakes?
Homemade or at a restaurant = pancakes, but the frozen toaster waffles (like the Ego brand or whatever it's called) hold a special place in my heart. :p
9} Do you like to play games? If so, what is your favorite?
Ahhhh....yes I love to play games. Favorite? uhhhhhh...no, I have way to many favorites to pick one. I love Catch Phrase, Boggle, monoply, card games, hide-go-seek-in-the-dark-without-a-flashlight, sardines, Apples to Apples, spoons...just to name a few :)
10} Have you ever let anyone win a game?
younger siblings (as in the little-younger ones) yes. Older-younger siblings and friends = nope
11} Have you ever dyed your hair?
No, unless you count the Halloween temporary hairspray paint, but even when I've had that it wasn't my whole head, just parts. 

One of my favorite photos to date. Taken in June at Ocean City, NJ.

12} Do you make your bed every morning?
Yes. Of course. And I also get up at 4:30AM and do some yoga and balance one hand while listening to meditative waterfall/natureish music and then I eat a healthy, totally organic breakfast and then I jog a mile and then I take a completely cold shower and then I do all my math homework and then...
 Ha.Ha ha. HA. hahahaha.  Noooooooooo. But I make my bed every night right before I go to bed. Does that count for something?
(I hope you all know that the above in italics is FAR from what I really do each morning)  

When I do have to get up to go to school I get to see the sunrise and sometimes it is so spectacular that - of course - it's picture time!

  13} Picasso or Norman Rockwell?
Norman Rockwell. Picasso is weird, sorry but his work is kinda creepy if you know what I mean. And Norman Rockwell has some very hilarious pieces. 
14} Do you like carpet, tile, or hardwood floors? 
Tile = bathroom (sometimes kitchen, depends what type tile) hardwood floors = everywhere else. Actually I happen to really love carpet too, mostly in bedrooms, and anyone who has felt the carpet in my Aunt's basement would LOVE carpet, it is the softest carpet I have ever felt (it's a really expensive carpet, but oh so nice).

 
15} If you could put one thing in a safe under your bed, what would it be?
 All of our family pictures/videos/photo albums and our "special" boxes. (My mom has a box for each one of us kids filled with different special things from the time we were born until now. Birth announcements, congratulation cards, birthday cards, achievement awards, artwork from when we were little, etc.)

From a photo shoot I did for this couple at my church (they wanted 1st year wedding anniversary photos)

16} What's your favorite condiment?
that depends on what I'm eating...

 
17} Have you ever thrown up on someone (excluding when you were a child)?
Thank goodness - no!
18} What was the last thing that made you laugh?
A story someone shared at dinner tonight. 

One of my first attempts at "faking miniatures" aka tilt-shift photography. Does this look like a miniature boat?

 
19} Think fast...what's the first song that pops into your head?
Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez


This was fun and such a great idea!
~ Mary Kate 
P.S. 
I can't seem to make my text the "normal" size. I don't know what is wrong with it, so I'm sorry it's so small.