Who Am I??

(Please excuse the formatting. I can't for the life of me figure out Blogger's formatting! It's a pain in my butt. Especially when you are trying to add photos. It's amost not even worth it!)

I noticed I've gained a few followers over the last few months, so I thought I'd do this fun little ABC game.

A - Aunt. I love being an Aunt. I don't have any "real" siblings, and never thought I would be an aunt. But thanks to Mr. Goose Poop, he has given me the privilege of being an aunt thru his sister's. And of course, my "sister" (Lara) and Best Friend (who by the way is preggo and due in February) have now given me a chance to be an Aunt also.

(cute as a button, niece Vivian)

B - Baking. I love it!

(Al in a days work!)

C - College. I didn't go. Well, I guess I did. I did a two year stint at the local community college, taking various courses, but never got my degree. Kinda wished I did it a little different now. Hind sight is 20/20, right?

D - Diet Pepsi. I'm a fiend for Diet Pepsi. In fact, Mr. Goose Poop always tells people if I ever end up in the hospital all they have to do is put Diet Pepsi in my fluid bag, and I'll be back to healthy in no time.

E - Ex-husband. I was married once before. It's a strange story actually! I went to high school with Mr. Goose Poop. We dated for about 2 years, then broke up. I then started dating ex-husband. We were all "friends" still in high school. Fast forward, I graduate and marry ex-husband, Mr. Goose Poop graduates and marries ex-wife. Mr. Goose Poop and I loose touch, and haven't seen or heard from one another since high school. Fast forward a few years Mr. Goose Poop and ex-wife divorce, fast forward another year ex-husband and I divorce. Mr. Goose Poop and I still have the same circle of friends from high school, but haven't heard from or talked to each other in years. I didn't know he was divorced, and he didn't know I was divorced. I ended up getting back in touch with him and the rest is history!! Awe...cue the sappy love song here!


F - Family. I have the greatest family. I grew up very close with all my grandparents, aunts, uncles, my cousins were like my sisters, we were always together. Each and every one of them mean the world to me. I grew up having my Grandma babysit me and all my cousins, so we were always always together. The whole fam-damn-ly used to go on camping trips in the summer, have parties at each other's houses, I was always staying the night at one of my aunt's houses.

(I wonder how close they will all be when they are all grown up?)

G - God. For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not parish, but have everlasting life. ~John 3:16
It's my favorite Bible verse.

H - Habit. I have this weird habit of cleaning out my ears with a q-tip at least 4 times a day. I go thru a box of q-tips in just a few weeks. Hey, if I'm lyin' I'm dyin'!


I - Ithaca. It's where Mr. Goose Poop is from, and where his dad's whole side of the family lives. I would give my right leg to move there.


J - JuJu Bees. If you know me, you know I don't ever leave my house without a box. Ever. And I don't share either. No, I'm serious, I don't!


K - Kids. I have lots of them!

(They are my world)

L - Lara. (Pronounced "La-duh") You see, I was an only child until I turned 13. No, my parents didn't have a baby, but they did decide to host a foreign exchange student from Yugoslavia for a year. Little did we know, she wouldn't just be a year long foreign exchange student...she became family. She calls my parents "mom" and "dad", my grandma is her grandma, all my aunts, uncles, and cousin's are all hers just the same. She ended up living with us for 3 years, then went to Louisiana State University for 2 years, and then back to Yugoslavia. We still keep in contact with her. And we get to visit with each other when she's on this side of the world!! I named my first born after her, McKenzie Lara. So when you hear me talk of my sister, it's really my foreign exchange student, Lara.


M - Mr. Goose Poop. He's the jelly to my peanut butter. The right to my left. The pea for my pod. The gold to my rainbow. The hip to my hop. I love that man! It's crazy how our lives have worked out. And how we ended up here. Right here where we are. But we did. And here we are!

(My honey & I)

N - Newborn. Even though we have enough kids to make our own Goose Poop Gooslet's basketball team, I do kinda mourn the fact that I'll never have another newborn of my own again. I always wanted a slew of kids. And I have two close friends that are pregnant, and my sister (Morgan, not Lara!!) is pregnant again too. And though I don't envy seeing them pregnant (I H.A.T.E.D every second of being pregnant! Makes me wonder how I did it 4 times!!), I do envy the cute, little, squishy newborn they will have. I want a million newborns! I want to be back in the hospital giving birth again (Crazy, right? I know, but I loved the actual giving birth part!), I want to change cute little butts, and wake up for the middle of the night feedings, I want baby barf stained shoulders (I told you I was crazy!), and cute little clothes. I miss having a newborn something fierce.


O - Obsessed. I'm obsessed with Pinterest. It's seriously the coolest website e.v.e.r. I've gotten so many great ideas from there. You've got to check it out. You do have to have an invite, or request one from the main page. And since it's so popular, it may take a couple days, but I'm telling you it's sooo very worth it! And if you do join, make sure to follow me here.


P - Photography. Mr. Goose Poop's dad owns a photography studio. In Ithaca. I've always wanted to be a photographer, I'm talking ever since I could remember. So I'm slowly starting to get into it more. I go to school photo shoots with him alot. But the problem is Ithaca is an hour and a half from where I live. So his school shoots are over on his side of the state, which means I have to drive all over hell and gone to get to them. It sucks. So I decided to start doing some shoots here on my own. For my birthday Mr. Goose Poop bought me one of the studio's dSLR cameras, and I went and bought new tri-pods, lights with umbrellas, and a new back drop system with 4 different backdrops. I've done a senior shoot, and a maternity shoot. And of course, millions of my kids! I've got another maternity shoot coming up (ahem...Best Friend's!! Yay) and a great friend of mine is due to have her baby any second now, so I will be taking some newborn pictures in the next little while. I love every second of it!!

(A few of my cousin's Senior Pictures)

(A couple of my favorite shots from my maternity shoot)

Q - Quiet time. I don't get alot of it! I miss it. I crave it. I rejoice when I get it!!


R - Rachel. It's my name...don't wear it out! My mom named me after a character in one of her childhood coloring books. Fancy, huh? Don't shed a tear on the sentimental meaning of my name now! On a side note...if I were to have been a boy my name would have been Jared Micheal.


S - Sappy. I'm such a sap. I'm one of those people who cry over spilled milk. And commercials about lost kittens.


T - Tracy. Also known here as Best Friend. We've been friends since right before we turned 13. That's...well, that's a long damn time friends! It's 18 years this summer. I love her more than...well, anything really. I know I'm blessed to have her in my life.

(18 of the best years of my life)

U - Underestimate. Don't underestimate how many things I can juggle at one time. I'm full time mom to 6 (the 7th isn't with us any more, long story for another day). I now work 2 days a week. I get 5 kids to football twice a week, in 2 different places. And one to basketball practice twice a week, and a game once a week. I do kids' football games on Saturday's, and basketball tournaments on the weekends. I am a Girl Scout leader. And have one kid in Cadets. I'm overly active in our school's PTL (I think most of you call it the PTA though). I just applied to be on our School Board. I also just became a voting member of our church. I'm at school at the very least 5 hours a week volunteering for the teachers. I'm currently in the middle of planning and putting on a baby shower for 46 people for Best Friend, all by myself. I babysit my niece and nephew one day a week. I work for the photography studio anywhere from 3 to 7 days a month. And now have weekends booked for personal photo shoots. I usually cook a home cooked dinner every night, and my house is always at least "company ready." (In fact when I was looking for an "O" word, I thought about the word obsessed. But I didn't think I was really obsessed with anything (besides Diet Pepsi, of course), so I asked Mr. Goose Poop what I was obsessed about...he said "cleaning the house!" I actually laughed out loud to that one.) I study spelling words and bible verse memory work with my kids every night. Then go and pack 6 lunches every night. Oh yea, and my shit smells like roses, too! *toot*toot* of my own horn here!


V - Vacation. A vacation sounds heavenly right now. Mr. Goose Poop and I have never been on vacation together. I mean, yea, we've been to the next town over for the weekend a time or two. But I'm talking, like, a real vacation. A "planned out, lets get on a plane, a train, or in an automobile and go on vacation" vacation. I might just give up my left leg too, to go on vacation. Yes, I realize I will have no lower extremities if I end up living in Ithaca and going on vacation with Mr. Goose Poop. It'd be worth it though.


W - Want. I want a bigger house more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life!


X - X-ray. I've only ever had one x-ray. I was 8, it was Easter Sunday and we were all at my Grandparent's house for Easter Dinner. Afterward, a bunch of us kids, along with our parents went up the street to my elementary school to play on the playground. My playground had 2 sets of monkey bars right next to each other. During recess all my friends would swing from one set to the other. I knew I couldn't do it, and was too embarrassed to try when everyone was watching me at school. So my Aunt Kathie told me she'd teach me. She stood underneath me and told me to swing across. I dangled there for about an hour3 minutes trying to gain courage, all the while she stood below me "Just do it, I'll catch you if you fall!" "I know you can do it, don't be scared, I'm right here!" "You won't get hurt, I'm only a foot from you!" So, as my arms started to get numb, I realized I was going to have to do something here. Shit or get off the pot sort of thing going on!! So I decided to shit, so to speak. And wouldn't you know it....Aunt Kathie didn't catch me! I landed with a *thud* on the wood chips of the playground. Grams made me a homemade sling out of old material scraps and a coloring book, a few hours in the ER with good 'ol mom and dad, an x-ray here and there, questioned to see if my parents were beating me, and I left with a cast! and that's how my Aunt Kathie broke my arm. On Easter.


Y - Yearbook. I have every one of my childhood yearbooks from 1st grade all the way thru 12th grade.


Z - Zoom Lens. I'm in the market for a zoom lens for my new camera. I went to the camera shop to check some out, and about hit the floor when I saw the price tag...$899!! Pshya...