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Thursday, January 31, 2013

M-O-L-L-Y

Every day Molly and I practice spelling her name. We say and spell it out loud, and when we're in the car she types it on this little kid Ipad thing she has and then shows me. She is usually spot on, but sometimes....

"M-O-L-L-L-L-Y. That spells Molly."

Hahahahaha I think you've got a few too many L's in there sweetie pie!

Along with spelling her name, she's a fan of reading to her babies. "Once upon a time, Biscuit rode the bus to school. But he wasn't suppose to ride the bus to school. Dogs don't ride the bus! Haha! No. He got yelled at and walked home. The end!"


I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes, but hey, nice imagination right? I think I like her version better anyway. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Everyday Photos - Playing

I forget who's blog it was, but a while back this gal had a whole post about taking photos of your every day life. Like the little things that might not matter right now because it's not exciting or it happens every day or you do it all the time.....but later on, when you look back on your life, you'll be thankful for that reminder of the little things. If I recall right, the example she used was photos of her children in the grocery store while they shopped.

I love that idea. I wish I could find that blog again. 

Today I decided I was going to take everyday life photos of the kids playing.


With love,
Mama Hauck

Monday, January 28, 2013

World Gazer


Sweet baby boy, I wonder what you're thinking
as you look out upon this World, so bright and new to you


I smile and watch you with wonder, 
with pride and love and hope for your future


You wont understand until you're older,
 when you've got a little one of your own


To see the World, my gaze doesn't have to travel far...
You are my World, I simply look upon you



With love,
Mama Hauck

Saturday, January 26, 2013

1, 2 Skip a Few 99, 100!

This past Wednesday I attended a little award ceremony at Anthony's school. He received the "Counts to 100" award and I couldn't be more proud! He is very proud of himself too as this award has been a long time coming. We've worked hard every day counting to 100 and beyond, smoothly without any second guessing or pausing. You should have seen his face when they called his name. :) I love little moments like this! It's so great to be a Mama!!

Please excuse the poor quality photos! I had a VERY grumpy baby on my lap making it extremely difficult to take photos with my dinky point and shoot.


With love,
Mama Hauck

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We've all been sickly over here. Again. Fevers, lots of snot and coughing, a couple of ear infections, some gunky eyes. Ugh. All this sickness has made this Mama tired and all I've been wanting to do is chill on the couch with some popcorn, a few movies, and snuggle my babies. Even Sam had to take two days off from work due to being ill. I'm confident the sickies are on their way out though. Thank goodness. I'm crossing my fingers this will be the last of it too. It seems we've been sick off and on for two months now. 

Anyway....I have some funny little blurbs to share with you! It's so true that kids say the funniest, sweetest things.
 

*Molly and I were looking at old photos when she saw one of me in a bathing suit and she goes, "Oh Mama....I like your boobs." LOL


*Molly was the last one at the dinner table and was instructed to finish up her corn or she couldn't have dessert. A few minutes later she came running into the bedroom exclaiming, "I finished all my corn! .....Oh, but the dog ate some." I walked back into the kitchen to find her plate on the floor with one of the dogs licking up the remainder of her corn.


*Both Anthony and Molly, on more than one occasion say things like....

"When we move into a bigger house so you can have another baby...."

".....But I want another one! They're soooooo cute!"

"When you have another baby in your belly and you're sick, I'll stay home from school to take care of you."

"....But I want you to have another one. I mean two. Like one boy and one girl. Yeah, because that will be fun."

Ummm, what do they know that I don't? haha


*"Mama, you're the nicest girl in the whole entire universe!" So says Anthony. Heck yes I am!


*"Mama, can you make me a fruit smoothie? With love?"  "Thank you for the fruit smoothie! Is it with love? Did you make sure to make it with love?" Oh yes, Anthony. I put lots of love in that fruit smoothie of yours.


*"Mama, you're beautiful! Papa, you're handsome!"


*"Timothy! You can't play with that because you'll choke and die!"


*"Awwwww, Timothy's such a sweetie pie. He's sooooooooooooo adorable!"


I love all my little sugar plums. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Bullies and Bad Guys

For the past few weeks, there's been a boy on the bus who has been bullying Anthony. He's been throwing paper at him, telling him to "shut up, shut your mouth" and "You will die. You're going to die tomorrow." That can be really scary for a 5 year old.

When Anthony first told me there was a "mean boy" saying "mean things" to him, I simply told him to ask him to stop and ignore him. I told him if he wanted to, he could tell the bus driver. I wanted to give him the chance to stand up for himself and try to resolve this issue on his own. Then we would have discussions on how Anthony is a nice boy and how it's wrong to act naughty like that to scare someone. I told him to be brave and continue being his sweet 'ol self because his Mama and Papa loves him very much and we are here to listen to and love him. I asked what the boy's name was, but he didn't know. All he knew was that he went to wrestling with him.

Last Thursday when I picked him up at the bus stop, he told me the mean boy had made him cry. I was ready to step in at this point. But what should I do? I asked all my friends on FaceBook and responses varied from, "See if Anthony can continue to ignore him" to "Just talk to the bus driver and have his seat moved" to "Call the school and principle ASAP, the kid could be a wacko....."


To me, this was one of those situations where there is such a fine line between not doing enough and overreacting. Against the majority of my friend's advice, the last thing I wanted to do was fly off the handle and turn this into a huge deal. I do agree that there are some instances where immediate action should be taken,  but there was no physical harm going on (that indeed needs immediate attention) and it's not like Anthony was afraid to get on the bus or anything. Kids can be cruel. I know this from experience growing up. They will say mean and hurtful things just for the hell of it. It's going to happen and unfortunately will only get worse as kids get older. 

Sure I was pissed some older boy was picking on my sweet little man. Sure I wanted to kick some bully butt. Sure I want to protect my son ALWAYS from EVERYTHING. But......if I don't teach him that he's got it within himself to try and deal with these kind of tricky situations (within reason), wouldn't I be doing him a disservice? 

I had a feeling this was a simple case of a boy getting picked on elsewhere and so he was going to pick on someone smaller than him because he's angry and hurt inside. That someone smaller was Anthony. 


So Monday morning I wrote a letter informing the bus driver that there was a boy on the bus bothering Anthony and asked him to move his seat. That was all I was going to do unless it was proven to me that I needed to take more action then that. Later that day I received a phone call from Anthony's wonderful teacher (she is truly amazing). The bus driver had given the note to his supervisor, the supervisor brought it to the principle and the principle brought it to Anthony's teacher who spoke to Anthony all about his bully situation. After I talked with her and had another conversation with the bus driver, we agreed Anthony's seat would be moved and the situation would be monitored. Action would be taken as necissary.

***Just as a side note here, I want to say that I am extremely impressed with the school's reaction to my simple note. It makes me very thankful to have an army of people standing behind my husband and I that care for Anthony (and every other child) as much as they do. How fantastic. 

Monday evening Sam took Anthony to wrestling. You know what? The mean boy was there. Anthony pointed him out and said, "That's him, Papa!" Turns out we know him. Along with all his brothers. And his father. Sam's friends with him. So after returning home from wrestling, Sam had a phone conversation with the boy's dad to inform him of the situation so he could have a little chat with his son.

Tuesday Anthony sat in his new bus seat and the boy didn't bother him at all. Not one bit. 
 

Last night at wrestling, Sam had another conversation with the boy's dad to tell him no big deal, don't sweat it, everything's fine now, etc. etc.. It turns out my hunch was right. Dad talked to his son and found out he was being picked on by all his brothers because he's slightly heavier than they all are and so he was taking his hurt and anger out on Anthony. He actually is a nice boy and I witnessed myself (I finally got to go to wrestling last night!!) him being very pleasant towards Anthony.

I'm glad we handled it the way we did and didn't blow the situation out of proportion. The boy's father is also grateful we didn't blow it out of proportion. Not only was a bully situation for my son taken care of, but an in-home bully situation was brought to attention and taken care of. Awesome. Anthony is a very resilient boy and still smiley and chipper.....and now a bit wiser and confident. 

Would you have handled things differently?




Bad guys are the reason I got this: 


We own 5 acres. There are two 5 acre plots on either side of us owned by others that are empty. We enjoy that very, VERY much. A year and a half ago a camper was dumped on the one behind our house. Lovely, what an eye sore. A little over a month ago, two meth addicts, a guy and a girl, moved in there. Fantastic. Druggies squatting next door. How fun! We had a few run ins with them over the course of their stay. I won't go into detail about those run ins, but I will say they made us feel very unsafe and we did not trust them what-so-ever. I began shutting curtains....and keeping them closed. I began double checking locked cars, doors and windows. We bought a heavy duty lock for our shop. And we bought a gun I can safely and confidently handle. We take our personal safety and property security very seriously.

I've said it in a recent post and I'll say it again. I do believe every responsible person should exercise their right to own a firearm and have access to one they can handle safely and confidently. I believe to be a responsible gun owner, you should know your gun in and out. Practice loading, holding, and firing Frequently. Know where the safety is on your gun and use it. If you have one, use a gun lock. Store it safely and correctly, out of a child's reach. And probably the most important thing to do....teach your children about gun safety. I believe a child who is raised knowing about guns (their danger, their use, their operation (given the right age), etc. etc.) is more aware and respectful and that in itself is a better gun safety tool than anything.


I was getting worried. Sam leaves every so often for Portland, OR or Houston, TX for work and is gone for upwards of a week. He was due to leave soon and leave me, with our three children, home alone.....next to two people who were tweaking out on meth and heckling us. And I'm not just calling them bad people because they were on drugs. They're BAD people. As in break into your house and rob you clean, wander around your property in a drugged out, incoherent, violent haze bad people. Scary situation.

Luckily Sam was able to get his work trip pushed back a few more weeks so we could work on getting these people out of here. We live out where we do for a reason, these people had to go. We worked closely with our local sheriff department, one gentleman in particular, and this week the issue has been resolved. THANK GOODNESS!!  We can now breathe a huge sigh of relief and get back to our normal, happy, safe lives out in the good 'ol country.  

With love, 
Mama Hauck

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Photo Props...Haves and Wants

I don't think I ever make a profit from the shoots I do. I mean, not in the sense of taking the money and putting it in my pocket. All of the money I make from the photo shoots I do for friends and family, I take and pour right back into my photography. Usually it's spent on photo props for future shoots. Like these ones I just purchased....(photo credit on photos and seller info listed below photos)

**Curly off white Mongolian long pile faux fur fabric


I'm thinking placed in this large bread bowl I have.....or in an old suitcase....or on top of a little wooden bench....the possibilities are endless.

**One striped munchkin stocking cap with long tail


I already had a newborn girl hat, I just needed a newborn boy hat. Mission complete. Though you can never have too many hats for sweet photos! The one I ordered will be cream and espresso.

**Blue maternity sash, red heart maternity sash, and light pink bow maternity sash


Super excited about these. I have a maternity shoot coming up within the next month or so with a gal pal. She's expecting her first child and it's a boy! I'm looking forward to surprising her with the blue maternity sash, and maybe even the red heart, to use in her photo shoot! She also received a gift certificate from her husband for Christmas....good for one family photo session (from me) to be used anytime in the year 2013. So all these other baby photo props will be put to good use during that shoot. I'm so excited, it's going to be great!

**Hand dyed luxe cheesecloth wraps


I got four of these. One blue, one pink, one espresso, one purple. They are so cute for wrapping baby up in.


Other things I'd love to have include.....

**Chunky baby blanket


One (or 10!) of these for under baby during a shoot would be great!

**Bow tie

A couple of these would be super adorable on a little baby boy.


** Chalkboard 
For writing love notes in engagement photos and baby names in maternity and baby photos, etc.


**Backdrop stand

One of these with about a gazillion different backdrops would be the best thing ever. No more using big pieces of black or white cloth or curtains, lol. Though it does get the job done.

There you have it, photo prop haves and wants. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Friday, January 11, 2013

Happy 8 Months!

Timothy is 8 months old today! I keep telling him to stop growing, but he refuses to listen.....little stinker.


Apparently a new skill is called for when you turn 8 months. Check out this new trick! 


Such a big boy! I can't stop him from pulling himself to a stand now, even when he conks over every single time. What's next? Walking?? Slow down, Love. Mama likes you little.

With love,
Mama Hauck