Our little ladies

(pic. taken early part of 2011)

I would speak of the sanctity of womanhood. President Hinckley has eloquently captured what the Lord has repeatedly inspired His servants to say of His precious daughters:

“Woman is God’s supreme creation. Only after the earth had been formed, after the day had been separated from the night, after the waters had been divided from the land, after vegetation and animal life had been created, and after man had been placed on the earth, was woman created; and only then was the work pronounced complete and good.

“Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth.”1

We love our little ladies and feel so blessed to have four of them in our home, teaching us and reminding us how special God's creation of women is.

Our Sweetheart

(Mar. 3, 2013)

This girl is awesome and we are very proud of her!! We went to parent teacher conferences last night and we thoroughly enjoyed them. The girls teachers are great! And my girls are great!

Aleah is 7.5 years old and has learned so much in that time.

Aleah is a very kind and has a genuine concern for others. She loves learning, helping and accomplishing her tasks. She is the "go to" in her class. She loves her friends and family and works at trying to be a good friend. 

Aleah we love you!!!

Oh, and on an academic note, she excels in her reading and does very well in her math and writing.  

Reading is her favorite thing to do!

She likes to play soccer. 

Her favorite food is Mac and Cheese.

She enjoys reading lots of different kinds of books.

She likes puppies.

And here are a few faces of our sweetheart.

                     

Baby Love

(Feb. 6, 2013)

It's so nice to have a baby around.

There's just so much love and peace when holding or playing with a sweet baby. 

I know having a newborn is very restless, but it's also so soothing to snuggle a bundle of goodness.

Maya Girl

It's been awhile since I pulled out the camera and practiced taking pictures. So here are a few.

Maya is now 2 years 4 months old.

She is very talkative, loving and full of smiles.

She can be very demanding, which I hope is a result of being two, and in her mind, still the baby.

She loves watching Caillou and has had to do a lot of it with having a new little sister.

She loves Grandma and Grandpa! When Grandma comes, Maya takes Grandma downstairs right away to play toys.

She loves her sisters. Just about every morning she is happy to see them and gives them a hug.

(pictures after customizing the white balance)

She counts well and loves to sing ABCs.

She likes playing with play dough.

She says her favorite color is purple. She also knows Aleah's and Nani's favorite color.

She is a very good listener and helper when it's just us during the day, but when everyone else comes home, she's a trouble maker. She likes to tease her sisters by taking their toys from them or annoy them with loud noises. 

She has learned how to get our attention quickly by saying, in a very sweet needy voice, 

"Mommy (or whoever), Maya need you."

She likes her hand to be held as she falls asleep.

If there's too many people around or people she doesn't recognize, she closes her eyes and turns and droops her head and does not respond to whoever might be trying to get her attention.

She likes to eat her sisters' left over lunch when they come home from school.

She looks up to her older sisters.

She is very persistent in trying to being heard.

She likes bath time, but did not when she was a baby.

She is a morning girl. 

She thinks she is in charge.

She melts our hearts!

2 Months old

Not much happening here. We're slowly getting on a schedule and finding a new normal.

After coming home from the hospital and her initial exhaustion from being born, she ate every 1.5 hours. At about 6 weeks, she was up to 3 hours between feedings. Now at 9 weeks, there have been a few times where she has gone 4 hours. She is a good sleeper, just hungry. There have been just a few nights where she hasn't slept. One night, at about 7 weeks, I was exhausted and Daddy had to take over. He was so willing. I just woke him up and he took the baby and he rocked her for the next 3 hours, and even took care of Kanani, who woke up with leg pain around 2am. 

Life is a little foggy for awhile, but I feel like we're coming out of the fog. We have moved on from survival mode, but not quite to that thriving mode.

 Yesterday as the day part of the the day was coming to an end, right before it was time to start dinner, I sat holding the baby, rocked her to sleep and then put her down in her crib. Then I headed outside to play a little soccer with the girls. It was a good time, and warm enough to be outside, about 59. Then little Sariah woke up and since, I wanted to spend time with the other girls, she screamed in her crib for a few minutes, and when I picked her up she was so upset. Anyway, the evening goes on....and as Matthew and I are trying to get dinner made, girls bathed, dividing meat for the freezer, taking calls and trying to calm a baby, I thought, 

"Man, 4 kids are kicking our butts!"

Then Matthew and I just laughed.

Life is good! We are blessed and we are happy!

Bath Time!

Back in June, we let the girls take a serious bubble bath! They often want to bath in our jacuzzi tub, but it just takes too much water so the answer is usually no. This time, I must have been having a good day, I so kindly said yes and we bubbled it up big time! They had a blast! There was so much playing and giggling! It was even fun for me! It reminded me how important it is to let them be kids and to enjoy their laughter! I'm glad I stole a few pictures. 

I love those girls!

Hanging with my girls

Just playing blocks with my girls in the basement.