Little Girls!

I think this picture expresses the feeling very well. What fun!

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

We decided to watch Fiddler on the Roof as a family on a Sunday afternoon. The girls were captivated. After the movie was over, Abigail wanted to be married. This is her version of the Jewish wedding dress. The Orange blossoms circling her head, the veil, the dress... even shoes.
She is trying to convince Olivia (who is pretending to be her daughter) to marry her. Oh the innocence of children. Not realizing how totally unnatural their pretend affections are.

The next day, I was missing several pillowcases and a few small blankets. I found the girls hanging them out to dry and singing "Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match..."

Phoebe

Phoebe is exactly what I needed right now... a mellow baby. Of course, all my babies but Abigail have been mellow, but she's keeping up the trend. The Lord knew exactly how to hand that situation, and luckily, it's the way I wanted too. Here is her on her blessing day. The picture of love and innocence in the dress that Grandma Wilson made for my girls.

Phoebe is a thumb sucker. Since she was newborn, she would suck on her fist, but always kept her thumb tucked under her index finger. Within the last few weeks she has been able to suck her thumb consistently. Zenna has a thumb-suckin' buddy!

This is Phoebe with her best friends, the dangly toys. She smiles and coos at them every time she sees them. They buy me lots of time as I prepare meals. Now if I can only get her to smile and coo at me as much as she smiles and coos at her toys...

The only trouble we have with Phoebe is that from sad experience, she cries whenever a sister comes in her view. So, when I am not holding her, she attends me in her carseat on the kitchen counter, out of reach.

We LOVE the Mall!

Sorry, there are no pictures for this post, but I had to write it down. First of all, I want to thank my mother for not allowing me to "hang out" at the mall when I was in Junior High. I would now be very embarrassed. There was a group of "very cool" junior high kids at the table next to us in the food court last night, and I was embarrassed for them.

Last night, Joe took all of us girls to the mall. When I told the girls that daddy was taking us out, Olivia jumped up and down and said, "Oh! Oh! Oh! I LOVE daddy!" They were all very excited. While I went shopping for some new shirts, Joe took the girls to the play area. They love it there, and even Zenna was running around and playing. It was very cute, because Abigail was keeping track of her sisters very closely. When we switched off, and Joe went to look for shoes, Zenna ran off. I was nursing the baby (of course!) and took a few minutes to get up to chase her. Abigail and Olivia were right with me. She was headed for Penney's when we found her. On the way back to the play area, Abigail took one of Zenna's hands and Olivia took the other. They kept telling her, "Don't ever run away again! You can't leave! You have to stay where mommy can see you! Don't ever run away!" It was so funny to see them give the lecture they've heard, we won't say how many times. :)

The last time we all went to the mall was pretty funny too. When we pulled up, Zenna was very excited. She kept shouting, "A twinkow! A twinkow!" We didn't know what she was talking about until we looked up at the building. We usually park by Macy's and she was looking at the star in their logo. When we got out of the car, she was singing "twinkle twinkle little star."

When we got to the food court, a local elementary school marimba band was performing. At first both Abigail and Olivia covered their ears. After they grew accustomed to the noise, they started recognizing some tunes. After a while Abigail turned to Joe and said, "Dad, this sounds kind of like music!" We had to agree. It did sound kind of like music. Not exactly, but kind of. :)

Then we went to Old Navy. While Joe was trying on jeans, us girls were waiting outside the fitting rooms. There was a large display of flip-flops that was pretty picked over. When I turned to find Olivia, she was going through the display, straightening everything out. She put all the flip flops back into neat little rows. I am sure the staff was grateful.

Maybe we are off to a bad start... with four girls who already love the mall... What's a girl to do?

Four girls... whew!

My four girls hanging out on my bed. Right now four seems like so many... Crazy crazy household now!

For example... yesterday morning (Sunday) I dragged out of bed at 7 after 3 hours of sleep. Phoebe was hungry again. Olivia stopped me and said, "Mommy, you need to make me breakfast. I'm hungry. How about pancakes?" Zenna tugged at me and said, "Mommy, could you help me? I lost my blankie." (Yes, she said that whole phrase... she's quite the talker!) After I got breakfast ready (toast and bananas, no pancakes today!), I went to wake up Abigail. She growled at me and told me it was too hard, she couldn't wake up today. Then I had to get them all ready for church. I was not up to going yet, but Mum and Papa Haws took them (daddy was playing the organ). We made it! After they left, I laid down to nurse the baby, and slept for 3 hours! I was so grateful for a nap! Wow!

I thought it was hard to have one baby. Motherhood is tough.

I thought it was hard to have two babies (15 months apart). That was busy.

I thought it was hard to have three little ones. I still got a nap every day.

It is hard to have four... for the first time, I don't have the chance to nap with my baby. I am exhausted by 8 every night. When the kids go to bed, I am ready to crash!!!

All that said, I love it! We are still adjusting, and thankfully Joe is taking care of the dishes every day. Pretty soon though we'll be in a good groove. Life is good. We love being in the four girl club! We are now one of three families in the ward with four girls. One family came over just the other day to "welcome us into the four girl club." They are great.

She's Here!

June 15, 2009 Phoebe Elise Haws was born at home. She was born at 10:53 after a pretty quick and uneventful labor. Only 5 hours of uncomfortable labor, and 1-2 hours of hard labor. She was 9 lbs. even, and was 21 inches long. She is beautiful!! I finally have a way to transfer my pictures to the computer, so here they are!

Laboring at home... the best thing ever!

Being weighed by the Midwife.

One day old. Sporting her homemade cloth diaper.

What a face! She looks an awful lot like her sisters...

Asparagus Harvester

I don't have any of my own pictures to post, but there are lots of pictures included in this article written in the local paper.

It has a lot of good information in case you want to know what the harvester is all about, and what they are doing this year. After so much work, it is great that the harvest is almost over! This is the last week!!!