Miss Olivia

Olivia has grown and changed so much this past year. We were best buds for almost 5 years. She was my baby. Then she grew up and went to Kindergarten. I am so amazed at how far she has come. While she does well in school, I can tell academics are not her thing. She loves art, music, p.e. and socializing with her friends. She hates to do homework already and I can tell we are going to have some fun afternoons of arguing when she gets older. At Olivia's last IEP, her speech pathologist said that they had a new girl in Olivia's class and they couldn't get her to talk to the teachers or even the other students. I knew how frustrating that was because Olivia was the same way just a few short years ago. Olivia took this little girl by the hand and said "Come play with me" and now the girl only speaks to Olivia. And they understand each other. It made me so happy. Olivia is really nice and loves to help others. Almost everyday she brings me home artwork that says "I love Mommy" or some variation of that. I think its the only sentence she can write all by herself and its a good one at that. Olivia is always hungry and would snack all day if she could. She despises sitting down for an actual meal and I think its because she can't eat and do something else, even if it were just walking while eating. Olivia is no longer obsessed with Spiderman. She still likes him but likes other things like MLP and Monster High now and will choose something more girly over Spiderman if given the choice. Olivia's favorite thing to do is get dirty. She could play outside in the dirt or mud all day if she wanted and she would be the happiest girl in the world. However, she is still very girly and is probably our most emotional girl as of now. I'm just hoping she will grow out of crying about everything very, very soon because sometimes its a bit over the top. But we love Olivia and all of her emotions that come with her.

Things about Tess

Little Miss Tess is quite the thrill-seeker. Her favorite thing to do is walk along the edge of the couch with a huge grin on her face. She loves climbing on everything and if she falls it doesn't stop her from doing it again. She has had more injuries than the three older girls combined. I am pretty sure she will break an arm or a leg or need stitches before she turns 2.
Tess is learning and growing so fast. She loves to help sweep, throw away trash and wash the table. During family prayer we sit around our coffee table and Tess will put her arms under the table and rest her head on top. It is so cute. Yesterday during dinner prayer, Tess opened her eyes, looked around the table, grabbed some corn and shoved it in her mouth, then closed her eyes again. She is so sneaky. I can totally see her teaching her baby sister all the naughty things to do and I'm sure between the two of them our house will be destroyed and I will never get to sit down again.
Tess is still a foodie but has become a bit picky. However, unlike her sisters she is still willing to try anything you give her. She also loves to eat paper and play dough.
Tess' favorite show is Curious George and could watch it all day if I let her. Thankfully, she loves to play outside just as much so she isn't addicted to the t.v. The only problem with playing outside is that Tess gets overheated fairly quickly so we can't stay out for long periods of time. Summer is going to be very long if she doesn't adjust to the heat. We did get her a little pool though, so that should help. And we have a very large patio for her to play on.
Tess gets very lonely when her sisters are in school. She does play well by herself if I am in the same room. When we pick up the girls from school, Tess shrieks in delight as soon as she sees them come out of their classrooms. She is going to be so excited to have a sister to play with in a few months. Well hopefully.
Tess is very outgoing and loves when people talk about her. She will be extremely cute when someone says something to her. She loves kids, especially kids who are older than her because they can do so many more interesting things.
We love this little girl so much and couldn't imagine life without her.

Blessed with Ice Cream

About 4 or 5 months ago, we were at Harbor Freight getting Ryan some tools for work. This elderly man kept running into us in every aisle. I will admit, we thought it was kind of creepy because we had the girls with us and he kept talking to them. But it turned out, he just missed his own grandkids who lived on the east coast and our girls were around the same ages. Just before he left, he handed Abigail a five dollar bill and told her to "tell your parents to take you girls out for some ice cream." So we took them to McDonald's.

A few weeks later, we were standing in line at Target. There were only 2 lanes open and about 10 people in each lane. The lady behind us had one thing and we could tell she was getting impatient. She even said aloud that this always happens to her when she is in a hurry. Ryan told her to go on ahead of us. She said thank you and just as she was leaving, she handed Ryan a ten dollar bill and told him to treat the girls to some ice cream. So we took them to ColdStone.

Today for Family Home Evening, we took the girls out for ice cream at ColdStone. We were standing in line and Ryan was talking to the lady in front of us about kids and how they can sometimes be a handful but they're so much fun. As we were deciding on what to get, the cashier handed Ryan a gift card and said it was from the lady who had just left. It was for $30. Ryan ran out to thank her, but she had already left.

Each time we explained to the girls how those people were kind and generous to us and talked about gratitude. Then tonight during family prayer Abigail asked Heavenly Father to bless the lady that paid for our ice cream because she was so nice to us. We are so blessed and sometimes the smallest blessings are the best. or yummiest.

Our pet rabbit

Meet Daisy Nibbles Kuhns (the girls chose her full name all by themselves)

We had been going back and forth about whether to get a rabbit for a few months. Ever since Tatyana did a school project about rabbits, that's all she would talk about. The reason we considered a rabbit instead of a traditional pet like a dog or cat is because its the only animal Abigail isn't allergic to besides birds and well we were not going to get a bird. We kind of decided to get a rabbit on a whim when the girls were gone for the weekend which meant it was very hard to find. Especially since Easter had just passed and rabbits are a popular Easter present. We lucked out finding this one and it just happened that she was a girl. The perfect fit.

Having Daisy so far has been great. All of the girls are super gentle with her and are no longer afraid of picking her up. Even Tess is super sweet with Daisy and just loves her. It only took Tess one day to realize that Daisy was a living animal and not just a stuffed animal and she is extra careful around her. Tatyana is in bunny heaven. Abigail and Olivia love that they have a pet to play with.

Abigail and Tatyana are in charge of taking care of Daisy meaning they clean her cage, feed her and bathe her. So far there hasn't been much of a complaint about it and its teaching them a lot about responsibility. Each day after they get done with their homework, the girls play with Daisy and take care of her. Daisy is only able to be out of her cage if she is being watched as she is still so young and can chew stuff up (she hasn't) and plus she isn't quite able to get around on tile.

Potty training a rabbit is much like potty training a toddler. You have to tell her no if she doesn't go in the litter box and praise her and give her a treat when she does use it. After 3 days, she is doing pretty well for being less than 8 weeks old. Adults are easier to train. She loves carrots and hay and so far she isn't much of a chewer which makes Daddy happy. She has only bitten the girls when they didn't wash their hands prior to handling her. They have since learned and she doesn't bite anymore. We do have the option to train her to use a collar and leash, but I'm not that ambitious. Maybe the girls will train her later down the road.

Hopefully having a pet will continue to be a great decision. Ryan thinks that once the novelty of having a rabbit wears off, the girls will forget all about her. We shall see though. The girls have had pets in the past and did quite well with them. However, this is the first one that is officially theirs that they are totally responsible for.

Welcome

I figured it was time to start a new blog so our family and friends can follow along in our adventures.