Super Squish & More

The first two weeks home from open heart surgery left me with an unusually crabby girl. 

She was crying a lot & pre-surgery she rarely cried.

Luckily someone told me it was normal.  I don't blame her for being crabby - I'd be crabby too!

She's back to her old self.  She's a ridiculous flirt.

Seriously Moms, lock your sons up because there is a new heart break in town.

She's bringing a ham bone smile & the super squish chubby body!  The boys are going to collapse at her feet one day!

As to the bigs, they are up to no good as well.  They are at the library with Grandma so no pictures of them right now.  Here is a recap of the most recent ongoings...

Yesterday Everett woke me up at 6:30 with a flashlight to the eyes.  It was refreshing.

Today at 6:45 I woke up with stuffed animals surrounding my head & then he stuck his toe in my f ace saying I really needed to cut his toenails.  It's never a dull moment in the mornings because he's up bright and early & if he could whistle, he would!

Today he argued with me that I don't feed Ollie milk when I nurse her, I feed her crunchy chips - ouch!  Then he insisted he should try it - not gonna happen dude.

Then Aubrie went on a rant about noodled kittens.  You see, my fabulously awesome Dad scored us not one, but 3 new kittens (can you feel my sarcasm here?)  We already have an outside cat & a kitten named Ruby after Grandma Ruby.  Ruby is not fixed yet & Aubrie really wants a boy kitty that isn't Ruby's brother so we can have more kittens.  She thinks neutering is called noodling.  Ha ha I think noodling in this reference may mean something else!

Also, I wish the happiest birthday to my Dad & to my 2nd Dad, Uncle Doug.  They are two of the best men a girl could wish for.  They can do everything in the world & they are sure fun to tease.  Love you both!!



Living Life

This summer we are playing hard.

Ollie is trying to avoid the advice of her older siblings because it often leads to trouble. 

We are hugging a lot.

Making silly faces.

Again, avoiding our older siblings advice. 

We are laughing a lot. 

These dang older siblings and their advice... 

And we are learning new things.  Photographs of footprints lead to learning experiences on the web.  And Wild Kratts leads to limitless fun on their online website.  Aubrie gives that a woot woot!



Mama is trying to learn how to tame the wild animals also known as Aubrie and Everett.  Emergency pees off the front porch have become all too common from Everett & Aubrie's fear of any type of bee/wasp is overwhelming at times.  Life is good and we are having fun this summer!  Bring on July!

Day 1

I have been putting off today since last June.

Last June Jade & I were deep into P90X.

I had lost 7 pounds and numerous inches after a month.  Then, voila I was pregnant.  Must have been the new hot bod I was working on...

So today I have officially started over.  Ollie is healed and I don't feel like I need to worry about stealing milk from her, I am trying to eat healthier as a bonus so she's getting better milk.  Plus, I'm not scared of losing her anymore so sitting her down for 30 minutes is a good thing.

I am not doing P90X this time.  Although I love the program, Jade isn't joining in on the workout & I need him to push me on that one because it's hard!

Today I started Chalene's Turbo Fire, and oh my gosh it's HARD!

I'm going to be feeling it tomorrow, but hopefully in a week I'll see a difference & hopefully in a month then 3 months I'll still be pushing play and getting results.  Since I'm home all day now it's my goal - get healthy and get rid of my Mom's jeans - yes I'm wearing my Mom's jeans because even my fat jeans don't fit - depressing - super depressing!!

The Beast Is Nice...

Caroline JoAnn is obsessed.

Obsessed in a BIG way with the BEAST.

Grandma Janie scored her a Beast doll that transforms into the prince off of Amazon.  Caroline is hooked.

She carries him around everywhere.

She has a backpack filled with her movies, Belle, and the Beast.  He is so tall he hangs out the top.  She takes the inserts (you know the movie information with pictures) out of the DVD boxes and hugs them.

She tells everyone, "The beast is nice."  She gets furious if you say he is not.

The other night she insisted on sleeping with the Beast.

Maggie said, "Do you want his boots on or off?"

Caroline responded, "Boots on, pants off."

It cracks me up!  Who knew the Beast would steal this 22 month olds heart, especially the pantless beast!

BIG announcement!!

I am SO excited to share that yesterday I officially quit my job.

I am now a house wife to him

and a stay at home Mom to them

This has ALWAYS been my dream since I was a little girl. 

We never thought we could do it.

Now we realize that we can do it, and that it's worth it.  A HUGE thank you & amount of love to Jade for wanting this for our family and working his butt off daily to make it happen.  He is the best!

I will miss my co-workers that have become my friends over the past 5 years.  I will miss my company because they were the best place to work for a family.  Seriously, awesome company!  I am thankful that they understood that home was the best place for me to be, and supported my decision as I was on extended maternity leave until now.

Ollie Faith Designs is also back in business so if you need a blanket or a piece of jewelry email me at housethatjadebuilt@gmail.com.  I will also be doing some custom furniture painting, house decorating - pretty much anything I think I can handle along with 3 kids & Trudie so please e-mail me!

Fish & Scars

Today the bigs went with Ruru to a reptile and snake show.

Aubrie was pumped about the corn snake.  It was bigger than the leader & she thought that was awesome.  I know the leader & a snake bigger than her quite frankly is disturbing in Illinois!  I thought snakes that big stayed in the Swamps of Swamp People - ick!

I spent the day with O.  We tried more rice cereal.  She ate some and then thought I was insane for trying more.  She napped a lot & flirted even more.  She tells me stories & we laugh and play.  I thought Everett Mason was obsessed with me, he doesn't even compare to this little girl!

She is scrumptious.  Her "rubber band" wrists make me want to eat her arms.  Seriously.  My friend called her "super squish".  If the title fits, wear it.

First attempt at painted toe nails - fail.

For dinner Jade fried up some bass.  My cousin caught a boat load, literally, and dropped it by.  We are a beef family.  I love me some steaks, some big fat steaks & burgers.  It is my protein of choice always & easy to obtain from my farmer Dad.  So fish - well that's a rarity.  Like maybe twice a year we eat fish.

Apparently fish should be consumed more often in our house.  Aubrie proclaimed she LOVES fish because you can see what the inside of a fish looks like.  What?  Who does that and why would it make that food sound good to eat?  She is slightly weird.  It was delicious though.

She also stated she doesn't like her food to touch & hasn't since well forever.  What?  Then she said, well that's not true, when I was a baby I let my food touch because it was all mother's milk.  Again, she's weird.

The kids were so excited about fish it was comical!  She also consumed at least 4 planks on her own.  Considering she eats like a bird most nights, 4 planks is a lot!!  Even Everett got in on the action as well as Caroline.  They slammed the fish.

Ollie O's scar is looking pretty good!  She's healing up like a champ 12 days post surgery.  She moves around like a crazy lady, you'd think it would be sore, but she acts like it doesn't even phase her.  She's seriously tougher than my Dad, and that's pretty stinking tough!

Trying New Things...

Today Miss Ollie Faith tried something new.  Rice cereal.

It was not a complete fail.  It was not a huge success.

First, she karate kicked half of the cereal out of the bowl.  Not a great start.

She tasted it and her eyes got wide.

She decided to test it out some more.

After a majority being pushed out by her sassy tongue, she did swallow some.  

Go Ollie Go!

We then had our first argument of the day.  Aubrie proclaimed that she was a self taught make-up artist.  Everett disagreed.  A slap fight ensued.

They decided to make it a contest.  Everett would do his own make-up & Aubrie would style Maggie & Caroline.

Caroline was not having it either.

Maggie jumped in and they both got glamorous looks.

We decided it was a tie.  They all look fabulous in oily eye cream makeup!

Fathers Day

Today we celebrate the Dad's in our life. 

I have been fortunate when it comes to Dads.  My Grandpas were/are amazing men that I love dearly. 

My Grandma Toots & Grandpa Howard (Mom's parents - married 70 years!!)

My Dad is the best there is.  He just is a great man & he loves babies. 

I married my best friend & have watched him turn into a terrific father.

Everett gave Jade a jar of rocks that said "My Dad Rocks" & Aubrie made him a pot holder.  Aubrie said he'd freak out over his gifts & he did!  They also answered questions about him.  Everett said he is so tall he's big as a wall.

One year ago today we celebrated the news that I was expecting.  Little did we know what the good lord had in store for us.  Miss Ollie is better than we ever would have dreamed of with our own plans.  We are really looking forward to this coming year.  Open heart surgery is over!!!  Ollie can grow and thrive.  Aubrie starts kindergarten, and Everett does his second year of preschool.  Caroline will turn two and Penelope Jane will meet our family.  Maggie & Kylie build their dream house too!  It's going to be a good year.

Today we just had fun.  Fried chicken, amazing desserts, naps, and a kids pool to float in.  What a great day!

Caroline's legs & booty = best ever!

booty pickin...

My favorite part of this picture...Ev in the background.

He got stung by a sweat bee...but he claimed a bug laid eggs on his belly screen (team umizoomi).

Fever Free!!

Today O woke up without a fever!  Thank you lord!

Happy Fathers day to the two best dads in the world!  Can't imagine life without my Dad or my sweet hubby!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

More Prayers Please

Ollie started running a fever at 4:30 this morning. 

After Tylenol her fever is back up around 100.4.  Please pray for her.

We went to St. Louis yesterday and everything looked great!  We weaned her off one medication a bit and her chest xrays were superb.

Today is different.  I called St. Louis and they want me to watch her today and call back this afternoon if the fever climbs more.

Having a feverish baby is the worst, but it's really bad when she had open heart surgery one week ago.

Thanks for the prayers friends!  Mama is scared!