Controlled Chaos

You know how some people like life nice and peaceful? Sitting on the beach watching the sunset or relaxing in a hammock on a nice Spring day.  Apparently we’re not one of those. Our life thrives on Chaos! We are just trying to control it as much as possible.

This time it started with Ike. Even though we were far more fortunate than a lot of people Ike did do some damage to our house. We lost a lot of shingles, messed up the ceiling, and ruined carpet. Shortly following Ike we were blessed with the birth of our baby, Mason. Then Missy’s body decided it would be a good time to give her a kidney stone, because pushing out a baby just wasn’t enough! Don’t forget about throwing in everything else like Halloween, baseball, and cub scouts. With everything else going on right now we also have to remember the first thing on the list, Ike. The insurance finally kicked in and we get to start repairs. For the past 2 weeks we have been living in a couple of rooms in our house while repairs are under way.  I am happy to say that our roof has been fixed and the ceiling and painting is complete. We have new carpet on order and we are just waiting for it to arrive and to be installed.

You know the expression, “One day you’ll look back and laugh”? It may be true. At least we have plenty of pictures to look back at.

Halloween 2008! Here is Spiderman with our very own 80’s rocker. Jordan’s favorite band in Bon Jovi so we thought it would make a good costume. Besides with all the crap they play on today’s radio we want to make sure our kids appreciate good music. What’s better than the 80’s hair bands?

Here are some shots of the house while they were fixing the ceiling upstairs. We got completely new sheetrock and new paint. We had some minor issues with the the first repair attempt so in order to make up for it they painted most of our house. Not bad. We’ll post pictures of the completed job once we get the carpet installed and everything is put back in place.

Cub Scout Camp Bovay! The boys and I sadly left Missy and Mason at home while we went with Ethan’s Cub Scout pack to camp Bovay for the weekend. The daytime was perfect. Sunny and temerature in the 70’s. The night on the other hand dipped into the low 40’s. Between the cold and the other snoring dads in the surrounding tents we didn’t get much sleep. It was a lot of fun and we just might try this camping thing again, someday…

One day we might manage to find that peaceful, relaxing life but in the meantime we will control the chaos the best we can. Here are some pictures of what makes all the chaos worth it.

Here’s Our Boy!

Welcome Home, Mason Jeremiah Masters!

After a few naps I think I have enough energy to update the blog with some pictures of our newest addition to our family. Mason was born Wednesday morning at 9:40. Missy did great during the labor and delivery. We let the boys stay home from school and they were pretty excited to see there little brother!

Mason’s name was not picked until after he was born. We had discussed several names before hand but we never could quite agree on one. We had a quick family meeting and we all agreed that he looks like a Mason. Missy has always thought that Mason Masters would make a great baseball player name.

Jeremiah comes from Missy’s favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

While we don’t always plan the events that effect our lives, God has a plan for us and Mason was part of his plan. He’s only been with us for 2 days and we can’t imagine our lives without him being a part of it.

Check out the Flickr photos to the right!

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and kind words. I’ll try my best to keep the blog updated with news and pics. If anyone has a facebook account look us up. We both have accounts and we update them a little more often.

Mason Jeremiah

We are proud to introduce Mason Jeremiah Masters, born 9:40am. 7lb 4oz. 20 1/4″ long.

Update:

We are home from the hospital and all is well. I will update the blog with pictures as soon as can. For now I’m going to sleep!

Twas the night before his birthday…

Tonight’s the night! In about 5 hours we go to the hospital. We can’t wait!!! Our bag is packed and the car seat is installed.

If we have access to the internet at the hospital we will post updates here and on our facebook pages. If not I will post updates as soon as I can.

Ready for Baby…

I think we’re ready.

Baby bed… check!

Changing Table… check!

Sheets and Blankets… Check!

Now all we need is a baby!

October 8, 2008

It’s quickly approaching! The baby is almost done!

We are scheduled to be induced next Wednesday. Needless to say we are pretty excited!

We have a name picked out but we have been keeping it a secret until he’s born. Stay tuned here or our Facebook page for news!

Power Up!

We just got home today! Thank you uncle Steve for letting us invade your Austin home.
We are staying with my parents until we get everything up and running at home. I tarped the roof this afternoon. It’s secure enough that it should handle any rain or storms until the insurance pays for a new one.
Best of all our power came on today! I turned on the AC so it should be nice and cool by tomorrow. We’ve got to pull up some carpet tomorrow and clean up a bunch of fallen insulation. Hopefully I can get my computer up and running and upload some pictures this weekend. I’ve been living the past week using my iPhone as my only access to the outside world. Missy will never tease me about buying it again!

We’re OK!

Hello everyone! We’re alive and well! We stayed at home and rode out the storm. Wow! I’ve never heard wind so strong. Missy and I didn’t get much sleep that night. About 5 in the morning our alarm went off. It turns out our roof started leaking and dripped on one of the smoke alarms. It shorted it out and set off the alarm.

In the morning the power was out, the phone was out, cell phone service was out and we had plywood exposed on the roof and several drips upstairs.

It is amazing to see how a neighborhood reacts to something like this. Everyone one was our Saturday morning helping everyone clean up. At least a third of the trees behind our house are gone. Luckily for us they blew down away from our house.

We stuck around for a day but the heat and humidity were way too much for Missy to handle. Try being 8 months pregnant and without AC.

We loaded up and headed to Austin to stay with my uncle. We are enjoying his power and AC and the fact that we can drive and get anything to eat.

We will return when either we or any family gets power. We’ll try to update here. We’ve filed a claim but there is no telling how long it will take to get or roof and house fixed.

We’ll keep in touch!
-Scott

Ethan’s Snake Party!!!

We finally had Ethan’s Birthday party this weekend. We waited for school to start so that he could invite his classmates to the party.  The theme of the party, SNAKES!!!

Missy found a picture of a cake on the internet and had our local bakery make this one up for us. We had Clint the snake guy come to our party. I highly recommend him to anyone in the Houston area. He brought a lizard and several snakes to the party. This is definitely a party the kids are going to remember.

Ethan was quite at ease with the snakes and he loved every minute of it.

Jordan enjoyed them quite a bit too. They all non-venomous snakes and everyone got a chance to handle the snakes. Ethan was the only kid, though, to handle the big guy all by himself.

Missy didn’t quite take to the snakes at first. Our last snake encounter involved a lot of screaming on her part and a garden hoe on mine. She stayed pretty squeamish for the first part of the party. I think the snakes eventually won her over. I know I won’t be able to use a garden hoe on them ever again.

Of all the parties we have ever done for the boys this was probably the neatest.  I think everyone at the party had a blast and learned a lot at the same time.  In fact, Jordan has already requested a snake party for next year for his birthday. Check out the flickr photos to the right for more pictures.

On baby news, we are getting closer. The official due date is October 28th. The doctor feels pretty confident, however, that we will be able to induce 2 weeks early.  We keep every updated when its closer with all of the details.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Blow em out!

Originally uploaded by scott.masters

Friday was Ethan’s 8th birthday. We are planning a bigger party once school starts but we let him invite a couple of friends over to celebrate the day!
Check out the Flickr link to see some of the photos!