wedding festivities

this sweet and talented couple is getting married today!
josie will be the flower girl and russ will officiate.
they are cute and inspirational to this (not very inspired/talented mama).

al and meghan came over a couple months ago and took pictures of the girls.
you will see just how talented they are.

happy wedding day to an amazing couple!

I'm back.... I think??
I have to blog backwards because I don't have present day pictures.
So here is our quick moving story.
We put our Grant Park (also known as: the house I had my children in) house up for sale in February.
We knew we needed another bedroom for another child one day and guest room for the present day.
Also, we of course (I'm married to Russ Masterson) analyzed our house usage and realized we love to entertain but turned down the opportunity many times due to our small house with a maze of little rooms.

Criteria for the new house:
at least 3 bedrooms
bigger entertaining space
closer to the church
flat backyard
good public schools

Well we sold our house 5 months later.  Of course when we were on vacation.  (That is the second time we have sold a house on vacation.) Rule to live by:  go on vacation....check.

Got home from vacation and I had two and a half weeks to pack with a 3 year old and a daredevil crawling 10 month old.  And so it began...my life, my sanity, my nerves all went down....down hill somewhere but largely just away from me.  I packed and packed and lost control and control.  It was good but it was hard.  I don't do well losing control....does anyone?  Thought I was flexible....not anymore.  I learned a lot about myself.

Here I am in my new home.  The Lord was so good to provide many of our desires.  We LOVE the location and the setting.  I feel like I am in the mountains but live in the city.  The best of both worlds.
I see lots of trees when I look out the windows.  It is a precious gift.

Of course after you move, you have zero money so we have some empty spaces and hodge-podge rooms.  But I will take pictures soon and post.

cute words...

i am not blogging about moving. sorry. it has consumed my world and will not consume my blog.

(but we like our new house and location very much!)

josie has some super cute pronunciations. they make me smile every time she says them.

water fountain=water mountain (makes sense)

lemonade= lemm-ade

swimsuit= swimsoup

chickfila= chick-a-lay

nilla wafers= nilla-way-ders

we are moving

i feel crazy

first world problems

so this has become the running joke in my family but largely in my own head. a great way to put things into perspective. "calling out" my first world problems has really helped my attitude diminish.

for example: we are moving! we sold our house and now are looking for a house. in the meantime we will live in Russ' Granny's lake house. i grumble about this at times. then I am reminded...this is a first world problem. "poor me...i have to move to the lake"....perspective... you get it?!

another example: i get cranky when i don't get to drink my entire cup of coffee in the morning. ummm....first world problem. "get a grip, Kristy." is what i tell myself.

i could list many more examples but you would see my depravity all to clear. most of the time it is quite funny.

try it, you might like it, or your spouse might like the attitude adjustment the most.

if you are a young mom...you need to read this....

no it is not Russ' book....

"Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the trenches"

My sweet friend Stephanie told me about it and it is wonderful.

So much so that this tired momma stayed up reading it.

Truth and humor for my tired soul.

Inquisitive

My sweet Izzabee is 8 months +. Her funny personality is coming out more and more. She has been a lesson in "I can't control my children." that has been unsuspected. As most of you know, I am a people- pleaser, Josie is very similar to me in this regard. Izzie however, not so much. For example, in public places (grocery store, church etc.) when others try to get her to smile. She is not going to amuse you. Stone-face Magee. As Morgan noted recently after her observation of this...it is as if it insults a persons personal value that they cannot make her smile. Well, she is a tough crowd. She is going to look you up and down, watch, check you out with her furrowed eyebrows and still you may not get a smile. What a difference from Josie who was all about people the moment she was born. I am excited to see how Izzie's personality develops.

She is still my laid back baby. Just crawling and pulling up everywhere possible (she tried the wall this morning, using the trim work as leverage?). What a fun age!