The Masser Story

This is sweet Mama Frock, Carol's mom, Marshall's step-grandma who is battling colon cancer and some complications. Here she was at Christmas shortly after her first round of chemo. Please keep her in your prayers. She is a noble, dignified, caring, positive, wonderful, humble, dear dear dear woman, who is constantly putting others above herself. Thank the Lord for her inner strength, faith, and the loving friends and family who surround her. We love you, Mama!

Posted in: on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at at 8:56 PM 0 comments    

Yes, it's the traditional "GranRan holding London" picture. Somehow these two just gravitate together and pose for a picture! When will this little squirt get too heavy? :) We've got pics of this ever since she was a wee babe. It's so sweet! Notice GranRan sporting his super cool Caty do -- in support of cousin Caty's Chemo Camp Battles.

Finfrock Christmas begins at Aunt Nonnie's this year . . . and a fairly new tradition is added whereby all the kids (and that means big and little "kids" - yes that means us grownups too!) roast s'mores in the backyard after dinner.......mmmmmmmmmmmm

Here's London blazing her s'more! I can't tell if she's mesmerized by the s'more or the fire....

London on miniture violin and cousin Brett on the baby grand. It was a grand time!

Posted in: on at at 8:45 PM 0 comments    

Yes, Uncle Tommy looks just a little bit tired.....I mean, we got GREAT deals on airfare this Christmas . . . . only the flight we chose put us arriving in Dallas at 2a.m. . . . .Gracious brother of mine happily drives to pick us up at that time! Luckily, his body clock was probably still a little messed up anyway due to the fact that he currently lives in POLAND for his job! He'd only been back in the states a short time on Christmas break.

Electronic buddies are at it again! Syd and Will are always teaming up on the Wii, the Leapster, or some other gadget that beeps and whirrs. Or, they are playing Polly Pockets, but that's another story....

Here's the "ever active / stay out of our way or get run over" crew in action . . . . Nate, armed with his light saber (you never know when Darth Maul might approach), and London with her handmade paper cell phone, are ready to speed off into the sunset! and yes, someone should pull them over and ask for ID and registration!

Don't worry, its just sisterly love making them arm wrestle. Every time we are at Uncle Tommy & Aunt Liz's, we like to drive the boys' car down to the park. It's a fun game of "taking turns!"

A peek into the future?

Posted in: on at at 8:34 PM 0 comments    

Countdown till Christmas! London's class had a fun party where they made trees out of ice cream cones covered in frosting and candy.... can you say "sugar HI!?"

Caught Red handed! Alright, you caught us shaking, smelling, and otherwise inspecting our presents!

Lucky for us, we get to open some presents before we fly out to Texas! (no need to pack extra baggage than what we truly need just for the trip.)

Tia Carla and Tio Juan gave the girls beautiful dolls for Christmas.

Posted in: on at at 8:18 PM 0 comments    

Beautiful Pt. Loma lighthouse........We took a trip to Cabrillo Monument and the Lighthouse while we enjoyed a visit from Grandfather!

Here's the Masser crew in front of the Lighthouse. Both the girls also took the test and passed to become Jr. Rangers of the state park while we were here.

We love you, Grandfather! And the view's not bad, either!

Looking over the harbor. It's just so breathtaking!

Aw, you old softie!

Posted in: on Monday, February 16, 2009 at at 12:12 PM 0 comments    

Masserfam Christmas photo.....taken at staff Christmas party.....notice London's "bling" .... this gaudy / fake gold necklace Claudia thought she'd unload at the white elephant gift exchange.......and of course, London opened that gift and wanted to keep it! ha!

Peace out! Peace IN, with Jesus!

Sydney in her starring role in the Christmas play! Way to go, Holly!

Treating the "after play" headaches.....Syd had a stress headache, and Lon had a "I cried and pouted on stage during the whole performance" headache.........so we decided to try a natural remedy Mommy read about.........cool cloths on forehead......and

soaking your feet in warm water with mustard powder mixed in (I know, it looks gross). supposed to draw your blood to your feet and away from pounding in your head. it seemed to work!

Posted in: on at at 11:30 AM 0 comments    

we're so thankful for our friends Tom & Christi, and Tom's parents (Terry & Janie) who invite us to join them in Napa for Thanksgiving. Here Syd and Lon are helping Janie make some cookies! mmmmm.......Later, Grandma Chris teaches Syd a new game "Kings in the Corner" that she loves!

Yes, London and Ali are now rock stars!

Clay and Syd are content to listen to the "concert" on headphones / earbuds. Clay was fascinated with these, and he adores Syd.

Quick family shot before we head off to church!

Posted in: on at at 11:18 AM 0 comments    

Welcome to fall '08 (journey back thru time!)....here Syd models our "cornucopia of thanks" that we get out in the fall.....and fill with slips of paper with things we're grateful for on it (pictures or words). then we read them at dinner each week

Here's Syd getting a Cowboys' star painted on at our Harvest Festival

Here are our Snow Princess and our Pirates of the Caribbean Elizabeth star!

Heavy Punkin! Lon's class went to Victoria's Pumpkin patch this year

there was even a bounce house! fun!!!

Posted in: on at at 11:07 AM 0 comments    

ok...major selling point! the house the Lord led us to has this great pool and hot tub! here in this part of the country you can swim from April to October, so it gets good use! Hot tub you can use year round. Now you REALLY want to visit, huh?

Ok, huge other selling point! This addition is fabulous! It's an enclosed sunroom off the dining room / kitchen (we've discovered that here you don't call them "Florida rooms." ha!). It is like 18' x 24'. We call it the "Ballroom" or the "Billiard Room". hee hee. It opens to the backyard where the pool is. Lots of fabulous light!

This is London's pink room "before." We called it the "fecal faux painting" job. It was covering up lots of holes in the wall; we had a lot of drywall patching to do here (our guy did great!).

Fabulous faux paint continues in old hall bath......needed lots of TLC


This was the girls' initial vote on the house. You should have smelled it. Like 20 wet dogs were locked up for weeks at a time.........

Posted in: on Friday, December 12, 2008 at at 8:18 PM 1 comments    

Process underway! LR has been scraped and textured....awaiting the lovely new paint job! (same color as old one .... Claudia loved it!) We were so blessed to have a painting contractor in our church who handled the job for us!

Here begins Sydney's stripe idea. Both girls got to totally pick their colors / themes. They were thrilled! Our little "green" Syd wants blue and green - all about nature. And conservation. Reuse! Reduce! Recycle!

Our youngest princess wants to be pretty in pink. We were literally blinded by the pink glow once the walls were done! Would you believe mom talked her out of picking RED!?

Sorry if you needed to use the restroom......it's kinda under construction! Hall bath needs new tub kit, and here we have removed old nasty comode, and Marshall is scraping the 3 layers of peel and stick floor off. Luckily there are extra lovely tiles in the garage we can put down here...

We put up all new fixtures, thanks the the wonderful help of our electrician friend from church! The inspector got a kick out of the interesting fixtures before we replaced them. One ceiling fan was held up in the attic by a crutch (literally) as its brace. And it had a sock stuffed in it to keep it steady. Well, that's safe! Here is a shot of our bedroom with the "accent wall" in the background.

Posted in: on at at 7:52 PM 0 comments    

This is where you can rest your head when you come visit! Our guest room is up and running and we've already had one guest! We're ready for YOU!

Warm and cozy guest / hall bath. We were able to salvage the white cottage vanity from before. Otherwise, it's all new. New tile, new shower/bath, new toilet, new mirror, etc. It's beautiful! Thanks to my friend Brenda for the lovely paint color ideas!

Sydney wants to create a "rain forest" feel in her room....She's got the blue sky / waters, and the green stripe for vegetation. It's a fun work in progress! Since this pic, we've added lots of artificial greenery too. We're thinking maybe a mural someday too.

Little Miss London must have her pink room! It was quite overwhelming before the furniture helped cut the glow. She LOVES her room and her crazy high loft bed. Believe me, she's a born mountain climber, and she's right at home up there!

Our gorgeous living room! Claudia loved the cocoa wall color (its' edible! not!), and Marshall laid the amazing Brazilian Cherry floors. Woo woo!

Posted in: on at at 7:42 PM 0 comments    

While we were in Hawaii, it was both Uncle Tommy and Sydney's birthdays! So, we got a fabulous cake and proceeded to celebrate....

Here's Syd opening her gifts...

And London (well, hers was in only 12 days...)

And Nate......(well, we didn't get to see him for his back in April!)

And Will! (his was coming up in July)

Posted in: on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at at 6:15 PM 3 comments