BBQ IN BED

Jeremy and I are truly kids at heart!  

You know how kids always think that their daddies and mommies are having TONS of fun after the kids go off to bed?

Setting the Scene

Thursday night at 9:30pm

Madison, Savannah, and Nicholas were in bed for the night,  and baby Isaac was sleeping soundly in his nursery.  I had been stuck, sick in bed all day (actually for a few days), as Jeremy and the kids had been trying to help me to get better!  I had a little cabin fever, to say the least

Okay, back to the scene

Jeremy and I were watching TV in bed as we were slowly growing tired.....As we perused the different channels, we happened to come across the show "Grill Master's Challenge" on the Food Network.  Well, as we watched these talented chefs grilling BBQ chicken, basting each piece in their spicy secret rubs and juicy caramelized marinades, Jeremy and I began to grow hungry....replacing the tiredness we felt only a few minutes before.

Then, I had a great idea.......
I don't have many great ideas, so when I finally pull all of my resources together to form one, it's usually a pretty good one

So, I look at Jeremy....

"Jeremy, wouldn't it be AWESOME to be actually EATING BBQ, while watching these chefs PREPARING BBQ on TV?"

It didn't take a lot of convincing until Jeremy found himself googling local BBQ joints in our area that might still be open at 9:30pm on a Thursday

Well, all of the BBQ places were closed already.

But this incredible idea was too good to give up on that easily......hmmmmm

"Jeremy....BOSTON MARKET!"  "Boston Market has BBQ chicken and I think that they stay open until 10:00pm!"

Only 20 minutes until closing!  I quickly paused the TV and Jeremy jumped into the car and headed full speed for Boston Market. He soon returned with an entire BBQ chicken......Wow, it smelled good!

We grabbed some forks and napkins, un-paused the TV and proceeded to eat ALL of the BBQ chicken in our bed, while watching "BBQ Grill Masters"

It was awesome!!

There was even some BBQ sauce on our sheets by the end of that great feast!

I totally think that we should plan all meals around ideas like this.  Check the Verizon Guide and see what else we can eat while we watch it being prepared on TV!

Not many husbands would jump into the car late at night to bring their wives BBQ chicken to eat in their bed!  I am loved!  I might be the luckiest girl in the world....no, I AM the luckiest and most blessed girl in the world (as I am licking BBQ sauce from my fingers)

These are moments that we will remember for a lifetime and moments that will put a smile on our faces every time we think of it.

It's situations like these that keep marriages strong!

Thank you for the BBQ chicken, Jeremy!  Thank you for taking such good care of me.

I LOVE YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS

MY LITTLE NICHOLAS TURNED 11 YEARS OLD TODAY

My Dear Nicholas,

I remember the day that you were born like it was yesterday.  Meeting you for the first time changed my life forever!  Now you are 11 years old and I can hardly believe it!

I love you Little One......my Little Noodles

CELEBRATING WITH FAMILY

Celebrating Nicholas's birthday with Mom, Dad, your sisters, baby Isaac and grandma and grandpa at Snuffers....your favorite place for cheese fries and chips with salsa

CELEBRATING WITH FRIENDS

A movie party with your friends, screening "The Minions Movie" at Colleyville's Studio Movie Grill

I tried to get pictures of all of the boys that were there to celebrate with Nicholas

Everyone had an fun time, indeed!

Happy Birthday Nicholas

You are quickly growing from a sweet little boy into an amazingly strong Christian young man!

Daddy and I pray each and every day, that you always keep Christ at the center of your life....for that is where true happiness lies.  For nothing truly matters, outside of God

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY JEREMY

Happy Anniversary My Love

18 years ago today I became Mrs. Lustig

I love you more today than EVER before and my love continues to grow stronger and stronger each and every day that I live!

Lunch Date Selfie

Jeremy,

Without a pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat, I will keep choosing you each and every day forever and ever!

I am truly honored to serve God with you for the rest of my life!

Jesus, thank You for my marriage! Thank You for my amazing Jeremy and thank You for creating him just for me!

I am just an ordinary girl, who is married to an extraordinary boy!

CONFESSION

Today I planned on taking Savannah along with me to Confession up at church.  I have been needing to go, as regular Confession is such a beautiful blessing and I wanted Savannah to have that opportunity too.  Nicholas and Madison will be able to go receive this beautiful Sacrament at The Pines summer camp this week.

The plan was for Savannah and I to go while Jeremy stayed with Isaac.  Well, Savannah woke up sick this morning (there is a virus alive and well in the house)

So, I was going to still go and leave both Savannah and Isaac home with Jeremy 

As you might have gathered, Confession is not an easy Sacrament to practice, but one of my VERY FAVORITE Sacraments because it carries with it so many Graces and healing.

The time for me to leave came close and Jeremy had not made it home yet. I was already a little stressed and needed to start for church because the Confession lines can be long if you do not go early.  BTW.....it's truly beautiful to see so many coming to repent and be made new again!

BUT...I was stressed.  Savannah was just NOT feeling well at ALL, so I could not leave Isaac with her in good conscience. Isaac was really crabby and being pretty high maintenance at this point of the day....... So, as any fearless mother would do in a time of crisis, I just threw Isaac in his carseat and headed for church (he had no shoes on and I did not even have my diaper bag)

As I left the driveway, tears began to roll down my cheeks as I listened to sweet but crabby Isaac in the back seat fussing.  I REALLY wanted to go and this would be my one chance in the next week to go.  I had such a hard week and was finally breaking down as I was making my way to face Christ, carrying with me, all of my humble failings (not that He didn't already know)

I did everything I could to not just turn around and head back home frustrated,  just deciding that it was not meant to be for me today.  As I was driving to the church and Isaac was increasing in rage, Jeremy texts that he is on his way home and for me to just leave Isaac at home and he will relieve Savannah in only a few minutes.

But I was already gone and it was too late to turn around!!  I texted him to meet me in a parking lot where he was near and I could then just pass on Isaac to Jeremy, so that he could take him home.  Jeremy was on the phone when I pulled up and he began to unstrap Isaac to put him into his car.  I mouthed to him "Do you wanna go with me?"  He shrugged his shoulders and said "Yeah...okay, I never miss a chance for Confession!"

We drove in tandem until we reached our destination

Already Lord, You have gifted me with a second blessing that I did not even see.  Jeremy got to come with me and now we will both be made new today.  Thank You

We got Isaac in his stroller and wheeled him into the Sanctuary.  Man was he bad!! He was yelling in glee as he realized that his voice echoed in the huge space.  We were fourth and fifth in one of the three lines.  Jeremy walked Isaac around the church, trying to calm him down as we waited for Fr Mullan to arrive.  The Sanctuary was completely silent as people prayed and prepared their hearts.....except for Isaac who was totally screaming!

Here is a quick selfie that I snapped as Jeremy paced up and down the back isles as he prepares his Confession on his iPhone.  Nothing more romantic than a strong and virtuous (and handsome) father, am I right, ladies?!?!

To make this long story just a little longer, instead of a lot longer, I'll get to the end

Five crackers, a rosary, and my electric toothbrush (that Isaac grabbed on his way out the door) later ......Jeremy and I both got to go to Confession and Isaac made the entire event.....well, more eventful!

Here are some pics I took of Isaac after my Confession while Jeremy was inside receiving his Sacrament

 Oh my goodness little man......you were so bad at church today!!!

 No shoes and No manners!!

 But, you are so stinkin' cute!!

Ugh, Isaac.......I am such a sucker for my babies!  You are so kissable

OKAY...NOW FOR THE NEXT SURPRISE FROM OUR AWESOME LORD
It will be our 18th wedding anniversary in three days and I CANNOT think of a better way to start out our anniversary weekend!

Oh Jesus, You are all knowing and always pleasing your children more than we could ever even realize.  It is always Your Perfect Plan that brings true blessings
Thank You for all of the blessing that You constantly shower me with....thank You also for all of the blessings that I do not even see with my human-ness
I love you

PINES CATHOLIC SUMMER CAMP

THE PINES CAMP IS SO FUN

2015 SUMMER CAMP THEME

Madison and Nicholas both went to The Pines this summer in Big Sandy TX 
BTW.....it really IS sandy there, although it is not so much, "big"

 Dropping the kids off at their cabins.........I am going to miss them SO MUCH

CABIN MATES

Madison's Cabin

 Nicholas' Cabin

Nicholas receiving the Eucharist at Mass the first night of Camp

 Signing up for fun camp activities to fill the week

THE PINES HAS SUPER FUN ACTIVITIES LIKE......THE LAKE ACTIVITIES
GOTTA LOVE THE "BLOB", log rolling, zip lining, shooting, card playing, rock-climbing, cooking, basketball, football, ultimate frisbee, low ropes, high ropes, country dancing, soccer, swimming, hiking, volleyball, capture the flag, messy wars, etc...The list goes on....Some of the game names, I have never even heard of!
This camp has it all  AND the best part is.......is that it is all Christ-Centered!

SPIRITUAL TALKS AND MASS, PRAISE AND WORSHIP, CONFESSION AND ADORATION
 If my kids are going to be away from me for an entire week....they better be furthering their relationship with our Lord!  I have never met ANYONE who has ever said that they spent TOO MUCH time growing closer to Jesus......All of the activities in the world do not even come close to feeling, centered in Christ and getting to know Him better!

PICTURES OF THE KIDS HAVING FUN

These are only a few of the pics of them from camp.  The Pines allows us to email our children each day, along with posting about 300 pictures on their website for parents to look at and see their kids having a great time!

Madison and Nicholas,
I miss you two, so much!!  I am counting down the days until you are home again.  I cannot wait to hear about all of the fun that you had!! Camp stories are the best!!

OUR SILLY BABY

SILLY BABY ISAAC

Isaac IS SUCH a silly baby.  He is always trying for make us laugh.... and we are ALWAYS laughing!

 This is the container that we keep Isaac's Bristle Blocks in.  He LOVES dumping all of the blocks out and putting the container on his head and laughing at himself!  He loves when I lightly knock on the container!  He laughs for a LONG time!

 Isaac is such a Cutie-Patutie!

He is super silly too!  We could all sit around and watch him, just laughing and laughing!  You are a silly baby, Isaac!

WE LOVE YOU BABY BOY

YOU ARE A BLESSING

ANOTHER POST ABOUT MY SWEET NICHOLAS

NICHOLAS

Nicholas is such a great big brother

Lately, Jesus has been revealing to me, all kinds of beautiful attributes of my precious little Nicholas

As I pray, our Lord is connecting so many dots for me as to why Nicholas does some of the things that he does.  He is very protective of me and tries to be strong (like daddy) when he is really afraid.

Nicholas is afraid that if he is leaves me, that something might happen to me....especially after how sick I became last spring.  He has always worried about me, wanting to know where I am at all times, but at the same time will be rather coy and not reveal this fear out loud.

He resists being away from me for too long.  He is my one kid that will always ask...."When are we going to homeschool again so that we can be together?"

Nicholas loves being with Jeremy SO MUCH!  According to Nicholas, not only does his Daddy do no wrong, but that his daddy is the best at EVERYTHING that he does (which is very true....Jeremy is amazing at pretty much.....everything)  

But there is a soft little heart inside of that brave little hunter, that he only shares with mommy.  My time with him is precious and lately I am realizing that it is even more precious to him, then I could have ever imagined.

He loves to be held and kissed, even though he giggles and shies away when I grab him by the face and kiss his soft cheeks over and over...and over again.....then I pretend that I am stuck to him, and we laugh together.
He yearns for quiet time for just the 2 of us and there is truly a mom-shaped space that God carefully placed in his fragile little heart that can only be filled by me.

So, with this recent prayerful inspiration, I have been making sure that I am taking some "just the 2 of us" time together throughout the day.  Little short moments that we can just "love each other."
The other night I read this poem to him that I found, about mothers and sons

Before I read it, I called him into my room and laid in bed next to him and told him how much I loved him.  I told him how important he was to me as I snuggled him and kissed his dimple. He laughed and jokingly pulled away from me but then moved right back close to me as I began to read

I made the joke that....what he was about to hear me read, would surly be the BEST part of his day.....

Here is the poem

As I read it, he was smiling and at one point, said "Yes mom, that sentence is true"

After I finished, I sat up and told him that he could go up and get ready for bed....He smiled at me and looked at me in all sincerity as he said...."Well mom,  that WAS the best part of my day"

I gave him another hug and then he went upstairs

Thank You, my Dear Sweet Jesus for that moment that Nicholas and I shared.  I know that it will be a moment that I never will forget and I hope that he remembers it as well, but more improtantly, I pray that he remembers how much he means to me and how thankful I am that I was chosen, by You, to be his mommy

I am a mommy who desperately needs her son and Nicholas is a son who desperately needs his mommy.  I am so grateful for that most special mother/son bond

I love you Nicholas 

love, mommy

FOURTH OF JULY 2015

4TH OF JULY AT THE LAKEHOUSE

We were so blessed to be able to host this year's 4th of July celebration at our lakehouse

Thank you Jesus for the water

My mom and dad were able to come with my sister, chris and our nieces.  We had SUCH a great time together just hanging out together for the weekend!

We snapped this pic after Mass.  We never take pictures with our entire family.  Someone is always missing, but we saw this beautiful chance after Mass, realizing that we were all together AND even dressed up semi-nice, so we ceased the opportunity and asked someone outside of church to take a pic.  Of course we weren't all looking at the camera and Isaac is hidden behind my big head.....but, so goes family portraits!

BY THE WAY......MASS WAS AWESOME

(well....Mass is ALWAYS awesome)

But at this Mass as the priest processed out, I hugged my dad as tight as I could as we sang "America the Beautiful".  Dad knew every word, and sang it proudly.  When I was little and my dad would hold me during Mass as we stood up to sing, I remember putting my head on his shoulder and hearing his voice through his chest (it always sounded really hollow to me)  All in all, It is just a silly childhood memory......but the point is, is that I got to listen to him singing today at Mass, in just that same way. 

I put my arms around him as tightly as I could and pressed my head against his chest and it made me smile SO BIG as tears rolled down my cheeks!  I love how he sings at Mass and I loved being 5 years old again, during the 2 verses that we sang to end Mass.  I wished that it could've lasted longer.

 Mom and Dad giggling about my mom dancing to some music that a boat was playing loudly as it passed by our house, as they watched from the back deck

 In love and married for 47 years....they are still super cute

 Mom and Dad with all of their grandchildren  What a beautiful legacy of love that God blessed us with

It was SUCH a great weekend full of  boating, tubing, laughing, fireworks, good food, napping, and then laughing some more. We barely saw the kids as they ran around and played all day, only to stay up all night watching movies and eating snacks

(we found the mess in the kitchen the next morning)

DADDIES ARE SO FUNNY

 Jeremy had all of the family laughing...including Isaac with his idea to suck of Isaac's hair into the dust buster!  It was so funny and worked GREAT at getting the graham cracker crumbs out of Isaac's long hair

 Boy....we had fun with this little one.....he always brings us so much joy by doing silly things and by reacting to the silly things that we do

OTHER INTERESTING HAPPENINGS DURING THE WEEKEND

THE MISSING LAUNDRY BASKET MYSTERY
Here is a picture that Jeremy so lovingly texted to me to prove that I was wrong when I stated that the laundry basket was NOT next to the washer.  Husbands are so "great" about stuff like that....

Truth is.....I did NOT see that laundry basket by the washer the night before, when I went down to get the laundry out of the dryer.
This picture (that he texted to me) was actually taken the next day, late in the afternoon....so I am not surprised that the laundry basket had reappeared where it belonged by then....but as every good wife should say in response to this text from her husband...."Good Job Honey, you found it!"

THE GRANDPARENTS AND COUSINS LEFT SUNDAY AFTERNOON

THE KIDS WERE SAD

NEW GAME INVENTION

 Nicholas and Jeremy were fixing the Jet Ski, Isaac was napping and so Madison and Savannah decided to make up a new game out of some of Isaac's toys and his pack n play

We named it "Cone Ball"  It started out of boredom but by the end, took on a life of it's own, with official rules and other silly guidelines

NOT SURE WHO WON

DINNER ON THE LAKE

We went out to dinner that evening with our sweet neighbors and Isaac tried fried pickles

He is truly a native Texan

Here are a few other cute pics of Isaac at dinner

What a blessed weekend our Lord gave our family.  These are such precious times to me, as we see our time together lessoning as we are all growing older.

Thank you, Lord Jesus for the wonderful memories that were made this weekend and the love that continues to flow throughout my family.  We are so grateful to have each other to laugh with, lean on, and love.  Thank you for giving us the grace to truly focus on the time that we have and to not take even one minute for granted.  You are so amazing how You choose to love us so much 

Love kerry ann

MCDONALD'S PLAYLAND

BIG BROTHER STUFF

WHO BETTER TO INTRODUCE ISAAC TO THE MCDONALD'S PLAYLAND, THAN HIS BIG BROTHER, NICHOLAS

 Nicholas so kindly walked into the playland hand and hand with Isaac 

 Isaac was nervous about climbing up so high, so I thought that if Nicholas could just get him up to the first window so that he could wave at me...then all would be better

 "Not so much!"

Isaac was NOT enjoying the playland AT ALL, at this point.....

So Nicholas and I thought that if  we could get him up a little higher and let him slide down the slide, then he would want to do it again and again

 "Not Really"

Isaac cried all of the way down the slide in Nick's lap...well, let's try some healthy fast food!

 Isaac DID enjoy the Chicken Mc Nuggets

 Actually, he REALLY enjoyed the Chicken Mc Nuggets

Well, maybe Isaac wasn't ready for the McDonalds Playland, but at least I discovered another option for a convenient finger food that he can eat in the car as we run our errands

I love you Isaac, you are just made of the sweetest sugar imaginable.

i love you Nicholas, you are such a selfless and awesome big brother to Isaac

Thank you for my boys, Dear Jesus

love kerry ann