We cooked dinner on the grill tonight.  We've been known to do that on occasion.  However, what made this different was not what we cook but who helped me cook it.  I designated Mr. Elliott Richard my grill buddy. While he didn't lite the grill, he did scrape it and load it with the food.  He also hung out while we waited for the coals to be ready.  It was pretty fun and another opportunity to spend time with Elliott and learn about safety.  :-)

I'm so amazed by Lizze, each and every day.  She does for our kids, even when she doesn't have anything left to give.  Those of you out there dealing with crippling chronic pain, know how difficult it is sometimes just thinking about getting out of bed. Lizze is all to familiar with that kind of debilitating pain.  On a personal note, my heart truly goes out to anyone dealing with things like this.  You are truly much stronger than I am and I have nothing but the highest respect for you.  I was upstairs tonight getting something and when I came downstairs, this is what I saw.  Let me put into context, just how much pain Lizze is in, at least as best I can. On most days, her skin…

I just want to go on the record as saying that I'm being completely sarcastic in this post.  Nothing makes me feel safer than stepping outside to let the dogs out and interrupting a drug deal. That's what happened to me tonight.  I was letting the dogs out and stumbled onto a drug deal going down. Thankfully, they took off down the street but went into my neighbors property.  I called them to let them know people were snooping around. Again, they took off running. However, while I standing outside with my neighbors, another drug deal went down not 20 yards away.  While I was out there, they told me that they called the police because someone was snooping around our house and peaking in windows. . I really hesitated…

Do you ever feel that you can't win? Like, no matter what you do or how hard you try, you're gonna lose? I'm having one of those days today.  I've been battling with the bank because they allowed a $1,200 check go thru when there was only $2.43 available. This is really bad but there's not much I can do now, so freaking out, isn't going to help. I'm trying to do this whole Operation Hope thing, as well as keep Gavin's health stable. Gavin moving home has stirred things up, even though he's doing well right now. Lizze didn't sleep at all last night and is in a great deal of pain today.  Although, to her credit, she pushing through it.  Christmas is less than a week away and…

Today is Gavin's first day back. So far so good.  We actually have all three boys home today because the school is going on a field trip to the roller rink. Because of how poorly Gavin's body coped with the martial arts promotion, roller skating had to be out of the question. It sucks but it's just not worth the risk right now. Elliott didn't want to go roller skating so we kept him home as well.  Lizze and I kinda had to laugh because one would think that roller skating would be very difficult for kids who tend to struggle with coordination already. That's the case with my boys anyways. Elliott did push through his fear yesterday and went through with martial arts promotion and even broke a board…