We went to a Lancaster Barnstomers game this summer, 4th of July week. We took Ben's friend from preschool, Tessa and her family. That's Tessa beside Ben. Cylo is the mascot and because he is such a HUGE celebrity he of course needed a security guard to watch his person. We had a lot of fun. 

Ben in cousin Kelly's Wedding, Sept 17th. 

The covered bridge, so maybe you can tell how much it flooded in the other covered bridge picture. 

Boys playing in the snow - School cancelled due to snow 12/9/05 

Landlord's field (our backyard) 

View outside our Front Door, My new Car (1991 Mercury Topaz) 

Our Front Door 

The flood waters on October 8th, about 6 foot away from our new home. 

Dietric, Benjamin, Skylar and Dawn at the Philly zoo 

Marc and Bink 

Claudia chowing down on the "Healthy" fruit salad. 

June 16, 2005

Alot of time has passed since my last writing. Claudia, Marc and Bink arrived safely at home. Everyone was sad to see them go, be we were all so glad they were able to visit. The 3 weeks went by so fast and family took up most of there time. They stayed pretty busy with all the requests for them to come visit. Of course, I monopolized as much time as I could. We all had a great time and I can't wait till they come visit again! I put up a picture of Claudia and one of Marc and Bink. I'll see if I can add them to the slideshow and add additional pictures that we took while they were here.

Dad, Rox and our family met Dawn, Eric and Skylar at the Philly zoo in May. It was a nice day, the kids had fun seeing all the animals. Dietric loved making Skylar smile. He was more excited about her than most of the animals. : ) It was a nice way to meet and spend a day together. I hope we do more things like that. Dawn had a picnic a week or so ago to introduce PA people to Eric and Skylar. There was a nice turn out with tons of good food and great weather. I think everyone got the chance to hold Skylar. She was great all day.

The day after Dietric's last day of school Ben went in for his Kindergarten screening. He did very well, we need to work on his letters they said. I think he'll really enjoy school and not be so bored at home. It's great having them home for the summer. I was excited for them to both get done school. Dietric has a 4 day space camp in july and Ben has a mini sports camp at the end of August. So, we have almost the whole summer to do whatever. Today we met Dietric's friend Jackson and his mom and sister at the Leola Pool. The kids had a great time. Dietric and Jackson were in one of 2 pools all afternoon, playing superheros. There was a wading pool that the boys enjoyed. We also played in the big pool.

We are going to the beach in a couple of days. Wanda (Dietric's Grandmother) invited us down to Rehoboth Beach, DE to the place she gets for a week. My Mom, the boys and I are driving down Thursday afternoon and coming home Sunday. It should be alot of fun.

Okay, that all for me for now.

I hope all is well.

April 29, 2005

I was browsing thru others blogs and some seem kind of interesting to read. It made me want to start one to reveal my inner workings. Scary thought. I wonder if I could sound as intelligent and witty as the others do.

Funny story, me and a typical ADD scenerio. On my birthday, my best friend Scott called to wish me a happy bday. We talked for a couple minutes and I tried to remind myself of the date of his birthday (the 11th), I've known him for over 15 years now...you'd think I'd have a clue. I wrote it down on my calender so I wouldn't forget and called him on April 11th. Conversation goes alittle like this:
Me "Happy Birthday!!"
Scott "Huh"
Me "Happy Birthday."
Scott "Did you call the wrong number?"
Me "ahh, no...happy birthday? I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget."
Scott amid lots of laughter "My birthday was...last month...we went to the comedy club"
Me feeling semi stupid and starting to laugh "I knew it, I was thinking we did, but couldn't remember well enough, so just figured It was for something else."

That is definately a Spacie, as Bob calls me, (how did I ever get that name) moment. Scott has been one of the bigger recipients of those kinda things. I think that is the reason all my friends are guys. They don't care if you forget their birthdays, forget to call, forget what time something is, forget the time and date of something. Okay, well maybe the time and date they do. When you do finally call, you just pick up where you left off. "Hey Bob, how are ya? What's been happening the past 3 years? OH? Cool. Let's go to lunch! Okay, I'll see ya there in an hour." That's about it. Although, to be honest, I think it was Bob that called me. lol I guess he has been around longer that Scott. Yeah, I've known Bob longer. All the friends I still talk to (and there are tons, ie. Scott and Bob) I met at Miller's Smorgasboard. So, that was 1985 that I started working there. I stayed there all thru High School, till 1990.

Having ADD is funny when it's not painful. I had to laugh when my youngest son (now 5 but at the time 4 and obviously nothing like his mom) reminded me that he needed his medicine. This wasn't a one time thing either, he had to remind me several times. I, and everyone else, always figured that was just silly, ditzy, forgetful, leave her head if it wasn't attached Stacie. It was like that for many years. I cried when Dietric was diagnosed with ADHD. There were all kinds of feelings rushing around inside. I was happy to know there was an explination behind some of his actions. That he just didn't understand some basic things. When we did the interview to figure out if he had it or not, they asked if his father or I had it. I said No, neither of us did. When Dietric started concerta (2001) I read about it on there website. They had info about Adult ADD, so I read it and was hit over the head by it. I couldn't believe I had missed this, why did it take me soo long to realize that I had it. I see so much of myself in Dietric.

Claudia is home! I've got to hold and play with Bink and give Claudia a big hug. So far, she's been home only 3 days. Marc, Claudia and Bink arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Philly airport. They got to Grammy's house around 6:30 pm. It was soo great to be able to welcome her home and sharing a huge hug! Lord, I've missed her.

The van and car are still not running. Dad and Rox let us borrow their Jeep Cherokee. Ben will finish school at the end of May. Dietric will be done the 1st week of June, I believe. They didn't miss any snow days, only a couple 2 hour delays. I took the boys to the Dentist this week and they both have no cavities. Dietrics teeth are very healthy, but they said we should take him to an orthodontist to see if they want to do anything to help his teeth come in straight. Ben has a double tooth. It's two that are joined and when they counted he has 11 on the top with that double tooth. They said nothing to worry about, it would come out and shouldn't effect anything. I signed him up for a mini preschool/playgroup that the high school Home Ec/Child Development class is doing. I participated in it when I was in school and thought it would be nice for Ben. It's from 8AM to 10:15AM. I stayed with him the first two days. There isn't really anyone there his age and he didn't know anyone. He was being very shy and quiet, he didn't want to be away from me. Hopefully next week he'll want to be by himself and won't need me there. I was really surprised he acted that way. I guess he needed more positive talk about it. He's very excited about kindergarten, though. We had his school conference and Mrs. McClarigan said he's doing very well and he is ready for kindergarten. He'll be going to school with kids from his preschool class. We had the option for 1/2 day and full day, we choose full day.

I guess that's about all for now. Hope everyone is well.

April 6, 2005

Boy, time sure flies when there is nothing exciting happening. :)

The Van broke do.wn on Good Friday. It's at a shop but will cost almost $900 to get it all fixed and road ready for another year. We're gonna fix it, just waiting for money from our clients to pay for it. Fun, Fun. We finally took the little white Chevy Spectrum in to see if we can get that one running sooner and cheaper, but we haven't heard anything about it yet. It might be harder to fix since it needs a specific part (we think) and the car is an 87 or so. But, we are surviving.

My Dad took Ben and Devin to school on my B-day and I went along and we had lunch at Applebee's while they were at school. It was a real nice day (Monday) and has gotten better each day till today. Tuesday it was in the high 60's, kids and I went to park for alittle that evening. Today was awesome. It was a high of 76 it said. Ben wore shorts and sandals to school. Tomorrow it should be nice, not as warm as today and it will start to rain in the evening it said. I check the weather at www.thewgalchannel.com. It's our local TV station.

My Mom had a bad migraine today, I had to drive her to the doctors so she could get a shot. The shot helps with the nausea and helps her to sleep. I guess the sleep is what helps it to go away. She got her shot around 2:30 and went right to bed when I took her home. I called Rick around 9 and he said she got up once and went right back to bed. I hope she feels better tomorrow. The doctor gave her some migraine medicine samples to take if she feels one starting again.

Dietric is in the school 4th grade band. He's in percussion (drum). They are having a concert next month. I asked him what he would be playing, he'll be playing....cymbols. lol At figures, he'll stand there and wait till he gets pointed at and he'll slam them together. Oh well, he does good with piano at home. Maybe he can do that if he continues in band at school.

I'm signing Ben up for Kindergarten tomorrow nite. We decided he'll go full day next year. They give you the option for full or half days. We thought he does good with preschool and he's already had plenty of half day experience, he might as well get used to what a full day will be like. I think he'll enjoy it. He'll probably be meeting alot of new kids. I'm not sure who in his class will be going to Paradise Kindergarten. Devin will be going to Salisbury because they live on the other side of Rt. 41.

We are officially another year older : ( Monte is 37!! and I'm 34!! Wow, old. Dad's B-day is the day before Monte's (March 21) so Dad is 55, now. Mom will be 54 this year in Sept. and Dietric will turn 11. Bob, When is your Bday?

We've been playing alot with our computer graphics software and a new idea for a business. We started ADD+2. It stands for A.D.D. that Dietric and I have and the +2 is for Monte and Ben who don't. We came up with a cool graphic logo in Photoshop and Monte is trying to recreate it in 3D format. We want to be a source for Advertising places to call when they need computer graphics/3D graphics stuff done. Monte loves working with the different programs and is building a business plan. The software packages we would need we could get off of ebay for Three Thousand. Not bad, if you think what it would cost off the shelves Six Thousand for just 1 program. So, if anyone needs some logo work done.... : )

We've enlisted Dad's help for ADD+2. He's teaching himself Bryce. It's a great program to build backgrounds, landscapes, skies and such. Rox is starting her own business to get out from under the stupid lawyer we thought was a trustworty friend. I hope she gets up and running soon.

I guess that's all for now. I hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you all soon.
Stacie

March 18, 2005

Today was a nice day outside. Alittle chilly and alittle wind, but sunny. Spring might finally be arriving.

Ben had preschool today, they asked me to come in at 2:30 to help get everything ready for the end of the day. Grams (teacher's aide) needed to leave early. Ben was happy to see me come into school. It really makes me glad to be at home so I can be there for those small things.

Dietric is working on a quilt type picture project for school. He has to fill in 9 blocks with a picture of something he likes. He has most filled up, he said he likes imagining, swimming, music...I forget the other stuff, now.

The both have slight colds (runny noses). I think I'm catching it now.

Monte got 3 gift certificates for body massages from a client. They own Lancaster School of Massage. I scheduled us for tonight and we got to go. It's so nice and relaxing. They do your back, legs, arms, feet, neck, shoulders, face, scalp and hands. It feels wonderful when your done, it's like your a piece of limp spaghetti.

We gave one of the gift certificates to Rox (my stepmom). I'm going to call her tomorrow and urge her to go if she hasn't already. We'll definately go back. It's such a nice feeling to be so pampered.

I can't believe Easter is next week. I'm gonna try and take Ben to a local easter egg hunt tomorrow afternoon in Paradise. I mentioned it to Darryl, I doubt he'll take Dietric. He usually has alot of stuff planed during the weekends.

I got to see Skylar last weekend. She's getting soo big. She was sitting up good, playing with toys. We have a Elmo that sings, she got a kick out of that. The boys were enjoying being silly for her. She just watched them in amazement. :) Dietric layed his head down and she would grab handfuls of hair. He didn't mind, he thought it was funny. He loves babies. He kept asking to hold her and we finally let him. He did okay, but was moving her arms around a little too much. I took a picture of her pulling Dietric's hair. I'll try and put it up if it came out okay.

Guess that's all for now. I hope everyone is well. :)

March 9, 2005

Thought these were funny and totally Dietric and me.

Its hard to remember when you don't know you're forgetting!
Its hard to be careful when you don't know what to avoid!
ADD: Living for the moment and not being interested when it comes!
ADD: In a hurry without going anywhere.
ADD Mind: Like a car without a steering wheel!
ADD: Living for the moment and not noticing when it arrives!
ADD: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of chaos!
Add: Forgetting before you need to forgive!
Add: Being offended and not noticing!
Add: Being angry and forgetting who you are angry at!
Add: We don't need to forgive to forget!
Add is: Letters with the postage stamp INSIDE!
Add is: Gargling with OldSpice aftershave!
Add is: Screaming Mmphl Mumph cause you brushed with benGay!
Add is: Discovering that Shaving cream is a good mousse!
Add is: Discovering that NAIR doesn't makes a good mousse!
Add is: Living for the moment and not BEING there when it arrives!
I am not as ADD as you sure you don't want to go to lunch?
I have good news and I HAD bad news but I forgot the bad news! ;->
Memory is like a box of chocolates - Empty as soon as its opened!
ADD: Like having a tool box with a hole in the bottom!
ADD: Like being cursed to wear pants with holes in the pockets!
I have the will, and the way. But never BOTH at the same time!
I think therefore I forgot!
Been There! Done that! FORGOT WHY!
I have a photographic memory ... With the lens cap stuck on!
Memory like a pen with disapearing ink!
I'd rather be wierd than boring.
I may be wierd but at least I'm not boring!.
ADD is: Having a vivid imgination and not knowing what to do with it.
ADD is like driving backwards in a fun house of mirrors!
ADD: Past too painful, present too intense, Future too uncertain!
ADD: Car by corvette, Brakes by matel!
ADD: Brain by God, Memory by Murphy!
Scuse my spelling my memory went devorak on me!
I don't have bad manners just bad memory!
Its always darkest before it gets darker!!
ADD is: Winning the lottery and showing up for work the next day!
U Maybe ADD if: You forget to take your supposedly "Addictive" ritalin!
An ADDER without notes is like a kayaker without his oars!
Procrastinators do it later!
Do you want it done right or want it done fast?
Look, I have two speeds slow and slower. Do you want to see slower?
Shredder? ... SHREDDER! I thought this was the COPIER!!!
I not as think as you confused I am!
Getting up this morning was my FIRST mistake!
Smoke may indicate you have exceeded my attention span!
ADD: What we can't get we FOR-get!
ADD: Sometimes we miss the lines because we see so much BETWEEN the lines!
ADD: What we can't get we fake! What we can't fake we forget!
ADDER'S: Sometimes we have "Dyslexic Memory"
"Dyslexic Memory" - Instead of before, We remember AFTER its too late!
"Dyslexic Memory" - A form of mental hindsight!
You think my ADD is frustrating to you? You outta try BEING ADD!
Every time I think I understand the question I forgot the question!
Every time I think I finally got the answer everybody's gone home!