Getting Ready for Graduation at the Forum - Downtown Harrisburg

My dad came up from North Carolina for Lil' G's graduation. It was a nice visit and we are hoping to do that again real soon. We had a busy weekend with graduation and Jake's Baseball Appreciation Day and on Sunday June 13th we had an early Father's Day celebration for my dad - George made steak and we had jumbo crab legs - it was a great dinner and like I said a nice visit. I am excited that I am heading down to North Caroline on July 1st to spend the holiday weekend with my dad and get some stuff done around his house - I am looking forward to the trip.

Princess Turns 6

We celebrated Gracie's birthday with her kindergarten class. The night before Gracie and mommy made cupcakes for all her friends and a mini-birthday cake to celebrate with her brothers. That evening we gave Gracie her the birthday present she wanted so bad - a Hello Kitty Scooter and we sang happy birthday to her and at some cake. It was busy and hectic day but it was also a perfect day because it was my princess's special day.

Senior Prom - Lil' George

My Mother - Linda Jean Chaimowitz (1949-2010)

My Cousin Anthony - 9/11

Easter 2010

9th Annual Pub Crawl (Downtown Harrisburg)

As much as I love St. Patty's Day I never particpated in a "pub crawl" and this year was my very first one! Even though the weather did not cooperate with us I still had a great time with friends. Oh...I had my very first "irish car bomb" (I think that's what is was called) - and it was my last one. It was nasty.


We hit Mollys, Ceoltas and Burbon Street. Unfortunately, I did not hit all the pubs that were on the agenda - by the time 11:00 p.m. rolled around I was ready for bed. (In pics are me, George, Greg, Amanda, Rob, Robin & Audie).

St. Patrick's Day Parade

I took the kids to their first St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Harrisburg. They seemed to enjoy it, but after about 1.5 hours they were ready to go. All I heard the entire parade was "I am hungry" "can I get" "but..." "please mom" ....

St, Patrick's Day

It's no secret that St. Patrick's Day is one of my most favorite days of the year (I have some very fond memories of St. Patricks Day parades from back in the day when I lived on Long Island). This year my mother-in-law sent the kids a package filled with goodies and she got the kids each a St. Patty's Day t-shirt that they wore to school on St. Patty's Day - I thought the t-shirts were cute. Gracie decided to add a few accessories.

Senior Night

We attended Senior Night at Our Lady of Lourdes gym to watch Lil' George play his last basketball game of the season (well...that would be his FINAL basketball considering he is graduating from high school this year and moving on to college). George and I got to walk Lil' George on to the basketball court and he (along with his teammates) received a gift from their coach whose last season of coaching is this year. OLOL won 65 to 64 (good game). We are always so busy with everyday life, work, school, etc...so it was nice to do something as a family for a change.


Picture of Jacob and Gracie (me too) being silly!

Visit to West Chester University

Georgie and I took a road trip to visit West Chester University. He had an interview scheduled for 2/15 for the Athletic Training Program. He has been accepted into the college but apparently the ATP only accepts a certain number of students. While we were there we toured the campus and visited the campus store. He wanted a t-shirt so the Bank of Mom opened up and I got him a t-shirt and sweatshirt. On the way home we ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise - pretty neat burger joint and the food was good! On 2/22 Lil' George received notice that he was accepted into their Athletic Training Program. Now he has some thinking to do because he has also been accepted to Duquesne University which we have yet to visit. Financially.....West Chester seems logical - but that's his choice.

Team Katie's Strike Out A/T (Bowling Party Fundraiser)

On February 28, 2010 I am bowling in honor of Katie Minum to help find a cure for Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T). A-T is like having cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, immune deficiencies, muscular dystrophy, and cancer all rolled into one disease.

If you are interested in sponsoring me I would be ever so grateful. Checks are to be made payable to A-T Children's Project. Checks can be mailed to me at Dawn Clapper, 3482 Sullivan Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050. Your support is very much appreciated.

Moments in December 2009

Getting ready for Christmas dinner.
Our very first ginderbread house.
George ready "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.

Jacob, Georgie and Gracie

Our Christmas Tree (my first real Christmas tree since I was a kid).

Gracie and Moosie

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is nothing but a blur...that's how fast it went by. I recall being woken up by George around 2:00 a.m. telling me Jacob was awake and wanted to open presents (I won't repeat my response) - Anyhow...around 4:00 a.m. I was woken up again and repeated my first response and finally around 7:00 a.m. I had to give in and open presents.

My First Gingerbread House

In my 42 years of life I never made a gingerbread house - can you believe it? Well, this year I vowed to make one with Jacob and Gracie. First of all, what a mess it was...but the outcome was totally worth it...the gingerbread house came out a lot better than I thought it would and this is something I will definately do again next year with the kids - they had a blast making it.

Thanksgiving in Buckhorn

This year we got to go home to Buckhorn to spend Thanksgiving with the family. We normally stay home for Thanksgiving, but this year we decided to go home to the Clappers for the holiday. The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins. We don't get to go home too often so when we do it's always a good time and something the kids look forward to. I thought while I had all the grandkids together I would get a snapshot of them all together. In the picture attached is Georgie (on the couch) and from left to right is Gracie, Noah, Annie holding Andrew, Jacob and James. It was nice to be home for the holiday and spend some time with the people we love.

East Pennsboro Pumpkinfest

We had a beautiful day for the East Pennsboro Pumpkinfest. There was lots to do and most of the stuff we did do was FREE (which sounds great to me). The kids got their face painted, ate lots of junk food, and spent some time holding some of the smaller animals.


Unfortunately I had just started Weight Watchers and the aroma of some of my favorite foods was blazing through the air such as funnel cake, sausage and pepper subs, greasy french fries - yummy!! I was good though and resisted. The kids got some ice cream and french fries. I posted a few pics of my babies - this is something I will be sure to do again next year.

Steelers Fans Through and Through

Here we go Steelers - Here we go!!

Georgie, James, Gracie, Annie & Jacob.

Jacob - 3rd Grade

Jacob - 8 years old
3rd Grade
West Creek Hills Elementary School
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

Gracie - Kindergarten

Gracie - 5 years old
Kindergarten
West Creek Hills Elementary School
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

Halloween in PA

For some reason here in PA (or at least where we live) we have trick-or-treating the Thursday before Halloween - why? I have no idea. The weather was great for an evening of walking the neighborhood - I could not believe the number of people that just put out candy on their front porch - more this year than last year that's for sure. My friend Shannon and her daughter (Chloe) came over and went trick-or-treating with us. Gracie dressed up as "Aerial" from the Little Mermaid, Jacob was "Luigi" from Super Mario Brothers and Chloe dressed as the scary character from the movie "Scream" - they all looked cute and were super excited about going trick-or-treating.
Saddens me that I only have a few more years of this with my kids before they lose interest in it. I believe my older son Georgie stopped trick-or-treating at age 11. Like I said, it was a nice evening but after about an hour my daughter (Gracie) started in with her whining and kept bellowing that that she wanted to go home so we just headed back to the house. My kids normally never last more than one hour during trick-or-treating - not me....when I was a kid it was from the time I got home from school until 11:00 p.m. All three kids came back with a few pounds of candy - lots of chocolate and I got all the pictures I wanted.

Turning 42

Yes...I turned 42 on October 17th. Fortunately my birthday fell on a Saturday this year and I did not have to spend the day at work. George and the kids let me sleep in, which I took total advantage of and I stayed in my PJs the rest of the day. It was very much a fall day out so I decided to make some chilli (perfect weather for it) for the family. I finally got a chance to finish watching the first season of Rescue Me (one of my favorite shows) and did a few loads of wash. All in all I had a very relaxing day. I am normally on the go on the weekends so this was a nice change. Each year for my birthday I normally try and think of three things I would like to accomplish throughout the year. This year I would like to drop 20lbs so I signed up for Weight Watchers (attend the meetings) and I am currently down 7 pounds so I am well on my way with that goal. I would also like to try rock climbing, hiking and I would like to to take a zumba class (latin dance). These are the things always wanted to try but always seemed to find an excuse NOT to do them. Hoping 42 is a good year. As long as I have my family and we all have our health I cannot complain.