Gracie' Turns 7

My baby girl is 7....can you believe it? Her birthday fell on a Wednesday the year and it was on the last day of school AND Jacob had a baseball playoff game which led to very little time to celebrate Gracie's special day. So...we are having a birthday party for her this Saturday at the bowling alley with some friends. 

After the baseball game I took the kids to for ice cream at Meadows and then home so Gracie could open some presents.  Below are some pics....enjoy!

Celebrating Jacob & Gracie's Birthday at School

Me and Little George managed to bring cupcakes to school to celebrate Jacob and Gracie's birthday with their classes - uggg is all I have to say:) Gracie's birthday is June 2nd and Jake's birthday is not until July 24th but the school likes to recognize summer birthdays at the end of the school year (which I thought was nice). Below are some pics of my babies.

Birthday celebrations!

Jacob and his teacher Mrs. Shellenberger!

Jacob the birthday boy!

Gracie and her teacher Mrs. Hart (aka Miss Fosbenner).

Birthday girls of Mrs. Hart's class!

Gracie the birthday girl!

Build-A-Bear with Daisy Troop June 1, 2011

Gracie & her Daisy Troop at Build-a-Bear

I must admit, "encouraging" Gracie to stick with Daisys has been hard task but I think it's one of the best things she has been involved with.  The troop leaders (Miss Ruth and Miss Lori) are not only two remarkable women, but they are outstanding role-models.  I was just amazed at their poise, patience and commitment when it came to troop. 

Daisy Troop 571

Open House - West Creek Hills Elementary

Jacob - Open House - Jake and all the fourth graders sang a few songs with "Fire Flies" being my favorite.

I took a video of it....I just need to upload it (don't hold your breathe).

Jake and Gracie had "Open House" at their school (West Creek Elementary) the last week in May.  I got to see Jacob and the rest of the 4th graders put on a wonderful chorus performance and I visited the kids classrooms to pickup year end projects/assignments that needed to go home.  Gosh...there was so much stuff and God forbid we part with any of it! It was a busy night! This was Jacob's last year at West Creek. Next year he moves over to East Pennsboro Middle School - can't believe he's going into 5th grade and my Gracie girl will be going into 2nd grade - where has all the time gone?

Kids New Spongebob Bathroom

Yeah...I suprised the kids and switched up the bathroom and went with Spongebob - the kids loved it.

Easter 2011

Easter Baskets for my three babies!

A little note and some carrots for the Easter Bunny!

Easter morning!

One of Gracie's Easter dinner place settings.

"Hmmm....wonder if there's anything in here I will like"

This darn plastic covering...."the Easter Bunny makes things harder then they need to be mom"

It was great to have Lil' Geoge home for Easter. He had to head back to college on Easter day so we had an early holiday dinner. I only posted one pic of Gracie's place settings for dinner (made me laugh) but she did that for all five of us - she's so darn cute! Mommy made sure to put out some carrots and a letter for the Easter bunny and in turn the Easter bunny left baskets of goodies for the kidos!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Sadly I missed my babies coloring Easter eggs. I spent the entire day at the ER due to my kidney stones - only to come to find out a few days later that the pain I was having had nothing to do with my kidney stones.  Go figure! Fortunately, Lil' G was home from college and took charge and even managed to take a few pics to share with me while I was at the ER (ahhh...for 5 hours). So...I thought I would share these wonderful pics with family and friends. Enjoy!

A Little Something From Bootcamp

Attached is a picture of a clown that was given to me by a shipmate (Kimberly Hornsby) when I was in bootcamp. I recall her only having so many to handout and I was one of the lucky ones to get one and I managed to hang on to this since 1989 - it literally followed me everywhere I moved and I could never part with it!

Pics of Gracie's Recital Costumes - Just Beautiful

Jacob Starts Baseball -

Well baseball season is well underway. Jacob participated in the parade for opening day this past Saturday but unfortunately the afternoon game (his first game of the season) was cancelled due to the rain. George did manage to get a portrait of him in his new uniform and his team name is the "Cardinals.  Jacob is very excited about playing this year and he said he is on a very good team. I believe he said he is going to have some opportunities to pitch and play first base - I look forward to the games. He has been playing for the past 4 years and really enjoys it and I am so very proud of all that he accomplishes, I really am.

Gracie - Recital Picture Day -

 

I think she is so beautiful, I really do. This past Saturday all the dancers had their portraits taken in their recital costumes. What time slot did we fall under? The 8:30 a.m. timeslot! I made sure we got up extra early so she would look well-rested for her portraits.  I did her hair and makeup the best I could but the day of the recital (in June) I am going to take her to have her hair and makeup done by a stylist. I really don't think she needs makeup at all but have been told that this is the norm for dancers - which I know nothing about because I never participated in dance when I was younger. When I first saw the costumes I was so happy I think I had tears in my eyes - after having two boys I am so grateful to have a little girl I can spoil and do girly stuff with - and believe me....she is all girl - thank god she did not end up being a tom boy like I thought she would be because she had two older brothers - she is truly a blessing.

Moosie Turns 7

Moosie celebrated his 7th birthday on April 4th. Finally....there's someone in the house that is older then me!
We got Moosie a special filet mignon doggie dinner and put a candle in it and sang happy birthday to him. The kids got a chuckle out of it! In the picture with Moosie is my baby boy (Jacob).

Family History

A number of years ago I made a mini-scrapbook of my Grandpa Leo (Leo Devine) who passed away in 1979. Grandpa Leo died when I was 12 years but I always had very fond memories of him from my childhood. Unfortunately, I had little, if any, information to journal in the album so I have been scoping out family members for some family history. My cousin (Jeannine) sent me a picture which was a "funeral card" of my Grandpap's uncle (Patrick Wogan)who was killed in action in Italy during WWII. The funeral card listed where my family was from (Cartown, Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland). I always new my ancestors were from Ireland - I was just unsure what part of Ireland they were from. So I am making some progress but have a lot more research to do. It's a scrapbook I wanted to pass down to my kids. I wish they could have known their great-grandfather. He had a positive effect on my life when I was a child and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him.

St. Patrick's Day Parade with the Kids!

Took the kids to the St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday (March 19th). It was a pretty chilly day, but at least the sun was shining. We watched the marching bands, fire trucks, dancers etc...for about an hour or so and then I took the kids to McDonald's for shamrock shakes. I always thought the shakes were like .99 but now that they put them in this fancy clear cup with whip cream and a cherry on top they are charging around $2.50 for a small - now that's just crazy!

St. Patrick's Day - Downtown Harrisburg

Well I took a half day off of work on St. Patty's Day to hit some of the pubs downtown Harrisburg with some friends. I had an awesome time but come 7:00 p.m. I was down for the count. I cannot hang and drink like I did back in the day. Nevertheless, I had to work the next day so I was hurting pretty bad but managed to make it through the day. You gonna play, you're gonna pay, right? LOL. It was a great time and well worth the mini-hangover!

March 2011 Family Update

I blog every few weeks (OK...sometimes months) with updates of what's going on in the Clapper household. Between karate, dance, Daisys, CCD (and baseball as of next week) we are on the go quite often these days. As of May things should slow down with Daisys and CCD ending for the year. Lil' George was home this past weekend for spring break. Unfortunately, I did not get to see too much of him because as I was coming home from work he was leaving the house to go hangout with friends but I did get to spend some quality time with him on the drive back to West Chester on Sunday. It's still hard dropping him off at school and leaving. Gracie was home sick last week (the entire week) with pneumonia - poor baby girl was so sick and ran a fever for nearly five days. Fortunately, the antibiotic that the doctor put her on kicked in after about 48 hours and she started feeling much better.

Lent stared last week and so did the countdown until Easter. We went to church and received our ashes and all decided to make some positive changes during the course of the next 40 days. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day - my favoritest day of the year (LOL). I will be taking a half day off of work and hitting a few pubs with some friends - it should be a nice time. Hey, let's face it, anytime away from work is a good time. I will also be taking the kids to the St.Patrick's Day parade on Saturday so I am hoping to take some updated pictures and will post them as soon as I can.

Facebook Contact

If you would like to see more updated pictures of the family you can go to http://www.facebook.com/dclapper67 which is my facebook page.

I have all my information set to private so you will have to send me a "Friends Request" to access my photos

Gracies Fundraiser for "The Studio"

As some of you know, Gracie attends "The Studio" which is a local area dance school. To raise money for The Studio to assist children with tuition, costumes, recitals etc...the kids had a fundraiser selling Gertrude Hawk Chocolates. A special thanks to those family and friends who made a purchase(s). Gracie raised over $250.00 and mommy is all "fundraisered out"!

St. Patty's Day is Fast Approaching!

Those of you who know me, know that St. Patty's Day is my favorite day of the year. Why? Well, I have some very fond memories growing up in Rocky Point, New York and celebrating St. Patty's Day with a big parade and great friends - it was always a good time. Last year I took the kids to the St. Patrick's Day parade here in Harrisburg, PA and it just was not the same - you could not even compare it to the St. Patty's Day parades we had in Rocky Point. I don't know, maybe it's because I am older or maybe it's because it's a lot different now than it was back then. I took a 1/2 day off of work on St. Patty's Day so I can go out for some drinks with some friends. I believe the parade is on Saturday, March 18th - I am going to surprise the kids and taken them ...they had a blast last year.