Spartans Basketball

This is the second year Jake is playing basketball at the YMCA (team name is the "Spartans"). He's 12 so he falls in a new division where he's now the youngest and not the oldest. He seemed to be a bit intimidated at first but is learning a lot from the older kids. He use to play basketball for our church but prefers playing for the "Y" because he gets a lot more playing time. Below are some pics I took before their first game (yes..they won!).

Hershey Bears Hockey - January 2014

Took the kids to a Bears game last weekend with my buddy Bill. Jake brought his friend Bailey along for the fun and Coco came to the suite to greet the kids. Fun was had by all and the Bears beat the Falcons 5-3.

Farm Show 2014

Lil' George was home from West Chester for a few days and the kids had no school because of the snow so Georgie took Jacob and Grace to the Farm Show in Harrisburg. The Farm Show is an annual big "what to do" here in Pennsylvania with all sorts of activities, shopping and good eating. Lil' George has been taking the kids to the event for quite a few years now. Whenever the Farm Show is held there's sure to be some bad weather which normally means "SNOW". This year we not only got snow, but we also got record breaking all time low temperatures too. Below are a few pics Lil' George took of Jacob and Grace.

Christmas Morning - 2013

Christmas morning is always a "blur" to me because I am still half asleep. Thank God for pictures! Below are some pics of the kids opening their presents. The day was filled with presents, food and relaxation!

Santa Arrived!

Santa's Goodies - 2013

Gracie making sure she write's Santa a letter and prepares his cookies and milk. The kids made sure reindeer food was properly thrown all over the front yard for all of Santa's reindeer too!

Stocking Stuffers - 2013

On Christmas Eve the kids get to open their stocking stuffers and yes...Moosie even gets his very own little stocking with all sorts of goodies. This year Christmas Eve was very special because we were blessed with snow!

Yummy...Cookies & Gingerbread Houses - 2013

The kids enjoyed baking cookies and making gingerbread houses this holiday season. I'm opting NOT to do gingerbread houses ever again that aren't already premade...what a pain in the butt and what a MESS! The kids had fun and that's all that really matters.

Gracie's Holiday Performance - Polar Express

This years dance holiday performance theme was "Polar Express". Grace and her dance studio classmates got to dance to the song "Hot Chocolate". Along for the fun was my friends Bill, Audra and Kori and I bribed Jake in going by telling him we would hit Hoss's for dinner afterwards. Fun was had by all! Below are a few pics...my buddy Bill was being a clown - I couldn't get him to stand still for a pic...he had ants in his pants!

It's 2014

Seasons Greetings to Our Family & Friends

The Red Tractor

The attached picture is of a tractor that my son Georgie received for his second birthday from a dear friend of ours (Galen Witham). This is the only toy we saved through the years, we just could never part with it. It's hard to believe we hung on to this for close to 20 years...it's part of our family! Something we will save and pass down to his kids one day.

Barbie Photo Shoot - By Grace Clapper

Cherished Ornament

Every year when we break out the Christmas ornaments the first one I look for is the one my mom made for mine and George's very first Christmas together. It's always had sentimental value to me and I'm elated that it has not been damaged or broken through the years. I think I would be heart-broken if anything ever happened to it.

Pearl Habor Day

Christmas Decorating 2013

Me and Gracie did the holiday decorating over Thanksgiving break. George went out and bought the Christmas tree and the boys helped with the lights and ornaments. It's always nice going through all the ornaments and looking at the dates and reminiscing back in time.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is always a day of staying in our PJs, eating and watching TV all day long and getting an occassional nap in here an there. Gracie helped me prep the food and she always sets the dinner table too. She took a few snapshots to share.

Mary Poppins

The week before Thanksgiving I took Grace and Jacob to see Mary Poppins at the Fulton Theater in Lancaster. I'm the first to admit, I don't care for musicals whatsoever, but now that I have a little girl it's hard not to want to do things like this with her so I try to go in with an open mind and a smile on my face. All I can say is it was SPECTACULAR! Words cannot described how amazing the performance was and we had to top it off we had front row seats. I also thought it was pretty awesome that as we exited the theater after the performance we went outside and we walked out into the first snow flurries of the year.