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.

Disney World 2009 - Orlando, Florida

This year George and I took the kids to Disney World for vacation. It was Jacob and Gracie's first visit and their very first time on an airplane and it was Georgie's second visit. We purchased 5-day park hoppers and managed to hit all four parts during our five day visit (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios). I must admit Magic Kingdom was and always will be my favorite park. While we were there, we met up with some friends that drove in from Tampa to spend the day at Hollywood Studios with us (Carlos, his wife Jen, his son Aaron and his daughter Victoria).
We were fortunate enough to stay on Disney at the Shades of Green Hotel which was a nice hotel, but nothing compared to the Contemporary Hotel we stayed at during our last visit. While we were there the kids managed to hit as many rides as they could and utilized the swimming pool each night as well. One evening Lil' George and I went to Magic Kingdom by ourselves to see the fireworks over the castle, which were just incredible and it was one of my favorite moments at Disney. I posted a few pictures that I took - they are a little blurry but I loved them. Another great memory is taking Gracie to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the castle and having her hair, makeup, nails etc... all done up - she had a wonderful time and looked like such a princess. I would love to be able to take the kids back again some day (5 years or so). Jacob and Gracie got on rides I never thought they would even think of riding such as "Tower of Terror" - I was shocked that Gracie went on the ride, I honestly don't think she had a clue what the ride was about until she got on it because she played it off as if she liked it but I could not get her back on the ride again. Jacob was just fearless and willing to go on anything in the park (that's my boy). My favorite ride is Rock-n-Roll roller coaster - I did forget how fast the take off was and I have to admit my stomach did turn a bit but I was fine by the time the ride ended.
I thought September was a good time to hit Disney as far as the weather goes, but I was mistaken because the heat was just overbearing at times. A dream of mine is to spend at least one Christmas at Disney, I think that would be awesome - who knows...maybe some day that dream just might come true.

Labor Day Weekend - Boating Trip

Over the Labor Day weekend me, George and the kids accepted the invite from our neighbors to go boating with them at the lake in Raystown. > The drive to and from was a bit grueling due to getting lost, but the time we spent out on the lake was quiet, peaceful and relaxing. The day was hot and sunny, but low humidity, which made it real nice for the kids to go swimming. I must admit...I love Raystown - wish I would have known long ago it was all but 1.5 hours or so from my house.
My hubby basking in the sun!

First Day of School

It was an early morning in the Clapper house on August 31st. Lil' G was up and about sporting around his new digs. Jacob whined "I don't want to go to school" and Gracie was all bright eyed and bushy tailed for her very first day of Kindergarten. I must admit, I was dreading the trip to the bus stop because I was unsure how Gracie was going to react about leaving me or George and getting on the bus but she proved me wrong...she was such a big girl. I thought I would even shed a tear, but I didn't. I think it's because she made it very easy for me and I knew in my heart she was fine. I was a bit worried/bothered at how she was going to react once she got off the bus and into her classroom with a bunch of strange people. She called me at work after she got off the school bus and told me she had a great day. I was elated.
Until.....that evening at around 9:15 p.m. we were laying down in bed watching TV and I heard some sniffling. I turned and asked Gracie if she was crying and she had tears just streaming down her little face. I asked what was wrong and she said "I don't want to go to school" - she just broke my heart with her little lip quivering and those big blue eyes just filled with tears. So...I had a little talk with her, which did not help one bit so we went downstairs and took a look at the calender and circled all the school days for the month of September in orange, all the days off in black and our Disney vacation days were circled in blue. For some reason that mad everything all better - go figure. Jacob told me he had a good day at school and that was it on his part other than the overwhelming amount of paperwork he bought home for me to fill out. Lil' George said he spoke with his guidance counselor and told her he was interested in going to college for "sports medicine" after he graduated high school and she provided him with a bunch of information that he needs to view. Ohhh.. all the wonderful changes me, George and my babies all have to look forward to this year. .
I am excited, but scared too - I am totally fine with Gracie starting school, I am just not so keen on my baby boy graduating from high school and moving on to college. I know, I know, I am just being selfish....this is going to be a new chapter in his life and I feel me and George did do our part and prepared Lil' G to go out into this world on his own so I am comfortable knowing he is mature and responsible enough to take care of himself, I am just not ready for him to leave home is all

Welcome to Kindergarten

My neighbors (dear couple) surprised Gracie with a sign they made and displayed at the bus stop for her very first day of school. I think I was more excited to see it then her....I was like OMG this is such a good scrapbooking pic! I really did appreciate all that they did for her, I thought it was very kind and thoughtful on their part.

The End of Summer

It's hard to believe that summer is coming to an end and the kids will be starting back at school as of August 31st. I am finally done with all the clothes/supply shopping for all three kids. Can you believe my princess is going into kindergarten, Jacob into 3rd grade and Lil' George will be a senior and graduating this school year. Lil' George has a big school year ahead of him with lots of adult decisions/choices that he will need to make when it comes to college and what his plans are for his future. I think he is struggling with the whole "college" thing. During the past year or so I have been trying to talk to him about college, but it's a topic he keeps putting on the back burner. Part of me knows he is "afraid" of moving on (though he will never admit that to me). So it's new beginnings for all three kids this year - lots of exciting things to look forward to. I would say we had a rather eventful summer with sleepovers, family visiting, trip to Jersey shore, Hershey Park day, visits to Altoona to see grandparents, I even got to see two friends from my school days that I have not seen in over 20 years and our big trip is at the end of September when we all go to Disney. So...we are now counting down the days until Disney World.

Firm Outing - Harrisburg Senators Game

On Friday, August 14th the firm I work for (Eckert Seamans) had a summer outing which included a Harrisburg Senators game at City Island. George and I took Jacob and Gracie to the outing for some hot dogs and hamburgers and around later on we headed to our seats to watch the game. I am not sure how many of you all remember "Elvira" from back in the day (If not - just google her and I am sure you will recognize her)...anyhow she was the guest celebrity that evening and threw out the first ball.

Wow...what a weekend.

What a weekend it was - I planned on meeting up with two high school friends the weekend of August 8, 2009. Cami and Dennis were coming to Hershey with their two little boys (Spencer and Colin) for summer vacation and I made plans to meet up with them. It was a fabulous visit. When I got home from the visit I decided to log on to Facebook and post a message about my visit and I noticed that my long time friend Mark (Dedio) posted that he was in Hershey. I took a chance and shot him a message that I was only 20 minutes from Hershey and to call me. Within one hour my phone rang and Mark called me - I was so blown away to have heard from him and we made plans to get together so the following day Mark and his wife came to my house for dinner where we caught up on the old days.

Weekend at Raystown

We were invited to Raystown for the weekend by our friends/neighbors Theresa and James Hatley and their daughter Makayla. They recently bought a new boat and thought it would be nice to go to Raystown for the weekend and celebrata Makayla's birthday and they were thoughtful enough to invite our family. Unfortunately George had to work and Lil' G has a very busy social life these days so it was just me, Jacob and Gracie. It was Gracie's very first time on a boat and she did great. I was afraid Jake would get motion sickness because his last experience on the boat was not a good one. We gave him some meds prior to the departure and he did great. I absolutely fell in love with Raystown. Even the scenice route drive to/from Raystown was just beautiful. I believe we are going boating with our friends, again, over Labor Day weekend - it should be a great time.

Jacob's Birthday

Well our little man turned 8 years old on July 24th. We had a cookout with some family and friends and it turned out to be one of the biggest and nicest cookouts we ever had. So....we decided to have an annual cookout every year around the same time so we can celebrate Jacob's birthday and invite family and friends over to spend some quality time with that we don't get to see too often. It's so sad that we don't make time for the ones we love due to work and every day life in general. I swear at one point I think I had like 20 kids in my house - at least it seemed that way. We had a beautiful/sunny day and everyone really seemed to have had a good time.

Summer Time Fun

The kids are out of school and summer is just trucking along. Lil' Georgie has been watching Jacob and Gracie during the summer for some extra cash and plus it's a great help to me and George (my hubby). He has taken them bowling a few times, but they seem to be very occupied with their neighborhood friends these days. No complaints from me. I am so use to getting home from work and having Gracie standing there waiting on me with a big hug and kiss and now I am lucky if she waves to me while she is across the street at her friends house. I took the kids to Hershey Park a few weeks ago - my nephew James came down for a two-week visit so we thought it would be nice to take the kids to HP - they had a blast and it was James/Gracies first time on a rollercoaster (well...a big one) and they did great - it was quite entertaining - we all have a wonderful time.

Gracie's bday -

Daddy Turns 40

My hubby turned 40 on June 29th. In celebration of his 40th we made sure we got a few Steelers/Penguin t-shirts and another special gift was a Penguins Stanley Cup jersey. As you can see from the photo to the left, we sang happy birthday and had some ice cream and cake with the neighborhood kids.

Jersey Shore Nightmare

What a nightmare my trip to the Jersey shore was. Long story short - NEVER AGAIN. I booked a weekend trip to the shore, cancelled due to bad weather. Rescheduled for another time but instead of a weekend I did an overnight trip. It took me about 5 hours to get to my destination due to traffic. Jake and Gracie were troopers though - they did not complain once. Me, on the other hand...I was beside myself. I did try and make the best of the time we had between the pool and the beach. In a 24 hour period we spent at least 10 hours driving. It was just me and the two little ones. George and Lil' G went to Altoona to visit the family for the the weekend.

Gracie Turns 5

This year we celebrated Gracie's birthday at Friendlys (Camp Hill, PA). We invited some neighborhood friends and a few friends from her daycare center. The morning of the party I got up and made cupcakes for all the kids. Gracie got lots of presents - it was like Christmas all over again - she was so happy because this day was all about her. Her actual birthday is June 2nd, but we planned it a bit earlier due to school ending and summer vacations beginning. I am starting to run out of places to have the kids birthday parties. We have done the bowling alley, chucky cheeses, Mcdonalds....I think next year we will have it at Build a Bear - I know that's one of her favorite places to go.

The Circus Comes to Town

I took Jake and Gracie to the Ringling Brothers Barnamum Baily Circus (5/22/09) at the Giant Center in Hershey. It was a spectacular show - me and the kids had a wonderful time. I have never been to a "real" circus before so I think I was more excited than the kids were. We got to see the elephants, horses and tigers before the show and we went to the preshow (which started about one hour before the actual event). During the preshow we got to go down on the floor and see the clowns and watch some of the acts. I must admit those elephants were just amazing. If the Ringling Brothers circus comes to town again I will most certainly recommend going to see the show.

Jacob's First Holy Communion

Jacob received his First Holy Communion on May 9, 2009 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Enola, Pennsylvania and we had a beautiful day for the celebration. Guest that attended were Jacob's Godparents (Uncle Marc and Aunt Sue), Uncle Mike, Aunt Nikki (with cousins Noah and Andrew) and our dear friend Pat. I must say...my little man looked so handsome. After the ceremony we all headed back to our house for some lunch and cake and the kids got to go outside and play with their cousins and friends. George and I got to spend some long, overdue, quality time with our family.

Jacob's Gets Promoted From White to Orange Belt

Jacob has been taking karate at The School of Martial Arts in Enola, Pennsylvania for about four months now. This month he was promoted from white belt to orange belt. Jacob has been looking forward to this moment a quite some time now and I must say, George and I were very proud of him.


Attached are some pictures of Jacob with his very first belt (white), some more pictures with him and his new orange belt and also included is a photo of Jacob with his instructor (Master Null).

Georgie's Junior Prom

Wow...my little boy is not such a little boy anymore. This past weekend Georgie attended his junior prom and was accompanied by a lovely girl(friend) by the name of Marissa. Very pretty girl I might add. The prom took place at the Raddison Hotel and there was an after party over at one of Lil' George's friends house (adult supervised - of course). Needlesstosay, I did not see Lil' George until late Sunday afternoon. I was so proud of Georgie because he bought his own prom tickets, rented his own tux and (bought a new tie to match his date's gown), ordered the corsage etc... he not only took care of everything on his own but he worked and paid for the entire prom. That's my boy!

Easter at the Clappers

Unfortunately, we were unable to make it home to visit the family back in Buckhorn, PA this year but we did manage to make the best of the holiday even though we were able to spend it with our loved ones. The night before Easter we colored Easter eggs and we had all intentions of going to Easter Vigil at our church, but opted to go on Easter morning instead - boy was that a mistake, the church was packed. Easter morning Jake and Gracie were up rather early (there's a shock) venturing downstairs to see what all the Easter bunny got them this year. To their surprise, they each got a basket of all sorts of goodies to eat and to some things to play with as well. I was rather surprised that Lil' George made it out of bed, without an attitude, to see what the Easter bunny got him too. After church we came home and I cooked a nice ham dinner and we all spent most of the day eating and watching TV. It was a very long-overdue relaxing day. (Pic below is Jake/Grace before heading out to church).