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.

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