Mystery Reader

This past August, Addy Grace began attending a free Pre-K program at a local school five days a week. It was such a gigantic blessing and answer to prayer for her to be selected to attend. We applied in March, were interviewed in April, and then waited the entire summer with bated breath, daily watching and praying for that little letter to arrive in our mailbox. At the very end of July it did arrived and we received the news we had wanted...

We're now almost finished with the first semester and she is absolutely loving every minute! I'm very impressed with the school, her teachers, and the amount of knowledge that her little brain has already soaked up.

First day of Pre-K!

One of the neat activities her teacher incorporates each week is called "Mystery Reader." This is where a special surprise guest shows up to read a story to the classroom. The kids never know who it will be until they arrive and knock on the door at the designated time.

Last Wednesday, Addy's Daddy was the assigned Mystery Reader for the day... So all three of us-- Daddy, Mommy, and her brother-- showed up and surprised her. Alec chose to read one of her favorite bedtime stories to the class, "The Spiffiest Giant in Town."

As you can tell from the video, the students loved Alec's witty rendition of the story and even gave him a big round of applause at the end. It was such a sweet, fun experience and I can't wait for my own assigned date coming in the spring!

Blogger MIA

This morning I've been staring at my blog archive for 2011... I really can't believe there are only 6, now 7, posts. Has it really been 8 months since my last entry? Oh my word! Thanks so much to those of you who have let me know that I have been missed in the blogosphere. I've definitely missed it and look forward to getting back in the blogging groove.

What better way to kick off my hiatus than sharing adorable pictures of my little ones?! Here are some shots that I took on our way to our church's annual Trunk or Treat this past Sunday:

Addy Grace, the "good witch"

My lil' firefighter, Cade

The sweet candy corn on the left is my little niece, Annslee.

Cade loved grabbing treats at each of the trunks.

Addy Grace and Annslee "cheesing" for the camera.

A quick family shot before we went home.

Wordful Wednesday

Howdy to all my bloggy world friends!  Did any of you think I had forgotten my own web address?  HA!  Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  Things in the Klapper household have been rather... well, interesting.  But at least longer daylight hours and warmer weather (aka SPRING) are right around the corner.  AMEN??!

Here are a few pics I quickly snapped today of my munchkins enjoying the nice weather.

Until next time...

Wordless Wednesday

A New Year, A New Direction

WOW! There are only five days left in January and this is only my fourth post of the entire month. Whaaaaaaaaaat? With the super cold weather we've had over the last 4-6 weeks, my brain has been mush, mush, mush. My kids and I have been stuck inside a whole bunch because of snow and sickies, which has contributed to much laziness and junk food consumption. So, sort of sad to say, blogging has barely crossed my mind at all.

Even though I've been MIA in blogland for most of the month, I still have to mention and CELEBRATE that my blog hit the one year mark on January 1st!  Woo hoo! That's crazy, right?! It has been quite bizarre to go back through my old posts (all 189 of them) from each month, reliving and reminiscing about whatever was going on with my life at that time. And I do have to admit that there are more than a few posts that make me cringe and reach for the delete button. But, hey... that's just part of the blogging journey, I guess.

So, as another calendar year is now in full swing and I begin another year of blogging, I've decided to implement some major adjustments. Over the last six months, my posts progressively took a turn to where I began taking opportunities for financial and personal gain, instead of sticking to my original intentions for this site. Sure, I made some money and my site traffic and Alexa score improved quickly and rather dramatically. But I've recently come to the realization that those opportunities just aren't for me or my faithful readership.

With that being said, there more than likely won't be many more book, movie or product reviews, very few (if any) sponsored posts, or giveaways on this site. I'm aware that I will lose followers and feed subscribers, but I'm totally okay with that. When I look back on this space many years from now, I don't want the posts to be empty or irrelevant. I don't want my blog to morph into a series of random advertisements and vague self promotions. I want to WANT to contribute to this site, not dread it like a chore or lousy job. It's time for me to stop judging the worth of my blogging time by a random result from Google Analytics. No more letting a score from Alexa.com make or break my day. (Sounds silly, but it has happened...)

There you have it, my friends! Goodbye to company badges, site meters, and SEO tricks. Hello to keeping it real! ; )

XOXO