Teacher of the Year!!

It's truly hard for me to do a whole blog post about MYSELF, but this Saturday, I won the Elementary Teacher of the Year for Douglas County!! So, while I definitely don't wanna toot my own horn, I do want to document it for my girls, and I want to remember this awesome experience. I learned that I had won Teacher of the Year for Beulah last year. That, in itself, was a major honor, particularly since I work with such amazing educators on a daily basis:

Then, last month (on a day that I looked like absolute death-warmed-over) the superintendent delivered flowers and a balloon to my classroom to let me know that I had been chosen as a semifinalist! I then had to be observed and interviewed by a panel of 23 "judges." It was very overwhelming and stressful at times, but so rewarding and exciting! Last week, the Teachers of the Year were recognized at the Courthouse for "Heroes Day." It was such a nice and humbling experience.

 

 My biggest "supporters" were cheering me on!! :)

 (Clairy was supporting from her dreams....)

Last Friday night, the county held a PHENOMENAL reception at the Foxhall Resort. Great food, good times, and great people!!

 Me, with my awesome principal, Sheila, along with my hottie former coworkers, Linsey and Shana (Linsey was the overall Teacher of the Year for the entire county last year!!)

 Look who it is!! This is Jennifer Walters, someone I've known for almost 20 years, but haven't seen in over a decade!! Jennifer was one of the judges who observed me and served on the interview panel, but thankfully, I didn't know this until reception night (I was already nervous enough, and would've been even more nervous with a familiar face!!) So great to see her!!

 My beautiful assistant principal, Cher!!

 Nora was working the crowd!! :)

 Grandmommie and Paw-Paw were checking out all of the TOTY posters.....

 And when I went to have a photo-op with my TOTY poster, somebody totally photo-bombed it!!!

 Here was some of the amazing gifts we received!! Tons of prizes and gift cards. So very NICE!!!!!

 Our gorgeous "recognition" area:

 My sweet family sat in the blistering heat to watch the little ceremony.

 Dr. Pritz, the superintendent, announcing the teachers.

 Since they always lined up the teachers alphabetically by school, I was lucky enough to get to sit by Mrs. Dutcher, Bill Arp's TOTY. Lea has worked with Mrs. Dutcher for several years to help out with special needs program. :)

The following day, the Teachers of the Year were recognized one final time at the Foxhall Family Festival (which deserves a blog all to itself.....the girls had a BLAST!!). Grandmama came with us while I worked the Beulah booth.

Finally, it was time to get under "the big tent" for the big reveal:

Here's a little clip of the Dr. Pritz announcing your's truly:

Such a wonderful honor and memory that I will never forget!!

Josh has been calling me his HOTTIE TOTY, but unfortunately, after working in the ridiculous HEAT for over an hour (in October.....come ON!!), I was more like: "Stinky, sweaty TOTY." But oh well.....I WAS HAPPY!!

 

This is my 10th year at Beulah. I love it. Period. It's where my heart is. I am blessed to be around adults and kids that make smile on a daily basis. I am so grateful.....there are just no words.

Rock on, Beulah Bees!!!

Fun at the Fair!!!

Last Sunday, we headed over to one of our "yearly traditions," The North Georgia State Fair!! It was the last day for the fair to be in town, so we thought that it wouldn't be that crowded.....boy, were we WRONG!!! It was such a gorgeous day, and we got there before it opened, so the kids could run free in the big field for a few minutes....

Apparently, everyone and their brothers had the same idea we did!! This line (just to get IN) stretched all the way back to the road!! Thankfully, we were near the front of it!!

Once we got in, it was such a swell time!! We first noticed that the fair had added sky buckets this year!! They are movin' on up to high-class!!! :)

This was the first year we had to "divide and conquer" the rides. Nora thought many of the rides were too "baby-ish" as she says, and Ella thought some of the rides were too scary. Soooooo, while Josh and Ella headed off to the caterpillar......

Nora, Claira, and I hung out by the elephants!! :)

Still, they rode the majority of the rides together :)

Love their faces here.....PRICELESS!!

We totally thought they were gonna vom on the spinners (one kid in another cart actually DID....it was a scene straight out of The Sandlot). Enjoy a little picture and video of them spinning like maniacs (and thank goodness, the vom wasn't captured on video!) :)

I don't know what it is about the fair, but it brings out the sisterly-love. I love to see them holding hands and loving each other.....especially when they normally fight like cats in a pool.

Meanwhile, Clairy (my little HAM) just hung out and watched everything. Maybe she'll be able to participate in the bangin' rides next year...(ps-she loves the camera!)

Please excuse her greasy mess of a hairdo. Josh is the SPF patrol, and he COVERED the kids in sunscreen.....hair included. :)

You never know what surprises you might find at the fair!! This lady was groovy (and tall).

And she could JUGGLE!! 

We played a few games, and when we played the game where the little rodent runs into a color (my favorite game EVER!!), Ella WON!!!! She put her quarter on red, and the little rat ran straight to it!! Ella has slept with her new bunny ever since!!

We had to stop by my favorite "music box" (I use to LOVE this thing as a kid).

Once upon a time 20+ years ago, it would move and the little statues would dance. Now, since it's so ancient, it can only sing. But the girls were still pretty intrigued. :)

Next, we were off to the petting zoo. Always stinky, but always fun!! I really think Ella might be a vet or rescue animals when she grows up. She never met a creature that she didn't love.

Clairy enjoyed her up-close-and-personal encounters with the goats (not).

We ended the day by riding ponies, which was by far the girls' favorite experience of the day!!

Initially, Ella wanted me to walk next to her...

 But once she got adjusted, she kindly asked me to "go away." :)

Nora kept looking back to check on her. Such a good big sis. :)

All in all, it was a beautiful day with my beautiful family!!

Cheers to fair memories, new and old!!!