Mountain top moment

(Written 9/20/2015)
So the last Friday of August was a high point in my career for sure. I was named Teacher of the Year at Bay Creek, the school I started teaching at last year. The whole thing was so surreal, I just wish I could lock it in my brain forever.

I was nominated the first week of school, and filled out the application that weekend. When 3 administrators came in my room that Thursday, I thought I was in for a doozy of an observation or that one of my students was in major trouble, but it was to announce that I was a finalist! My teaching was taped on the following Monday, then 2 days to vote, and the announcement came at Friday's faculty meeting.

The other two candidates were awesome 8th grade teachers, and I would not have had hurt feelings if either of them won. We were all called up front and I was announced - and got a standing ovation! I just want to freeze the smile on my principal's face in my mind. All sorts of pictures followed, then I was announced to the kids on the morning news show - and they were so sweet all day long! High fives and congratulations from kids I didn't even know, hugs from teacher friends, I even had a tiara to wear - I felt like royalty all day!

 This is me and my tiara, along with just a tiny bit of the amazing gift baskets that were put together by one of my APs - it was seriously untoppable, gift cards and certificates to tons of places - and even a week at a beach condo!

David and Sara were super sweet about it when I got home, having heard the news from Facebook through my dad.  Huge hugs and they have been telling people "My mommy is teacher of the year!" ever since.  Corey offered to take me out to eat when he got home, but going out to eat on a Friday is often more exhausting than relaxing for me, so he went out and picked up Mellow Mushroom, one of my favorites.
I've made it to the semi-finals of county teacher of the year - which meant another 2 rounds of applications, and even a photo shoot! It would be really cool to make it to the top 6, but then I would also feel a lot of pressure to make top 3 or even GCPS TOTY!  I think I would enjoy making it more for my school and admin than I would for myself.  Either way, it's been a very cool ride and an amazing start to the new school year!

Ghosts of Crafting Past

Wow, almost Christmas again.  I am not good at updating regularly, this whole teaching school thing really takes up my time!  Having a great school year though, but that will have to be a separate entry. My purpose here is to document the crafts I've done this year that I'm proud of before we crash in to Christmas Eve.

So I am in love with the blog www.thecottagemama.com - I'm a member of the Facebook group dedicated to pictures of/questions about the dresses, and just think everything she does is well explained and looks very polished.  So I had some candy corn fabric that had been hanging out at our house for almost 2 years, with the hypothetical idea of a Halloween dress, but no motivation to whip up a dress that is basically a one time wear.  

So I stumbled upon this tutorial of Lindsey's for treat bags.  Perfect!  Fully lined, very sturdy, took a couple hours to make Sara's on Halloween afternoon (Corey very nicely took the kids out of the house since he could tell I was in full project mode).  Then I had this awesome comic book fabric for David that I'd never figured out what to do with - BAM!  Second bag sewn in 45 minutes, including applique for that D!  Trimmed off the loose threads at 7:15 as we walked out the door to trick-or-treat - whew!  But will definitely get use again next year.

 Also from Cottage Mama, the "Party Dress" had been on my to-sew list for a long time, found this cute ladybug fabric at Wal Mart, and sewed it in time for Sara's first day of Pre-K.  Probably the most complicated thing I have ever sewn, and was up until 2 AM that night, but totally worth it.  Have I mentioned I want to have another one done for the Christmas eve service in about 42 hours?

This is another dress that is a free pattern here from Cottage Mama that I made for Sar-bear over the summer.

For comparison, here is the first dress I ever sewed for Sara, a simple pillowcase one, that she enjoyed wearing as a tunic with some leggings (and a tiara) recently.

The other thing I had a lot of fun sewing this year were baby gifts for the new babies born this year- I am now an aunt!  So excited.  One thing I made for baby Finn was this cute stuffed elephant, found on this blog, fairly easy to make.  He's getting the matching blanket for Christmas, but don't tell him!

The other things I made for several baby showers (good friend from HS and art teacher at school both had baby girls this year) were burp cloths and hooded towels.  The burp cloths are flannel and a cloth diaper backing, making them thick and durable, I'm hoping they have been helpful.

And lastly giant hooded towels, modeled here by my sweet son.  I am sure I looked puzzled when I received one of these for Sara's shower, as it was so much bigger than anything else - but babies grow out of those cute little ones so quickly!  We have used her pink towel for years, so I was happy to make a couple purple ones that were so cute I wanted to keep one!

Well, that's it for now. Back to my new toy, an embroidery machine!  Hope I have not planned for more than I can accomplish in the next few nights!

Huntsville Rundown

I wanted to document what was probably my favorite set of summer memories -  a spur-of-the-moment trip to Huntsville.  Corey and I had gone up over the weekend for a wedding, and I just started looking at the Space & Rocket Center and going 'hmm, my kids would like that!" so I booked a hotel online, and off we went!  Just me and the kids, a 2 day trip, it's only about a 3.5 hour drive.

We drove during the morning, and spent the whole afternoon at the Space & Rocket Center - and got in free with a reciprocal deal from our Fernbank membership - that was pretty sweet!  Kids were way more into it than I thought they might be - the traveling exhibit about robots kept them entertained for an hour at least.  They also loved the outdoor kids play area, with a little rocket ride where you shoot up and then drop back down.

 Having not been in at least 20 years, I forgot how big the complex is, and we were tired/hot by the time we were done.  We picked up a quick dinner and headed to our hotel.

Kids love staying in hotels - the ice machine, the desk, the beds, everything is exciting because it is new.  David had insisted I pick a hotel with a pool, so we did - a tiny 3-5 foot pool, but we were the only ones in it, so no big deal. Now, I did manage to fall on my tailbone as I stepped in, and Sara tried to walk towards the deep end without water wings on, but we all survived these trials and tribulations and went to bed at a reasonable hour (although Alabama time was blowing David's mind!)

The next morning we had our hotel breakfast nice and early (no sleeping in on vacation!) and were packed and ready to go before the first place opened.  We were off to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens - one of the main reasons we'd come was a traveling LEGO exhibit that was closing soon.  The weather was misty/rainy, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  I saw other kids entering in bathing suits and wondered why.  We walked around looking at the Lego exhibits, but the kids were more excited by play features like 4 foot Lincoln Logs you could build a fortress with or various sand play areas, even if it was muddy sand in the rain (we got caught in a momentary downpour and had to take shelter under a gazebo!)

















We made it to the children's gardens and I discovered why kids were in bathing suits - tons of water features!  An 8 foot watering can, various fountains and ponds to play in - the kids loved it.  Too lazy to go back to the car for suits, I just let them get their clothes wet, and practically had to pull them away an hour later.  It was at this point we discovered Sara's shoes, already on the small side, would not go back on now that they were wet.  So..lunch and a trip to Payless later, we were back in business.

Note how Sara's left shoe is off - wouldn't fit when wet!

Earthquake machine

Our second stop of the day was a SciQuest  - cute one story science center, not too big, but plenty for the kids to do.  Also free with Fernbank membership!  Can I say how much I enjoyed the fact that half our activities had no cost?  Sara loved the big metallic echo tube, and the news station where you could see yourself broadcast the weather.  David dug the earthquake machine, an air maze...and plenty more, it was another place I had to drag them away from after 2.5 hours.

"Sorry everybody, bad news - more rain!"

Air Maze

The last stop was a drive-through safari, billed as one of the top 10 things to do with kids in Huntsville.  First of all, it is NOT in Huntsville, it is at least 30-40 minutes away.  Second of all, it is CASH ONLY.  I feel like it should have said that somewhere on Trip Advisor.  Third of all, my children are permanently scared to death of emus.  This was the type of place where (after driving back out 3 miles for an ATM) you could buy food to toss out the windows for the animals. So we see a deer and I roll down the kids' windows so they can toss food out - these aggressive emus know where the food comes from and stick their heads in the windows to get some.

Much screaming and crying ensued. It was both very sad and hilarious to watch from the front seat.  The kids wanted to leave right away, but having just forked out cash, I insisted we keep driving around, away from the scary emus, and everyone eventually calmed down enough to enjoy the deer, llamas, buffalo, and even zebra the safari had to offer.  There was also a reptile house to walk around afterwards, and the nice lady who runs it gave each of my kids a peacock feather for their fright.

So many baby turtles - they wouldn't notice if one was gone, right?

We packed it up about 5:00 and head back to Gwinnett - with the time change and dinner, we didn't make it home until 10, but it was with a head full of memories that still make me smile!

Summer sewing list

And here is my list of what I'd like to get done in the next couple weeks:

Sew a new kitchen curtain for Mom & Dad's house - I purchased them new cafe curtains for the windows that overlook the backyard, since the old ones had been there since my childhood! My aunt pointed out that the curtain covering the door to the carport was also looking rough, but I cannot for the life of me find the right size to replace it with, so I've decided to try my hand at this - I've heard people sew their own curtains, and this seems like straight lines, so I'm hopeful even without a pattern/directions. Worst case scenario I wasted $4 on some muslin.

Sew burp cloths for Claire - Helen and I are planning a baby shower for Claire in honor of the little girl she is expecting in September.  I've already made a big hooded towel - my new favorite gift to give.  We got one from the pastor's wife for Sara's shower, and at the time I thought "This is huge, when are we ever going to use it?" But she outgrew all the 'baby' ones quickly and we still use that one all the time!  Oh, but I want to sew a couple of burp cloths in some cute fabric too.  Pictures of both to come soon.

Sew a 'party dress' for Sara - I'm part of a Facebook group that sews from one woman's patterns (Cottage Mama) and last week completed the 'picnic dress' and am happy with it.  Now to try the slightly more complicated (but also cute) party dress, have my eye on either ladybug fabric or Hello Kitty (if I let the little one choose I'm pretty sure I know which one she'd pick!)

Cross stitch???  I feel like I have not done any in years (at least since I started sewing a couple years ago). I have a half finished birth announcement for David, and the beginning of a door hangar for Sara...and of course now I want to start a birth announcement for my nephew due in November (SQUEEE!)...I need to decide to pick it back up or at least prioritize projects at the midpoint.

Latchhook - another old habit that I just need to finish off some old projects -not start new ones, but it's been on the to-do list for years to hang the music latch hook or finish a firetruck pillow for the boy.

While I appear to have branched out from sewing let me also add that for my 35th year, I would like to set a goal of reading 35 books - good ones, not the YA love triangle crap I keep re-reading - I need to spend less time in the evenings on the computer/playing on a phone or tablet!

Summer so far

Well, 6 weeks of summer down, 3 to go - it's been wonderful, if busy!  So far I/we...

- went to Amelia Island with Corey's family, had an awesome time in the ocean and ate lots of seafood.
- co-directed VBS - this happened right after beach vacation, and went better than expected!  Some of it was just fear of the unknown, but we had good numbers, the kids had a good time, and we had a successful coin drive for a great cause!
- taught for a second year at Encore Orchestra Camp - this year with 2nd violins in the youngest group.  This is a great camp and I have a good time with my orchestra teacher friends.  New location, and it was nice not being a newbie anymore!
- have attended several summer reading programs - a juggler performing for the kick-off, then some superhero themed activities.
- went to the zoo with Nancy - great day for it, not too hot, and they have a splash pad now
- went to Fort Yargo - pretty much as soon as school got out!
- went to Sensations Therafun with Jill - David loves the zipline there.
- went to INK with my mom and dad - nice to have multiple adults for that trip!
- went to the Alliance Theater and High Museum with my aunt - saw the Knuffle Bunny Musical - which we now own the soundtrack to and cannot stop singing!

- David was involved in a math institute at his school - this seems like it was a professional development for the teachers there to try out new teaching strategies for math in a small group setting, but David had fun and Sara and I enjoyed a few hours to ourselves
- Sara has been participating in dance/gymnastics classes at the Little Gym again this summer, and has recently switched to an all gymnastics class.  This fall both kids will be playing soccer at Mount Zion again.

Lots of pictures of outings on my Facebook, so only a couple here.

Still on the summer fun to-do list:

• Suwanee PlayTown & fountains
• Imagine It Children's museum and Varsity
• Legoland (in Phipps..although I still dream of taking them to the one in Florida!)
• Tellus Science Center? (75 minute drive to Cartersville, but kids enjoyed it last summer)
• Fernbank - we should renew membership and see what the rotating exhibit is..and of course go to Flying Biscuit afterwards!
• Skyzone? We did Catch Air today for 2.5 hours and both kids had a blast.  Corey took David to Skyzone last month and he loved it, not sure there would be a lot for Sara to do though.

You know I love my lists.  Look for one soon about summer crafts!

Christmas & Crafting update

Okay, one week into Christmas break, which is wonderful.  I'm not doing a good job getting enough sleep, but I'm having a great time with the kids.  They were both fully into the Christmas spirit, old enough to understand what is going on but young enough to have the innocence of youth, jumping up and down with excitement for 2 days before and joyfully opening presents the day of.  I loved hearing them talk about what to leave Santa for a snack (final decision - pretzels and an orange), as well as seeing their eyes sparkle at the candlelight singing of Silent Night at church.

This week was spent in preparation, and even then I felt like I didn't get everything done that I meant to - great intentions for homemade gifts, but did not plan enough time to make quite everything I'd planned. Left feeling like I could have done a little more for a few family members, but I'm going to tell myself the giving season is not over yet and try to finish a few more things.  We really stayed home, went to a bounce place one day, but other than that it was a cold, rainy week indoors.

Of the last crafting list, I did accomplish most of what I set out to do - turkey shirts and skirt, clothes for the baby dolls at church, and making jewelry - a bracelet at least for each female family member, with coordinating earrings or necklace as time allowed (although some I was stringing Christmas Eve!). Sadly did not take any pictures before giving away.  I'm discovering some of the beads I picked up at Michael's or Joann's were not a great size/weight for what I was trying to do, but these handy little $2 acrylic packs from Wal-Mart had enough for a bracelet and necklace!

Did not finish the red dress - at this point not sure what to do with it.  I did not mark the pattern well when I cut it a year ago, and it's leading to major frustration in creating the bodice - I can't match up large dots if I never drew them/they faded from a year ago!  I also didn't get the memory quilt done for David, which I knew was a long shot.  Nancy had these sweet blankets made from shutterfly that included pictures of them and their favorite toys, they are both sleeping with them tonight.

So before break is over, (having just dug through the unfinished project pile that is WAY bigger than I remember!), here's what I'd like to accomplish:

• necklace for Joanne
• finish owl blanket for Tracey  finished tonight!  Just wanted to have something scratched off!
• edge blue blanket for Kyle & Ashley
• work on owl cross stitch for Sara's door
• complete birth announcement for David's room
• sew firetruck latchhook to pillow & backing
• make sleeping bags for the kids' teddy bears
• GT scarves for my parents

November Crafts

With a week off school, I actually had leisure time at night and the time to make some stuff for myself and my family.  I had pinned this turkey shirt last year and finally made it for Sara last week.

Once I'd made one for her, I realized I could do one for David too, and since I don't do much sewing for him, I was excited to have an easy project to complete.  Took about 2 nights for each shirt, one to put the fusing on the fabric and cut out feathers, the other to iron down and then sew around.

For David's I hot glued some googly eyes on along with a beak and waddle, these did not last too long in the wash and/or through rough-and-tumble boy play, will sew on the fabric, not sure how to more permanently attach the eyes.

for Thanksgiving dinner they both wore khakis with their new shirts, here are my goofy kids.

When I found the fabric for Sara's (of course I bought new fabric instead of using scraps like it suggested! Did use scraps for David's) it was in the quilting section, just some cute 5X5 squares, and there were coordinating fat quarters.  Clearly this necessitated buying both and making a fat quarter skirt.  Picture of the skirt and outfit on my bed because I could not get my model to pose  :(

And after that push was done, I decided to open up a "Class in a Box" Jill had gotten me last christmas and play around with making jewelry.  It's somewhat frustrating - nothing like tiny beads to make your usually facile fingers feel clumsy.  Learned how many times you have to knot stretchy cord to get it to stay put, and restrug a necklace 4 times before I closed it off correctly.  I'd like to make some more for some Christmas presents this year, but we'll see how it goes once I am back to grading papers and planning lessons during my evenings (next year will be easier, right?)