Fair Fun!

Friday evening we spontaneously headed to the North Georgia State Fair with Quinn, Jim and of course Miss Maya!  We had a great time.  The kiddos really enjoyed riding the rides well I guess I should say Blakely and Drew enjoyed riding the rides.  Miss Maya on the other had thought she wanted to ride every ride until the rides would actually start and then you can see in the pictures her excitment went away quickly.  Poor thing!  She did enjoying looking around, watching her cousins ride, eating, dancing, etc... so it was a good night for her as well.  She loved the animals.  We had a good evening.  Papa gave both kids $5 before we left and of course that $5 was buring a hole in their pockets so before we left they finally decided what they wanted to buy and you can see from the pictures they bought some great light up toys.  They were THRILLED to say the least about these in my opinion dumb toys but I guess because they know Mom and Dad aren't normally going to buy them it made it even more special.  I don't think Drew has put it down since he got it.  Really it is amazing they still work and still have batteries after all this time.  Thank you Papa!

 

It's GREAT to be a Chapel Hill Panther!

Last Friday I really felt GREAT to be a Chapel Hill Panther.  I mean I have been teaching for over 8 years and this was the first time I saw an entire school come together like I did that day.  It was homecoming week and the spirit was in the air.  We had dress up days every day with all the different themes and the students had a great time dressing up then on Friday we had a BIG day planned.  The day started off with the filming if a video.  Ms. Baggett, one of our Administrators, had this great idea for us to make a video that highlighted what Chapel Hill is.  She saw something similar on YouTube and we have a counselor who was at a school where they did this before so we got to work on creating our own.  Ms. Baggett has been talking about this video since preplanning and I wasn't ever really sure that it would come to be but it did and I am SO glad.  We filmed the video with the help of the CCI.  The morning of the video I had car rider duty so I got to see many of the students as they arrived to school all dressed up and pumped about what the day was going to bring.  I also saw some students get out of their cars dressed in normal school clothes and I would ask them about where is their purple and black and they would just kind of shrugged their shoulders but something happened after everyone got to school that Friday.  By the time the video was to begin being filmed everyone and I mean everyone was in spirit gear in one way or another.  I mean the kids who would NEVER care about school spirit or purple hair or face paint or whatever were dressed up and showing their spirit.  It was crazy and such a great feeling.  I mean we have a very diverse group of students at Chapel Hill and that day it was like we were one big family.  You could just feel it in the air.  It took a little over an hour to film the video from beginning to end and the kids were great.  No behavior problems at all!  They were all into it and listening and paying attention.  After the filming we had a pep rally where the teachers had planned a flash mob.  I knew this was going to be great.  We had practiced before school and NO students knew about it.  Of course high schoolers think their teachers can't dance but they were proved wrong that day.  At the pep rally when it was time for the flash mob we started and then before we knew it the entire school and when I say entire I mean EVERYONE was on the basketball court.  I just knew when I saw that starting that that meant trouble - over 1,000 kids on one floor that normally would equal TROUBLE but not today instead after the song was over the kids returned to the stands as asked and the teachers did their dance.  It was probably one of the best pep rallies I have ever been involved in.  I can honestly say I love working at Chapel Hill and that day really proved why.  Thanks CHAPEL HILL!

Link to the teachers dancing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEQcLtPfSCQ
I will put the video link up as soon as it is ready!
 

It's that time of year...Apple Pickin'!

Of course this year we had to do our annual Apple Pickin' excursion to Ellijay.  We had a great time.  The kids really enjoy doing this each year.  We head up to Ellijay to the R & A Orchard.  It is such a nice place with such nice people.  They take you on a tractor ride out to the orchard and they tell you about all the different types of apples and everything else that they grow on the farm.  Then you get to start picking.  The trees were so full this year that filling up the bags didn't take too long at all.  After filling the bags up they bring you back to the store where you can buy all the great apple goodies like apple cider, donuts, fried pies, more apples, etc...  Everything is OH SO YUMMY!  Thank you Grandma and Papa - we had a great time!
 

Baseball Time!

Of course Saturday morning was spent at the baseball field - Go DREW!
 

Happy Birthday Ebbie!

After the race we headed straight to the mall to Ebbie Simmons birthday party.  It was a great party and all the kids had a wonderful time.  Ebbie was turning the BIG 5 years old!  Her birthday was at the mall food court and then we headed over to Build-a-Bear.  Of course all the kids LOVED building their bears.  My kiddos haven't been to Build-a-Bear in a looooong time so they were sooooo excited.  Blakely built a white bear and dressed her in a cute pink smiley face t-shirt.  Drew built a brown puppy dog that he completed with a BOOM!!! comic t-shirt.  It was a great party.  Thank you so much for inviting us Ebbie and Happy Birthday. I hope you had a great one!