Mardi Gras

After my Mamaw’s birthday party some of us decided to hit downtown Vicksburg for the Mardi Gras parade.  Syd was in the parade…with the Knights of Columbus.  They were head of the parade.  We had fun catching beads and spending time with cousins!

Jenny and I ready for the parade!

Girl cousins ready to catch some beads!

Landon and Brandon

Here is Syd walking with the Knights.

Logan and Andrew

Sophie was so proud of her beads!

Andrew loved the fire truck at the end of the parade.

some January events…

Here are some events that happened in January that never made the blog!

We walked with the Knights of Columbus in the Walk for Life.  Syd is a fourth degree Knight and here he is all dressed up with Sarah Beth.

MeMe kept Sophie b/c we didn’t think she could make the walk.  We walked from the St. Al parking lot to the city cemetery and then said prayers.  It was very nice.  MeMe and Sophie picked us up from there.

Sarah Beth also celebrated her 100th Day of 1st Grade!!  She dressed up as a 100 year old lady. 

She wore some of my Nannie’s old jewelry that we kept!  My Nannie loved a brooch!  This is just one of many that she had!

Sarah Beth also had Career Day during Catholic Schools Week.  Sarah Beth wants to be a Kindergarten teacher when she grows up! 

Happy 84th Birthday Mamaw!

My grandmother (Dad’s Mom) turned 84 on February 1st.  My whole family celebrated with a party at my house on February 9th.  It was so much fun to get together.  Mamaw was “giddy” because we do not get together much so she loved this! 

She looks wonderful and feels great! 

Here she is with her 4 kids…left to right – Ellen, Tommy, Mamaw, Jimmy (oldest), and Brenda (youngest).

Mamaw with her GrandKids (a few were not here).  Left to right…Wayne, Dale, Mamaw, Lori (oldest), Kori, Allyson…back Kelli (youngest) and Gabe. 

Here she is with the Great-Grands.  Several are missing.  They are such a cute bunch.  Sophie wanted me so she was crying!

Some people say that I look a lot like my Mamaw.  I just hope I look that good when I am 84!

Happy Birthday Mamaw!!  We had so  much fun celebrating with you! 

Educator of the Year!

Back in the fall my co-workers voted me as Sherman Avenue’s Teacher of the Year.  I feel very honored that my peers and co-workers feel that I am worthy to represent our school.  Mr. Hume gave me the paperwork to fill out for the Warren County Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year Award.  I filled it out, turned it in and then went on an interview.  I was interviewed by 6 retired teachers/administrators.  I was so nervous but I went in there and showed them how passionate I am about teaching.  Each school votes on a teacher of the year and all of the teachers are invited to the Chamber’s annual Black and White Banquet.  It was last Thursday night, January 31st.  Syd and I got all dressed up and went to the convention center for the dinner and awards banquet.  I was not looking forward to getting on stage to be recognized but it wasn’t that bad.  After all of the teachers are recognized they announced the overall Elementary and Secondary Educator of the Year.  I looked down the line of awesome teachers so I could see his/her reaction…and low and behold I hear…the winner is ALLYSON JOHNSTON.  My  mouth dropped wide open because I was shocked that I won…I wasn’t expecting to hear my name!  I received a nice plaque and a $1000 check!  How exciting is that?!  I am overjoyed and very flattered.  I absolutely love teaching and it is awesome to be recognized for doing an outstanding job.  I couldn’t do it without my wonderful team of Kindergarten teachers and my wonderful administrators at Sherman!  Here are a few pictures from my exciting night!

Here I am accepting my certificate before they announced the “big winner”.

accepting the BIG check…I was in shock!

Can you tell I was a little excited?!

I think Syd was just a little proud of his wife!

The next day I took my check and my award to school.  Everyone was super excited for me including my students! 

My awesome Kindergarten teacher friends helped me celebrate by having coffee and cake during our planning time!

Last Day @ Magic Kingdom

We spent our last day at Magic Kingdom again.  This was by far the kids (and mine) favorite park!  This was the day before New Year’s Eve and it was PACKED!!  The kids chose their favorite rides to ride again.  Sophie wanted to ride Peter Pan’s flight and SB rode Splash Mountain twice and even braved Space Mountain…she LOVED it! 

Here is a picture of our Resort…it was a really cool place!

Our big meal that day was at Chef Mickey’s.  We loved seeing Mickey and friends.  It was so much fun! 

Andrew was way more comfortable sitting with  MeMe keeping his distance from the characters.  He would wave to them but did NOT want his picture made!

Scott said his favorite character is Goofy!

Pluto is so silly signing his autograph on his nose!

We even got to celebrate Jason’s birthday (which is New Year’s Eve).  There was another birthday too.  The restaurant plays a special song and everyone waves napkins in the air…so fun!

being silly!

Late night ride on Aladdin…

Me and my girls…sad to leave!

I sure hated to say goodbye to the castle!

This was an awesome trip and we can’t wait to go back!!

Animal Kingdom

On our 3rd full day in Disney we went to the Animal Kingdom Park.  The kids enjoyed this park as well!  They got to see Mickey and Minnie dressed in their Christmas outfits!

We saw the Lion King show after we got autographs and it was amazing!  I didn’t get any pictures because Andrew was asleep in my lap. 

Here are the boys mapping out where our next stop would be!

We decided to go see “It’s a Bug’s Life”. The kids did not like it too much. I guess they didn’t like all the 3D action.

After we had dinner at this African Restaurant there was a band playing in the middle of the street.  Andrew LOVED dancing.  He was the center of attention! 

The tree of life in the background…

We left Animal Kingdom around 6:00 that evening and went back to our resort to freshen up.  We decided to head to Downtown Disney for a little night life…wow it was so busy and crowded!

 

the carousal

Buzz Lightyear

riding the choo choo train

Lego dragon

What a fun day!!