Teacher of the Year!

My mom has been teaching music in the La Habra City School District since I was twelve years old.  She started out without even a teaching credential, but as soon as she got hired she got to work on her own education.  She earned her California teaching credential, completed enough undergrad units to begin a Master's degree in Music Education, then earned that Master's degree.  She student taught her own job at one point.  My mom is full of energy and ideas and she's organized enough to pull it all together to accomplish great things.  

At the end of last school year she was excited to find out that she had been nominated and won Teacher of the Year for her school district.  She has gotten to do some fun things associated with this award, but one of the most fun things was this Teacher of the Year dinner.  It was held at the Disneyland Hotel and was fancy and fun and honored her accomplishments in teaching and her dedication.  I am so grateful that she is my mom and the one who taught me so much of what I know. It was such a blast to celebrate with her and see her recognized for all that she does!

We all dressed up fancy and headed to the Disneyland Hotel Friday evening.  We checked in and then got to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie while we waited to be seated in the ballroom.  The room was just beautiful.  When we got to our table we found Mom's chair all decked out with swag.  She got a cool info sheet about her and her award from the OC Register, a personalized blanket from School's First Credit Union, and a bag of other awesome swag.  Mom got to connect with the other teachers and her principal from her schools that were there and we got to know the sponsor rep at our table.

We enjoyed our delicious dinner while visiting and laughing.  The appetizer was an individual caprese salad with vinegar and oil.  I don't even like tomatoes and it was good.  The main course was an herb crusted chicken with orzo pasta and veggies in a cream sauce.  Yum.  The dessert was almost too pretty to eat, but we managed.  It was an extremely rich chocolate mousse in a shortbread bowl with pumpkin and raspberries on top and a white chocolate candy garnish with the dinner's theme on it: "Teachers Rock." Nothing is done halfway when it's Disney.  Even the dishes had tiny Mickey heads embossed on them.  It was beautiful.

After dinner Mom had to go sit with the other nominees and they started the program.  The show choir from Brea Olinda High School were the entertainment, which was fun because that's a school that is really near us and because one of the main girls in the choir is our cute friend Julianne Sexton.  Mom got her started singing in the SCCC when she was just tiny and now she's in high school and singing is her passion.  She sang a solo in the show and did amazing!

The rest of the program was presenting each nominee.  There were 56 teachers honored.  They kept it moving pretty well and mom was more towards the end so we weren't totally checked out too early.  Mom came onstage while a sound bite of her talking about her love of teaching and music played and her picture and info were on the big screen.  The Brea Olinda choir kids were escorting the teachers off the stage after their presentation and Julianne got to be Mom's escort off the stage.  So personal and fun!

After it was all over we met up with Mom for a group picture.  When we went outside the Disneyland fireworks were going so we got to watch those while we walked to our cars.  It was just such a fun, special night.  Even our group bathroom trip in the middle of the dinner was a blast. I just love spending time with my family, especially when all my sisters are together like that.  It's the best.  I missed having Ian there, but I'm so glad I was able to attend this important night.