A year in review...

What a year it has been!  2012 left the frugal girls with some AMAZING memories!  Looking back on all that we have accomplished this year definitely brings a BIG smile to our faces!  Starting our blog definitely made it in the top five on our list of things to do in 2012... and look where we are today!!!  We are SUPER excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!  Here's a quick look back at some of our FAV memories from 2012...  

 This is a Melissa and I ringing in 2012... exactly one year ago!  My oh my, time sure does fly!

Later that same night, as the ball was dropping, Matt popped the big question and of course I said YES!  Well... actually, the first words out of my mouth were "what are you doing..." hahaha 

Truth be told,  I thought he fell or was fooling around, I totally was not expecting him to go down on one knee and propose!  We were officially engaged during the first minute of 2012!   

Our fabulous coworkers nominated us for the 2011-2012 Teacher of the Year (Brittany) and Rookie of the Year (Melissa) so we were able to attend the Gala together. Plus we got parking spots side by side, SCORE!!!

SPRING BREAK 2012!  Melissa and I decided to get a jump on wedding planning and ventured off to St. Augustine to check out some venues and of course hit the beach... after all, isn't that what spring break is all about!  We just HAD to snap a pic as we passed by the oldest wooden school house in the U.S.A. - how adorable!

 

Spring break should be longer than just one week.... there's absolutely no way to fit it all in!  And believe me, we had an agenda!  This was Melissa and I on one of our many trips to the beach... post spring break!  The weather was PERFECT!

Then we celebrated the end of a great school year with a trip to CANCUN!!!

This guy would fit perfectly with my classroom theme... FROGS!



 FOURTH OF JULY!  Melissa and I decided to go ALL OUT!  She picked up these snazzy party favors on sale at TARGET!  I ADORE THIS PIC!

We continued to celebrate our nation's independence by grubbing out on this delicious FEAST!  Our good friends hosted a seafood boil fit for a king... or more suitably, a QUEEN! 

 It was DEE-LISH-US!  Can't wait to do it again next year! We all decided to make it a 4th of July tradition... YUM!

Oh and how could we forget... MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!  Ugh, the dreaded dirty 30, it sounds so OLD! (sad face) To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to my birthday this year.  I wanted to hold on to my 20ies just a little bit longer!  haha Melissa and Kelly really know how to make a girl feel special!  Love them!  SIDE NOTE: This turned out to be the HOTTEST day ever!  We managed to snap a few cute pics before we were dripping in sweat!

Since I down in the dumps about turning into an old woman, Matt decided to get a bounce house for me!  WE HAD A FREAKIN BLAST!  Oh to be a kid again!   It was the perfect gift to make me feel young again! 

We continued the birthday festivities a couple weeks later with Melissa's 27th birthday on October 1st!  We went for dinner at one of our FAV restaurants, HARRY'S!  They have the absolute best mussels we've ever had and the pecan crusted trout is A-MAZ-ING!  It makes me hungry just thinking about it! Mmm...mmm

OH YES WE DID!!! haha Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp made their annual appearance in our classrooms for our Literacy Celebration this year (our version of BOOK-O-WEEN).  You should have seen our firsties faces! PRICELESS!  Melissa and I have been doing this bit for 3 years now and we've got it down to a science.  She starts off dressed as Miss Nelson and reads both of our classes the childrens' classic we all know and love, Miss Nelson is Missing.  I pretend I have a meeting to go to and scurry off to transform myself into Viola Swamp.  At the end of the story, Melissa pretends that the kids are being rude and acting up (just like in the story) and she's had enough, so she runs out.  And that, my friends, is when I make my grand entrance!!!  I read the sequel to the first story, Miss Nelson Comes Back and teach our little ones to respect their lovely teachers!  Our next step is to take it to Broadway!  hahaha

In November, our good friend Jessica welcomed sweet baby Kennedy into the world!  Here she is with her fabulous sister Chey who threw her an absolutely adorable baby shower!  SO PRECIOUS!  No babies for the frugal girls until after our weddings!  We are sweatin' for the dress! 

We also found a hidden gem here in Ocala this year called "A Cut Above"... its a fabulous little boutique where we happened to stumble upon some even more fabulous deals in our many shopping trips there.  The owner (also named Brittany) hand picks some of the cutest dresses we've ever seen!  We L-O-V-E it!  It's a definite stop when we are perusing through town! Check out A Cut Above's website! They deliver and they blog!! It's a win-win!

MERRY GRINCHMAS! We picked up these adorable shirts to go along with our Grinch themed day!  We'll have to go back and take pics of all our adorable anchor charts and activities that we made.  Most of our ideas were inspired by things we've seen on some of our fav teaching blogs!  Who doesn't love the GRINCH!!! SO fun!

And of course, THE GRANDE FINALE!  Melissa and Rob got ENGAGED! I'm SO SO SO happy for them both!  Matt and I were so excited we got to be there for this oh-so-special moment!   

And there you have it frugal followers... this was only a glimpse at some of the happenings of 2012!  It truly was a great year and we are hoping to top it in 2013!  Lucky number 13, right?!  Melissa and I had a blast this past year and are so very excited that our blog is up and running so we can connect with all you fabulous people!  We love blogging about our lives as teachers and as friends and all the stuff in between!  We will keep you posted with what we're working on in our classrooms, our frugal shopping finds, and, of course, our wedding planning!  After all, we now have TWO  weddings to plan and we couldn't be more excited!  (thank God for PINTEREST)  Wishing all our frugal followers and their families and HAPPY NEW YEAR, may this be your BEST year YET!