Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A Busy Week!

The End of School and the Beginning of Summer...

It's officially summer for the young people in our house, but the adults still have a few days left, but we celebrated the end of school and the unofficial beginning of summer this week....and what fun we had!

We started with Katie's end of year celebrations, as she finished elementary school and fifth grade.

 

1. Fifth Grade End of Year Party at the Skating Rink..

Katie with best friends - Sophie and Brynn

Katie with friends since Kindergarten/First Grade - Sophie and Megan.

2. Next came Katie's birthday party - her birthday isn't until the end of the month, but we always celebrate with friends before school is out. She had fun spending her 11th bday party with some of her best friends!







3. Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony: 

It's not graduation, but "Promotion" ...and it was definitely a tear jerker as we both said goodbye to elementary school, and look ahead to middle school!






Carleigh and her friends watching from the stands.



Katie with her teacher, and two best friends

Katie and one of her best friends since 2nd grade - Trevor
So Katie has been promoted, the school buses have all left for the last time, and Don and I are packing up our classrooms. And in my case, waiting for the sun to come out so that I can move all of my school belongings into our garage for the summer. Then come August 1 - move it all to my new home - Blue Ridge Middle School. The days are busy, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to have our summer celebration, albeit a bit early this year...

4. Lobster Day #12... 

Every year we invite new people to join us for Lobster Day - and every year brings new adventures....Here's the link that explains "what the heck is Lobster Day?" (What is Lobster Day ? A Primer for the Clueless...)
 So this year's new attendees were my cousin Blaze's wife, Lindsay and their adorable 2 yr old son, Miles! Blaze was a Lobster Day veteran from before he entered into the military, and before he was married. 

Here's a picture from Lobster Day, 2008
L-R: my cousin Jessy (Blaze's brother), Don, Blaze, my uncle Jim (their dad)


It was great to see him again and finally get to meet Lindsay and Miles. Blaze is stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and was home visiting east coast relatives - hence the early arrival of Lobster Day this year. We planned it around Blaze and Lindsay's east coast visit. We had a great time, it was nice to relax for a few hours amidst the chaos of finishing out the school year!

Lobster Day 2013
The first Lobster Day where Carleigh is the tallest - and Don is photobombing

The first Lobster Day where Katie manned the grill

Is that a (toy) Lobster in your pocket, or are...................


A man and his dog...

The real lobsters!

Little Miles had a blast...I think the girls did too~!


Bacon wrapped shrimp - the contribution from my Uncle Jim and Blaze!



Miles liked the lobster!


Yes..we are the family that has matching t-shirts! But, they were from Old Navy, so..trendy matching t-shirts! :)

 

 5. Carleigh and Katie head to the Fairfax Fair - Don and Laura stay home and do school-work!

The girls were very excited when they were invited to go with the rest of the family to the Fairfax Fair because the original plan was that they would be bored and Don and I would be finishing up paperwork and last minute stuff for school.  They had a blast. Carleigh, Jim and Lindsay were the thrill-riders. Katie, Rina, Blaze, Patty and Miles took it easy.



Carleigh rode the bull and did NOT fall off. She was on for 3 minutes!!





Katie did ride the bumper cars! :)

Somewhere in there, you can see Carleigh! :)


So...we were able to pack some fun into an already packed week of ending school! Don and I have another day or two left and then it's summer fun!!

Stay Tuned for...

Saying goodbye to 23 years of elementary education and saying hello to summer fun!

With summer comes Rahn fun, so who knows what will be happening in the coming weeks. Our first official vacation isn't until July 13 - so lots of homemade fun coming!!



 







Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Top 5 from April and May...and the Fun continues!


It's been a whirlwind of a spring and time has definitely flown by!  Lots of fun little events have happened over the past two months, so let's get caught up...

1. Teachers and Students....many years later

I have kept in touch with many former students through the years, who have turned into impressive young adults. I was able to catch up with many of them at the wedding celebration of one of my former students, Natasha.  It was so much fun to see these "kids" and talk with them face to face, and to see their parents who were my room moms and volunteers from years ago.
Natasha and I
Josh and Amanda - brother and sister - I taught them both back in 2nd, and 5th grade


I love these "kids!"
 It was such a fun time, and it was a good "pep me up" about teaching.  I had an impact on them and they still wanted to talk with me about the good old days!

2. Carleigh's Dance Recital


She's been dancing since she was 3 and we have been to many recitals through the years! This year, it was  Hip Hop and it was fun to see how far she has come and what an adult she is turning into! The pictures are a a bit blurry. Sorry!


 


3. Katie dresses up...


Katie got an opportunity that she was so excited about in late April. We had our annual elementary school Book Fair, and this year the book fair kit came with a costume. Not just any costume, but a big costume, comparable to Disney character standards. This costume had a big head and full clothes, shoes, etc. Our Librarian asked Katie if she wanted to be the one in the costume. Of course, there was no doubt that she would jump at the opportunity. So...Katie became book character Geronimo Stilton for two days while kids were at the book fair. One the first day, she waved goodbye to the buses as a promotion for the family book night later that evening!

younger students wanting to touch Geronimo




even the 5th grade boys wanted in the picture - they had no idea it was Katie inside

some of Katie's friends - again...no idea she was inside

she said she felt like a Disney Character

Katie's friend Megan knew it was her!

4. Katie's Piano Recital


Katie is finishing up 3 years of piano instruction and has grown so much! We owe it all to her teacher, Mrs. Cox - because there's not much musical instrument talent in the other 3 Rahns.


Here's a video of Katie at her recital! We are so proud of her, she did a great job!!

5. Laura gets to graduate from elementary school!

After 23 years, I am going to middle school! I am so excited and can't wait for the new adventures. I've been thinking about it for the past 2-3 years, but didn't want to really do anything until Katie finished 5th grade. Well...here it was and the opportunity presented itself, and I applied, interviewed, and got hired to teach 7th grade English next year at the girl's middle school. I have been volunteering at the school for the past two drama seasons, during Annie and CATS. I fell in love with the building, and the climate of the school. It's such a positive place, full of exciting things happening. I can't wait to be part of that staff. Lots of fun ahead! Don is happy for me and he is also getting to move back up to teach 5th grade - where he was 4 years ago. Both of us have some changes next year and it's all good!




And here we are at the end of May - preparing for the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. 

Don and I have one last "Microsoft Hurrah" as we end this year of classroom computers on a high note. We will be taking our classes to the Microsoft Store in Tysons Corner to present for the media and Microsoft/LCPS executives. If this is worthy of a blog post, you'll be the first to know. It's been a great year with the 1:1 technology in my classroom and who knows what will happen as I travel to Middle School.

We have lots of fun ahead as this summer is longer than most. School ends for us June 10 and teachers don't head back until August 21.  Unfortunately, we haven't won the lottery, so we won't have any extra crazy vacations to fill that extra time.

Stay tuned for...
  • Lobster Day! Every year new people attend, this year....extended family from Slippery Rock, PA - can't wait to meet Lindsay and baby Miles, and see my cousin Blaze again!
  • Katie in a 2 week Summer in the Arts camp taking - Voice, Digital Video Production, Dance and Theater classes.
  • Carleigh practicing her volleyball skills with two different camps
  • Heading back to Emerald Isle, NC in July with my family
  • Returning to Walt Disney World for 4 nights in July with Rina and Bubba
  • Spending lots of time at home and relaxing....finding fun family "staycation" things to do...

And as you know...the Rahns don't relax like most people....so I suspect our summer will continue to be filled with "Seldom A Dull Moment" events!!

Until then.....we'll see you soon!