Family Mellmann

December 24th.  The last day of Advent is upon us and we are ready to kick the celebrating into high gear.  We start by bringing in the Christmas tree (so that the snow can melt) and then it's off to Trader Duke's for a big breakfast, then home for Advent Calendar completion.  The kids are really starting to get wired up. Once the celebration gets going here you probably won't hear from us again until after Christmas.  So, to all of our family and friends, we wish you all a most blessed and joyful holiday. Merry Christmas from all of us Joerg, Erika, Patrick and Katherine

It is the last two days of Advent and the kids are finally getting into the spirit of chocolate.  All it took was an imported chocolate from Germany.  And the excitement starts to build, especially now that they are out of school!

Jackpot!  Patrick and Katherine BOTH liked their Advent gift today...pencils.  Go figure.  Katherine got pencils with snowmen and Mickey Mouse stickers and had nothing to complain about.  It is truly a red-letter day!  Patrick got a bendable pencil and some other novelty pencils that kept the two of them busy until bus time this morning.  I guess I should have given them homework supplies a lot sooner!

Patrick's school hosted a Christmas concert tonight.  It was called A Simple Christmas.  The premise of the title is that the Christmas Story is a simple story, but one that has life-changing implications.  The reason for the "simple Christmas" concert was more of a functional one.  Trinity is without a music director so the planning, organizing, and rehearsing of the program fell to a few teachers, parents, and students. There were no fancy lights, sound effects, or showy sets.  Only a group of kids (like the group above - Patrick's class of fourth, fifth, and six graders) singing Christmas songs and telling the Christmas story as it is told in the Gospel of Luke, in the Bible. Trinity has about one hundred students ranging in age from preschool through twelfth grade.  Everyone had a part in the concert. (Patrick is in the third row, fourth position from the right, and he's wearing a white shirt and red bow tie.)

Today is the day that I get to prepare school treats.  Patrick signed up to take Tiger Cookies to his Christmas party on Wednesday, being hosted by his teacher - at her house.  Not only would he NOT be celebrating Christmas in public school, he wouldn't be celebrating at his teacher's house.  I love small private schools.  Anyway, cookies will be the first project for my morning. The second project for my morning was teacher gifts...festively sprinkled, chocolate covered pretzels (above). Katherine is celebrating "holidays" and "winter solstice" in her Kindergarten by decorating a Gingerbread house.  I don't have pictures because I was busy helping the kids with their decorating, but there is a slideshow here of pictures that Katherine's teacher took.

With only three days left before we celebrate Christmas (on Christmas Eve), the mood is definitely lightening up.  Katherine is having good days at school (something that we celebrate because it isn't a guarantee) and Patrick is starting to get antsy.  The excitement is building.

We're getting close.  The kids have their last few days of school and will have some holiday-related activities (parties, gingerbread house building and decorating, and a concert).  The kids are sad that Oma and Opa won't be back for Christmas this year, but we're starting to get geared up for a week of festivities anyway.  Tonight the Tae Kwon Do studio meets for the holiday pizza night.  Let the partying begin!

After Adventsingen last night, we were all pretty wiped out.  We had a very nice time singing, dining, and socializing with our friends - as we always do.  However, our late night turned into a late morning (which turned into a lazy day).  We love lazy weekends and pajama days.  Video games, play time, few expectations, and low-maintenance meals help to keep things relaxed.  However, the kids did do some room cleaning. :)

Welcome to Saturday; the day of lazy starts and vacations from all things civilized (like bathtubs and hairbrushes!).  Katherine painted her face with purple marker at school yesterday.  It matched her purple outfit perfectly, however it (like all makeup) doesn't look as good on the second day. :)

Friday...one of the best days of the week.  Katherine is tough to please with these Advent Calendar treats.  She isn't impressed by the toys or the candy...unless it's chocolate.  But it has to be Dove or Hershey chocolate...milk chocolate, and with no "stuff" in it.  Sheesh.

It seems that all it took to get Patrick to look happy for the camera was a Whoopee Cushion!  Now Katherine thinks that Patrick has lost his marbles, but that matters little to Patrick.  He loves that Whoopee Cushion.  Imagine my surprise (NOT) when I had to remind him that he couldn't take it to school.  :)

Now that's better.  I think they're starting to think about the coming Christmas break...me too.

December 14th.  As you can see, the kids still haven't figured out that Advent is a season of fun and excitement.  All they notice is that I got them up for school.

Monday morning.  Advent Day 3.  Welcome to Grumpy Central. This day started like most; complaints about being tired, complaints about how dark it is (it's still dark here when we get up, especially on overcast and rainy days), and complaints about having to go to school.  Once we finally make it downstairs they complain about breakfast (Katherine would prefer pancakes, but isn't willing to speed up her morning routine...which would be required).  When we moved to the Advent Calendar I was already fed up with their complaining so, in the midst of my clowning around trying to get them to lighten up, I asked for "pleasant faces".  Katherine threw on a sort-of smile, but this is what I got from Patrick. I told them that if this is the way they show gratitude (such as gratitude for the time it takes to buy and wrap all those gifts and treats), thankfulness (for even having received such toys and treats), and joy (as we count down the days of Advent to Christmas) ...

It has been an overcast day with mostly rain.  In the last couple of hours the wind has stirred up and it is now rainy and windy.  It's the perfect weather for website updates, movies, and a fire in the fireplace.  Enjoy the pictures of our latest activities on the Mellmann website ...or else! (picture taken by cheeky little six year old girl named Katherine)

We had a slow start this morning.  A slow start led to a generally slow day such that it was lunch time by the time we did the Advent Calendar.  It's been a mostly relaxing day with website updates, helping Patrick set up his "critter cam" and recapturing the airplane that got stuck up in a tree a few days ago.  It is rainy and a bit on the warm side, but the kids did get outside and built a small snowman.  Sadly, he won't last long in this rain.

Saturday. Advent Day 11 and the day that Patrick gets to celebrate his tenth birthday with buddies and friends from school and church.

The most anticipated day of each week...Friday. The kids aren't really interested in discussing the upcoming Christmas holiday, but they do look forward to a break from school. Hmmm. Is that all that Christmas is?

You know what they say about the nut and the tree...well, it seems that Patrick and Katherine are also creatures of routine and habit; they stand in the same places at the counter and make the same comments. "What's yours, Patrick?" "The same as yours, Katherine...DUH." Maybe I should mix it up a little next time.

It's a sleepy day apparently. The kids are a bit grumpy, but manage to pause long enough to indulge their shutterbug mother.

December 7th - Day 7 of the Advent Calendars. Already they have a bit of a routine. Katherine opens her gift to decide if she likes the candy or not. If not...lucky Patrick. :)

What a day of celebration. The sixth day of Advent AND Patrick's birthday. Happy Birthday, Patrick.

After church this morning we did our Advent Calendars. Katherine is really getting into the spirit of "would you please smile?", don't you think?

Lazy Saturday mornings are great; sleep in, hang out in pajamas, relax. The problem is that lazy mornings make for terrible pictures; pajamas wrong side out (Patrick) and scruffy hair (Katherine). Fortunately, Mama gets to stay behind the camera. :)

Already the kids have settled into their Advent Calendar Routine...right down to the mechanical response I get when I say, "would you please smile?".

We're a groggy bunch this morning and the kids were somewhat less than enthusiastic about getting up, getting ready for school, or seeing what treats were in the Advent Calendars. But they enjoyed a little treat with their breakfast all the same, and when I asked for a smile...well, beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore." I didn't hear any reports of tornadoes, but we sure did have some seriously strong winds here over the past several hours. During my drive home from handling some rental business in Middlebury, I passed twenty-two trees (of varying sizes) brought down by the winds. Some were uprooted completely and some were simply blown over. Three of the blown trees crossed the road I was traveling and had to be removed by city crews. I was able to take a detour for one of them, but had to just wait for the other two to be chopped up and moved to the side of the road. Garden sheds were flattened, whole gazebos and heavy wooden swing sets were flipped over, lawn furniture was flying...it was like a scene out of Twister . The roads were littered with tree parts, yards were covered in blowing garbage from the upturned garbage cans...it was a mess. When I got home the wind was still blowing and the rain was still falling...sideways. Just as i...

Happy Holidays...No wait, how about Merry Christmas...actually, I think it is too early for that. Let's start with Happy Advent. December is here...ready or not. With the beginning of December comes the beginning of our annual Advent Calendar with the kids. They each have their own calendar and I fill it with little wrapped goodies, that they will hopefully enjoy, as we count down the days until we celebrate Christmas with singing, the Christmas story, a few presents, and (hopefully) family.

This was our view out the front windows of the house this morning. Katherine and I captured (and later Patrick and Joerg joined us) this view while waiting for the bus.

I've been so busy working on Katherine's room that I have shirked my office duties and even some of my household chores. Joerg has been out of town for a couple of days so I thought I would take advantage of the lonely hours and work on a website update. I hope you enjoy it. Check it out here .

My King Arthur Flour classes are really paying off. Check out tonight's dinner! (in case you can't tell...it's spaghetti pasta and I will serve it with pesto)

I suppose you are wondering what fishing and Lederhosen have in common. Well, they are both part of the latest photographic update of the Mellmann Family website . Enjoy.

I have really been enjoying the baking classes that I have been taking. Not only do I learn to make something that many people can enjoy and/or benefit from (home made baked goods, pasta, etc.) I also have an opportunity to learn a new skill, stretch skills that I already have, develop new interests, and expand my horizons. I have enjoyed this new phase of learning so much that I decided to sign up for a beading class. I have been beading for several years now, but I have never taken a class. Everything I do is self-taught. One important lesson that I have learned (repeatedly) in the baking classes is that sometimes a few "tricks of the trade" shared during a class can simplify or improve my ability to do certain things, or take the mysteries out of repetitive tasks that challenge me. What was true in baking class is also true in beading class. Tonight's class was only about earrings. We learned to use seed beads, we did wire wrapping, and a dangle-y chain style. ...

My helper is back. Today, Katherine has a half day of school (teacher in-service day) so I prepared a few things that we could do together with the couple of hours between her coming home from school and Patrick coming home. For Cross Connections (a mom's group at church) I am responsible for "baby bags" (gift bags for moms with new babies) so Katherine helped me to fill the bags with things for Baby and Mom. She did ALL the work.

Katherine makes a great sous chef. She loved getting her own apron and hat on to help me in the kitchen as we prepared the ingredients for an evening of Raclette with Oma and Opa. We were so busy eating that I didn't get any pictures of the Raclette, but here's a picture of my sous chef. She's helping me shell the shrimp. Later she also helped me cut the mushrooms and the bell peppers!

We're nearing the end of our line-up of King Arthur Flour baking classes. Today I attended "Autumn Pasta". We made a basic pasta, in the Linguine style, with durum and all-purpose flours, and taste tested the results in class with a mushroom cream sauce (it was super yummy). Then we made a spelt pasta that turned into ravioli with a ricotta, goat cheese, and chestnut honey filling. When we ran out of filling (I had enough to make about a dozen ravioli) we made Linguine out of the rest of the dough. In this picture you can see the ravioli (in the back, on parchment paper) and the two Linguine pastas; on the left is the basic pasta using durum and the pasta on the right is the one with spelt. Except for the little bit that we taste-tested in class, the rest came home and we ate it (all) for dinner.

It has been a fun and busy time around here. The kids are both in school and all the usual fall activities are starting to fire up for the new year. Before I lose control of my to-do list again, I thought I would get some pictures on the website. Enjoy.

Waiting at the "bus stop" in our front yard. This summer Joerg bought this bench for the kids; it makes the perfect bus stop as we wait for Katherine's bus.

Patrick gets his teeth cleaned, too. I love simultaneous dental visits!

Katherine gets her teeth cleaned.

We are still having a great time learning about breads (and other baked goodies). This time, it was J örg's turn to take the class. He took Beauty and the Baguette, and look what he made! (Trust me, they are as yummy as they look.)

Today is Katherine's first day of Kindergarten. She gets to ride the bus (by herself...which is very important to her) and she's very excited. She says she will miss us while she's gone, but I suspect her day will be filled with so much new stuff that she won't have the chance.

I took another baking class. This one was about baking with 100% whole wheat. We made a bread, which I braided, and scones with chocolate chips and cherries. The breads from the whole grains class, a couple of weeks ago (which are very German-style breads), continue to be a winner with Joerg. And the basic breads from our first baking class are popular with the kids, for sandwiches and dinner rolls. But I learned a lot about wheat chemistry and how the bread-making techniques are different with whole wheat versus all-purpose flour.

From swim lessons to camping, amusement parks to dress up, it's been a great summer. I thought I would put up some more pictures quick before the snow starts to fall! (I can't believe that school is starting and summer vacation is over.) Today we spent the afternoon at the local swimming pool - the last day. The pool closes for the season after today. It was a beautiful day. Tomorrow Patrick goes back to school and on Wednesday Katherine will start. What an exciting week. Enjoy the latest batch of pictures .

A beautiful day on the bike path.

Katherine gets a dress rehearsal on the school bus. School starts next Wednesday!

Patrick begins a new chapter of his education. Not only does he move from third to fourth grade, he moves from public school to private school. Here's more.

Today was Day 2 of our camping trip in Queechee, where Patrick is attending a camp about birds of prey. He is really enjoying camp, and today we got to get up close and personal with a couple of these birds. Patrick is just out of frame in this picture, asking a question. This hawk was looking right at Patrick as he asked his questions. This hawk comes in for a landing... ...before taking off again to return to the other volunteer. It was a very nice presentation, and a great chance for us to see what Patrick has become so passionate about.