Family Mellmann

After fifteen years of celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve (in the German tradition) we're mixing it up a little bit this year. Patrick has been singing a lot this past year.  He has participated in youth choirs over the years, but anytime a choir performance conflicted with our Christmas Eve activities we would keep him out of the choir.  But since he's been enjoying singing so much this year we decided it was time to give him a chance to participate...even if we had to rearrange our traditions a little. So, this year we did something different for Christmas Eve.  Most of the day was spent relaxing and preparing food for tomorrow.  Then we brought in the tree and decorated it.  For dinner, we took advantage of our unseasonably warm weather and had burgers on the grill.  I even sat outside on the deck while the burgers were cooking.  After dinner we got dressed and went to the evening service at church where Patrick sang with the high school choir. Now, we're back at hom

Getting in a little knitting while we watch The Polar Express.

Yes, I know. This post is a little late. Katherine has been enjoying her life as an eleven year old for a few weeks now, but I'm just now getting around to processing pictures from the camera. Our birthday routine includes a birthday meal of the honoree's choice. Katherine, who has been looking forward to this day since her last birthday, chose Koto's Japanese Steakhouse...like she does every year.  We sit around the hibachi grill and watch as the chef artfully cooks up our dinners.  Then we go home to have cake, and open presents. With age comes some maturity for Katherine. She has observed that she doesn't do well in larger groups, and prefers small personal gatherings over large chaotic ones.  Based on this introspective observation, she decided to trade in her annual birthday party with lots of friends for a sleepover with two close friends.  It was a wise choice, and one that she enjoyed immensely. Here are some of the highlights of our family birthday pa

Chocolate cake...and popcorn!  They couldn't decide which they wanted to eat first, so they had both. In the morning, they were up bright and early playing Lego Friends. Katherine celebrated her birthday with friends by hosting a small sleepover rather than a party with lots of kids. At the beginning of October, when we were planning these events, she astutely observed about herself that large groups make her uncomfortable and grumpy, and that she would prefer to have more time with fewer people; people she really enjoys being with. She was right. The girls played nicely after school on Friday, into the evening, and even through the morning. Once everyone left, she crashed for a little solo time in her room.

The cousins in Germany: Nico, Janik, Jara and Mirko (top to bottom). The photo is taken at Oma's garden in Eichenau.

I knew, from my very early days as a parent, that raising a son was going to be nothing short of exciting.  From the bugs and worms and creepy crawly things that my cute little three year old would be so proud to show me, to the pediatric visit to treat a scratch on his eyeball, I have not been disappointed; excitement is exactly what I got.   This week is no exception. Yesterday (Monday), while Katherine and I were wrapping up homework, I received a call from the school.  "We have an injury." said the school administrator, who gets to make those delicate calls home to parents.  "Okay", I said in my if-it-were-serious-they-would-have-called-911-first voice.  "Here, I'll let you talk to Coach."  Patrick's soccer coach comes on, "His finger...weird...".  The cell phone call was breaking up, but "finger" and "weird" in the same sentence can't be good.  Perhaps they already did call 911 and I'm their second ca

We witnessed a rare occurrence this evening as two astronomical events coalesced in one colorful event.  Known as the supermoon lunar eclipse, the two events were 1) a supermoon , and a lunar eclipse . After the kids were in bed, Joerg and I went down to the horse farm (just past our neighbor's house) to watch the unfolding of the eclipse from a dark spot behind a barn.  We watched for about two hours as the sun, moon, and earth lined up and then unlined up. I took several pictures, but here are a few of my favorites.  These are in the order in which they were taken, from the beginning of the eclipse to the point where the moon started to move out of the earth's shadow.

5th grade and 9th grade. Ready or not, here they come!

We finished the deck earlier this week.  And, as Murphy's Law would have it, it has been rainy and/or wet ever since. Today, however, we were finally able to enjoy a family meal on our new deck, sitting on the new furniture.  What a long-awaited treat. Guten Appetit!

I'm a little behind on my updates.  For some reason the e-mailing of photos to the blog has ceased to function so it hasn't been as easy to update as it once was. :(  In any case, here's a recap of what has been accomplished since August 2. August 4; floor boards start going in August 5; more floor boards go in August 6; it's really looking like a deck August 10; (I missed taking pictures on the 7th because we left in the middle of the day for a camping trip) we have steps! August 12; (a couple of days passed with no work done because they ran out of fasteners and we had to order an extra box...and wait for shipping) Today the builders filled the screw holes, sanded rough spots, and put in the missing fasteners.  UPS didn't deliver the fasteners until almost 6:00, so they were late getting home, but they finished. August 13; now that the building is done, we can oil the deck.  The first step was to clean it and let it dry.  Then Patrick helped me