Family Mellmann

Advent Day 8. Gold coin chocolate. Katherine seems to understand now that one of the benefits of the Advent Calendar is that you can calculate how many days are left before Christmas. The excitement is building. Today I have a bonus photo for you. This is Katherine sitting in the living room in one of the leather chairs (our favorite reading spot) reading a book that I hope to have time to read soon. The irony is that I bought this book to (hopefully) get some ideas on how to understand and successfully work with a willful child. It's called "10 Days to a Less Defiant Child". If only she could just read it and save me that step...we could just move on to the next step...whatever that is. :)

Advent Day 7. Have you ever stopped to think about what advent is? I looked it up online and found this: "arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous)". So, what are you waiting for?

Day 6. December 6 is not only the sixth day of the Advent season, but the day that Patrick celebrates his birthday (but more on that later). Today the treat was wearable candy. How much better can it get? You can wear your sweets until you're ready to eat them! Or you can just eat them and throw away the rest. :)

December 5th. Today the "treat" was a gadget for Katherine - a kid-sized egg beater so that she can help me bake. For Patrick, a game of Dutch Blitz. I learned it in college and remember long periods of playing with my friends over the weekend. It will be fun to see if we enjoy it as much as I did back then.

Patrick has written a short article about a science project that he did in class. His article was published in the Williston School District paper called the Blue & Gold. Check it out . I just have to tell you...this science experience came only weeks after we watched an episode of Mythbusters where they built a tinfoil boat to float on "invisible water" ( see the video here ) so he was ready with a solid boat design.

Day 4. Today, apparently disappointed that there was candy (again), Patrick asked if the "whole thing is filled with candy, or are there other things, too". Maybe I make the "other things" too cool so that they prefer gadgets to goodies. Oh well. It didn't stop them from digging in to the chocolate...except Katherine. It turns out she's a bit of a choco-snob. She didn't like the bells with krispie crunches in them. She only liked the gold coins. I wonder if that's a statement about the chocolate, or about the gold...

December 3. The third day of our Advent calendars. I couldn't get Katherine to smile for the camera, but I got this nice shot of her blonde hair. Patrick, on the other hand, understands how the "smile for Mama and the stupid camera" thing works. Today's treat...Pez from a Santa. Eventually, after about twelve shots of Katherine's face with a Santa in front of it, I got this one which at least includes a devilish little smile.

We did it. We finally had a family photo taken. Check out the rest of them on our website . Our photographer was Kevin Macy of Finest Image Photography .

December 2. Today's Advent Calendar treat was a feast for the tongue...Pop Rocks! Katherine wasn't so sure about having little explosions in her mouth, but Patrick loves them.