Family Mellmann

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 helpe...

We used the weekend to get some work done for the deck. Joerg installed the step lights and the outlet since this week the builder will surely start putting down the floor boards.   They made some progress on the "siding" of the deck; enough that we can start to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  Today we assembled all the furniture.  The only thing that hasn't arrived yet is the umbrella.  Hmmm.  All dressed up and no place to go.