Nikolaustag

Germans celebrate "Nikolaustag" in the beginning of December. The night before, the kids polish a shoe or boot for Nikolaus to fill with treats. Oma came over that morning to play "Nikolaus" and brought socks she had knit that were filled with chocolates and euros!

Sarah's class party

Last weekend, the Schiff family who have twin boys in Sarah's class, invited everyone out to their home for a little celebrating. They live on a horse farm, so Sarah was naturally very excited about the event. The kids ate a nice potluck lunch and then got to brush the horses and go for a little ride. Their teacher, Herr Schuette and some of the parents were coaxed to get on the horses too!

Eystrup tree lighting

Hannah's third grade class recently sang at the annual tree lighting ceremony and sold cookies to earn money for their class fund. It was cold and rainy that day, but we enjoyed our small town's celebration anyway!

Wilde Sau

A couple of weeks ago on the first Sunday of Advent, Oma took all the family out to eat at a local restaurant. It was very yummy! We had goose, duck, Rotkohl (red cabbage) green beans, potatoes, Knoedel and Bavarian cream for dessert. The only thing missing was Thomas' brother, Hermann. He had developed a blood clot in his leg and had to spend a week in the hospital. After the meal, Sarah was a little distraught about the choice of meat and claimed she was going to be a vegetarian!

Laterne

Last Wednesday, we went on a walk around the neighborhood with our Lanterns, or "Laterne" to celebrate "Martinstag," or the life of St. Martin. The kids went from house to house singing songs and they got lots of yummy German candy. The Goerlers showed us the ropes, but Sarah and Hannah were armed with the song, "Ich Gehe Mit Meine Laterne", which Mrs. Monika had taught them last year. It was rainy, but the kids didn't seem to mind, except their paper lanterns got kind of ruined.

Pumpkins

We didn't trick-or-treat this year, but we found time to carve some pumpkins with the Goerler girls... Here's the outcome!!!

Monika

We want to send a big thank you to Mrs. Monika, the girls' German tutor for the two years before our move to Germany. It's a funny story how Thomas found her, a former German teacher for the Goethe Institute...He was at a golf tourney hosted by the German-American Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta. They exchanged contact info and shortly thereafter, our girls spent Sunday afternoons at Mrs. Monika's learning German songs, doing experiments, conjugating verbs (ugh....) baking bread, reading, and the list goes on and on. She not only taught them the language, but told them about German traditions, geography, HORSES, etc... If not for her, the transition to German school would have definitely been more difficult for the girls. She is an amazing teacher with a huge heart and wonderful ideas. We sure do miss her, Amelie and Wotan! Alles Liebe...... xoxoxoxoxo

Rollerblading!

The girls have discovered rollerblading since we've been here. The Goerler kiddos got them hooked pretty quickly. Only one pair of jeans got holes in the knees, but that doesn't matter one bit... as long as they have fun and nothing gets broken, we're good! Here's a pic of them in front of Oma's "Ohlmeier Stein."

Halloween 2008

It is at Halloween when we will probably miss our sweet neighbors and friends in Pendleton the most. We have happy memories of trick-or-treating through the wooded darkness from house to house on this fun night. Here are some pics of the girls with Hayley from last year. I thought the costumes were a hit this year!

Halloween Hayride 08

Elizabeth AKA neighborhood party planner organized a Pendleton Halloween gathering and Hayride this year. It was lots of fun!

Halloween 2007

Here are some shots of us with our neighbors the Howatt and the Suess families. Aren't these just the cutest little goblins? Thomas has a tradition of wearing a mullet wig on Halloween that started years ago when we were living in Ohio. Most people don't even recognize him with the dark hair and eyebrows!

Waffeln

Time to bake!

We have had a couple of baking sessions with Oma since we've been here. She can make the most amazing cakes, pies (Torte) and bread. Germans eat a lot of "Schwarzbrot"... or literally... "Blackbread." Last week, Thomas' mom showed up at our house with her antique mixer, and "Roggenmehl" or rye flour that she had ground herself that morning. The rye came from my brother-in-law's field. We added some oats, walnuts and a special German bread mix and made 4 large loaves. I never thought either of my girls would ever touch this bread, but they have come to like it. We also made waffles, which we ate with whipped cream and blueberries... yummy! Maybe Sarah is inheriting her Oma's baking talent... she recently made some cinnamon rolls all by herself. She used yeast and all... they were scrumptious!

Rose-Marie

I first met Rosie in the early 90's when I moved to Germany. At the time, she was dating Burchard, Thomas' childhood friend. Rosie, who is originally from France, but speaks German perfectly, helped me in those days more than she will ever know. She quickly invited me to spend a weekend with her in Osnabruck where she was living at the time. I'll never forget she had taped up German words all over her apartment and gave me my first German picture dictionary, which I still have and use! I was also fortunate enough to travel with Rosie and Burchard to her hometown in France where her parents graciously welcomed me into their home. We have traveled thousands of miles to spend time with each other and I look forward to many more happy times together.

Roxane

Almost 5 years ago, Rose-Marie and Burchard asked me to be their baby girl's godmother, which was such an honor to me! I just love Roxane's spunky personality and her big, brown eyes and jet black, wavy hair. She is her mommy made over.