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.

Raclette

Raclette grilling is a tradition in Germany that we have enjoyed several times since we've been here. Each person has their own tiny little pan where cheese is melted over meat and veggies. Rose-Marie pulled out all the stops this time! We sat at the table preparing these customized, yummy treats for several hours on this night. Afterwards, the adults enjoyed pineapples baked in rum and then smothered in vanilla sauce. I'm thinking we might need to invest in one of these grills!

Pumpkins

We carved jack-o-lanterns while we were at the Osterholz home. Rose-Marie and I got all the pumpkins for free since they were leftover from the Fall festival in Weibern. We went nuts picking them out! The kids had fun carving them and it wasn't TOO messy!

Fall Break in Weibern

School was out for 2 weeks, so we took the train to visit our old friends, the Osterholz family. Whenever we can make the trip to see them, we head to the Eifel area of Germany. There's never a shortage of laughs, wine and good times when we are there!

WERDER BREMEN

A couple of weeks ago, Thomas finally found some tickets to see our favorite Bundesliga team- Werder Bremen. It was a Thursday evening game that began around 7, which meant getting home late on a school night for Hannah. Sarah opted to see a movie with the Goerler girls, but the Goerler boys joined us in Bremen to see the action. Werder pulled out a win over Spain's Athletico Bilbao. The final score was 3-1. It was a little chilly, but the excitement in the arena made us forget about the cold! Lebenslang Gruen-Weiss!