St. Martins

Patrick is home!!! We are so happy to be together as a family again. This time he was gone for about six weeks on a short trip to England and a slightly longer one to Italy. Homecomings are always sweet, no matter what the length of separation, and we sure enjoyed his. Patrick dove right back into our somewhat hectic home life and we attended Saskia's 4th birthday party the next day. Here are the kids celebrating at Fridolino's and Patrick helping Brennan summit the rainbow volcano.



Isla is such a little bookworm and definitely has her favorites (anything with animals, esp. ducks). Here is our non-napper conked out on the couch.



In this part of the world we are celebrating St. Martin who, upon coming across a poor man in the snow, used his sword to slice his cloak in two and gave half away. The kids make lanterns and there are parades, bonfires, clothes drives, and gift bags. Brennan and I made his owl lantern at Kindergarten and Isla and I constructed her horse at Krabbelgruppe. Here is the small Kindergarten parade and the traditional reenactment at the Assisted Living Home down the street.



This was our celebration and reenactment in Krabbelgruppe. Our horse had originally caught some flak from the other (perfectionist German) moms for having stubby legs until I lengthened them. These ladies really take their lanterns seriously.



Date night! Our good friends Chris and Lilly are stationed in the Netherlands and they came down to stay with us for part of a weekend. We got a sitter and went out for a great tapas dinner in Sittard. Patrick and I don't get out without children very often, hence the giddy looks on our faces. Chris feels strongly that pictures are more interesting when they feature people, which explains some of these photos.



I had a bit of a crazy weekend doing a ton of volunteering at the American Women of Geilenkirchen bazaar. Patrick kept the house and kids going for about 4 days so that I could commit my time and energy to this. Here are Chris and Lilly shopping the bazaar and me sporting my cool volunteer apron.



Our busy weekend was not complete without one more St. Maretinszug, this time parading through the entire village of Lieck. We went with Saskia's family, who had kindly procured us a ticket for a goody bag. We bundled up against the cold and took our lanterns out for one last hurrah. St. Martin led they way on horseback and the brass band played the traditional songs. Once we'd circled the town the bonfire was lit and St. Martin handed out bags filled with fruit, nuts, and candy.