Back to 100%

Marissa is all better now. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. Here are some signs that she is back to her old self:

The other night I was busy making pancakes for supper when I noticed Marissa walk into the kitchen and then leave. All of a sudden things got real quiet. It was dark in the living room, but I could see her sitting on the couch with a big smile on her face. On closer inspection I saw the container of chocolate chips in her lap with the lid ripped off, and she was stuffing chips in her mouth as fast as she could!!!

We put her down to sleep last night, and after singing at least 10 different songs she finally quieted down. Chris remarked on this fact and we heard, "Quit talking Daddy! Shhhh!"

She has been waking up at 6 am, walking into our room and announcing, "I want lunch!!!" (Every meal is called lunch, so if you ask her what she had for lunch she will most likely respond 'cereal!')

She has discovered our card games drawer and now her favourite games include: happy face cards, Dora cards, crib, battleship, poker chips, and monopoly pieces. She will sit quietly for at least an half an hour flipping cards or moving pegs. I tried to teach her how to play Fish and Snap, but her dad taught her 52 pickup and she likes that one best right now. It is impressive how she will put one game away before starting another - for the most part anyway.

When I'm not paying attention she will sneak up on me and give me a zurbert! She is really good at giving those. She is also fond of purple nurples...

Marissa and Chris are out at Chucky Cheese's tonight, so I'll let you know how that goes...

One last cute saying:
(Chris is trying to explain that he is a boy, Marissa is a girl, and mommy is a girl...) "No! Mommy is a ... heffalump!!!
(Thanks Marissa!!!) ;-)

She's getting better

Well, needless to say that we've been a little on edge the last few days. When we found out how sick Marissa really was I started to get a little worried. Thankfully, God was able to allow the combination of medicine and her body to begin the healing process. We are still allowing her fever to run so that she'll get over this illness faster. We've seen huge gains in her health as today she actually wanted to eat and asked for some pear. After getting it cut up for her she then asked for some peanut butter to dip her pear into (Uggh!). The wierd thing is that she loved it. Maybe Marissa is having sympathy cravings for her mother. Girls! Anyways, Marissa is doing a lot better. Her fever is hovering right around 100 F and she is actually smiling (something that she hasn't done since last Sunday). At any rate, we all relieved that she's been getting better. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. If anyone would like to talk with Marissa then please don't hesitate to call.

Later,
Chris

Update

We took Marissa to the emergency hospital were they set her up on an IV an re-examined her x-rays. Because she improved so much after being rehydrated via the IV they allowed us to take her home tonight with a prescription for antibiotics for 5 days. We also have to make sure she continues to stay hydrated. They did additional blood work and the results were very reasurring. If she worsens then we will take her back in to be closely monitored.

Marissa has had a fever since Sunday, so Chris took her to a clinic this afternoon where they did blood work and took x-rays. It was then it was discovered she has pneumonia and they told us to take her to emergency right away.

Thanks for your prayers! And thanks to Ken & Kim and Travis & Lisa for coming to the hospital with us.

I will continue to let you know how she is doing...

Urgent Prayer Request

We are taking Marissa to the Hennepin County Hospital right now as she has pneumonia pretty bad right now.

Will try to update as soon as possible when we know more.

I'm baaack!!!

Okay, okay, okay... I haven't posted in a while, I know.

Excuse 1: We thought we lost our camera, but I found it in my Curves bag on Saturday. I knew that posts are better with pictures, so I didn't want to post without them.

Excuse 2: We have been pretty busy from Nov until now.

So, my plan is to go back and put in posts where they were missed. So you will have to check the archives for November and December for a while to find new posts... sorry for the trouble!

There is a feature that will email you everytime I make a new post - if you are interested in getting these emails then let me know and I will activate your email address. (You don't have ot sign up for anything I just have to add you to a list.)

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Chris is leaving...

Chris went back to Minneapolis today, and back to his studies. Exams are comming up very soon.

He said the drive got a little rough around Fargo - freezing rain. But he got home safely. Thank you to the Kelly's for checking up on him!

Marissa's Birthday Party

On Nov 26th we had a birthday party for Marissa. We had people over to Grandma & Grandpa Saric's house for dinner and games. 21 people attended. We enjoyed a spaghetti with meat sauce dinner with caesar salad and garlic breadsticks. For dessert we had chocolate cupcakes. (Marissa's favourite!) We played with balloons and also pin the tail on the donkey. Everyone had a great time.

looks like supper's finished - where's dessert?

chatting in the living room...

Let's all take the candles out!

Finger-licking good!


Marissa enjoying her cupcake


Marissa opening her presents


Daddy helping Marissa


Uncle Mike, Auntie Kristi and Marissa working on a puzzle


still going...


Smile Birthday Girl! (Grandpa Saric in the background)

Happy Thanksgiving to Our Friends Down South

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We safely arrived in Stonewall after a LONG car ride. We left around 3pm, and Marissa was unable to fall asleep (even though she was tired and crabby) from Grand Forks to Stonewall. She did not want to be in the carseat, and she would only sleep for 10min or so before waking up and crying inconsolably, only to fall asleep for 10min again. Chris decided we won't be leaving that late for a long car ride again!!! ;-)

Christmas Travel Itinerary

This post will be kept "on the top of the pile" until after Christmas so you know where the members of the Kramp family are during this busy season.

Wednesday, November 23rd

• Chris, Melanie, and Marissa travel from Bloomington to Winnipeg (at around 3pm). We will be staying with Mel's mom in Stonewall for the weekend.

Sunday, November 27th

• Chris travels back to Bloomington to write his exams. Mel & Marissa (M&M) stay behind in Stonewall.

Monday, December 5th - Wednesday, December 14th

• Chris writes his final exams
• Chris leaves for Winnipeg on December 14th (around 10am?)

Saturday, December 10th ?

• M&M travel to Dauphin to visit with family there. We will stay at my Dad's house.

Saturday, December 24th ?

• Chris, M&M travel to Stonewall to have Christmas with Mel's mom and Vincenso.

Monday, January 2nd

• Chris, Melanie & Marissa travel to Bloomington (Chris has school the next day)

Hearts @ Home - What a Blast!

I had the BEST time at the conference! I am definitely planning on attending again next year, and if anyone else is interested please let me know - it was very worth the cost.
 
About 2000+ moms (or grandmas) attended, and altogether we had 5000+ children.
 
I'll show you what the schedule of events was like:
 
Friday
Moms Night Out 7-9 pm in the Auditorium
   - We were a little late due to a llloonngg supper (our waiter was slow) so we had to sit in the top seats in the balcony section. But we had a great view of the stage, and they had screens set up. We sang some worship songs and listened to a few funny speakers. My ultimate favourite story was a story of someone's (not in attendance) first mammogram - basically the attendant left her stuck in the machine that had caught on fire (behind the divider) and a little while later a fireman showed up. There is no way I can tell it the same way I heard it, but it had me laughing so hard I was crying so hard I couldn't see and my belly hurt until the next day!!! It was a really great start to the whole conference.
 
Saturday
Morning Main Session 8:30 - 10am in the Auditorium
  - We were early and got floor seats pretty close to the stage. However we discovered that the seats are actually more comfortable in the balcony section! (Just a note to anyone else who may attend in future... :-) ) We sang worship songs again, and the main speaker, Jill Savage, spoke about the Art of Mothering. She was a good speaker and it was a good session.
 
Workshop 1 10:20 - 11:20am in the Auditorium
The Mother Load: How to Meet Your Own Needs While Caring for Your Family
   - The speaker was Mary Byers and she wrote a book with the same name.  I learned some really good lessons including 20min naps, the importance of policies and routines, and acting on what I know uniquely about my child. There was a lot more, but I don't want this post to get too long!
 
Box Lunch
  - This included: a turkey sandwich, bottle of water, small bag of chips, (mine was actually missing, but a friend shared hers...), banana, and a chocolate chip cookie. Very tasty!
 
Workshop 2 12 - 1pm in the Auditorium
Redefining Discipline: A New Approach for Raising Respectful Children
  - The speaker was Todd Cartmell and he also wrote a book but he changed the title to "Raising Respectful Kids". He was an EXCELLENT speaker - my favourite for the whole conference, other than the story listed above in Moms Night Out. He started it off displaying a picture of Supernanny via his power point presentation, and said by the end of the session we could do better! I think I will keep the naughty blanket for now, but I will definitely put what he taught into practice. His main two techniques are called Fast Listening and Flexible Thoughts. If anyone is interested I can email you the page of notes I have for this session, they are very good. I would recommend his book as well; I will be picking it up soon.
 
Workshop 3 1:20 - 2:20 in the Presentation Hall
Motherhood: Finding the Magic in the Mundane
  - The speaker was Cindy Sigler Dagnan and she is also an author. This session was very uplifting and encouraging. She also had some funny stories to tell. The parts that meant the most to me was the importance of self-discovery and the importance of creating magic with our spouse - Glow, Grow, and Guard.
 
Workshop 4 2:40 - 3:40 in the Presentation Hall
Radical Forgiveness
  - The speaker was Julie Barnhill, and although she tends to be a funny speaker, this session was more serious with light moments. It really got you thinking. To offer a bit of an explanation about what the session was like, I will quote from the workshop description:
      "What does it mean to really forgive those who have hurt you? To forgive yourself for dumb things you've done? To forgive God for what He has or seemingly hasn't done? And how does it all affect your mothering... for good and for bad? With typical gutsy honesty, humor, and friendly, sassy style, Julie will help point you to the transformational liberty of Radical Forgiveness."
It is quite hard to express what I learned in this session - I was so glad that it was chosen for me. (When you register you pick your top 10 workshops you would like to attend, but don't know exactly which 4 you will get until you get there.) One of the parts that struck me is that once you forgive someone you may be tempted to pick up the burden of unforgiveness again and again - you must choose to leave it behind and forgive them again.
 
Afternoon Main Session 4-5:30 pm in the Auditorium
   - The speaker was Ken Davis who is the first man to be a main session speaker at one of these conferences. He is a comedian, author, and motivational speaker. He was really great!!! He told the funniest stories, but my favourite was the ordeal he put his wife through to get a Looney Toons leather jacket. He had decided that if tantrums worked for his granddaughter to get a cookie, he would try throwing one in the middle of the Mall of America to get the jacket! It was a great way to end the conference!
 
The group of ladies that I attended the conference with had suggested that we spend an extra night in Rochester to go over what we learned at the conference. This is what we did, and I think it was well worth it! We could relax and talk and laugh and eat! All in all I had an awesome time. There is so much more I could say about the conference, but I think I will leave it at that for this post. If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask!

Hearts at Home Conference

This weekend I am going to a Hearts at Home Conference in Rochester, MN. It is a conference for stay-at-home moms. I am leaving with a group of gals from CrossPoint at 3pm today, and will be returning early Sunday afternoon.

There is a speaker tonight, and I will be attending four workshops on Saturday. For more info you can check out the website: Hearts at Home main page or conference page

So Marissa and Chris will be having some daddy-daughter time. I am sure they will be fine, though I can imagine some (lots?) of rules may be bent this weekend!!!

I wanted to mention too that it is a beautiful day out today - +15 C with the sun shining and a gentle breeze. Doesn't feel like November at all! Sounds like the weather will be changing on Sunday though...

Pictures: Fall Family Festival - Oct 31/05

Instead of going house to house, for Halloween we went to the Fall Family Festival put on at the church. Marissa dressed up in a bunny costume that Nicole Schwartz got for her, and Chris painted some whiskers on her face.

At the church there were a couple of inflatable jumping "things" - one was an obstacle course, and one was a big enclosure with four giant crayons at the corners. Marissa called that one the "colours". Marissa loved both of them, although she needed help with the obstacle course one, so I was the only adult crawling in and out of it trying to help her through it. I think she did it at least five times!

They also had some games - Marissa tried to throw some balls in a basket, throw some bean bags in holes in a board, and pin a nose on a jack 'o lantern. She got prizes at every station. The most exciting prize was a "fishing" game, where she held a fishing pole with a little bag at the end of it over a wall, when she pulled the bag over the wall there was a baton with streamers in it. She oohed and ahhed over it for a while, and then it was back to the inflatables!!!

She also coloured a picture, and got a Noah's Ark tattoo on her arm. She was upset today because the tattoo is finally wearing off - "Oh no!! It's broken!" (she tends to be a little dramatic so it was really funny when she said it - she sighed and pouted.)

Marissa the bunny - with view of the tail in the mirror

Bunny closeup - Chris did the face painting

Marissa jumping in the "colours" - the four corners were giant crayons

Showcase of Chris' carving skills

He's baaack!!

Chris arrived safely home around 3 pm on Sunday. He did very well in his running - he placed 5th place out 60 in the individual run on Friday, and his team placed 5th on the Saturday run. He was not used to running under the hot sun on the beach - do I ever feel bad for him!!! ;-)

He then went to bed at 8 pm, and didn't get up until 11am the next day - yes he did skip a couple of classes! Apparently they had so much fun on their trip they stayed up 'til 3 am every night. He is still pretty tired today, but he has a huge paper due this Friday so it's back to hitting the books.

He is already planning out his training for next year's games... (I hope it includes a vacation in an exotic location for at least two so he can practice running on the beach!!!) :-)

Classic Pic: Chris running into the lake (yr 2000?)

Pictures: Marissa the Cook

Marissa loves to help in the kitchen. We usually make pancakes every Sunday after church, and her official job is to stir...

Cute closeup!

Marissa's favourite job - mixing! 


Mommy says I am an good helper!

We're lonely, so lonely....

Today was a big day - it was the day that Chris left for Chiro games. He gets to go to sunny Florida for the weekend, and Marissa and I are stuck at home, by ourselves!

:-(

I really hope he does well though. He will be running in two events, one tomorrow, and one on Saturday.

Running Relays
Team Run: Noon, Friday, at the
Hawaiian Inn on A1A in Daytona
Beach Shores
25-K Running Relay: Noon,
Saturday at the Hawaiian Inn on
A1A in Daytona Beach Shores

He has been training very hard since before summer. He has been looking forward to this too though since he is going with some buddies from school - I am sure they will have a fun time!

Marissa started missing him around supper time (he left shortly after lunch): "Where's daddy?" "In Florida?" (then I sat in his chair at the table) "That's Daddy's chair!!!"

She kept asking for him at bedtime too. Tomorrow night I think we will have a "Girls Night Out" and eat popcorn and watch a movie - it's Marissa's favourite thing to do. :-)

Here is some more info about the Chiro games from Palmetto Press, Palmer College of Chiropractic Florida:

ChiroGames: Annual Tradition Since 1992

The Chiropractic Games started in 1992 and have become an annual tradition ranking as one of the athletic and social highlights of the academic year for many chiropractic students.

Beginning at Logan College of Chiropractic as the idea of student (now Doctor) Karm Virk, the first Chiropractic Games attracted 225 students representing seven schools. The five original sports were volleyball, basketball, golf, soccer and softball.

Over the next couple of years the Chiropractic Games grew in popularity and scope; 350 students attended the second tournament in 1993 and 450 traveled to Parker College of Chiropractic in 1994.

During that time, flag football, ice hockey, mountain biking, women’s soccer and a 5K run were added to the program.

In 1995, the event exploded as 725 student athletes representing nine schools convened at Palmer College of Chiropractic to both compete and pay homage to the birthplace of the profession during its Centennial Celebration.

The Chiropractic Games continued to flourish as 1,100 students from 12 schools ventured to New York Chiropractic College in 2000. NYCC hosted its second Games in 2004 and is the defending champion.

Past hosts Logan, New York, Parker and Palmer colleges have created a glorious legacy. We sincerely thank them for their efforts and will endeavor to uphold the tradition.

Picture: Marissa's New Sweater

Guess what came in the mail today mom! Here is a picture of Marissa modeling her new sweater that my mom made for her -

 

Pictures: Fall Costume Party at CrossPoint

This morning Marissa and I went to a costume party held at the church for preschoolers. We had a good time, and as you can see in the picture below the cookies were delicious. Marissa is dressed up as Thumbelina. (We recently bought her that movie, so she was very impressed that she could dress up in her Thumbelina dress. All morning before we left she was carrying around the DVD wanting to watch it.)

In case you are interested, I dressed up as a wife of a hockey fan - I just threw on Chris' Leaf's jersey.