Kaitlyn's First Tooth!!

Kaitlyn finally got her first tooth yesterday! :-)
You could see the two top and two bottom teeth just about poking through for more than a month now, but finally the bottom-right-one won the race and emerged first!

Both girls are doing really well, and are really enjoying swimming in the pool.

Kaitlyn is also quite the creeper. She refuses to actually crawl (similar to Marissa), but can get around a room in her own way. She definitely would prefer to walk, and is mastering the art of walking around the furniture.

We started her on solids at 7 mths, and quickly discovered after a week that she would prefer to feed herself. So we stopped the baby food and give her finger food instead - cheerios, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, green beans, zucchini, oranges being among her favourites. The last couple of days she has developed more of a taste (and attitude!) as I discovered that she doesn't enjoy peaches - she made a cute screwed up face and then spit it out with a big raspberry! (sticking her tongue out and blowing)

Marissa is enjoying Kaitlyn's new mobility as this makes her more fun to play with. They really do play well together. (Keeping my fingers crossed!) ;-)

Slideshow: Izaty's Golf Getaway

From May 19th to 21st, Mike, Kristi, Chris and I went to Izaty's Golf Retreat located 1.5 hours north of the Twin Cities. Nana flew in from ON to look after the girls for us - thanks Nana!! Chris won the trip in a draw at a Norwestern Health Sciences University event. Included were lodging in a beach villa, meals and unlimited golf at the two courses located there.

We all had a great time - it was just a little cold on Sunday. That was the day Kristi and I decided to "caddy" for the boys for their morning round of golf. We should have gotten a picture of us! We bought sweatshirts from the golf shop and wrapped ourselves up in blankets while driving the carts. We had some good laughs at Chris constantly losing balls, and Mike almost hitting a SUV.

The boys tried their luck at the Grand Casino on Sunday night - a half hour drive away - but that didn't go so well! Kristi and I window shopped so we would be prepared if they did score big! ;-) Ah well, maybe next time!

Congratulations Mat & Jen!!!!

Mat & Jen were supposed to come over for Easter supper, but they decided to have their baby instead!! ;-)
So Lisa and I took some supper to them at the hospital...
Thatcher Larry was born around 2 pm Easter Sunday.


Thatcher sleeping...

Proud papa - Mat

Radiant mom - Jen

Happy Easter!!

You can download this picture and any other that we have posted at http://www.picasaweb.google.com/cmkramp. By downloading them from here you get a higher quality than just downloading them of this site.

HAPPY EASTER!

Congratulations Chris!!!

I had the pleasure of attending a dinner with Chris tonight - the Northwestern Student Leadership Award Dinner. (Kaitlyn attended too; Marissa had a fun night with Mat Finley - thanks Mat!!)

Chris was surprised to find out that he won the Student Leadership Hall of Fame Award for the Chiropractic program. He got a very nice crystal statue as a prize. He won it in part for being active on Student Senate, a Student Ambassador, the President of the Student ICA, the Student ICA National Chair, the President of the Practice Success Club, and the Chair of the Create Your Destiny seminar for this year, and on the committee for the seminar last year. And his love for chiropractic! They also mentioned his family as well.

Way to go Chris!!! I am very proud of you!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Some leprechans came to our place today and made some green cupcakes to celebrate!

Here is a pic of one of the leprechans - a good helper with green fingers and face to prove it!



This wee lass is a mite too small to help yet, but entertained us with her new skill of "clucking." You can see her tongue sticking out a bit as she makes the cluck sound.

He SHOOTS and He SCORES!!!!!!

Well, I finally got my scores back for component A of the Canadian boards and I passed!!!! All I can say is "Man that feels good"!!!! I think I'm going to get some food for my family tonight and celebrate!!!!

Peace out!

Grandma's come for a visit!

Grandma Manweiller arrived last night to visit with us for a couple of weeks. Chris and Marissa picked her up from the airport. Marissa is very excited to have a sleepover with Grandma. :-)

It will be great to visit with my mom, and have some help!!! :-)

New Highchair

I took these pics tonight - we got Kaitlyn a new highchair, and she enjoys sitting in it and watching us whenever we eat. I took Kaitlyn out after we were done eating, and then Marissa snuck in it to test it out....

Marissa playing in the snow

We went to visit with our friends the Kelly's after chuch today and Marissa got a chance to play outside in the snow with their daughter. They went sledding down the hill in the back (side?) yard and built a snow tower. Both girls had a blast, and of course hot chocolate afterward. :-)
(Yes, that is our dirty car in the background!)

Canadian board exam and the girls first day of school

Well, Mel wanted me to post this a long time ago and I've been procrastinating, but after a ton of nagging here I am typing out this post for you all to read!

The Canadian board exam was tough! The morning half went well enough and I thought that I would be in the clear, however, the afternoon half of the exam was extremely tough. If I fail the exam (which I really hope that I didn't ) it will be due to the second half. The weekend was pretty relaxing after that test. The flight to and from was no problem at all either.

The other day the girls came to school with me to help out as a demonstration for my infant health class. They were there for 2 hours and Marissa had a good time as there were toys for her to play with. Everybody thought Kaitlyn was funny because of how she would laugh during the physical exam and then when she was crying (for no apparent reason) the teacher would give her to me and she would instantly stop crying!

Well, I hope that this brings everybody up to date. Talk to you all later,

Chris

Chris' big exam today...

Chris is in Calgary today (he flew there yesterday) and is writing the first part of the Canadian board exam all day today.

Canadian boards consist of two written exams plus a clinical exam before he will be licensed to practice in Canada. He will write the second part and do the clinical part in the fall.

Please pray that he will not be anxious or tired, and that he will be able to easily recall all that he has learned so that he will be successful and not so stressed. (I am confident that he will do great!)

He is flying back to Bloomington tomorrow morning, so please also pray that the travel will go smoothly.

:-)

Hanging around in airports

Yesterday was a long day. We woke up at 3am, packed into a taxi at 3:30am and arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 4am. Our plane left at 6am for Milwaukee, WI. Nancy had been staying with us for a week, and her plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 11am, so she spent a lot of time reading while waiting for her flight. We then flew from Milwaukee to Toronto and arrived there at 10am est.

The flights went very well. Marissa was excited about flying, riding in a taxi for the first time, and riding on a bus for the first time (we took a shuttle bus to a different terminal at Toronto). Kaitlyn noticed the descents while we were flying, but I encouraged her to yawn and she fed so she didn't fuss. Due to the early rise Marissa was tired but she was a very good girl.

Unfortunately, when Nancy was supposed to board her flight, it was cancelled! She had to rebook a flight through Chicago and arrived at Toronto at 6pm. While we were waiting we sat in her car at the airport and watched movies on the laptop. We also tried to nap a bit in the car. When Nancy arrived we quickly started the drive to New Liskeard. The drive went very well - both girls slept until we got to North Bay (about 1.5 hrs short of New Liskeard). So we stopped at Timmy's for a break before continuing on. We arrived at the house at 1:30 this morning. (Both Grandpa and Uncle Dayn were fast asleep.)

We will be spending Christmas and New Year's in Ontario. We are scheduled to fly back to Bloomington January 2. Chris starts his 8th trimester (there are 10 trimesters in total) Jan 3.

Marissa, Nancy, Mel & Kaitlyn at the Minneapolis airport (4am!)

 

Slideshow: Kaitlyn's Dedication

On November 26th, Pastor Dave Friesen officiated at Kaitlyn's dedication service at Maranatha EFC in Winnipeg. My sister Jen, and Chris' brother Mike and his wife Kristi agreed to be Kaitlyn's godparents. What follows are parts of the service, for those who were unable to attend. Dave, you did a wonderful job! Thank you.

Kaitlyn - Celtic/Gaelic - Pure
Nancy - English - Grace (named after Nancy Kramp)
Isabel - Spanish - God is my Oath (named after Nora Isabel Nicholson)

Father, we bring thanks to you this morning for the life of Kaitlyn. We thank you for the decisions and declarations made here by her parents Chris and Melanie. We pray that you would receive this child into your loving arms. May Kaitlyn by your mercy grow in health of body and mind, and serve you faithfully according to your will all the days of her life. I pray that you would give your wisdom, patience and strength to Chris and Melanie as they seek your will in raising Kaitlyn. I pray that you would continually bless them as they serve you and that these things would be passed on through example to Kaitlyn. I pray that she would always know and remember that you are in control and seek your will in her life as she grows. Father we ask that she would be a close companion of her sister Marissa and that the two of them would encourage one another to grow closer to you. I pray also that she would come to know you in her own personal way when she is able to understand, and until then we entrust her to you. I ask that she receive from you your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour forever. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Kaitlyn Nancy Isabel Kramp, you have been blessed with many names. May your life be a life that is Pure. May you be known for your Grace as you encounter all on your life's journey. May your character be integrity and let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no' for God is your Oath. Above all, stay true and hold fast unto God your entire life. Amen.

Family Pictures

We took some family pictures today at the church after the Christmas Ladies Brunch...

O What a Night!

I feel pretty bad that my last post was about getting to Bloomington. I meant to post more pictures, but it's been pretty busy trying to get everyone settled and into a routine. Still working on that routine...

Anyway, last night we drove back to Winnipeg. It was a very smooth drive - just a few stops on the way. We left at 3pm and arrived at 12am.

We will be here until Sunday. On Sunday we are planning to have a dedication service for Kaitlyn at Maranatha. Saturday morning all of the girls (Jen, Di, mom, Marissa, Kaitlyn, and myself) will be going to a ladies brunch at Jen's church - the ACCC. Hopefully we win some great prizes like we did last year!

So far Chris is having a hard time acclimatizing to the Winnipeg weather.... ;-)

Halloween 2006

Marissa dressed up as a fairy princess this year. Kaitlyn dressed up as a baby. ;-) We took them to the Family Fall Festival held at our church in Bloomington where we played some games and Marissa enjoyed the inflatables. The pictures below are from the church. We also stopped at Chris' school for some more games, a walk down a haunted hallway, and more goodies! Kaitlyn pretty much slept the entire time - I was carrying her in my sling.
A final note - Chris saved Marissa from a tommyache by eating most of her treats!! ;-)

Look ma! I got a tattoo!

Safe at Home

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are back in Bloomington now. The drive went very well - we left shortly after 2pm and arrived here shortly after 11pm. This included 2 stops - one for gas shortly after the border and one for a meal at Fargo. Both girls did very well - Kaitlyn slept and Marissa watched movies, listened to Narnia on CD, and slept too. The only bad side effect was that Kaitlyn was pretty awake until 1am, and Chris had to go to clinic this morning for 7am. But I'm pretty sure he made it on time....

Pictures from Grandma Manweiller's camera

These pictures are taken on my mom's camera the last couple of days we were with her in Winnipeg at the end of October.

 

Pictures from Kaitlyn's 1st visit to Dauphin

We went to Grandpa Nicholson's for a visit from Nov 22 to Nov 27.

Kaitlyn and Great Grandma Nicholson

My cousin Melissa holding Kaitlyn @ The Denim Wall.

Auntie Jody holding Kaitlyn

Grandpa Nicholson + Kaitlyn napping - take 1
(my dad has a very calming effect on her!)

Great Grandpa Nicholson playing "puppets" with Marissa

Kaitlyn's first smile caught on camera
(she is very social and loves it when you talk to her)

Melissa reading to Marissa

Grandpa & Kaitlyn napping - take 2