CHRISTMAS IN ILLINOIS VIA THE PHONE

Christmas with my family was put on hold this year because the Dr.'s said I could not make the trip to Illinois. So this is how the Maris' shared Christmas with Mom and Dad and G & G Brown. We miss you so very much and are sure wishing that we could be with you on Saturday.

I did not get any pictures of myself. But I got a web cam (thanks for the awesome idea Dan) this way Mom and I can talk to each other and see each other too. I will be able to have coffee with you now Daddy. I love it. Thanks.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa VIA the phone. Everyone talked to them as they were opening their gifts. We wanted to be with them, but I guess this was the next best thing.

Breanns gift exchange was from her cousin Katie. Wow Katie how did you know I loved red, and the waterglobe was so beautiful. I miss you. (Breann)

This gift was the kids exchange from her cousin NICK!! Thanks a bunch!! She loves both the movie and the fuzzy pj bottoms. Love you lots (Brittnae)




I think that this spotlight can almost shine to see you in Illinois. I love it. Thank you. (Micahel)

Wow Mom do I ever love this shirt!!! I already wore it and it fit great. ( Michael)

Pictures take two

I really was just scratching:) LOL But check out the pretty rainbow tee shirt. You have to love having hand me downs _NOT_

What more can I say except "WHERES THE HAIR?" Believe it ot not that was my first "real" haircut. My Mom turned me loose at the salon, do you think I went a little overboard?

The girls said "Wow you did not have the low rise clothes did you?" LOL

The Saddest part was I thought I looked cool:) The girls asked if it hurt to have my shorts pulled up so high. How funny!!!!!

Taking the Picture Challenge

OK guys I am accepting the challenge. I am going to post some of the "Cuter" pictures today. I have all the scary ones scanned and ready to post, but I think I will save those for tomorrow:)

Who needs toys?

See I loved chocolate even as a baby. I am 11 months in this picture. This was a few months after I split my lip open which equals the crooked smile.

Here I am at six months with my Daddy. This was his idea of feeding me. (do you see who is holding the bottle?) We will not even talk about his ideas of changing a poopy diaper. Needless to say it involves a shower and lots of hot water. Can you guess where the poop went? I bet you want to take a bath now right?

This is my oldest sister Tami, notice the matching outfits and am I seeing spots or just stripes:) Actually this is my favorite picture.

I had to get a bathtub photo in. This is my younger sister Karrie. I think I am
around 5 in this photo.
This is me being mean to my little brother Danny. Do you see the ice cream cone in my hand? I did not like to share even back when I was 8. especially not ice cream or chocolate.

Which one of the girls do you think that I look like in this picture? I would love your opinion.

Well that is it for this oldies session. I have some doozies picked out just for you Sara. I think that I can top your 7Th grade picture. So stay tuned..........

OK so I just had to post this one. WOW that is a lot of Poufy Curling going on. I sort of look life a bug with those glasses. Wow I wonder if we could see any better with glasses that large. They sort of covered over 1/2 of my face.

I sort of matched the refrigerator, or at least my big hair did. I think I was in 6Th or 7Th grade in this picture.

Be patient now there are more to come:) Unless you are all scared....

More Pictures of the Mayo Clinic

While we were waiting for our last appointment Michael braved the snow to get these pictures of the Mayo Building. This year they are going to begin construction on another 10 floors. They will add it to the Mayo side of the building (which is the right). I sure hope that the foundation is strong. Michael and I were even noticing that the bathroom stalls are all marble. We will be anxious to go back in 2009 and see their progress.

I know that this picture does not show the full beauty of the park outside of the mayo building. But if you can see the statues of the Mayo Brothers sitting on a bench. It has always been too cold during our visits so we have never truly "explored" the outside. Maybe some year we will be able to check it out, but for now I will just look at the pictures.

We are so thankful to be home. I do not think that I have ever beeen this homesick before, but I am thrilled to be back in Nebraska.

Antiques and an undiscovered hallway

Michael and I thought that we had walked all of the tunnels, and hallways under the Clinic. But what a discovery we found the other day when we were taking our patience walk. For those of you who love antiques here is a treasure. This ambulance was from the 1900's and it was just donated to the Mayo clinic last year. View from the front (where's Waldo...oh I mean Michael)

This is a view from the back. think of the comforts we have now...can you imagine...where are the sirens?

We also found a memorial to the Mayo brothers and their huge boat... I will post those pictures later.

Every year this place ceases to amazes us. I am not a very patient person so the waiting around drives me bonkers (I know, I know I was sort of crazy before). But in between appointments and I mean like 4 hours worth of patience here. Michael and I take walks and thankfully we just happened to discover this wonderful hallway. This is all underneath the clinic.

Update from Rochester

Hello all, well I am just letting you all know that we got into see the neurologist. We were here at 6:30 this morning, and they had a cancellation. He had ordered a few test, and hopefully we will be all done by Friday. We plan to leave Rochester Saturday, and if we get ahead of the storm we will be home Saturday night.
So thank you all for your prayers. We love you all and hope to see you soon.

Mayo Clinic

Welcome to the Mayo clinic. I wish that I was a better photographer. But I am not, so bear with me as I try to show you a little bit about the Clinic. Just a quick update though. We are pretty much done except for seeing the neurologist. Most of you know the dilemma: our scheduled appointment is Jan. 9Th. So we are going to go Wed, and try to get in by being a stand by. Please pray that we are able to see this specialist and we do not have to come back. We appreciate all of your prayers and love that we feel while we are away. Good news though my Lupus Dr. says that the lupus has not gotten any worse!!! PTL!!! So we are just waiting to see this Dr. that specializes in autonomic neuropathy (why I pass out). Then we will be all done and we can come home.
Michael says hey check this out, and we are not talking about the pictures of the Mayo clinic. He is so cute!! He is so patient and loving and he carries all our stuff:)

This is part of the Mayo/Gonda building. This is just part of the beauty of this place, it is all constructed of marble.

They have gone all out in their Christmas decorating. We loved the designs they used with poinsettias. This is only one of the many decorations that are on display.

I really do not know that you would call this a "chandelier" of sorts. It is hanging in the Mayo building right as you walk in to the administrative part of the building. It is all blown glass. This picture really does not do it justice.

This is called the Plumber building, and it was the first original Mayo building. They really do not use this building anymore. It is the most beautiful building. We love to sit in the lobby areas and just look at it.

The way that the building is set up is 1/2 of it is the Mayo building and the other 1/2 is the Gonda. I had to show you how they were divided. This is the same hallway.

A typical waiting room. See Michael in the background. His goal for this time is to actually complete a whole word search book. (He is over half way done). Each waiting room has puzzles spread out for you to do while you patiently wait:) and some of the waiting rooms have computers for you to use. which is nice then I can keep up with emails, and checking out every ones blogs.

Home away from HOME

Here are a few pictures of the place where we have been "living" for the last week. It is a pretty nice hotel. We have a great shuttle bus service to the Mayo Clinic, so we do not have to drive. Which Michael is praising the Lord for.

I have some great pictures of the Mayo clinic, and I will post those later. I am behind on getting my blog done. We are doing really well. And are hoping to be finished the middle to end of next week. Miss you all.

decorating the tree

Last night we decided it would be our last chance to put up the Christmas tree before Michael and I left for Rochester. It is always been a special daddy and daughter thing to put up the tree, I always focus on decorating the rest of the house. I sure am glad we did put the tree up we really debated the issue because we are going to be gone, but Christmas with out the tree?? Assembly line unstringing the garland. I really think this is the last year for this silver strand!!

Peek-a-boo
Stringing lights

Every year I get the girls thier own special ornament. So now they have accumulated quite a few "special" ornaments. It is so cool every year for them to look and admire their collections. Our tree is too full of Brittnae and Breanns ornaments so the other ornaments I have accumulated over the years just stay in a special box for a later date.

This is Michael's idea of decorating-- tickle time. As you can see Brittnae is no where to be found during this "torture time"

The finished Tree:) I do have presents under there now. Do you think the girls will leave them alone while we are away?

Being thankful!!!!

This year Thanksgiving has another meaning to me. I know that normally we are "thankful" for so many tings, but wow this year has to be at the top of my "thankful years". Let me explain. On the 10th of November Michael had to call the ambulance to come out to the house because I passed out at 2:00am and he could not wake me. So off to the Imperial hospital we went. It turns out that I was in the middle of a terrible Lupus flare up. I spent the next 7 days in the hospital being given iv steroids in great quantities, and some pain medicine because when I passed out I hit the back of my head so hard that it caused a concussion.
As most of you know that my parents had just visited and they returned to Illinois the 5th. But being the type of wonderful parents they are they turned around and headed back to be here with us to help out. It is so difficult to explain how I felt when they walked into my hospital room that Wed. it was as if I knew things were going to be alright. Thank you Mom and Daddy for being here when we needed you the most. We love you so much!
I finally convinced the doc's to let me come home on Friday night and it was only because Mom and Daddy were here 24/7 that doc. agreed to let me come home.
I am gaining strength each and every day, and it is only thru prayers and the love of all of you who called and came to visit. Please continue to pray. We are headed to the Mayo clinic the 2nd. of December, pray for the wisdom of the Doctors we are going to be seeing, and for me to have the strength to endure all that we are going to face.
So this year the word Thanksgiving means so much more to me. I have so much to be thankful for the Lord is so good!!!!

What am I thankful for?

Do you think that we look anything alike?

What are they teaching my girls?

Sunday afternoon I laid down for a nap and when I got up this was the scene in my kitchen. Can I say this is a good influence on my children? I guess the girls did enjoy it, and it was harmless. But now here is the thing:) both of the girls whipped up on my folks, Breann thinks it is so cool that she beat grandma and grandpa. Grandpa calls Brittnae Maverick Maris. Do I have to worry about them heading for Vegas????? POOR GRANDPA!!

Look at the penny bowls.... check out who's is the fullest?????

Someone did or said something funny

My parents left Monday, and it is just so lonely here. I sure do miss you Mom and Daddy. Cannot wait to see you over the Christmas break.

One Act Performance

This is the entire cast and crew of Haunting Hamlet

Last night was the One Act Performance that the girls have been practicing for for almost 6 weeks.




This is Brittnae and her friend Ayla, they were in the chorus.







This was Breann's costume in the "Haunting Hamlet" performance. She had to play the part of a guy Felonius (a lawyer)

Before the play started the cast and a few of the audience played "who's line is it?" This is Brittnae and Breann trying to figure out what to do with their props?

This is a scene with Breann and Brittnae in that background.