Couch and Coast

So we’ve picked back up in being busy, but thankfully not too terribly busy!

We finally got the couch we bought, and we love, love, love it! It works nicely in our living room and looks so much better than our old one. We’ve done well with keeping people (especially kids) from eating or drinking on it. However, last night while we were making dinner Levi drew with blue pen all over it! We immediately started scrubbing with rubbing alcohol and Oxy-Clean. Thankfully we were able to get the stains out, and you really can’t tell he did it at all.

We also got a new gas grill this weekend and have used it twice! We are thrilled to have a nice grill that we can use year-round! We made Jucy Lucy’s the other night, and they were delicious! For those who aren’t familiar with that, it is two burger patties pinched together with cheese in the middle. So when you grill it, the cheese melts, and then when you bite into it you get a gooey yummy center to your burger!

We also made it to the coast this weekend and it was beautiful! We have had some great weather lately, and it shined through at the coast. It was about 65, no clouds, and very slight wind! Just wonderful! We went to the aquarium, Mo’s Chowder, and the beach. The kids had a blast, and it was nice to get away!

      

Levi has been out riding his bike lately, and he is really starting to catch on great! He actually wants to ride (instead of being scared). He can go around the whole loop out back by himself! I can’t wait until we take the training wheels off and he goes all by himself!

 

Hazel has been on and off sick lately, and just when she gets better from one thing I swear she gets sick with something else! She’s been a sweetie though, and I’m glad she can still be cute even when she feels like crap.

Well that’s all this week!

Finally Relaxation

Well we’ve had a far more relaxing last week or so. We’ve settled in with our new car, and we’re still loving it! We are waiting for our new couch, which arrives tomorrow! But mostly we’ve been just relaxing.

This one will be short and sweet as don’t have any news to share really. Life has been proceeding as normal around here. The photos below are from when we got Hazel and Levi new pjs. They were thrilled! Mostly Levi, but both ran around the house giggling and laughing once the pjs were on. It was adorable!

Well hope you are having a wonderful and relaxing time as well!

Birthday, Sick Kids, and a New Car!

So tons has happened around here lately, mostly great stuff too! It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks, and I hope that since I have about one hour free to write this post, that means it might be cooling down a bit.

First off, Levi celebrated his fourth birthday this past week. I can hardly believe my little guy is four! On his birthday he had a friend come over and play on his train set. Then we went to McDonalds for dinner. He was thrilled! The Saturday following he had his party. All his cousins from in town came, and about four friends (and a couple of their siblings) showed up. Levi was in heaven! He had so much fun! We again went to McDonalds for his party, but I think that will be the last year we do that for him. It was just really loud. But as I said, he had fun, and that’s what matters.

Hazel on the other hand has been sick the last few days, and now that she is getting better, Levi is getting sick. Hazel, when she is sick, tends to want to cuddle and be held more. So this meant my home gets a bit neglected, and chores pile up. Thankfully my mom took both kids for about an hour yesterday so I could do some much needed cleaning. Hazel is on the mend, and I am very glad about that, she had a nasty cough, sore throat, and a fever. No fun for the Baze.

To get out the other day we went for a drive. We went about five miles north of Corvallis and took a road about ten miles long to a highway that headed south again, and then back home. It went through the foothills of the Coastal Range, and we saw some pretty scenery. You can see some of  those pictures coming up in my Oregon 365 blog. That website is: www.oregon365.blogspot.com. Right now I am doing roses for Valentines day, but after that I will start with some of the shots I took.

Well, we got our tax return, and we thrilled with how much we got. It was a lot more than we expected, so we are doing the smart thing with the extra money: paying off debt. We are paying off one credit card completely, and putting quite a bit towards our other one. We also went out and bought a new car. We have been needing to upgrade for a while because our tiny car wasn’t meeting our needs. We did a lot of research and looking and finally found one that we both loved. It is a 2001 Acura MDX and has all the bells and whistles. We got it for an internet special, so it was $3000 less than their list price on the lot, and $4000 below blue book value. Needless to say we got an amazing deal! With our down payment, we now owe less than what the car is worth, which is a first for Justin and I in married life (we have always owed more on the car than it was worth).

We also have made some other minor purchases with our return, including a new couch (it was much needed, we’ve only had garage sale items that we bought for $25), and a new shelf for the living room. We needed a new shelf because Levi tried climbing the old one, and since it was cheap wicker, it snapped into a bunch of pieces. I am please with how we spent our money, and we still have quite a lot in savings for the summer and such (summer is usually when we are really tight because we don’t have financial aide).

Well that’s all. Its a lot, I know! Hopefully we’ll calm down a bit!

Surgery, Camera, and Stuff

So we have been super busy these last couple weeks. Normally I would have a lot of stories about Levi and Hazel, but most of the news involves me and Justin.

So Justin, as some know, had minor surgery week ago on Monday. It was of a personal nature, so I’d rather not share what all it involved. Suffice it to say that they had to remove some scar tissue. When they got in there, there was more than they thought there was, so Justin was left with a walking catheter for ten days. For the first few days Justin had some pain and soreness, as expected with any surgery. Now the only inconvenience is the catheter that he doesn’t have taken out for another four days. He’s doing great now, and I appreciate all the prayers from family!

About a week and a half ago I received my birthday & Christmas (from last year), Valentines, and anniversary gift! Needless to say its been a long time coming! I have wanted it for about five years now or more! Okay, I’ll quit keeping you in suspense… Justin got me a new digital SLR camera. It is a Canon Digital Rebel XS. It has 10 MP. I could write a few paragraphs about all the features, but I’ll save you the boring blog post. Justin and I can notice a major difference in the quality of my pictures, and I can’t wait to use it professionally! On that note, I have started a new blog for those who are interested. It will be scenic photography throughout Oregon. I have done the first 24 days of January, so be sure to check the older post. www.oregon365.blogspot.com

Well now on to the stories you actually want to hear about, Levi and Hazel! Well Hazel started walking this past week or so. Justin can’t get enough of watching her do it either. She looks like a little penguin when she walks, so it is kind of adorable to see her do it. As I’ve mentioned in the past, she has amazing balance, so although she just started walking, she doesn’t fall down a lot, and she can even turn around and such. We are excited she is finally walking, considering she should have done it about three months ago. But we are still excited.

Levi has been under some stress lately, and as such, has been acting out a lot, and ending up in time out a lot. Fortunately we’ve been able to get him a lot of time playing with cousins and friends lately, so I think that may have helped. Every day he asks if it is his birthday, and every day he asks for cake. His choice is still changing for what theme he wants, so I am glad I went with three themes: Spiderman, Scooby-Doo, and Wall-E. He is so excited, and I just can’t wait for it to be over with. We are having his party at McDonalds again this year, on Saturday, February 6th at 3 PM, for those interested in coming!

Yesterday we had my brother’s son over for a visit. We had wanted to go sledding on Mary’s Peak, but as we got closer we realized all the snow that was there earlier in the week was gone. So we changed routes and went to Alsea Falls. The boys loved it and I was able to take some great shots. I posted a couple shots from that trip on my other blog as well.

Well keep checking my other blog and this one for great pictures!

Happy New Year

Well its the new year, and we are looking forward to a year as wonderful as the last. One resolution I made was to root for the Ducks in one game… which I did on New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl. So both times I rooted for the Ducks this year, they lost. Now I know, some of you are saying ‘Keep rooting for them!’ and some are wishing I would stop. But I can only please one of you, and so I choose to not root for the Ducks. Sorry Beaver fans, but I just can’t bring myself to that level. In case you are wondering, I made my shirt and it says "I only root for the Ducks when they play Ohio State."

I feel we have a lot to look forward to this year. We have Justin progressing in school, Levi will be starting pre-school (as soon as someone takes him off the waitlist), Hazel will start walking ANY day now, and we have some small trips planned (nothing major, just to the coast or mountains).

 

Well I’ll start off with Hazel. She recently has been teething… okay she’s been teething for about four months straight. Every time I began to wonder if that’s what it really was, I would feel in her mouth and feel one or two more teeth in there. Well as of the last couple weeks she’s been working on four new teeth, two of which are her canines and they hurt the worst. So needless to say she’s been medicated. Which actually has made her quite sweet. I was beginning to wonder where my little sweetheart had gone… but I guess when your mouth constantly hurts you’d be grumpy a lot too. She is also so close to walking on her own. My mom saw her take five steps the other day, but nothing since. I have seen her take one step and then crawl. I know its coming, crud its been coming now for two months or more! She has the stability, so I don’t know why she’s waiting. But I’m in no hurry, so when she’s ready she’ll do it. Here’s a link for a cute video of Levi walking with her:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JustDaCrooks/January200902#5425930797523677362

http://picasaweb.google.com/JustDaCrooks/January200902#5425930827339658258

 

   

Now for Levi. He is getting quite the personality, which is mostly just a big goofball with a little bit of his mom’s temper in there. The other day we were driving past Reser Stadium (where the Beavers play football) and I asked him if that was a football stadium. He said, “Yeah, Go Beavers!” So I responded by saying “Go Beavers!” Justin didn’t say anything, and after some nagging from Levi, Justin said “Go Ducks!” To which Levi said, “No daddy, you’re supposed to say go Beavers.” So Justin obliged him and said it. Then, in his cute form Levi said with a big sigh, “Okay fine, you can say go Ducks.” Justin and I both laughed and Justin said go Ducks. Then Levi said, again with a big sigh, “Okay fine,you can say go Cougs.” We were still laughing and Justin said that too. For his final comment Levi said, “Okay fine, you can say go Nana.” Justin didn’t say that one but was very confused because Nana is my mom to Levi. We just laughed anyway!

 

  

We had a fun time this past weekend when we went up to Portland to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). They have many exhibits, and all are kid-friendly. Levi had a blast, and even Hazel enjoyed herself. We then went to lunch with my mom and dad who were up there for my cousin’s wedding. After lunch I was able to see my cousin and his new bride, which I’m glad I did, there reception won’t be until March, so it would have been that long before I saw them.

Well I think that’s all for now! Happy New year!

Christmas!

Well we had a busy but wonderful Holiday and I hope yours went well too!

Justin’s sister and her family came into town,  so we spent a lot of our Christmas at his parents visiting with them. We have a lot of fun with any of Justin’s siblings, so it really was a treat to have them here. I just wish I could have seen my sister from Chicago this Holiday.

   

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent carrying out a bunch of Crook Family traditions, as well as a lot of lounging and chatting. Just an enjoyable time for all.

After Christmas we had Justin’s sister and her family over to our house to relax and have a good time. Hopefully that was achieved. We played games, watched some football, and socialized. I think it was great to have them over, and I hope they can make it out again sometime.

Sunday evening we had two friends come over to visit and they stayed almost until midnight. It was lots of laughs and memories shared. I love having good friends or family to visit and play with!

As for little stories about the kids… I’ll start with Hazel. She is getting so good at her balance I know she will just get up and walk away one of these days. I even caught her going from a sitting position to a standing position on our bed, and then bounce… all while standing. So, I know she can walk, she is just choosing not to. She is also a little jabberer, I need to be reading to her a lot more because pretty soon she is going to be talking up a storm. Another thing is that one night Justin was getting Hazel in her PJs, and while he was throwing out the diaper she ran off stark naked. She went straight for the bowl of Muddy Buddies on the couch and sat to eat them… naked as a jay bird. It was adorable… so I had to get a picture. Don’t worry it’s been blurred! The last shot is of Justin styling Hazel’s hair… its amazing how much she really has!

Levi had his cute moment on Christmas morning. Justin woke up with him at about 6:30 or so. He told Levi to watch a Christmas show and we’d open presents when Hazel woke up. well about half an hour later Levi comes running into our room yelling, “Santa brought me a gun!” over and over again. Well considering his present was a Nerf shotgun, I knew he had opened at least one present. We went downstairs only to realize he had opened about four presents before finding his gun. Luckily Hazel woke up at that point and we opened the rest of the gifts together. He was just so excited about his gift, I couldn’t really get mad at him. It was Christmas after all!

Well that’s all from us, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!