A long break!

I could make lots of excuses for not blogging: sports for the boys (soccer, basketball, baseball) -- our 2.5 year old, our .5 year old, running the Network... all take more and more time --ahh but my family, my wife and kids -- worth every moment, every sacrifice, every joy and sorrow shared, unites us in a deeper and richer love for each other.

This is our newest addition, right after she was born... what a joy she has brought -- so very different from her brothers and sisters, but somehow a Crook to the core. We are not exactly sure who she looks like, but she is gorgeous -- a fiery, fair skinned, red head?? Perhaps to soon to tell, but early indications would seem to direct us down those assumptions.

Well, maybe I'll reengage with this technology -- maybe not -- who knows... it's not like anyone really reads this stuff -- right? : )

Merry Christmas!

Tradition: Have you ever felt locked in to doing the same thing year after year under the guise of 'tradition'? Some memories are strong & positive so we want to preserve them and instill their importance into our families, so we perform these rituals year after year. Most of my life I have lived under this small falsehood - I tied tradition to the event and not the intent, but this year my wife spoke about the subtle difference and I consider it my Christmas gift!

The picture here is a tradition that we have enjoyed for several years and hopefully more to come. However, I am increasingly aware that our two sons will venture out into their own territory soon - hopefully starting their own traditions and particpating as they can in ours -- not under guilt or compulsion, but a joy for the memories that it creates.

May this Christmas bring you great joy and glad tidings--

Merry Christmas from the Crooks!


What are some of your traditions? We would love to hear from you...

Rocky Mountain High!

What a majestic place -- I can see why John Denver felt he was 'born again' here in this incredible place created by God. In the background you can see Long's Peak, the highest non-technical climb at 14, 256 feet. The boys and I woke up at 12:30 AM Wednesday morning and signed the register at the trail head at 2:00 AM to climb that summit. Hiking in the dark was an incredible new experience -- watching the moon come up, the piercing light of the stars and distant city lights were worth the price of admission. Having grown up hiking in the Adirondack's I couldn't appreciate why this was so different - I didn't dismiss the altitude issues, but I definitely didn't give them enough attention. At 10:30 AM less then 3/4 of a mile from the summit (15 mile round trip) I had to make the call to say we would have to try again some other time. At our pace, we would not have time to ascend the summit and be headed down by 12:00 before the storms rolled in. At that same time Sarah was with her family on a distant peak (Estes Cone), praying for our decisions - hence the picture of her holding her watch with Long's in the background. It was a tough call - sheer determination begged us to push on, but the right call was made and as we later descended in the rain and hail, we were glad to not be traversing the "Trough" on a sheer face and heading back to the 'keyhole'. At the higher altitudes we experienced pounding head aches, naseu, lead legs and of course - shortness of breath. We overcame many obstacles that day and the boys took a leap toward 'manhood' - I was very proud of how thy would keep choosing to press on, until I had to make the painful decision that we should head back. We will be much wiser on our return - when we will again shoot for the summit of Long's Peak!!

Photo Journal of Long's:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crooked/sets/72157594217757632/

Colorado Albums:
through Sarah's Lens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crooked/sets/72157594212179622/
through Craig's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crooked/sets/72157594203095525/

Garage Sale

We recently helped someone move, which always inspires me to travel more lightly. So at the end of moving, we came home and started creating a garage full of stuff to get rid of... fortunately the next weekend was an assoication garage sale - so we offered the boys the opportuniy to organize and sell it or we were giving it away. The following weekend they were up with me at 6:30 getting ready for the sale and then ran a very successful sale. You can see here that Preston is still in his PJ's and happy to be awake

They learned a lot and I learned a lot about Nick & Preston as I watched them use their God given talents to contribute to the success of the day.

TheCrookHome.com

Announcing the merger of thecrookhome.com and crookednotes blog... In an attempt to simplfy life, I have merged these two sites - hopefully this will result in current content.

As you can see in the picture, the "New Addition" has arrived. On January 4th, Elizabeth Ann Crook made her way into out hearts. The world will never be the same again - at least not mine. ; )

Nicholas & Preston love their sister and are often the only ones that can get her into a full giggle. It makes for pleasant car rides as I hear them getting their sister to make her joyful noises!

Sarah, Mom, is back at work four days a week and adjusting, but misses her daughter. Daddy gets to watch Elizabeth about a day and half per week, while he is working from home. It's a busy season of life, with work, school, sports and ministry - hopefully this will ease as June arrives and school is done for Nick, Preston and Dad.

If you want to see more pictures of the crooks, just click on the top item "crook photos" under LINKS (top right of page).

We are looking forward to seeing you soon - when you can meet the newest Crook!

the door is always open...
Craig

New Addition

theCrookHome [dot] com is expecting a new addition.

Sarah and I have a bit of exciting news – on January 1st 2006, we are expecting a little addition to our family, which we currently refer to as “Peanut” (named after the pictures from the visit in Sarah’s 9th week). We are very excited about the news and to answer a common question – we will be finding out the sex ahead of time (8 more weeks). Grandparents seem to prefer knowing ahead, so they can plan and stock up on gender appropriate paraphernalia. We have also been prompted by our financially minded friends to try and make it happen by Dec. 31, 11:59 PM, so we get the tax break.

-cdc

The Experimenter

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Originally uploaded by craigcrook.

my beautiful wife and our former microwave

The Pyrex dish won

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Originally uploaded by craigcrook.

the Pyrex dish that the egg was in did not break.

Why Eggs & Microwaves don't mix...

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Originally uploaded by craigcrook.

My wife recently ran an experiment... the egg and microwave both lost.