2022 Year in Review

 January

Ben and I celebrated the New Year on the Oregon Coast with friends, only to return to news a couple of days later that our kids had been exposed to Covid-19 while we were gone. Kyler had symptoms first, with a low-grade fever for less than a day, the day before he was return to school from Winter Break. Protocol at the time was 10 days at home, so I stayed home with him.  I was surprised that no one else in the family seemed to be sick and happily returned to work. For one day. The evening of the day I worked I started to get a sore throat. I immediately tested for Covid, but the test was negative. I stayed home from work anyway and retested a few days later and received a positive Covid test.  Out another 10 days from work, and a positive test for Holden (he had no symptoms).  I suffered from a terrible sore throat that lasted sooo long, it was one of the worst ever, but I experienced no other symptoms other than fatigue.  Strangely, Ben never got sick- he may have been asymptomatic like Holden.  Grateful we recovered well, but it was strange to be away from work for almost the entire month of January.  

During the time that Kyler was home sick, but I was well, I tackled a bathroom facelift.  In the downstairs half-bath I painted the cabinets, put up wallpaper and bought some new decor.  

March

Thankfully, our February was pretty uneventful, but I did start a membership at Orange Theory in Tualatin with a friend's recommendation.  This was quite an accomplishment for me, since I had not attempted any type of ongoing exercise or workout regimen since Kyler was about a year old.  I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying my time their and how good I felt after working out.

We started out March with a fun family activity at the Monster Jam in Portland!  We had never been before and were pretty excited to see the big monster trucks do their tricks.  We were totally unprepared though!  The smell of the exhaust was awful and it was soooo loud! Luckily, a nice couple next to us had brought a big bottle of ear plugs and let us have some. It was still a great time, although it felt strange to be in such close proximity to such a large amount of people indoors after such a long time of not being able to attend these sort of events.

Holden turned 5 years old on March 24!  He had a pretty amazing birthday this year, after two years of not being able to celebrate in the way we would have liked to. First, we sold his toddler bed and gave him an awesome loft bed with a slide!  His bed is so awesome, even Kyler wanted to sleep in it and the two of them have been sleeping in it pretty much ever since. 

Holden's birthday also falls on Spring Break, so on his actual birthday we took him to the Enchanted Forest, which had reopened just for Spring Break in Oregon.  We all had a blast!  Over the weekend we held a party at our house with family. It was so great to see everyone together again.

April

April kicked off baseball season in our house!  For the first time Kyler wanted to play baseball and had tried out at the end of February.  He had practice 3 times a week, 2 were 1.5 hour practices and Saturday practice was 2 hours. When games started, they took place of the two practices during the week, but they were expected to get to the games at 5 for warm-up (games went from 6-8pm), and because Tualatin's team play in the Clackamas County league, we had to drive out to Canby, Estacada and Molalla for games.  Many of our Monday and Wednesdays were dedicated to baseball from 4:15 to 8:45pm this spring.

Something else that was a surprise in April (but not too much of a surprise), was a letter we received from Kyler's school to report that he qualified for the school's Talented and Gifted program.  His score on the 3rd grade NNAT-3 test indicated he was intellectually gifted.  As I said, the letter was unexpected, but as his parent I'm not too surprised because he seems like a very bright kid to me and loves math.  He's also a chip off the old blocks of us both, as Ben and I were both also in TAG as kids.

During this time Holden is doing great in his speech therapy sessions and we are seeing huge improvement in his language use, which is also noticed at his preschool/daycare.  It is so lovely to be able to communicate with him and hear him use all kinds of words to express his thoughts and wants.  He is also attending a weekly gym class at The Little Gym in Lake Oswego, where he gets to play with other kids, follow directions, learn different ways to move his body and get out a lot of energy.

June

May is spent preparing for the end of the school year, rushing around to baseball games and planning for upcoming trips and birthdays. 

June begins with a huge event for me- a vacation without kids to celebrate my 40th birthday! Ben and I and our good friends Seann and Laura flew out on June 1st to the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic. It was all of our first times there and it was overall a great vacation.  It was a very cloudy, cold and rainy spring and Oregon and I was so ready to soak up some sun! Our beachfront condo had a private beach, beachfront bar & restaurant and two pools that were never busy.  The temperature ranged from mid-70's in the evening to mid-80's during the heat of the day, but it was definitely humid.  The highlight of the trip was a day spent on a pontoon boat, sailing out to a beautiful, palm-tree covered island with the most clear, aquamarine water I had ever seen.  We spent a week in Punta Cana, and after that I was ready to come back to cool Oregon and see my boys.  Unfortunately, our trip back home took over 36 hours with a missed connection, delays and no place to sleep in New York City.  I was never so happy to step foot back on Portland land than after that fiasco, spending the entirety of my actual 40th birthday on planes and running around New York City in the dead of night.

Following our return to normal life was Kyler's 9th birthday! He wanted to do a small gathering of friends for a sleepover at our house- his first sleepover with friends!  God Bless my husband for bearing the brunt of these hyper 8 year olds, as I worked Friday evening and Saturday morning, which is when the party was held. I didn't want the party to go into Sunday, since it was Father's Day.  Also, school had just let out for summer break, which is always an exciting time for kids.

In late June we were to finally receive our new sectional sofa, which we had ordered in February.  It had been custom built and we were all excited for our living room makeover.  We got new carpet installed, painted the walls, installed new baseboards, got rid of the TV stand and bought a bunch of new decorations to match our new sofa and walls.  The makeover really brightened the room up and I love it!

July

July FINALLY marked the end of Kyler's baseball season.  They just missed being qualified to play in the county tournament.  They were in a qualifying match-up with another team, and whoever won the game would go on to play in the tournament.  Kyler's team was up most of the game, but lost the lead just at the end of the game.  Most of his teammates were pretty upset by the loss, but Kyler was relieved.  It was a long season and he was DONE. Also, the tournament was the following weekend which would be mid-July and in Kyler's words,"It's too hot outside to play baseball!". For a kid who knew literally nothing about the sport, he learned a lot and his throwing and catching skills improved a lot throughout the season.  He is a fast runner and could get around those bases quick, but he never got a hit and only scored points for his team after being walked to first base.  He did say he thought he would want to play again next year though!

 

In mid-July we took a trip near Redmond, Oregon and stayed a few nights in our pop-up camper at a KOA Campground. We spent a day on a beach on Lake Billy Chinook, explored Smith Rock and had a fun, relaxing pool day at the campground.  We were all grateful for the cool evenings, as the heat of the day was scorching. 

August

August was a busy month for us, as we tried to squeeze in as much summer fun as possible. My personal favorite camping excursion occurred in mid-August, when we took our camper to Waldport and stayed in an RV park, and our space was located right on the bay. It was cooler on the coast, but our days spent on Seal Rock Beach were warm and beautiful.  We also had so much fun the day we spent in Newport at the Ripley's Believe It or Not and Wax Museum.  

The following weekend we took Kyler to his first "real" baseball game, a Hillsboro Hops game against the Eugene Emeralds. We all just about died in the heat of our uncovered seats, but still managed to enjoy the event.

We ended August with our biggest vacation of the summer, a trip to Lake Tahoe, to be spent in a vacation home with my dad and his wife, and a visit from my sister who lives in the Tahoe area.  We spent some time on a couple of Tahoe beaches, but the highlights of the trip included a trip to the Palisades Resort and a tram ride to the top of a mountain, as well as a day spent on the Truckee River.  Spending 5 days with family I don't get to spend much time with was a perfect way to end the summer.  And unexpected illness on the day we were to leave the vacation home meant a delay in getting home, and an unplanned night spent in Reno. It ended up being a welcome addition to our trip, as Ben started to feel better once we checked in to the hotel and we were all able to spend the day at the National Automobile Museum looking at some pretty amazing automobiles.

September

This September was an especially exciting one for me, since both my kids would be in elementary school for the first time!  Holden entered Kindergarten, and has the same wonderful teacher that Kyler had.  He didn't seem too nervous at all, and thought it was cool to see his big brother at school sometimes in passing.  Kyler started 4th grade and was all excited to show off the Among Us backpack he wanted for school this year.  Unfortunately, all his good buddies ended up in a different classroom this year, but he has been doing great work so far this year.

 

At the end of September we took the kids to the beach for what was likely our last beach day until the spring.  It was a gorgeous day, and we found so many cool creatures along the tide pools- many sea anemones, barnacles and 5 different star fish.

Kyler played soccer again this fall and favors playing defense.  He loves being part of a team and building that comradery with teammates and friends. Holden also enrolled in an Introduction to Piano class through the Oregon Music Academy that would run for 12 weeks.  He was very excited to learn how to play, but ended up finding it a bit too difficult at the age of 5.  We decided to pursue it again when he is a little bit older.

I also volunteered to do something new at the boys' school this year as a Memory Book (yearbook) Committee Member.  A small committee of 3, including myself, chose a design for this school year's Memory Book and will take and organize pictures of school events throughout the year.  Another member has professional experience with photography and graphic design and will be in charge of the memory book layout, and I will be in charge of sales and memory book distribution.

October

October went by in a flash!  Homework, soccer practice and games, piano lessons, oh my! This month was a blur and the only thing I can really recall is Harvest Night at the school, where Kyler went as a big inflatable dinosaur and Holden was a skeleton.  Kyler was super upset to have ended up sick on Halloween, but insisted he still go out for a little bit of trick or treating anyway.

November

November marked the end of soccer season, and Kyler was awarded by his coach as the Best Defensive Player for the season. I took the boys to a local cub scout meeting to see if they would be interested in joining, and they did, so we signed them up!  I hope they will learn some great new skills, forge new friendships and have a lot of fun.

December

December started off with a festive celebration of the season with a party at the home of one of Kyler's best friends on Dec. 3.  The Cookies & Cocktails party was hopping with Tualatin parents and their kids as we waited for the light parade to drive by.  It was a very chilly night, but the adults stayed warm with drinks and the kids stayed warm by running around while we waited outside, not wanting to miss the main attraction.  It was well worth the wait! Local families decorated their vehicles with festive lights, decorations and beloved characters and waved to us all as they passed by with merry music blaring.  Apparently, we were the biggest crowd they had driven by!

Holden ended up sick the weekend we planned to get our Christmas Tree, so for the first time we were not all together as a family for that event.  Kyler and Ben picked out a great tree though, and we were all able to all decorate it together.  Unfortunately, Holden's illness included a fever that just wouldn't stay away and he was unable to return to school for the last week of school before Winter Break started. Kyler also came down with a fever mid-week, but it was short-lived and he was able to go back on Friday, the last day before Winter Break began.

Thankfully, Holden was better for Winter Break and we were able to go visit Santa Claus at Cabela's, where Kyler asked for Octogeddon (a Switch game) and a keyboard (digital piano), while Holden asked for a big plush Bluey.  

At work, I took part in a big cookie exchange for the first time and came home with a whole lot of different delicious cookies.

I ended up getting a couple of extra days off around Christmas due to a winter storm that kept the library closed the day before Christmas Eve, and then a windstorm that brought the power down at the library the day I was to return to work.  The kids loved seeing the white cover outside and I gave them one of their Christmas gifts early (snow bibs, boots, gloves and a sled) so they could enjoy the bit of ice and snow outside.

During Winter Break we were also able to visit with a lot of family- my mom, my aunt and cousin, Ben's parents, and my dad and his wife, Carolyn, spread out through the 2 week break.  We all love to spend time with family during this time of year.

Work-wise, this has been a year of growth for me, as I continue to take on more responsibilities as the library begins to provide more programs and storytimes. We are slowly bringing back more in-person programs from the pre-pandemic times.  This of course brings more challenges, but they are welcome as it makes my work more interesting and rewarding.  I was pleasantly surprised by my extremely positive yearly review and feel very at home and happy where I am at in my career at the moment.

Overall, 2022 was a fabulous year for our family.  We were able to experience so many great things together and the boys continue to grow and surprise me every day.

From the Crowson Family,

Cheers to this year and wishing you all a very happy 2023!!