Calling all Digital Scrappers

My digital scrapbook gal who posts all these great freebie links on her site has called it QUITS! If you have a good site that you use would you please send it my way, thanks!

Merry Christmas

Dear Family & Friends,
Randy is now a Senior Resident in Orthopaedic Surgery at U of Iowa – yea! He works hard, loves his job, and is looking into sports fellowships when we finish in 2011.
Cooper is 2 ½ years and such a character. He has pronounced himself “Super Cooper” with superhero powers, begs for us to tell him stories of his adventures every chance he gets, LOVES dinosaurs (especially Rudy from Ice Age), and makes his baby sister laugh by stacking pillows around her (it’s her tent). He’s long since tackled any climbing challenge in the house.
Sweet Caroline is 8 months and started crawling last month. She is a strong little girl and STRONG willed as well, I think it runs in the family.
I’m lucky enough to stay home with our children and teach aerobics a few days a week to keep my sanity. We have new adventures each day. It is amazing to watch them grow.
Our family hopes this finds you happy and healthy.
Love, Randy, Amy, Cooper & Caroline

Football!

In November we were able to drive just a few hours (ok, 5.5) to see Randy and my college alma mater play FOOTBALL! Southern Utah, let's GO!! (That's the cheerleader coming out of me.) We drove to Vermillion, South Dakota to watch the game, to support our Thunderbirds, and feel a little closer to home. The team played in a Dome so we didn't have to worry about the weather - yea!

Our friend, Zesty, hooked us up with tickets and some good seats. Here are the kids and Randy decked out in SUU gear:

The whole family before the game:

And if you ask Cooper what his favorite part of the trip was... he will tell you the SWIMMING POOL at the hotel and getting ICE with his Daddy. That's right, he's also skipping BAREFOOT down the hotel hallway. It was all I could do to BITE MY LIP but you can't say much when Daddy says it's "ok".

Laugh Attack

I'm glad Caroline is getting big enough to "play" with Cooper. And by play I mean Cooper does silly things and she laughs. It's hillarious what lengths he will go just to hear her squeals of joy. Not much was needed below, just a little water. I've watched this video SEVERAL times when I need to smile - or just to remember that my kids really ARE sweet. Enjoy! (Warning: baby bums may be shown)

Happy Halloween!

I love that Halloween was on a Saturday this year because that meant we didn't have to wait for Randy to get home from work to begin our fun! Here he is with our 2 scary dragons:

Cooper was very proud of the pumpkin he and Daddy carved that day. But once we put it on the porch in the dark it was too scary to hug.

How could you not LOVE your little boy to pieces when he does THIS while trick-or-treating and keep in mind that my 2-year-old LOVES candy and NOT sharing:
He runs to the door and drags mommy with him.
(Neighbor opens the door.)
Cooper: Trick or Treat!
Neighbor: What a cute Dragon! Pick any treat you like.
Cooper: Thank you (picks a treat), now I need one for my mommy.
Neighbor: Oh, ok. (Cooper picks another treat)
Cooper: Here you go, mommy! (Hands mommy the chocolate - he knows me well.)
Seriously? How cute it that! I told him mommy didn't need any more treats but thank you for thinking of me.

October

My good friend Kara is going to have a BABY! So Darci, Katie, Shawn and I got together and decided to throw a shower for her and invited all the women of the ortho dept. I think we had a pretty good turn-out and eveyone had a nice time. Here we are with Kara holding Kate and Hannah in the middle - we're just getting her primed for what is to come!

I had to include this funny pic of Caroline with my friend MaryEdith's little boy, Pierce. A picture says a thousand words, right? These two were smiling at each other while they scooted around, they're only a week or two apart. We went out to Amana and took some cute pictures before it was TOO cold. This was the ONLY one I took where Cooper was actually looking at the camera. What a turkey!

CJ is sitting up like a big girl in her high chair. I love this portable one that you can just strap on a seat and she can sit at the table with the rest of us.

And here I am with my good friend, Andrea who came out to Iowa. I love her! When I told Randy she was coming to visit he was puzzled why she would want to fly to the midwest on her vacation... to see ME of course! We braved the U of Iowa tailgating with 2 kids just to give her a taste of the crazy football fans we live amongst.

Andrea -THANK YOU for coming to visit me - I had a great time :)

Fall Adventures

I need to catch up on an important event... Randy turned 32 in September! He's been telling people all year that he was already 32 until I reminded him of his correct age. Woops! Happy LATE, LATE birthday to you, honey. You will always be older than me :)

Before the weather turned cold outside we were able to get a few rides in our bike trailer with BOTH kids. Caroline was big enough to ride in here when we came back from Utah. I can't wait to pull it out in the spring! They were so cute once Cooper stopped poking CJ and they both drifted off to sleep.

Cooper is a great climber these days... I wonder where he gets it from?? I know, you think it would be Randy but he's actually afraid of heights! This is the highest I've seen Randy climb since I tricked him into riding the Free Fall at Knott's Berry Farm (another story).

And with the help of our esteemed "Grandpa" Frank next door, I was able to take the kids on the Hawkeye Express Train to the stadium. It was CRAZY getting to the stadium but then we rode back before the game started and had the train all to ourselves.

Cooper was THRILLED to ride in a REAL train.

We hope you are all enjoying the fall weather wherever you live.

September Vacation

Our vacation to visit family was a success! Cooper, CJ and I came home a little tired and ready to sleep in our own beds. Here's the perfect clip to explain how hard we played, enjoy:

Time to Relax

Thanks to all of you who gave me props for my race! I'm hoping to run another when I get back from vacation... speaking of vacation, this post will be short because we are leaving

TONIGHT!!

And Randy gets to come with us (for a little while)!

I'm hoping to get a little bit of this while we visit family in southern Utah:

And maybe a little WATER time as well.

I hope to minimize the crying time...

And enjoy our TOGETHER time:

When we get back I will post some FUN summer pictures and get CAUGHT UP with what we did these past few months.

Proof of my 8k

I HAD to post this to remember for the future that it is possible to run an 8k... in the rain.... with 2 kids in tow.... after staying up until after midnight.... and wakeboarding all afternoon.... 2 months after having a baby....

I know for some of you this would be a piece of CAKE but I only finished because RANDY kept PUSHING me (literally) and telling me to HAVE A LITTLE PRIDE. Thanks honey, I WILL sprint past you next year so I don't have to listen to it AGAIN.

Click on this link to see the pain on my face - enjoy!
brightroom event photography

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Randomness

Let me start by giving a shout out to my sweet husband of 8 years (yes honey, it HAS been 8 years of marriage already). The wind had blown our BBQ over numerous times so for Father's Day we got our chief grill master.... ta da - a new grill! Love to you and all you do!

We are taking advantage of playing outside while the weather is nice here. So much so that Cooper will fall asleep quickly in unusual places.

I'm learning that the reason 2 kids are difficult is because when one is asleep...

the other one is wide awake.

But how could you mind with a sweet face like that!

I've been feeling so great lately that I actually mowed the lawn! It's AWESOME to get out and work - I'm feeling the baby fat FINALLY begin to melt away. While I mowed the lawn Cooper enjoyed an ice pop (ok, 4 ice pops, but it was the only way I could keep him from wanting to HELP me mow).

Cooper is all about doing things "by meself, mommy" so this is the face he gave me when I tried to help him with his bike.

Love to all!

Dog Days

What do you get when a little boy who loves dogs has some great neighbors WITH dogs? The BEST of both worlds! He can play with a dog and YOU don't have to clean up after it. We are lucky to have such a situation... thanks to our neighbors Pat & Molly and their sweet lab, Darby.

C.J. is getting bigger! She has discovered her hands and will suck her thumb if I don't have a pacifier handy for her. Already she just goes with the flow.

We had a cook-out with a few friends before the days got too humid and sticky. Cooper couldn't get enough of the fire pit. By the time we left for home he was COVERED in a mess of chocolate, watermelon, marshmallow and ash. Below is a picture of the kids with Kyle telling Cooper to BACK AWAY (we all told him multiple times, he likes to test his limit aka: our limits).

And me with the girls left to right:

Erica, Darci, Rivka, Amy (still losing the baby weight)

And Randy convinced me it would be MUCH easier to buzz Coop for the summer. He and I were both against it at first, but the thought of not having to comb his hair or cut it ever two weeks won me over. Cooper was not so convinced.

When he realized he and Daddy were now twins, it made everything ok.

Not bad, not bad at all.
We hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are. Love to all of you.

Catching Up

I don't know where anyone finds time to blog (or sleep) with a new baby and a toddler. I have so much to catch up with, but it's been LONG ENOUGH since my last post. CJ is already 9 weeks old and smiling. We had a few visitors in April-May because if you have a baby... they will come. (a little Iowa humor). First my mom came and graciously stayed for 2 weeks to help me - I needed more help with Cooper than anything. She was AWESOME to take him out and about which is no small task if you've seen his running skills.

Grandma McAffee & Caroline:

Then Randy's mom & dad came a few weeks later. Seriously, is this not the cutest picture?(below)

Grandpa Clark & Caroline:
We blessed CJ at church while they were here. She's in the dress my mom made for the occasion below.
Grandma Clark & Caroline:

Our expanding family:It's always so sad when family leaves. Thanks for coming to see us!

Now on to Cooper, he learned to usethe sprayer on the hose while Grandpa Clark was here. It was funny at the time but now you can't go outside without him trying to spray you down. And even if he doesn't get YOU, he soaks himself which means you get wet taking care of HIM anyways. But it's still pretty cute.
We were able to take a tour of the helicopter at the hospital last week. Cooper thought it was the coolest thing. I was able to get him to do anything I wanted for a few days prior by reminding him of how we were going to see the helicopter. When our big moment finally arrivedhe was so excited to sit inside, but then refused to get out until I went inside after him.

We're still talking about the "helicopter take off, mommy".
We had one more big thing last month - Cooper turned 2!!
My friend, Heather, gave me this idea for his cake and let me borrow her son's dump truck. It's a dirt cake with brownies, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, crushed oreos and worms all mixed together. Be sure to line the dump truck with plastic wrap if you try this. All the kids LOVED it and I loved the chocolate!
There are more pictures and stories to share of our adventures the past weeks, but both kids are asleep right now, so I'm going to RELAX with a good book.

I can't resist, one more picture: CJ in her bath tub.Love to all - can't wait to catch up on reading everyone's blogs!

Bring on the Bows

Our sweet baby girl is finally here!!! I can't TELL you how nice it is NOT to be pregnant any more. Can I just say that I am a fan of being induced - it went so well. We went to the hospital around 5:30 am and had her just before 2 pm, much faster than with Cooper. Plus I didn't feel like I had been hit by a truck when I came home from the hospital. My doctor says it's because my body knew what to do since it was my 2nd pregnancy.

Here's our first picture together after they took me to my room

Randy got some snuggle time in with her as well...

Cooper didn't want much to do with her in the hospital, but when we came home he decided he liked her after all and was probably a little too affectionate at first. He's been a wonderful big brother - minus the extra tantrums he's displayed which I think are attributed to not being the only focus in the home.

Here's a little clip of Cooper saying, " hi baby CJ". I'll post more when I'm not so TIRED.

Sweet Flooring and Diggers

Thought I would just post some pics of activities we've done this last month.

Randy took a few days and ripped up the carpet in our dining room, then layed wood laminante flooring through the kitchen, hallways and dining room. It turned out SO WELL! I'm always impressed by his mad skills.

He even did it with Cooper's "help".

Getting close to the finish:

All done with the furniture back! I love my hard-working boys.

Later that same week we took Coop to the John Deer Pavilion in Moline, IL. Nothing is cooler for him right now than "diggers and dump dumps" which means he was in HEAVEN when we saw some life-size equipment AND got to climb inside of it. If you live in the area and haven't taken your kids to this place, YOU NEED to do it. They let you climb around in all kinds of farm equipment and it's FREE.

Cooper cried when we finally left, but we did buy him a new "digger" which made things a little better.

And just a baby update: my doctor decided I've suffered ENOUGH and he's going to induce labor this Wednesday. That's right, April 1st, an April Fool's baby - I'm excited and nervous. I'm a little sad that it won't just be me and my sidekick anymore, but I am TOTALLY ready to not be PREGNANT any longer. My feet are swollen enough that I ALMOST wore flip-flops to church yesterday. The only thing that stopped me was the snow on the ground.

Wish me luck!