Summer Nights with the Windows Down...

No words needed for these...she is too cute! Sometimes she really wants to feel the wind in her hair and other times, she fusses if they are cracked a millimeter! Either way, we had a fun ride home from my mom's house the other night and got these pics in the car. I love the way her hair looks! Emily is a silly girl...with a LOT of hair!

He NEVER Stops Moving!

I have been promising to get video for days and while it isn't the best ever, I finally took the time to show our youngest monkey walking. He is all over the place! Usually he finds something to pull up on, gets his balance and then takes off. He is such a happy boy and has loved his new freedom because he can move around even more now...oh JOY! {enter sarcasm} Really though, he is still so little that he looks really hysterical teetering around and it is so fun to watch him discover his new abilities. He is still ridiculously strong...it actually hurts when he stands on my legs and tries to push off! A couple of days ago, he nearly crawled out of my arms and had I not hung onto his legs, he would have bitten the floor...face first! Not even 5 minutes later, he pulled a Whoodini on us and got out of his tight buckle in the stroller and was hanging upside down, head first about a foot above the concrete driveway. Lovely! I see an ER visit in our future! I just happened to be standing right there and caught him in time...thank you Lord!!

I have a feeling this kid is going to give us a run for our money!

Much Updating with Slideshows, Videos, and More!

It has taken some time to get settled this week. I feel like we have been running like crazy over the past month. We knew it was going to feel a little nutso traveling so much with 2 young kids, but we had no clue as to what we were really in store for! Overall, they did fantastic, but we had some tough days for sure.

If you are new to the blog or just missed what we've been up to, here's the rundown. We traveled (by plane) to VA for Derek's mom's 60th bday and his little bro's 30th. I was there for 2 weeks and Derek left after a couple of days to go back to work. While in VA, I also traveled to see my family a couple of hours away. We were gone for 2 weeks and then I flew back to Nashvegas with Em and TK...finally reuniting with my hubby!

We had about 2 weeks at home and then left for California. After we secured a place for our two furry children, Gizmo and Bear, (thank you Coutcher's and Ana!!!) we spent a whole day flying to San Francisco and then driving to Sonoma Cty. (Healdsburg to be precise) for a dear friend's wedding that Derek and Emily were in. Oh and I should mention here that the night before we left, RIGHT before Emily got in bed, she was dancing around the living room and twisted her foot...BAD!! She went to bed and woke up the next morning at 5am to catch our plane with a really swollen foot...poor thing! Let me just say that going through security was F-U-N!!!! The absolute highlight of this day was seeing Benji, Rebekah, and Caroline at our layover in Dallas! I did not want to say goodbye to them!! The absolute low point of the day was on the long flight from Dallas to San Francisco. All 3 of our seats were not together. Surely we thought someone would at least give a seat up so that one of us could sit with Em. The flight attendant asked 3 PEOPLE and they ALL SAID NO!!! Unbelievable!! I was almost in tears thinking that Emily, at 3 years old, was going to have to sit by herself. Everyone around us saw and heard what was going on and no one would move. Finally, as we were just succumbing to the harsh reality, a woman walked on the plane and gave up her seat and then another woman got on and they both moved to let Derek sit with Em and me across the row. Thank you sweet sweet women...wherever you are!!!!

Finally we got to San Francisco, then drove to Healdsburg, had the wedding activities, took part in one of the most beautiful weddings ever and then drove to Carmel a couple of days later. We stayed there from Sun. until Sat. morning and it was wonderful. We enjoyed lots of things (more on that below) and were blessed by the whole experience! This past Sat. we traveled all day again and got back to Nashville around 9pm. We stopped by my mom's to pick up our car and say hi to my family that was visiting and then headed home. To say we were tired, well...........

On the drive to our house, D and I smiled as we talked about our anticipation of greeting our dogs, immediately putting our sleeping children directly in their own beds, taking showers in our own bathrooms, and then crawling....literally...into our own beds! That would have all been really nice, if our upstairs air conditioner wouldn't have broken in our absence causing us to sleep on our living room floor with Emily and Timothy sleeping in the pack n play in our laundry room....hahaha!!!! It's much funnier now that the air unit is fixed and I have been able to sleep!

So here we are, back in the 'Boro. Em's foot is almost healed up completely and Timothy is walking EVERYWHERE (video to come). We are super glad to be home and even got to visit with my bro's family for a couple of days. We have more family coming next week and look forward to seeing them as well. In the meantime, we will catch our breath and enjoy D's long weekend off from work!

What follows below is the choppiest post I have ever created, but it seemed the best way to catch up on everything that went on this past month. You will find video from the Cali trip, then tons of pics from the Cali trip in a slideshow, and finally further down some pics from the trip to VA. You will have to do a lot of scrolling down to catch it all. Unless of course, you are like me and just reading this part made you tired!:)

Jumping on the Bed

A vacation just wouldn't be the same without one of the Kramer's jumping on the bed. We had just gotten to our hotel in Carmel and Emily immediately started jumping. So, of course Timothy jumped too. Hard to believe that last year on our beach trip, we got Em on video jumping and she sounds and looks so little...and of course Timothy's arrival was still months away. Anyway, it's a short one, but cute!

"If I Had a Little White Box..."

It is a little difficult to hear, but this video is from the beach. I was singing a song with Emily and she thinks it is so funny. I LOVE her laugh!! She daily requests that we sing this!

California Trip 2009

After much debating and wasting time, I decided to share our pics from our trip through Shutterfly (look below:). I can't caption any of the pics this way unfortunately, so you might not have a clue as to what you are looking at, but oh well. And there are TONS of pictures, so I am totally not responsible for the time-waster that viewing my pics will become for you!:) Unfortunately our Picassa Web Album is close to full and I don't have time now to go through and remove pics, so this will have to suffice.

Just so you have some clue as to what these pics are:
*Monterey Bay Aquarium
*Derek's Grandpa's House in Carmel
*Playing on Carmel Beach
*Drive to Big Sur on Highway 1
*Swimming at the Hotel Pool
*Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey (it was the most amazing playground)
*Sitting in a really cool tree on Carmel's Beach (we take pics in this same tree every year)

It was a really, really wonderful trip. Carmel is so beautiful and as soon as the TN humidity hit us, we wanted to go back!!

California Trip 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

VA Trip Pics...Finally!

I figured with all of the Cali pics to post, I better complete the first part of the month's travel pics. It was a BUSY month! So here goes...lots of fun with cousins, grandparents, uncles, and aunts!

Em's Halmi gave her this magnifying glass so that we could explore outside and we had a blast...I LOVE this picture! She is such a silly goose!

lifting weights with Uncle Sean

celebrating Uncle Sean's bday...Emily loved getting his cake ready. She even helped with the letters, hence the lovely very large writing.

My very sweet nephew, Carter. He loves Emily and Timothy so incredibly much!

My sweet baby boy! It is so rare that he is this still...sleeping and eating, that's it!

My silly nephew LaShaad

the curly twins!

giving Aunt Lorri trouble trying to get down!

Scaling the staircase...little daredevil!

Camping out with cousin Madison

Playing with Uncle Brandon

Fun with Madison and cousin Noah...too cute!!

She is growing up so fast.

funny little guy!

Emily and Timothy with their grandma (Halmi) and great grandmother (Halmuhnee)

Finally reunited with Daddy!!! (she actually lost her shoe while running towards him:)

More California Pics...

Today is our last day here in Cali. We are going to attempt a day at the beach AGAIN, but Derek and I have doubts that it will be any warmer. Emily wants to build sandcastles and play so badly. The other day it was SOOOO cold, really unbearable. We stayed for no more than 30 min. because it was just too cold. (I haven't uploaded those pics yet...you'll know which ones they are..Emily has on 3 layers of clothing:) These pics are from the first day here. Hopefully we will get some more today...actually PLAYING in the sand!!:)

My Funny Girl!

After dinner, we get both kids in their car seats, get in the car and get ready to head back to our hotel. We turn on the radio and Emily says," Mommy when a fast song comes on, turn it up and I'm gonna play my guitar and rock it out!"

She cracks me up!

Why Go to Cali??...

to celebrate two really wonderful people getting hitched! It was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting with an absolutely gorgeous bride and a somewhat handsome groom (love ya Nick!) and a REALLY hot Best Man! The flower girl was quite the cutie too. Nick and Steph's wedding was so picturesque and the ceremony was perfect! We are so so excited for them as they enter this new and fun stage of life. Congrats you two...we love you so much! Below are some of my favorite pics of the day. More details on our trip and pics to come. Thankfully Derek brought the camera thingy to upload pics while we are here...so stay tuned:)