Mother's Day in Destin

We made a last minute trip to Destin for Mother's Day.
I was excited to get to spend a Mother's Day with my MOM.
Hasn't happened in several years....

My brother's girlfriend, Ryan, drove over that Sunday morning and spent the day and night with us.
We were so happy to have some time with her to get to know her better.
....and for my kids to waller all over her.

We followed the rule that Mom's don't cook on their day.
So Poppa took us all out to dinner at Marlin Grill :) 

Jackson and his dinner date :) 

mamma hen and her chicks
:) 

My sis and Momma
:) 

Lana and Ryan.
wit their big sunglasses.... 

Mom and Steve
I really tried to get him to smile.
Even did the happy dance.
Oh well.
He was a trooper for taking us all to dinner :) 

Love this pic.
IF only the girl was in it too...
The boys love their poppa
 

I love this one too!!!
 

Ryan was a trooper :) 

What is it with little girls and purses?
Does it really start this early??
She loves to pull everything out of my purse, or yours if you let her, one at a time.
She observes it and then puts it down and moves on to the next thing..
So funny to watch. 

Don't know what the smirk on MY face is all about...
probably trying to hide my purple teeth...hmmmm

Only thing missing this Mother's Day was James and my brother!

It was a fun weekend and always goes too fast!

a rare family pic!

There are just too few family pics of us.
I'm always the one behind the camera.
Now, this is not my first pick for a family photo op, being in my bathing suit and all...
but you take what you can get.
[AND everyone else looked great]


My cousin, Chelsea, took this pic in Destin over Easter break.
Why is it soooo hard to get a decent Gilmore family photo at Christmas?
I might just have to move our session to the beach!
[I promise I won't be wearing a 2 piece for our 2012 Gilmore Christmas card!!]

IronMan New Orleans

James did the IronMan New Orleans triathlon on Sunday!
We got up extra early on Sunday morning and made our way across the bridge to watch him race.
[Grandma and her babies]

James came across the finish line at right before 5 hours.
The swim portion of the race was cancelled in Lake Pontchartrain due to high winds.
So they incorporated a 2 mile run in its place.
2 mile run
56 mile bike
13 mile run

Is he sticking his tongue out at me??

Georgia giving her daddy kisses :)

It was a beautiful Sunday morning.
Cool breeze.
Lots of sunshine!

James' mom and her two friends came down to New Orleans to watch James race and made a weekend out of it.
They got a hotel room in the Quarter and we went to visit them Saturday night.

Grandma and Georgia at Morton's postrace meal :)
Beautiful afternoon on the river with live music.

Ga trying to eat my camera.

We got home that afternoon around 5 and the kids wanted James to play baseball with  them.
Which, of course, he did.
I'd still be trying to peel myself out of the car if I had done what he just did...
Ha!

She loves her some Jackson!

eye sore...resolved!

Have you ever been "shopping" for a particular something for, oh say, a YEAR AND A HALF?!
But can't find what your looking for in your head?

I have.
I have this space in my house,
[actually many spaces I feel this way about]...
that I could totally picture what I wanted it to look like.
But either A:  I couldn't afford it
or B:  it didn't exist...

insert my desire to be a designer so I could create EXACTLY what I had in mind......

Problem Area::
The area under our flatscreen tv on the wall in our living room...

The drawback was/is that I don't have a debit card with limitless funds :-/
That poses a problem for this gal.

Anywho.
On this fine Friday the thirteenth, I found EXACTLY what I was looking for...

I have never been to this one consignment shop in our town.
Don't know why I was called to go there today.
But I'm glad I did.


Cause I found this beauty.
Old.
Very Old.
Beautiful.
Multiple Uses flying around in my head.
First thought?
Area under my tv!


Second thought...
dresser for GA someday!


40% off?
Sold.

So here's the BEFORE.
Awful.
Ugly.
Provides no storage.
Cords hanging out for my 8 month old to chew...

AFTER.
Perfect.
Exactly what I had pictured in my head.
I was thinking I was going to have to buy an old dresser and strip down the paint and repaint. etc.....
She came perfectly shabby :)
With three drawers to hold all my life's junk.

Bottom drawer:  Ga's toys!
Middle drawer:  grown up movies!
top drawer:  kids movies!

I am so happy I found it!
I think they are too :)


I took the mirror off and stored it in the attic until I someday put it in GA's room...


Yay for a good find!!

Easter 2012

We went to Destin for Spring Break/Easter last week!
This is a random picture post of pics from my iphone....
random.
My aunt and cousin took much better pictures which I hope to get my hands on soon ;)

Georgia and Reid
second cousins :)
4 months apart


My Aunt Janet rented a house for her and her family this week.
We went to dinner at their house Saturday night and the kids swam out back.
They kept squirting water at the window to these two who were entertained for quite a while!

Ga getting ready to head to the beach in her new terrycloth outfit!

Let's just say this little lady LOVES the beach.
Sand?
Everywhere.
She rakes it up into her hands and has successfully eaten a handful or two on occasion.
She sat under the tent for most of the time we were there but decided to venture out to sea...
She took off crawling thru the sand til she reached water.
It was so funny to watch.
She looked like a baby sea turtle making her way to sea.  Ha!

I was at my mom's for two nights by myself with the kids until my Aunt Barb, Chelsea and her three boys flew in on Monday.
Ga and I were having some girl time in the "girls living room" after the boys went to bed.
She opted for chomping on a glass table :-/

this monkey doesn't like to get his pic taken.
He's having suntime with his jeeg.

Holy Cow.
Make this salad.
Today.
Greek Panzanella Salad.
Yes, those are big chunks of bread....and feta...and calamata olives...
It is amazing.
Ina Garten never disappoints!

Found this lovely surprise in the pool one morning.
A frog and a snake.
The consensus is that the snake was not poisonous...
I don't know.
No one got into the pool all day until my cousin came over and removed it.
YUCK.

Second Cousins!
I wish I could find the photo I took in this very same place two years ago...
Baby Sawyer, Carter, Jackson, Georgia, Charlie and Elliott

Georgia had to get her paws on Baby Sawyer :)
That's Chelsea, Baby Sawyer's mommy.
Ga and Sawyer are 5 months apart!

Carter's glasses that Georgia had to try on.
She had just eaten breakfast.
Apparently, without a bib on.
YUCK Lady!

It was a cloudy, rainy day so after we loaded the kids up and went to Destin Commons for some splash pad/playground fun.
Georgia was super excited that she could get in on the action!
We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Zoe's Kitchen too :)

Lovers.
These two.


She hadn't see her daddy in 6 days.
Him and Lana drove over on Friday afternoon.
We went to the Wharf after dinner and walked around.
Caught sunset.

So peaceful!

Ga, Jackson and their Aunt Lana in the pool.
It was cold!
Doesn't appear that anyone minds!

I LOVE this pic!
She is so happy!


First time in the pool in her ladybug floatie :)
She just splashed and splashed her Aunt Lana!

Jessica's iphone struggling with the poor lighting.
L to R: 
Lana, Me, Chelsea, Sawyer, Elliot and Aunt Barb


We had such a fun week with them!

trouble.
In a few years....
major trouble.

James sitting by pool with the babes.
They love being outside.
Could my daughter's eyes be anymore stunning?!
Sawyer had beautiful blues too...he's just not looking

Margarita  = Kids naptime relief.
Much needed.

Artichoke pita nachos!
One of Aunt Barb's delish creations.
They are SO. GOOD.


Let's just say we ate VERY well at the beach.
Nothing like being spoiled for a whole week with yummy food.
Came home Monday night and all we had to throw together was tuna salad.
Don't get me wrong.
I love tuna salad....
just was a little spoiled from the week before

Nonna and Ga at the beach.
It was rather chilly one night we went down for sunset.

the Mr. and the Mrs.
Once again, I get stuck carrying all my kids crap.
Could James' watch be any bigger??

Happy girl.
She was all smiles 

Such a bad pic.
I am waiting for Chelsea's pics from her good camera!

So Jackson decided he wanted to learn how to skim board this week.
He borrowed his cousin, Christian's, board one day and practiced ALL day.  
There were falls, wipeouts, tears, yelling, more falls, some bumps and bruises...but that kid was persistent!
James bought him his own board the next morning.
We went to the beach for the afternoon and Jackson practices for hours again.
By the end of the day, he had succeeded!
He was even doing fancy twists on the board.
Impressive.
I tried to do it but we won't talk about that on here....

Sisters!

there's the female generations of the fam!

Elliot.
aka:  stripper
:)
I'm showing this at your wedding someday boy!

Love this pic!
Look at the beautiful colors!
ahhh..i could so live at the beach.

uh-huh
he's going there!

James and the boys building a tunnel under the sand.
It took a solid hour but it was fun to watch them all playing together nicely :)


Fun week!
It flew by.
James conducted a great devo on Easter Sunday for us by the pool.
The Easter bunny hid all the kids baskets so it was fun watching them search for them.


On the way home from the beach, Jackson asked Charlie where he had gotten this one particular toy.
Charlie replied, "That big bunny brought it last night."
Ha.