Wine & Pirates

Yesterday was my sister's birthday, and we took her and her husband out to dinner to celebrate. This is in part because I didn't get her "real" present done in time -- I'm supposed to be redesigning her blog, but with all the other time-sensitive things I had going on, I just didn't get it finished in time -- but we also wanted to go out somewhere and just spend some time with her, somewhere quieter and less busy than my grandparents' on a weekend.

I knew it was going to be a good night when Shae was yelling "Shelley!Shelley!Shelley!Shelley!" just like that, all in a row with no breaths, all the way across the parking lot. The second I got home from work she started in with the third degree: "Where's Shelley? When are we gonna see Shelley? Is she coming here? Are we going to her house? When are we leaving? Let's go!" Driving to the restaurant was one of the longest and cutest hours of my life.

Honestly, it might as well have been "The Shelley and Shae Show," for all the attention either of them paid to the rest of us at dinner. They were thick as thieves, drawing and coloring and laughing their little secrets ... and it was a great thing to see. Sometimes I feel like I live so far away from home, and I hardly ever get to see my sister because we're both always working or running around, and it's just great to let my daughter see how awesome my sister is occasionally.