Shelby’s First Birthday

22 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Gillian in baby, DIY, handmade, parties & events, Shelby milestones

I’m still having a hard time grasping the fact that our girl is a year old! I may have shed a few tears over the past couple weeks just thinking about how fast this little person is growing up. This year has been nothing short of amazing and we can’t imagine what life would be like without Shelby James.

I have been mentally planning her first birthday party since the day we found out we were having a girl. That’s normal right? I changed my mind about the theme more times than I’d like to admit, and ended up settling for a color scheme rather than an actual theme. Black & White stripes with touches of Gold, Pink and Mint were the winners. When I explained it to my husband all I got in response was an eye-roll. Men just don’t get it.

We actually had two separate parties. The weekend before her birthday we had a smaller family party at my aunt and uncles beautiful new home. I’m so glad we did this as my grandpa and a few other guests wouldn’t have been comfortable at the bigger, more chaotic party. Since it was smaller and there weren’t as many kids, my sister-in-law and their newborn twins were able to come celebrate with Shelby without so many people around, which was wonderful!

Here are a few pictures from the day

I made ice cream cone cupcakes. They were super easy and cute!

Gettin’ after it!

First things first, taking Elmo for a cruise in her new stroller.

We loved having Shelby’s new cousins Jack and Aidan there too!

How cute is my aunt and uncles dog, Yoda?!

It was such a fun afternoon and Shelby had so much fun celebrating with her family. Big thanks to everyone who came!

The following weekend we had another party for our friends and some family. My sister has an adorable house which she kindly offered as a place for the party. Her yard is tiny, which made for a very “cozy” party, but I think it worked out just fine.

I mean seriously, how cute is her yard?! That little greenhouse was the perfect place for the food table.

I also hung the cotton candy party favors in there with some twine and mini gold glitter pins.

I hand made all of the party decor. It was so much fun putting everything together after days and hours of planning. The balloon and banner tissue tassels were the most time consuming, but one of my favorite details of the day. (more about the GIANT balloons later)

I insisted on having these giant round balloons for her party. I ordered 5 (which came deflated, obviously) and planned to use a few by the gate, like in this picture and place the others throughout the yard. Easy enough. Not exactly. We took the deflated balloons to the party store the day before the party to have them blown up. The girl warned us that while these balloons are adorable, transporting them is not so adorable. She suggested we rent a U-Haul to get them from the store. Say Whaa?! We stupidly ignored her and literally had to cram these monsters into hubby’s truck and my SUV (and we only used 4!). These puppies are each 36 inches in diameter. Shelby and her party dress were squished in the backseat with $40 worth of helium. No, not a typo, it cost 40 bucks to have the damn things inflated. But I was NOT going to change my mind. Plus, I had made a bazillion tissue tassles to hang from them, so they were getting used! I would definitely use these balloons again, maybe just plan out the pick-up transportation a little better. Live and Learn.

I used my Silhouette to make the cake topper and all of the paper banners.

Some friends leaving Shelby a birthday message. Michael made the big chalkboard, which is now on our fence in the backyard for outdoor coloring fun.

Here I am all smiley ready to serve Shelby her cake, hoping for one of those perfect “baby’s-first-birthday-smash-cake-pictures”.

She was not having it. Maybe she’s more of a chocolate girl..

I did an “All About Shelby” display on the giant chalkboard in the dining room. It also served as a fun backdrop for the gift table.

Shelby and Auntie Erika coordinated their outfits with the stripes and gold polka-dots theme!

We tell Shelby every day how loved she is by so many people. We feel very lucky to have such wonderful friends and loving, supportive families. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this party off without the help from my mom and sister. Thanks ladies:)

As much fun as it was planning and enjoying these two parties, nothing melts my heart more than this picture our dear friend and photographer captured. There is nothing that makes me love my husband more than watching him with Shelby.

All the decor was handmade by me. I am happy to answer any questions about where to purchase anthing else you see in these pictures. Just leave a comment. Thank you for all of the sweet birthday wishes for Shelby. We are already looking forward to next year’s party!

11 Months Old!

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Gillian in baby, mommyhood, monthly growing, Shelby milestones

≈ 2 Comments

Well, since her first birthday is tomorrow, I figured I should squeeze in Shelby’s 11 month update before I am an ENTIRE month behind. Worst. Mom. Ever.

Let me just say that this past month has been busy with nasty colds running through our house, planning 2 birthday parties for Shelbs and starting work on our new house remodel. Or maaaaybe I’m just having a hard time grasping the fact that our girl is turning one!

Weight: Roughly 20lbs. Her one year check-up isn’t for a few more weeks.

Clothing Size: We are kind of all over the place with the clothes. If I buy her anything new, it’s 12-18 month, but I may or may not have squeezed her into a 3 month onesie last week. Hi, my name is Gillian and I have issues with the fact that my kid is growing up.

Diaper Size: 3. We recently made the switch from Pampers Swaddlers (which only go up to a size 3) to Costco brand. They get the job done and save us about 15 bucks per box. Apparently our Pampers were one of the most expensive diaper out there. I mostly liked them because they aren’t covered in those lame cartoon characters.

Foods: Pretty much anything on YOUR plate. She’s a very good eater. Oink Oink.

Crawling: She is crawling so fast that she has literally burned holes on the knees of her leggings.

Walking: So so so close! She is a pro at walking with her push toys and it’s the cutest thing ever. I am convinced that the more pairs of shoes I buy her, the more interested in walking she will be.

Sleeping: She has been a champ lately. Besides a few rough nights when she was up with a stuffy nose and cough, she’s been sleeping and napping wonderfully. I would imagine she would need a good nights rest, this girl does not stop moving during the day!

Teeth: 2 bottom teeth but no more on the horizon. But boy those little suckers are razor sharp! I still can’t even picture what she will look like when her top teeth pop in. That gummy smile just melts my heart.

Talking: Homegirl is a talker! The only problem is none of us can translate the language of Shelby. I swear its like my nail lady taught her Vietnamese.

Favorite Activities: Peek-a-boo has taken on a life of it’s own. No more just covering your eyes up. Now it has to be a blanket over your face or jumping out of a closet for her to think its funny. Brushing her hair and teeth is the most fun. Especially when I gave her a sticky lollypop and she brushed her hair with it.

New Tricks: Refusing her sippy cup and only wanting to drink from a Starbucks cup. She will be in GSAA (Green Straw Addicts Anonymous) before too long. Opening her dresser drawers and taking out every single piece of clothing one at a time and throwing it on the floor. The only good thing is when I say “ok, fold and put them away” it will keep her busy for a good 30 minutes trying to fold one shirt. It’s adorable (as is everything she does. obvi).

These are a few outtakes from her 11 month photos

I’m loving the bottom left one!

Tomorrow is the big day. The day our little Pip turns 1. I can barely even type it without crying. Today we had a party to celebrate her birthday with some of our family and next weekend we will have another party to celebrate with our friends. I have spent weeks preparing the decor for next weekends party, I am so excited to share the photos from all of our celebrations with you!

10 Months Old!

09 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Gillian in baby, mommyhood, monthly growing, Shelby milestones

≈ Leave a Comment

Weight: Still around 18lbs. Sadly, all of her baby chunk is almost gone and she has turned into a little skinny string bean.

Clothing Size: Mostly 12month. We had to go out and buy her new 18 month size jeans last week. All of her other ones were turning into high-waters. Where did she get these long legs from?!

Diaper Size: 3

Foods: Loving all veggies and fruits. Shelby is her mammas daughter though and has a weakness for carbs. Pasta, bread, crackers, Oh MY!

Crawling: She has gone from quick to quicker in a flash! Once she figured out that she can find mommy in the other room by crawling there, she was EVERYWHERE! All she wants to do is get down and go. Even on the grimy ground at Costco- which I explained to her was not gonna happen- which led to a major tantrum. Go figure.

Walking: Going from couch to ottoman, standing and climbing on everything. With about 8 weeks until her first birthday, I think we will have a walking girl by then!

Sleeping: Wellllllllllllllllllll, lets just say, Shelby sleeps when she feels like it. Some nights are great and some are not so great. In her defense, in the past few weeks she’s had an ear infection, a cold and started teething. On top of that, she only wants to take naps for Daddy now, and since Daddy isn’t home for nap time during the week, Mommy frequently looses her shit.

Teeth: We can cancel our order for baby dentures! A TOOTH HAS SURFACED! The day she turned 10 months old one popped through. But seriously, how cute would baby dentures be?!

Talking: Baby babbles have taken a life of their own. I love hearing her babble while she plays. She calls everything “baby” and learned animal sounds “moo” “baa” and “ruff ruff”.

Favorite Activities: Playing the Elmo alphabet game on the ipad. Standing in front of the dog gate and carrying on perfectly relevant conversations with them, all while getting a million puppy kisses. I recently caught her sitting in her new chair with her legs crossed, flipping through a magazine. Every morning she crawls over to her pink play kitchen, throws all the plates and food on the floor and moves on to the next thing. Her new name is Destruct-o Baby.

New Tricks: It seems like everything she’s doing now is “big girl” stuff, like giving hugs and sitting in the bath without her baby tub. She does something new almost everyday. Shelby’s favorite new trick is protesting! My goodness, if things don’t go her way, she will let you know with fists in the air, a mean mug scowl, and a yell you could hear across town. It mostly happens when she wants more food, which is always. So the next time you’re in Target and you hear that kid squawking across the store, come say HI, it’s probably us!

I can’t believe she will be ONE in 2 months! I am just now starting to brainstorm some ideas for her party. So far there are 102 people on the guest list. Necessary? YES. Crazy? Definitely. And will she even remember it? No.

Ta Ta Twentytwelve!

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Gillian in baby, holidays, mommyhood, randomness, vacations

≈ Leave a Comment

Now that we’ve said farewell to 2012, it has me feeling bittersweet. This last year brought us many great experiences, so much joy and most importantly, made us Mommy and Daddy to our sweet Shelby girl.

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was 30 something weeks pregnant, in full on nesting mode waiting on baby’s arrival. Now Shelby will be 10 months old this week and is trying walk. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine.

We’ve had so many great things happen this past year, but these are my favorites:

In March we welcomed this little squish ball. I’m currently trying to convince myself that the little girl who is crawling around like crazy now, was indeed this small at one point.

We took our first family trip to the beach in Southern California. Only a 2 month old could pull off thighs like that!

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary in San Francisco. We ate dinner, drank wine, the three of us snuggled up and watched a $17 hotel room movie and were asleep before 9. It was perfect. (and snapped this crappy iphone pic)

We dressed up like a pig.

more than once…

Changed roughly 1,500 diapers

Learned to drive.

Mastered hair bow wearing.

And celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three!

There are so many more things I could add, but that would make for the world’s longest blog post!

2013 already has so many exciting things in store for our family. I can’t wait to share them with you!

Happy New Year!

9 Months Old!

12 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Gillian in baby, monthly growing, Shelby milestones

≈ 1 Comment

{Clearly, someone was not in the mood for picture time. This was actually the most composed photo of the bunch}

Weight: About 18lbs. We go for her 9 month check up later this week.

Clothing size: Mostly 9 month, but starting to buy some 12mo things. EEK!

Diaper Size: Moved up to the size 3′s. For some reason this made mommy very sad.

Food: She is eating everything! We hadn’t had much luck with the homemade baby food, she refused to eat it. I finally figured out that she wants to feed herself, so instead of mashing the steamed food, I give it to her cut into bite sized pieces, which she piles into her mouth. Current favorites are carrots, noodles, pears, cheerios, sweet potatoes, peas, squash, avocado and banana. We also give her anything that we are eating as long as it’s not spicy or over seasoned.

Crawling: She officially crawled all the way across the room on her 9 month Birthday. Then she got scared when Mommy and Daddy were jumping and clapping at her like baboons. It’s safe to say Shelby thinks we are the worlds biggest dorks.

Walking: She wants to SO badly. She is mastering the “surfing” from couch to coffee table, but she’s pretty wobbly still. Michael and I have a bet going- I think she will take her first steps by the New Year (although I hope she doesn’t)!

Sleeping: Can I get a Hellllll Yeah!? Still sleeping like a pro and sometimes for 13-14 hours at a time. Now I just need to get the husband to stop snoring and this Mamma will be set!

Teeth: Nada! Where the heck are you, teeth?!

Talking: Oh boy. Chatty Kathy never seems to stop talking. Over the past month she has learned “Dada”, “Bye-bye”, “Night-Night” and “More”. I am extra excited about her knowing “Dada”, now when she’s pissed she screams for him, not Mama!

Favorite Activities: Finally sitting still long enough to read through an entire book, bath times that sometimes last for an hour, stacking blocks and books up and knocking them over, and her very favorite thing is to watch mom clean up her toys and then immediately dump over the basket again. Sigh.

New Tricks: Clapping, crab crawling, brushing her hair, giving kisses-big slobbery ones, sitting by the front door screaming Bye Bye when she wants to go somewhere. It’s safe to say that the “baby” days are long gone and Miss Shelby is quickly on her way to being a big girl.

Some of my favorite 8-9 month photos:

Playing Catch Up

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Gillian in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a Comment

‘Tis the season to be BUSY! Doesn’t it seem like it was just Halloween? Now Christmas is only 15 days away! Where has the time gone?! Things always seem to get extra crazy this time of year with work, family, holidays and a crawling baby! Yep, Shelby is on the move. The girl is everywhere, into everything and very interested in tackling the Christmas tree. She may have had a few pine needles as a snack yesterday–kidding. I guess it’s true when people say how fun it is to see your baby crawl then you want nothing more but for them to just sit the eff still!

A little recap on what we’ve been up to:

We spent Thanksgiving in Oregon with my Aunt and Uncle, their 7 (yes, SEVEN!) kids, their spouses and 4 of their little kiddos. I’ve seriously missed sharing the holidays with them since they moved up there from Cali about 14 years ago. Us kids always had so much fun together, and this year was even better since some of us have kids of our own. Shelby absolutely adored hanging with her cousins and she was a Rock Star on the plane rides again. And of course we had to take the opportunity to dress our girls alike for a photo op.

The crawling. It’s insane. Literally one day she just figured it out, now there’s no stopping her. She cruises over to the coffee table, pulls herself up and basically destroys whatever she can get her paws on, which this morning was my completely full Starbucks latte. There’s 5 bucks ill never see again. She’s a busy bee and growing up way too fast.

We finally got our tree up and decorated. We usually do this the day after Thanksgiving, but we were gone and time got away from us. I am a total freak about the tree decorations (well, actually all decorations). I individually wrap each branch with lights so there are no bald spots. Then I take about 20 minutes to find the perfect spot for each ornament. The whole tree process usually takes me a full day and leaves my husband running for the nearest bar to escape my craziness. But not this year. A few strands of lights, ribbon and some ornaments thrown on while the baby was napping is as good as its gonna get. I am still deciding if my tree and mantle decor is worthy of its own post. As long as Shelby likes it, that’s good enough for me! We were totally those people who still had hay and pumpkins on the porch well into December. Whatevs.

I’ll leave you with a few photos from our trip to Oregon.

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

8 months old!

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Gillian in baby, mommyhood, Shelby milestones

≈ 3 Comments

SHELBY TURNED 8 MONTHS OLD THIS WEEK!

Weight: Somewhere around 17lbs

Clothing Size: 6-9 month. We had to say ‘so long’ to anything smaller than 6 month, this girl is a-growin’!

Diaper Size: 2

Food: Still a very good eater! Shelby loves all veggies and fruits and is always excited when its time to eat. Mum Mum rice rusks are a current favorite.

Crawling: Any day now. We are pretty sure she knows how to crawl, she’s just not interested in really doing it.

Walking: Pulling herself up from sitting position to standing up next to the table, couch, chairs, anything really. She has even done the free standing without holding onto anything a couple of times for a few quick seconds. This of course has led to a few bumps and bruises. She’s too brave for her own good. We foresee many trips to the ER in our future.

Sleeping: She has become such an awesome sleeper. Bedtime and nap times are always a breeze now. Some nights she’s waking up once to eat, but no complaints here, that means mommy gets a snuggle sesh, which I’ve missed terribly.

Teeth: Still none on the horizon for the gummy girl

Talking: Saying “Mama” constantly. Especially when she wants something, knowing it just melts my heart. We’ve been working on “Daddy” but anytime I say it, she just looks around the house for him. This one might take some practice.

Favorite Activities: Lately we’ve been jamming out to Simon and Garfunkel radio on Pandora while we play in her room, she sits on the floor and rocks her hips back and forth “dancing”. It’s to die for.

New Tricks: Waving when you say Bye-Bye, and sometimes for no particular reason at all. Cruising in her pink rolling car straight over to the shelves and knocking down every picture frame, giggling all the way. When we say Cheese, she scrunches her face up and snorts. Of course it’s adorable as well.

I’ll leave you with some cuteness:)

Happy weekend everyone!!

Shelby’s first Halloween & Fall decor

03 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Gillian in baby, DIY, handmade, holidays, home projects, mommyhood

≈ 3 Comments

I’ve never been a huge fan of Halloween, but this year I was super excited since we had our little munchkin to celebrate with! Having a baby makes me feel mushy gushy about any holiday, really. We had grand plans to parade Shelby around to some of our friends and family’s houses, but when you have a 7 month old and a life, some things don’t always go as planned.

Long story short: Skipped nap = crabby pink Pig. Puffy Pig costume + can’t buckle crabby pink Pig into car seat properly + dead car battery + mommy’s “plan” not going as planned = one sad baby, one sad mommy, one annoyed husband and one clusterfuck of a Halloween night. We only made it to one house but Pip got to see her adorable cousin dressed as a Unicorn, so it was all worth it.

I bought her costume on sale last year right after Halloween. I knew we were having a girl and I knew her favorite color would be pink, so dressing her as a pink Pig had to happen.

Serious cuteness going on here.

I made her this Trick-or-Treat bag which turned out to be almost bigger than she was. But she did have plenty of room for the whopping 4 pieces of candy she got. Better luck next year…

I did some minimal Halloween-y decorations around the house and dressed up the front porch with some hay and pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch.

We also spent one chilly afternoon painting our child’s buns and making her stand on the cold front porch for a nude photo shoot. She’s going to hate us when she’s older.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Sleep Training

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Gillian in baby, how to, mommyhood

≈ 5 Comments

Many of you have asked how we finally got our girl to sleep through the night.

Here it is:

…and it took a long 7 months to happen.

A few weeks back we finally decided the time had come to get Little Miss No Sleep on some sort of schedule. She has neverbeen a great sleeper, but we just thought that was what we had to work with, so we worked with it.

A typical day for us B.S. (Before Sleep) went somewhat like this:

7:30am- Shelby wakes up in our bed with Mommy crunched over almost falling off the edge because Shelby decided she wasn’t interested in sleeping in her own room.

8:00am- She nurses and we get up and eat some breakfast, play in her room and read books.

9:00am- Although it hasn’t even been 2 full hours since she woke up, she starts fussing because she is still tired. I tried time and time again to explain to her that if she slept like a baby should, she wouldn’t be such a grump. She didn’t seem to catch the drift.

After another nursing session (this girl is a milk monster) she falls asleep, placed in crib and I tiptoe out of her room, as this morning nap never lasts longer than 20 minutes.

9:30am- Usually during this time I attempt a shower and sometimes I even get to shave BOTH legs! Then she’s up. With my hair usually thrown into a wet bun and throw on whatever outfit takes the least effort to find, I get her dressed and ready for our day. Of course her outfit is way more important than mine.

Anywhere from 10-2 we are out and about running errands, going for walks, play dates, visiting Daddy at work. She usually conks out in the car, which I know isn’t technically a nap, but I’d take what I could get.

3pm- We are home and doing whatever it is us Stay At Home Moms are supposed to do. ~~Watch Sex and the City reruns, eat Bon Bon’s, paint our nails.~~ Laundry, cleaning, preparing dinner. In the midst of all of these tasks it usually took me a good hour to even get her to sleep for an afternoon nap. She would typically sleep for about an hour, which to me, seemed like eternity. It’s amazing how much I could get done in that ONE measly hour.

Daddy comes home from work by 5 and spends time with her while I start dinner. And yes, in our house, sometimes Top Ramen totally counts as dinner.

By the time dinner is ready, Shelby is usually pissed off about something, so we inhale our meal and get her bathed and ready for bed. Sometimes if it’s too early for her to go down, we would take a walk around the block a few times.

8pm- I nurse her to sleep and lay her in her crib. She always stayed asleep until about 11:30pm, which was usually right after I would lay down. After this, she is up every hour. We would rock her, feed her, hold her, sing to her, lay with her, read to her, you name it. Lie her down and then POP- eyes wide open. Then we would cave and bring her into our bed after the hours of unsuccessful attempts. Keep in mind she was never crying during these times, just awake.

At this point Daddy gets kicked to the couch and Princess Shelby has made her way to our bed. This was the only way we would get any sleep.

Surprisingly I never felt like that tired Zombie mom people talk about, but I’m sure I looked like one.

We read up on sleep training methods and decided that the Cold Turkey Method was our only hope, as we had tried just about everything else.

Last Friday night was the night. I was sick to my stomach all day. How could I just let my sweet girl cry and cry in her crib all alone? Luckily, Michael has much more will power than I do when it comes to sad Shelby. He actually sent me out of the house with friends for a few hours while he tried the first night of training. Smart man. I would have totally gone in there after about 2 minutes of crying and scooped her up.

We decided 30 minutes would be the longest we’d let her cry it out, then we would get her up and try again the next night. That first night she cried for 20 minutes and feel asleep. Slept until 3am and started fussing, Michael went to console her and right back to sleep she went until 8am.

{Let me just say, I am obsessed with our video monitor, I even take pictures of Michael consoling Shelby in the middle of the night. Call me crazy}

She had never lasted an entire night in her crib, ever. Nor had we had more than 2 consecutive hours of sleep since she was born. Halleluiah! I almost forgot what it was like to sleep like a real human.

After that night she has been an amazing sleeper. She goes down in her crib at 8pm, awake and falls to sleep on her own.

She wakes up happy anytime between 7-8am after sleeping through the night. Sometimes she will roll around near 4am but only for a few short minutes and goes right back to sleep on her own.

Nap time is consistent now, with three naps: 9am, 1pm and 5pm. The 1 and 5pm naps sometime turn into one nap around 3pm if we had a busy afternoon.

She is by far an all around happier girl. It’s amazing what a little sleep can do for the soul! Mommy and Daddy are well rested and couldn’t be happier. We always said we would think about baby #2 when Shelby started sleeping through the night. My ohhh my!

I am aware that there are many options when it comes to sleep training. This is what worked best for our family. I’m not saying she’ll be a perfect sleeper forever, but let’s hope!

Sometimes I even go in at nap time and find this. See, she isn’t always perfect:)

Baby’s first plane ride

21 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by Gillian in baby, vacations

≈ 1 Comment

Last week we traveled out to Minnesota to visit Michael’s family. His Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandma live there. None of them had ever met Shelby, so we were super excited to see them all. We had never flown with the baby, so in true Gillian fashion, I was a nervous wreck the weeks leading up to the trip.

Shelby and I shared a school bus sized duffel bag that I was sure would be over the 50lb weight limit (it was 42lbs!). And of course Michael fit all of his stuff into a mini carry on that I normally use for just my shoes. Men.

Our flight out to St. Paul left before 7am which meant waking up Shelby at 4:15am to out the door and to the airport. I was convinced we would be dealing with a cranky, over tired baby for the nearly 4 hour ride. (Xanax please!) We got plenty of the “oh shit, there’s a baby on our flight” looks while boarding the plane. Much to our surprise our girl didn’t make a peep the ENTIRE flight! She slept and played and charmed our fellow flyers with her baby babbles.

Shelby quickly lost interest in the toys we had for her when the flight attendant gave her a napkin and bag of pretzels to play with. I think that lady would have taken Shelby home with her if we’d let her.

We made it! We left 90 degree Cali for what seemed like the North Pole, but we made it! At least Shelby had an excuse to wear her cute new piggy hat and get bundled up nice and cozy.

Pip finally got to meet her Great Grandma Inez and loads of other family members. We visited the Mall of America, went to a Pig Roast where they literally cook a giant pig for dinner, looked at old family photos and ate way too much food.

This is us with Michael’s Grandma, sister and her hubby.

But nothing tops a long weekend of traveling like finding your car with a dead battery at the airport. Awesome.