IKEA Trip and Family Dinner

Yet another great day was had by all!

The girls woke up around 5:30 a.m., and I'm glad they had each other to play with because they let us sleep until about 7.  Vince then got up and made waffles for breakfast and let me sleep :)  Once we were all up and dressed we decided to make a trip to IKEA.  We got a $200 giftcard for Christmas from V's parents and thought it would be fun to go spend some of it.

When we got there, the girls decided they wanted to go play in the kids area for a bit.  Fine by me, so we signed them in, got a pager and off they went to play for an hour while Vince and I did a little leisurely shopping together.  We really want a new couch so we did some comparisons and I think we decided which one we will get in the near future.  That way our red sofa can go back in the office where it was always meant to be.  Then we checked out different tables for my studio that I would need to make my life easier for Vintage Fresh.  They have an awesome drawing table that raises and lowers at an angle with a built in light table.  I am drooling as I type... That coupled with a simple narrow table for my sewing machine and serger will be perfect, and hopefully this summer we are going to make that happen.  The green room is going to be transformed into my studio, and the breakfast area will be able to be used to eat in again!

After an hour of looking around, I went and rounded up the girls so that they could peruse the kids area and each pick out a surprise.  They both chose stuffed puppy dogs with a cute pink poncho and headband set.  The tricky part was keeping the dogs separated so that they didn't get mixed up... They were EXACTLY the same, but I guess not to Bella and Allie :)  Next we headed over to have a little lunch before heading downstairs to check out.  I freaking LOVE IKEA, it is just such a cool store.

Our trip took a lot longer than we had planned, so instead of me taking Allie home, La came and picked her up at 3 since we had a family dinner to attend at Vince's first cousin's house.  Once the Schmitt's were on their way, so were we.  First we picked up Diane because Frank was sick and would not be going with us.  Kind of funny because, it was Frank's sister and family that we were having dinner with.

We made it to David and Susan's house at 4, and were greeted by Bella's 4 girl cousins as soon as we walked in the door.  They range in age from 8 to 11 I think, and they love Bella as much as she loves them.  While the adults chatted, the girls all played so nicely in the basement.  Such a difference from when we are with the Lyday boys in Atlanta.

Anyway, while talking to everyone, we were discussing colleges and who went where.  Turns out, Uncle Tom is also a RED RAIDER!  He was as surprised as I was that we had two TTU grads in North Carolina.  Lots of "get yer guns up" ensued and I gotta say, it was nice to have another fellow Red Raider amongst all the UNC Chapel Hill/Georgia Tech grads.

Dinner was delicious, and it was good to see everyone together.  In fact, we all live in Charlotte, but it was the first time since our wedding that we had all been together.  Hopefully now we will get together more often :)

We dropped Jamma off at home, and then headed home ourselves.  B-bo fell asleep in the car, and didn't even flinch when I carried her to bed.  I myself fell asleep at 9 and slept like a rock :)

Now it's Monday, and I'm getting ready to create my pattern for my new skirt design.  First things first though, I need another cup of coffee!