In praise of IKEA...

On friday night we headed to IKEA. It has been raining nonstop for 3 days and we all needed to get out of the house. Now, if you've never been to IKEA, you may think it a peculiar place to go for a family date night.

But you'd be wrong.

The place is totally kid friendly. There are little play center places strategically placed throughout the store. We ate dinner at the marketplace and it was fantastic. They even have baby food there. Seriously. Little jars of organic baby food. AND there is a large play center in the middle of the dining room where kids can run, climb, etc.

AND it's very inexpensive. It was less than $18 for all 3 of us to eat.

Pretty freaking sweet.

We also got Annalise a tent for her birthday from IKEA. Everywhere I've looked, tents have ranged from $30-$75. That is just ridiculous for a 1 year old. We got the pictured tent for $10. Hells yes.

Unfortunately, I am not being paid by IKEA for this endorsement.

In other news, Annalise has decided that my phone is hers. Tren came to the conclusion that she was talking to Pierre, her personal assistant. He manages her corporate accounts, etc. I wish he would manage our chores and her diapers. But that's just me. Anyway, she'll walk around holding my phone to her ear. It really is too cute.

I don't know if I've written about it yet, but I've been doing signing with Annalise since she was about 6mos old. She's really picked it up. Of course, her favorite sign is the one for milk. In a stunning display of brilliance, she noticed a mother nursing her baby at IKEA and turned to me and made the milk sign and then smiled at the baby. I was astounded. She's such a smart girl.