Thanksgiving

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone and tomorrow is December 1st!

We left for Nashville on Tuesday at 4:00. After a stop at Whattaburger in Russellville and several potty breaks, we made it to Memphis, where we spent the night in a hotel. It was around 10:00 when we got there. Caleb hadn't slept a wink, but had been stuck in his carseat for the better part of 6 hours. (As a matter of fact, Caleb didn't sleep a wink in the car the whole trip!) Thank goodness for the DVD player...quite possibly the best investment we've ever made! When we checked in and got to our room, Caleb went crazy! He was grinning ear-to-ear and running all over the place. It took everything in my power to get him to wind down and go to sleep. It was midnight before the little stinker closed his eyes and it was 6:00 when they popped open and he was ready to go all over again. We left for Nashville around 8:30 and got there about 12:30. Rudy and Doug went to the airport to pick up Sherry and I tried my hardest to get Caleb to take a nap. No dice. He never went to sleep. I ended up giving him a bath before the rest of the family got there and we played with the toys that we brought for him.

Doug & Lisa hosted us at their home. Jan and Grandma Voise stayed at the house, along with us. (Caleb slept with Jan all 3 nights, which was wonderful!) Kathy and Dan and Sherry stayed in a hotel nearby. Anyone who knows the Voise family knows that there was WAY too much food and it was WAY too good to turn down. Thanksgiving dinner was traditional, but featured the usual family recipe twists. We all ate until we could hardly breathe and then had dessert, which pushed us all over the edge into Thanksgiving oblivion. On Friday, some of the family took a daytrip, but I stayed home so Caleb could get a much-needed nap. While he slept, I decorated for Doug's 50th birthday party and Lisa's NOT-50th birthday party. Then, Dan and I watched as the Razorbacks (surprisingly) beat LSU in the annual Friday-after-Thanksgiving football game. I was super excited about that! Rudy got home just in time to see the last 3 Arkansas plays, so I wasn't the only one yelling and screaming! When the rest of the crew came in, the kitchen frenzy started all over again and the birthday party was in full-swing. We (again) had a ridiculous amount of food and Kathy showed a photo slideshow that she put together for Doug of a bunch of old pictures. It was fun to watch everyone laugh and talk about the pictures.

For the most part, Caleb was very well behaved during our stay. He loved that Doug and Lisa had a cat. I even heard him tell the cat, "You my buddy." He also loved that the house had stairs that he could race his cars down. He was a little nervous about all of the commotion and I was more than a little nervous about having a toddler in a house that isn't set up for toddlers. Doug and Lisa have some beautiful and irreplaceable pieces of pottery, glass and crystal and also some very nice media equipment, not to mention their off-white couch and carpet. Between Rudy, Jan and I - we managed to keep tabs on the little one. He did accidentally knock a wine glass off of a table and spilled red wine on the carpet, but I cleaned it up quickly and (I think/hope) it didn't leave a stain. There were a few time-outs given and a few tantrums thrown, but considering that we were at someone else's house, we were surrounded by people and sleep was limited - I'd say we did pretty great.