Thanksgiving 2008

Here is a recap of our Thanksgiving holiday.

• Before I got to the house, Shannon and Matthew found many treasures. A few that I particularly enjoyed were Matthew's baby book (complete with a receipt from the hospital) and an outfit that Carolyn crocheted while she was pregnant with Shannon. Shannon doesn't think she ever wore the outfit (baby blue jacket, hat, booties, and blanket), but she is sure Matthew wore it home from the hospital. Needless to say, that came home with us. I cannot wait to use it!
• Max had his first experience with kittens. Matthew found 4 kittens outside the kitchen window a day or two before Thanksgiving. Shannon took them to the vet and kept them until Friday when she could take them to a foster home. We did not play with them much, but Max did get to sniff them and give them a few licks. He was very interested in them.
• Max did well with the kiddos who are 1 and 3. He learned quickly to sit next to the one year old when she was in her high chair. He was able to enjoy many table scraps that she willingly fed him. He was not so good with their toys. At our house, all the toys belong to him. We will have to work on this with our baby. He was very gentle with the kids though he did knock the one year old over a couple of times. He didn't run into her, but she is still a little wobbly with the walking.
• Max got a lot of attention, but I am pretty sure he was tired of hearing "lay down" and "beat it." He really wanted to be involved in everything with the kiddos - even diaper changes.
• I think Shannon felt that we had not packed adequate toys for Max, so she bought him a toy and some reindeer antlers.
• We survived our 18 hour road trip home from Chicago. We were in the car about 9 hours both Saturday and Sunday. The last couple of hours on Saturday we were snowed on, but the roads were not bad. The last 70 miles on Sunday the roads were not good. We came home to about 7 or 8 inches of snow. We were able to stay Saturday night with some friends just outside of Kansas City. That was a perfect halfway point for our trip home. They fed us a yummy dinner and breakfast.
• Max did really well in the car. On the way to Chicago, there was hardly anything in the car and he had a lot of space to himself. On the way home, that was not the case. He mostly slept because there wasn't much else to do. Unfortunately at one of our stops, I closed the car door on his tail. I cannot believe I did that. He yelped, of course, but seemed to get over it quickly.