a turkey for Tante

Get ready folks, it's gonna be a long one............
 After 5 months away, Tante came home for Turkey Day!! Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday so it was only fitting that she chose now to grace us with her presence.  Ben and I met Brandon and MeeMee to head to the airport for her arrival.

in the car and greeting Jelly

 

You can watch a lengthy video of the homecoming (aka-Ben highlight reel) here.

Molly arrived Friday and we met her Dad and his girlfriend Nancy for lunch downtown.  We then bid adieu to them for a few days until the Nuggets game Sunday night.

 

The only thing more scary than my eyes is the dude's hair behind us.  And yes, we were two rows from the top.

Ben might have done better with an afternoon game or closer seats.

training

and unintentional twinning

The next morning we had a sister date to the new Restoration Hardware flagship store.  It was more like a museum than a store and they claim the point is to be a physical gallery for the online store.  They tore down a large two-story Saks Fifth Avenue building because it wasn't big enough to house this 4 story + roof "gallery," so I've long taken issue with it, but it was beautiful and I can't say I wouldn't shop there if I could afford it. ;)
 

really cute but not so comfy

Tante took Ben to the Children's museum that afternoon for their standard date, and I captured this on Brandon's roof at pick-up.  They look good with this skyline, don't you think?

my standard wild rice casserole contribution

A few days later, it was time for Turkey.....

cute snacks

and a beautiful table 

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious!! Molly's dad, Marty, and his girlfriend Nancy joined us for the day of drinking and snacking and football.  We watched The Family Stone before heading home.  This year during the thankful rounds, I was thankful for abundance.  It had occurred to me a couple days earlier, with a car full of dinner leftovers and groceries, how we are blessed not just to have our needs met, but with abundance.  I think that's an ok thing if you have perspective and gratitude and work to share the abundance (in all it's forms) with others.

There was no black Friday shopping for this crew, and we met mid-afternoon for some climbing.

 

 

Ryan had a giftcard from Father's Day for this gym and admittedly I had no idea where it was.  It was not convenient for any of us, but our new gym has a climbing wall so I was thankful to get to use up the giftcard.  MeeMee and I observed and Ryan, Brandon and Molly killed it!  Understandably, they were all exhausted after a few routes so we parted ways.  Ben was beat before we even started, but did a decent job and I hope he and Ryan will continue to go.  Thanks to Molly for planning an active family activity after all the gluttony. 

Molly was able to stay and work from Denver for the next week and stayed with us at the new house.  Ryan headed to Switzerland on Monday morning so Molly and Brandon were able to use his car.  In the end it wasn't needed but we were thankful for the extra Tante time.  Brandon's mom happened to be in town for work Thursday night and MeeMee and Tante hosted dinner and tree-trimming at MeeMee's for the whole crew.  King crab legs and cheddar squash soup were divine but the company and giggles were even better! Brandon's mom, JoAnn, is delightful and indescribable and unfortunately (for her sake) fit right in.  She'll be coming back for work in the coming months and I hope we get to know her better.

this kid LOVES a ladder 

the whole crew

 
We said our good-byes to Molly and Brandon last night as they flew out today.  Brandon is making a stop in Seattle but then heading on to join Molly "permanently" in Singapore.  There's never a dull moment with these two and if you'd like to follow along with their adventures, you can here.

I was so thankful to see Tante on her favorite holiday.  It was bittersweet to have her so close for a couple weeks but get to see her so little.  I know we had the same struggles visiting from Wichita so I'll attempt content until these two kids get smart and move home.  I'm hopeful they might get back home to visit this Summer, and hope to go visit them next year.....unless they move home first.;)