Our time with Tala! Too short...very sweet!

As I write this, Alida is on facebook messenger with Tala in the other room playing Rook online together. Tala is in an airport on one of her LONG layovers! She has a grueling return itinerary. I'm not sure how her brain is working enough to play Rook after not sleeping much more than an hour in the 30+ hours that have passed since I dropped her off at the bus station yesterday morning! 

10 days was not a very long visit, but we packed the time full of game playing, walks, delicious meals, sleepovers, hugs and more hugs, the aforementioned leaf raking, and some very sweet connecting and courageous conversations. It went very fast and was particularly hard to say goodbye not knowing when we'll next be together in the same place. Hopefully the memories will sustain us and we'll have to be grateful for virtual communication options in the meantime!

This foursome didn't waste any time breaking out the Dutch Blitz cards! I don't know how many rounds they played, but it was A LOT! There's no use trying to get a picture that isn't blurry as their hands are flying too fast!

I got in on a few other games, but must be honest and admit that I am still unable to be a good sport when I lose at Upwords! Sigh!! 

Tala trusted me again near her hair with a scissors and I sent off 10 inches of it yesterday to Maggie's Wigs 4 Kids. 

We shared some pretty yummy meals around the table together. Tala cooked two of my favorite meals that she makes for us. So good!!

I was very glad for a low key day just the 6 of us together on Thanksgiving Day (or Thankstaking or Day of Mourning or Thanksgrieving or many other possible framings of this "holiday"). I love the idea of a holiday (time away from work and normal routines) that focuses on gratitude and being with loved ones, but I would really find it more possible to enter into that practice if it wasn't connected to a very twisted telling of the history of this country. But, it being our last day together the 6 of us and our last meal around the table together, there was a definite focus on savoring our minutes together.

The wishbone just would not break, but I'm pretty sure more than one of us shared a wish that we'd be gathered around a table again together sooner rather than later!

By that time, maybe Terah will catch up to Tala on height. We were surprised to discover that they have the same shoe size currently. Growing kiddos sure do mark the passage of time!

There's a lot of love flowing through these pictures! 

All too soon we were saying goodbye!

As an aside, we returned our Skylight Calendar. It just wasn't a fit. We have repurposed the girls dry erase board and it is working great! However, sometimes what I put on it gets tampered by the littlest in the family. Yesterday, I had put "Tala leaves" with a sad face. When I came back later, this is what I found.