The Bestest Nana Ever

During the visit with my parents, we captured a ton of pictures but I have not had the time or the energy to blog them yet.  The problem with Grandparents being so far away, is that you have to capture every moment in that week or two they are visiting since you have so many moments they are not here. It makes for a busy but very fun visit each and every time.  As a kid, I have many memories with my grandparents that lived up the lane from us and my grandma baby sat us all the time, but we have different types of memories with our grandparents that lived far away.  When they came to visit, we would do special things to make the best of each and every moment we had together.  We got to stay up later, eat more sugary junky foods, and play more games.  We watched movies and went places we didn't get to go on a regular basis.  We got to hear special briar rabbit stories watch special movies.  These are still memories we have now when I think back about our grandparents visiting us. 

All this said, now that I am here and my parents are in Missouri, we try and do the same thing.  When they come visit, they do LOTS of fun things to make special memories with our kids.  The grandkids all miss my mom and dad very much and they soak up EVERY moment they get.  I don't think my parents mind spending time with the five little angels.  Well, I should mention that calling them angels is something that grandparents are more inclined to refer to them as than what we as parents are. ;)

On this particular visit that they came out, we did things like a tirp to chucky cheese, lunches with Ava at school, special runs to Wendys and McDonalds, fun Nana stories told by Nana in the form of a Grandpa Dean story, and of course they are showered with Chocolate from Pappy Sweetheart.  We did randome picnics outside with books to read while laying on a blanket and some late night Barbie Uno games.  The kids enjoyed their time spent with Nana and Pappy.

Maintianing a good relationship between the kids and their grandparents, when faced with large distance between us, has been a little challenging.  They are young enough to not truly understand distance and time and yet they are old enough to know they miss them more than they can even express.  It always gets worse once my parents head back to Missouri, but we do manage to adjust back to what our lives have become without them here all the time.  We talk about Nana and Pappy often and I think the fact that they are missed so very much tells you what a relationship they had with them in the first place. 
We pray for them every night and we talk about them and laugh about them often.  Phone calls numerous times a week help too.  I think maybe the best help is the promise of a trip to Missouri for a whole month this summer that we can spend at their new house.  This gets the kids smiling every time.  Until next time, we will hold onto the memories we have made.