Gram comes to visit over the holiday of love and a love fest it was! #love #family #motherhood #kids

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know how important family is to me.

More specifically how important it is to have my mom present in my kids' lives.

Oh, who am I kidding? In my life, of course!

I'm still positively giddy when I see her flight itinerary pop up in my inbox and I know how lucky I am that it happens about every other month or so.

Her most recent visit was over Valentine's Day and Emily's four-day holiday weekend off school.

She and Aunt Jenny, who sent gifts with her, really outdid herself, showering us all with love and gifts and lots and lots of attention.

We soaked up the unseasonably warm 70 degree sunshine with a bike ride down to the park every day; we went shopping and did laundry and made meals together; we ate desserts that we baked together and shared laughs over our stumbles in life recently; and we took Emily out to sell Girl Scout cookies in our neighborhood.

Nolan chased his shadow.

And Emily perfected her belly slide.

It's always hard when Gram goes home but at least we know that means she's one day closer until the next trip!