Cousins

We're thankful to live near family. And not just for the convenient babysitters, either! One of the perks is that our kids will grow up near their cousins...and hopefully find wonderful friends in them.

Lily, Karly, & Rose were all born within a year of each other. Lily's almost right in the middle of the two sisters, and they play really well together! As you can see, they've all got that Grandma Colleen-like hair. So of all the cousins Lily has, for now she most resembles these ones. Last time they were at our house they "went swimming" together*. Once they got out and put on pjs, they found a bag of winter items and added hats, scarves, and mittens to their wardrobe. Too bad we don't have a picture of that!

These are the "twins"**. Lily and Micah are two months apart and have stayed almost exactly the same size. They have been known to play like best buddies or engage in knock-down, drag-out fights. Really, it is like they're twins...they act like siblings! On this particular day, it was about 40 degrees and I sent them out with coats and boots/shoes. This is how I found them shortly after that. Oh, and Micah's shoes are still MIA. They're buried in that huge leaf pile, probably never to be seen again. So if you bring your child for a visit, make sure they're wearing shoes that can be lost, okay?

And here's Lily and Alexis. They're favorite games are playing mom and dad and let's-change-clothes-ten-times. :) Alexis is very kindly staying 1-2 sizes ahead of Lily so that we get her hand-me-downs. THANKS, Lexi! Here's the two girlies wearing pajamas one day this summer. Now if Leah and I could just teach them to do laundry..... :)

Although I don't have pictures to prove it, Lily just adores her cousin Kate....a couple months ago she got to spend the night with Kate and Grandma G's. She was so excited! And Eli, in Lily's mind, is just a bigger Mason ... she loves him too. And Lily was way into picking out her biggest cousin, Natalie's, Christmas gift this year - we love it when we get to see her!

All in all, we're totally spoiled to have all these quality kids around. It's definitely our prayer that our kids will find their cousins to be great friends as well. We love you guys!

*See that discolored water in the tub? Yeah, that's from tannin. Or something. It looks worse than it actually is. We [don't] love it. It is, however, safe to drink. No worries.

**This is Alexis' new name for them, since "the babies" got taken over by Eli, Kate, & Mason.