we are family

Our daughters are incredibly lucky to have lots and lots of cousins all under the age of nine. There is great love between all of them and it's wonderful to see them together and know they will have each other when we are gone. Some of our cousins we see quite often. Talan and Maddox often come over and spend the day with us..tearing up the house, dancing, singing, fighting...all the fun things that family does. Talan was here when Gretchen took her first steps. He fed Fina her lunch today. Maddox is a free spirit who always comes to join the crowd if there is music or dancing. I got some tears in my eyes last week when Maddox called me Aunt D. People often mistake them all for brothers and sisters because of the strong resemblance and red hair.

We see Ben and Vivian quite a bit also. Gretchen looks up to them and will do whatever they ask her to do. Nana's house becomes Ben and Vivi's when they are in town and the adults don't matter anymore. A few months ago Ben was in the car with us and I found myself filled with delight when I had the chance to go into the gas station to get a coffee with out all the unbuckling and cajoling of bringing everyone along. I came back and he told me that he had gotten Fina to stop crying by giving her a lollipop. I look into the carseat at my 3 month old baby sucking on a dum dum! Ben continues to be quite proud of being able to keep Fina happy and he does. She is lucky to have so many kids around because truth be told she prefers them to adults. Vivi loves to hold her as much as squirmy Fina will allow these days.

We also have Izzy in California who only 3 months older than Gretchen. We don't see her much but she is in many of the stories we tell and her pictures are everywhere in our house.

Ellie and Audrey live close also and Gretchen is glad to have some more girl cousins who treat her like a little doll. I'm sure Fina will join in soon as well.

Enough can't be said about how lovely it is to have our daughters have so many cousins who will grow up with them. Family is always.