Cousin Love

My kids are so lucky!  They have always been lucky enough to live by at least some of their cousins. This is not by accident, growing up my cousins were some of my closest friends and Jeremy and I have always made it a priority to live by family so that this could be true for our kids as well.

When Merrick was first born, we lived by Emily and Kai and in that time Merrick and Kai became very close.  Even now that we don't live by each other, they love to talk on the phone and when we do visit, they pick up right were they left off without missing a beat.

Now we get to live by Brendon and Rachel's and Ben and Becca's families.  Merrick loves Brendon and Rachel's kids.  He looks up to them so much.  He even told me that he wants to marry Lauren (or maybe Carrigan.  He said it depends on who is taller). Carrigan also loves her oldest cousins!  Lauren in particular loves to hold her and make her laugh (she is pretty good at it too).

Right now my kids spend the most time with Ben and Becca's boys.  They love to be together and Merrick is so excited every time I tell him that he gets to see them.  Carrigan is getting old enough now that she is becoming interested in spending time with her cousins too.  She and Lincoln are becoming thick as thieves.  They love to play side by side and Lincoln loves to say "CC".  It seems like they are together so much lately that I am snapping adorable pictures like these left and right.

Even just now when Jeremy asked me what I was blogging about and I said "cousins", Merrick said "Cousins?  I love my cousins".  Unfortunately, our current living situation is up in the air with Jeremy looking for a job.  We have said all along that we would go where he could find work, but we are really hoping that we can stay close to family so that these strong bonds can continue to grow.