I've told you about them before, but just to remind you... I have 4 cousins who are about my age.
Jay Mac is 36. He's married to Heather, and they have 5 kids. Mary Louise is 10. Emma is 8. Mac is 6. Ellie and Annie are twins who are 5.
Jay Mac has three little sisters. Sarah, Martha, and Karen are my triplet cousins. They're 34. They're all married, and they all have kids.
Sarah and Martha live in Colorado. Sarah has 3 kids... 1 girl and twin boys. Martha has two girls. Karen lives in Aledo and has 3 kids. Cate is almost 9. Caroline is almost 7. Charlotte is 3.
Last night my family, Hilary's family, Mom, Dad, my aunt and uncle, Jay Mac and his family, and Karen's family all got together to eat Mexican food in Fort Worth.
It was SO much fun!!
Karen had to work. Sarah, Martha, and their families couldn't be there. My brother, Brian, and his family were in Virginia. But even with 7 missing kids and 7 missing adults, we had a big group. :)
I love family.
Let me introduce you (yet again) to my sweet little cousins (and nieces, nephew, and children)...
From left to right: Mary Louise, Emma, Rachel
My aunt, Mary Ellen, and my brother-in-law Al
From left to right: Caroline (my cousin Karen's Caroline), Al, Hilary holding Kate, me, my Caroline
The ONLY boys out of the entire crew that was there last night...
Jack, Alex, and Mac--- 2 first graders and 1 second grader. Perfect! :)
My aunt Mary Ellen, her mom Claire, Caroline, and me....
Jay Mac's wife, Heather, my mom, and Ellie
Casey (Karen's husband), Caroline, Rachel, and Mary Louise... our 2 fourth graders, fast friends.
Annie, Charlotte, Casey, and Caroline
Jay Mac, Jason, and Hilary...
Fun Fact... Jason and Jay Mac were both Fijis at Texas Tech. They overlapped by one semester. And Jason's nickname was Jay Mac... (because he's Jason McGlamery). Years later, I met Jason and he remembered my cousin.
It's a small world, after all....
The boys again...
Jack, Alex, Heather, Emma, Sarah, Cate, Annie, Charlotte.
Emma, Sarah, and Cate are our 3rd graders. They were precious. They went to the bathroom together (that starts young apparently.. haha) and chatted all night long. Girls make friends quickly. And it's awesome when the friends you just made are your third cousins.
The same group... Sweet Heather held down the fort at the kid-end of the table.
As soon as we got home, Sarah wrote Emma a note, and she's begging us to go to Colorado to visit her.
She also LOVED Cate. And Cate lives in Aledo. I'm not sure why we don't get together more often. You know how life is. You can live an hour from someone and not spend the time that you should with them.
But I am SO thrilled that my babies love my cousins' babies.
Bonus: The waitress told us that she's never had more well behaved kids in a group that size. When your family makes an effort to raise their kids the way that you do, then it's even better when your kids want to spend time with them! You know that they're hanging out with some quality people. :)
I hope you're all having a big family get together this Christmas too!
Nothing beats time with family.
