Cousins as Friends!

Since all of my brothers and sisters are here in Minnesota, our kids are growing up together. We see each other every week for dinner on Mondays, and the cousins have a "cousin council" (which sounds really cute but often causes great intra-cousin tension). Cousin Council notwithstanding, we're being deliberate about fostering friendships between the cousins.

For example, my sister picks up Rose #1 and Rose #2 after school on Mondays and brings them to her house for a couple of hours before Monday Night Dinner. In exchange we take her daughter every other Saturday morning. Here's Rose #3 with Kate at lunch today:

Right before lunch, we broke out the Easy Bake Oven that Rose #3 got for Christmas! The cake that we made was done right in time for dessert. It was actually pretty good! It was a Betty Crocker mix.

I have lots and lots of cousins. Let me try to think - a whole bunch in California, some in Minnesota, some in other places. It's not as easy as Monday Night Dinner, but in 2011, I would like to try to connect more with them.