The Cousins

Every Sunday afternoon sees us all going round to my parents in law’s home. The children love to see their grandparents, of course, and the Husband’s sister’s family also go round, so we all get to catch up together. I do like seeing the four cousins together. My nephews are 18 and 12, yet the four of them get on so well, with J and T looking out for the smaller two and getting involved in all sorts of play dreamed up by my two. Their play often involves using the boys as climbing frames, horses, piggy backs, anything involving lots of energy!

This is an ordinary moment, a very ordinary scene for us onlookers. ‘Tis a rare Sunday that doesn’t involve a cousin pile at some point….

cousins 1

cousins 2

cousins 3

I have long suspected that as well as being blessed with the two most wonderful children in the world, I may also have been lucky enough to get the two best nephews, too. I thought this before my two came along, and then when I see their patience with my wild and crazy pair, their desire to chat to them, play with them and keep them entertained, I am quite certain that they are the best around. I do love those boys, and it looks like their cousins are quite partial to them, too….

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37 thoughts on “The Cousins”

  1. Cousin Pile looks like fun!! It must be really lovely for your two to see their cousins so often – my nephew is a few months younger than Elma so the perfect age to pile in and play but my sister lives a way away so we have to put in a bit of effort to all meet up.

    1. It is lovely to see them regularly. We’re lucky in that my sister in law often pops round in the week with J, too, so Little Man gets his big cousin all to himself then – he loves that!

  2. Ah, this looks like such fun! My husband had cousins which were a fair bit younger than him, but loved being their ‘horse’ or playing rugby on the beach with them. My sister’s children are similar ages to mine and it’s so lovely seeing them all play together – we were supposed to be going to visit them this weekend, but unfortunately couldn’t make it due to a poorly baby 🙁 Wish we lived closer than 200 miles…

  3. Awww, that’s what I miss. Growing-up I was so close to my cousins and we would spend almost every summer together. Now we’re all scattered all over the globe! I’m wishing this for little T too, but my husband only comes from a small family and mine are sadly … like I mentioned all over 🙁

    1. I was only close to one set of cousins when I was little, but then they moved to Belfast when I was still small. My aunt and the cousin I was closest to have actually just moved back to my home town (and I do mean ‘just’, it was on Friday!) so I’m looking forward to enjoying being a cousin myself again 🙂

  4. Ah that’s lovely Jocelyn! I never had any cousins and I hope that my two do one day though there will be an age gap if they do, and this makes me happy to hope they will all get on well despite a big age gap. Love the cousin pile up! Xx

  5. Aah having big cousins must be the best! My parents are only children so I never had any myself 🙁 My two little ones now have 4 cousins of their own and it’s so lovely to watch them play together, although as they are all under 5, it can get a little hectic! #ordinarymoments

    1. Oh, I can imagine the noise! My brother’s yet to start a family, so one day I suppose we could have madness, too!

  6. Our children don’t have that many cousins, and none that they can play with like this. It looks like they have a wonderful relationship and hopefully something that continues for years to come x

    1. They really do, it’s lovely that they get to see them so often and that the older two are so good with them. It will be interesting to see how it develops over the years x

  7. My husband is the youngest of 7 and there are about 15 cousins and second cousins in my girl’s lives. I am always amazed at how close they all are especially given the age differences. Even now that my eldest is at Uni, they all keep in constant contact with her to check that she is ok. That said, I grew up in a huge family but was particularly close to four girl cousins, who are now among my best friends. There is nothing better than family is there? The cousin pile looks like great fun X

    1. Ah, that is lovely. Great to have family as friends, too. Oh yes, they certainly enjoy the pile, though I don’t know about my poor nephews! x

  8. I always feel a little left out of cousin love, mine were all way older than me (like 10-20 years), the only ones close lived the other side of the world, so I have no idea what it is like, but thankfully my kids love theirs 🙂

    1. Mine moved when I was little, but one of them has just moved back near to me, after 30 years, so nice to have one back! x

  9. It does indeed sound like you have lovely nephews- what a treat and how special to have them in yours and your children’s lives. I am the eldest in my family so as yet my sister doesn’t have children, and on my husband’s side, although older, his brother doesn’t have them yet. So we have no cousins just yet. I hope that when they do they will all be really close as I am not hugely close to mine due to be a lot older. x

  10. Ah what fun!! My girls have one older cousin who they adore. We’re going up to stay with him and my sister in-law over Easter – and my eldest daughter is already counting the ‘sleeps’. #theordinarymoments x

  11. Hi Jocelyn, what a lovely Sunday afternoon tradition! Often by the time youngsters reach the grand old age of 18 they turn their nose up at anything family orientated. It is nice when older cousins lookout for younger ones, I had some heart melting moments back in the summer when my two were big cousins for two weeks.

    Long may your Sunday afternoons continue!

  12. Pingback: A Perfectly Ordinary Sunday

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