Cousins together for Christmas 2014, parts 1-10

If you're eager to get to a review of the cousin visit, you can scroll down, skip over the blah-blah-blah and go straight to it.

I’m scrambling today to get some cousin blog entries written.  It was so busy around here since Christmas Day that blog-writing was out of the question. I may have to drift over into 2015 to tell the story of Cousins Together for Christmas 2014.

Speaking of drifting, that’s what my thoughts have been doing this morning, contemplating how social media has changed since I started writing a blog soon after Hannah was born in 2007. I’d enjoyed blogs written by Charlie (started December 2005), Angie (August 2006), Annie (March 2007), and Elisabeth and Evan (December 2007). I decided to start my own to keep my own record of my relationship with our first grandchild. Five other babies came along since then, giving me more stories to write. 

Charlie, Angie, and Annie wrote about their lives and their babies for several years, E and E intermittently, but now all have moved on to other technology tools and formats. Texting, Twitter, Facebook, photos on iCloud are just a few.  I want to go on record that I’m a bit sad about that. Yes, it’s wonderful beyond words to get an instant picture of one of the stinkers smiling, sleeping, or being silly in a text message, or to be surprised checking Twitter or Facebook and finding a one-liner with or without a photo. But truth be told, I love the intimacy and detail of blog entries with stories and pictures. Maybe it’s because the stories and pictures are all in one place, saved together like pages in a book, rather than interspersed with snippets of other people’s lives, and I can easily go back to them over and over again.

Everyone in my immediate family has access to iCloud family photo albums, so I'm sharing fewer pictures from the cousin gathering than I have in the past, and I'm putting them all together in one long blog entry instead of spreading topics over several days. Here goes!

Arrival

Could travel be any more fun than this? H and V arrived with their daddy on Christmas morning, wearing ladybug backpacks and pulling ladybug suitcases from their grandpa Lee. 

"Here are your balls!" is how Westy greeted Uncle Evan. Evan looks forward to balls from Grandma Doreen every year, this time delivered by Westy.

This grandma was happy to capture the two littlest cousins for a quick squeeze.

Reindeer

The traditional couch photo shoot gets easier every time the Cousins are together. 

Reindeer antlers and red noses made it extra fun.

I hope the parents checked the noses before borrowing them 

from the Cousins...

Gpappy and Gma Jill looked forward to this!

 

First full family photo since the family marathon 

before Vivian and Weston were born!

Gift opening

I swear I could wrap up dishtowels and spatulas and the Cousins would still be excited about opening their gifts. So much fun to see them jump up and down and to hear them squeal over gifts, no matter what's inside.

We're ready...

How do we know which presents are whose?

 

Sledding

We started out with a brown Christmas, but by the night of the 26th the snow started falling, and on the 27th, which is when we celebrated together, there was enough snow to satisfy the NC Cousins' wishes. They love snow!

Swimming

SUPER day of swimming and playing at the Holiday Inn water park in Otown! Thanks for arranging it, Annie and Tanner. Even Gpappy got in on the fun, and wasn't too achy the next day.  When the kids were sharing their favorite parts of being at the water park, Gpappy told them that HIS favorite part was....the water. They all laughed like it was the funniest joke ever.

Reading, Games, Role Play, Dancing

When the Cousins get together, certain activities happen naturally, including reading, dancing, games, and use of imagination. Hannah is now an expert on diabetes, having learned about the disease at school because of a classmate who has it. She made diabetes kits with test strips, insulin, and snacks in case any of the Cousins had blood sugar issues. She is also into the music and story from "Annie", and so the Cousins spent some time in an orphanage experiencing a hard-knock life.

Lots and lots of reading

Did you know that "daisy" means "the day's eye"?

Math games

                                                          Vivi is the puzzle princess

Viv is also the queen of Old Maid. We all got suckered in by her "strategies".

Uncle Charlie's game of chest-bumping was very popular

Of course movie time is important.

This visit, Wii was on the agenda at E and O's house.

And Hannah offered ballroom dance lessons to E and O.

Of all the pictures from this Cousin gathering, this one is my favorite. Watching O and H dance together with big smiles and giggles was as much fun for me as it seemed to be for them. Owen has a happy little kick that he does sometimes when he runs or dances, and he had just done it here. It makes me smile every time!

GRANDPA DAVE VISITS

Grandpa Dave came over for a visit so he could appreciate how quiet it is at his house. The Cousins flocked to the door when he came in, giving him a warm welcome on a cold day. Grandma Doreen came by a little later, but I didn't grab my phone in time to take a picture. She got a happy Cousin welcome, too.

HANNUKAH 

The last day of Hannukah was December 24, just before the Cousins descended, so we waited until everyone was in St. Peter for Evan, Hannah, and Vivian to light the menorah. Thank you to all three for sharing this tradition.

What would Hannukah be for kids without the Dreidel game? The Cousins learned from H and V that each symbol instructs the player how to give or get Geld from the pile in the middle. Thank you to Granmarge for bags of Geld for the Cousins, who can never get enough chocolate. What a great treat!

DEPARTURE

We were lucky to have everyone together in various combinations and locations from Christmas Day until the 30th. Aunties, uncles, cousins, and grandparents said good-bye in Owatonna, St. Peter, and Minneapolis. Here are the NC Cousins and their mommy on the way to the airport.

This is all I'll attempt to fit in to "Cousins Together for Christmas 2014". We took the usual hundreds of pictures, but there are only so many a guy can process and organize before saying THAT'S ENOUGH, and I've hit that point.

Thanks to the Cousins and their mommies and daddies for sharing holiday time with us and with each other. Thank you for sharing photos, too. We love you all, and we miss you when you're not here. Come back soon, ALL OF YOU!

That's it. I'm closing the books on 2014, happy to have made it through this year of many blessings and a few curses.  

 

We're at THE END and ready for 2015!