Cousins! Siblings! Random Trivia!

Bridget has one million cousins.  Okay -  not a million, but some of them are really loud.  There is something very poignant to me about watching her with my sisters' kids.  Maybe it's because I knew my sisters when they were kids and we used to plan and talk about how many children we'd have and what their names would be.  (I always named my fictional kids Monica and Jessica.  It was the 80s.)  It's fun to see the next generation playing together.  My youngest sister Makenzie lives close enough for us to get together often and she has two adorable (seriously) kids, Gabriel and Claire.  Nothing is more fun than seeing Gabriel and Bridget play together ... except maybe listening to them laugh hysterically.  Gabriel doesn't really talk a lot, so what they laugh about is anybody's guess.

Here's Gabriel noticing the Supergirl logo on Bridget's shirt (he's a big fan of The Incredibles):

Bridget likes to "take care" of Baby Claire.  Secretly Bridget likes to take care of all babies.  That means binky patrol, hugs, kisses - the essentials.  Bridget was only too happy to pose for a picture with Claire, even though Claire was stuffing her face.  (For real - she was eating her fist with the cracker in it.  Very delicate, no?)

(Notice in the background that Kenzie and I have twinsie bags.  Sisters!)

Lately when Bridget is asked to smile for pictures she does this eyes-half-closed thing with a benevolent smile. Too many princess movies? 

This is a photo from 1982, taken soon after Makenzie was born.  My Mom is holding Makenzie and going clockwise from Mom's left is Allyn, Jen, Me, Melissa, and Katy.  Six girls!  It was Crazytown.

Even more Crazytown was that orange carpet.  Also that my Mom had two boys after Makenzie.  Here we are at Rob's wedding in 2008:

Back row: Makenzie, Rob, Aaron, and Jen.  Front row: Melissa, Allyn, Katy, and Me (Nicole).  Maybe I'm feeling extra nostalgic right now, but seeing this picture makes me cry a little bit.  My siblings are all such good people - I love being around them.  (Did you know that the percentage of redheads in the entire world is something like 1%?  I have FOUR siblings with red hair.  You probably counted five, but I've never considered Allyn a redhead.)

This post turned into a bit of a ramble, I know.  I'll just leave it here. :)

Loving Grandma & Grandpa

We're lucky enough to live close to Brian's parents and even luckier that they want Bridget to hang out with them once a week for a few hours.  She rough houses with Grandpa, teasing him and insisting on shoulder rides around the house and walks to see the sheep and horses near their house.  She also loves to hear them arguing about whose "girl" she is. 

It's because of Brian's parents that Bridget knew that Grandma and Grandpa are people she can trust and that she can show unbridled affection for - and that carried over to her relationship with my parents.  We love watching her with our parents - her grandparents.  It's sweet to see that side of them.  They love their grandkids unconditionally.

Here she is saying goodbye to my parents after they spent the weekend with us: