The Cousins

Rivers is in love with his cousins. Each relationship had it's own, completely different dynamic. Emi, (the little girl on the far left with pig tails) came first to the reunion. Emi is the "poser" she poses for every picture and is absolutely adorable. The reason I mention the posing is because, when she would pose Rivers would pose. Attempting to stick out his hip or put his hand on his hip. He thought Emi was cute, cool, and fun. Shortly after Emi arrived, Rivers got stung by a wasp, and Emi was his nurse. She brought him pillows, blankets, toys and gave him some fabulous advice on wasp stings, since, she's been stung twice and all. The number one thing Emi did to cure little Rivs pain was make him laugh. Rivers loved Emi.

Louie (on the far right in light blue shorts) was Rivs rivalry. The two of them enjoyed each other if they were in just the mood, but most of the time their sweet hellos were typically finished in a punching session. (honestly what can you expect from two little boys one month apart, both living in the infamous "terrible twos"? :)  The thing I love about boys though, they would be punching each other one second, the next second laughing over a hat the other was wearing or Rivs would be chanting Louie's name, as he was stoked that Louie was up for the same games Rivs liked to play.

Paul (the little boy in orange shorts) is currently the youngest in the group. He just turned one. And he thought Rivs was pretty cool. He would follow Rivers around and copy Rivs with the silly hats, or climbing the stairs etc. He is a super sweet kid.

Rivers was Lily's (the little girl in a red skirt) chef assistant. The two of them would stay so busy preparing meals together in the play house. Rivs was usually busy washing dishes, and when he would get a second he would make a milkshake, and hamburger and fries for me. Those two have an excellent restaurant going on in my mom's backyard.

Austin (the little boy in the cape sitting in the middle of the two cute girls) inspired the awesome capes (that Rivers now wears everywhere). Austin and Rivs didn't play a ton, probably because Austin already has a two year-old brother (Louie) and one is just enough. :)

Emma (sitting closest to Rivers in blue) was your typical boy, girl relationship. Rivers likes Emma, so he teases her, and . . .  frequently gives the poor girl "love taps" :( which, both the teasing and love taps, typically made her cry. So naturally you would think they didn't like each other, however strange it may sound, Rivers always asks for Emma. (Tammy says, Emma never asks for Rivers). So apparently Rivs still needs to learn how to get a girls attention the right way. . . as far as I'm concerned that lesson can wait a long long time. ;) But I did catch the two little cousins acting like friends a couple of times. One night Rivs had Emma laughing forever. He kept jumping around, making silly faces, spinning and circles, and saying silly things, meanwhile Emma would laugh and laugh and exclaim "Rivers, funny!" And another time in their 7 I days together, I caught the two of them playing peek-a-boo over the couch, laughing and laughing together. So cute. :) Someday Emma, may leave Grandma's house with a positive impression of Rivers.

But I've got to say Rivers number one favorite cousin, was his big cousin Mason (sitting right in front of Rivs). Mason and Rivs would run all over the yard, playing super heros together. The two of them would climb trees (in their secret fort) and climb stairs in the play house. They played beautiful songs on Grandma's Grand Piano (one of my favorite memories of the reunion, seeing those two boys on the piano taking turns playing songs together), and they rocked out on the annoying play guitar together. They rolled down the hill and played soccer. Rivers always asks for Mason, and when he sees pictures of Mason, he starts laughing and says "Mason." He cannot wait to play with his cousin Mason again.

It was pretty incredible how much the cousins enjoyed each other. They were so excited to be together. I love having Rivs around his cousins. He is just so happy constantly. He loves all the action, all the games, and the feeling of belonging. We had such an excellent time!  And we're already counting down for next year's reunion. (But before that we have some more pictures so stay tune! :)