As I child, I desperately wanted cousins my age. I had a few, but they lived in Clearfield -- which is a good three hours from Erie -- so visits with them were few and far between. All of my Erie-area cousins were several years older than me and they, like my older brothers and sister, either bossed me around or tried to "ditch" me.

I was always jealous of my cousin-rich friends -- especially my best friend, Patty Cass who had not only TONS of cousins her age, but also four sisters! Oh' what I wouldn't have given for four sisters in exchange for my three brothers (now, of course, I wouldn't trade any of my brothers. Well... maybe one of them... icon_twisted ).

Patty had cousins in every corner of Harbor Creek High School -- which should suprise no one who lives near Harborcreek -- an area rife with Cass' or Cass kin who were one of the original settlers and farming families in Harborcreek.

It was Patty and her sisters, in fact, who introduced to one of their cousins who later became my husband. It's ironic that I then became a bonafide Cass -- and inherited the legion of cousins and relatives I'd always wanted.

So, why all the cousin talk?

Because tonight I'm hosting the first Cass Cousins sleepover for my daughters, 3 and 5 years old, and my husband's brothers' daughters, 8 and 4 years old. The girls always have a blast together and I like to encourage their closeness. It's not hard -- we live only a mile from one another and my husband's family gets together every Friday night at his parent's for dinner and a bonfire (and a few beers and homemade brandy).

My girls are lucky to have lots of cousins -- a total of 14 in their immediate family (half of which are a few years older or younger than them).

I may be crazy taking on four screeching, squealing girls, but I've got a swimming pool, a roll of cookie dough, a bonfire to light and plans to take them on a creek walk/fossil hunt. Should it rain, I've got a Plan B (c'mon...did you expect any less from me? ).

But, even should all the plans go awry, I know all that really matters -- all they really need to have fun -- is each other.

Call me crazy, but I'm looking forward to the chaos tonight.

Something tells me it will be the first of many Cass Cousin sleepovers for these girls who will one day want to share secrets, tell ghost stories, make their own cookies and will try to ditch me, I'm sure.