My kids are growing up near their cousins. It's priceless.

• I'm one of four kids, so I know how fun it can be to grow up in a big family.
• My five children have lots of cousins to play with, and we're lucky they live close by.
• Sleepovers with my nieces and nephews can be wild, but they're always a blast for the kids.

Occasionally, when it comes up in conversation that I have five children, I'm met with surprise and sometimes, a little bit of shock.

And while I understand that five may seem like a lot of kids in some regards, in my neck of the woods, it's really not that uncommon. In fact, my sister-in-law has seven children, so in comparison, my brood is the small one.

All in all, with kids ranging in age from a few months to 17, my kids are a part of a close-knit cousin clan of 15 and counting.

Having a lot of cousins nearby can be costly for birthdays and the holidays, but for everyday life, the fact that my kids have those relationships truly feels priceless.

Cousin sleepovers are the ultimate form of fun in my family

I love the simple happiness my kids get from spending time with their cousins, and it feels like such a gift. In a world where it feels like everyone is trying to sell me something or make me pay for "fun" experiences for my kids, knowing that what they love most in the world is just being at home with their cousins feels almost too good to be true sometimes. Honestly, I wish I could recapture that level of pure joy in my own adult life again.

I will be honest with you: having 10 kids in my house at once does mean I have to do a lot of post-play cleanup (and right now, we're currently cycling through a stomach bug passed along over our cousin sleepover), but it's always worth it for how much fun the kids have.

Playdates are an instant party

Aside from the sleepovers our kids can usually talk us into, having a sister-in-law with seven kids is also very convenient for me as a mom. All it takes is her family to come over for birthdays and special occasions, and we have an instant, built-in party.

It really works out for me, especially because each of my kids has an instant playmate in their cousin who is their age.

For instance, my son is the only boy in our family, but because he has two male cousins near his age, he gets the fun boy time he misses out on at home. And my youngest daughter has a large five-year gap with her own siblings, so she gets to experience the fun of playmates her age, too.

My oldest girls don't have cousins their ages, so they have missed out on some level of the cousin fun, but even as teenagers, they love all their cousins, and they have a special relationship with all the littles that is beautiful in its own way. It's so fun watching the younger girls look up to them, and my girls are always so gracious, letting the littles do their makeup and hair and playing with them when they are together.

I hope they're always close

Right now, my kids are incredibly lucky with the time they get with their families. They see both sides of their families regularly, with weekly breakfasts, time at church, all holidays and special occasions, sports events, and random visits, just for fun. My husband and I both live within 30 minutes of almost all of our own siblings and parents, so to my kids, close-knit families are the norm.

While my kids are incredibly close with their cousins right now, I know those relationships might change as they get older. People can grow apart, family members will most likely move away, and things can happen.

But no matter what their relationships look like in the future, I do believe that the close-knit relationships and the memories they are creating together will shape them. Belonging somewhere matters, both as a child and as an adult, and I hope that the feeling of being loved as part of a big family sits somewhere inside them as they grow.