My father's sister has children.  They are my first cousins.  What
relationship are my first cousins' children to me?  I am confused
about first cousins once removed and second cousins.  Please clarify. 
Thank you.

Hi, Kathy.

The children of your first cousins are your first cousins, once
removed.

The relationship of your children and your first cousin's children is
that of second cousins.

This used to cause me a great deal of confusion, too. I have quite a
few cousins, and it bothered me that I didn't know the exact name for
our degrees of relationship, so I researched this matter several years
ago to clear things up in my own mind.

I've found several online sites showing family relationships in chart
form. I find most of these charts difficult to understand, but here is
one that pertains specifically to cousin relationships that I think
explains things very well:

Fredd's Web
http://www.sonic.net/~fredd/cousins.html

Here is a good, clear text description of various family relationships
that I've found useful:

RootsWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrsgs/rsgsweb/nwsltrs/nwsltr_99/rsgs99_1/cousin1.htm

The way I like to think of this is that second cousins, third cousins,
and so forth, are all essentially of the same generation. Cousins NOT
of the same generation are "cousins removed." The number of times a
Cousin is "removed" depends on the number of generations "away" they
are.

I hope I've helped. I know that reading all this tends to make one's
head spin, so if I've been unclear, please request clarification; I'll
be glad to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

Dear Pinkfreud,
  Your answer was extremely helpful!!!  Thank your for including the
two sites.  I must admit, it is still confusing, but I am saving the
sites for further reference.  They are very enlightening!!!!!!

Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the nice tip!

I certainly agree that this cousin-naming business is confusing. You
should see some of the weird charts and convoluted online explanations
that I left OUT of my answer. ;-)

~pinkfreud