Thank You God!!

Well, as if we didn't have enough going on in our busy lives...............we were in a car accident this evening. Most importantly, everyone is OK!! It is times like this that you realize how much difference 1 second can mean!! We were driving back from Wichita where we had dinner with Steph's parents and Aunt & Uncle from Florida. We were heading toward Skip's parents house. We got about 12 miles south of McPherson, and were crossing a bridge. The snow was coming down pretty good. The car in front of us slowed down and began to fish-tale in front of us, heading toward the left. We went onto the right shoulder and they "slammed on their brakes" (something they told the police) and whipped 300 degrees around to slam into the side of us, pushing us 100 yards into the ditch where, thank God, it was a gradual decline to the access road. Everyone was fine, but I lost it because the car slammed into the side near Skip and Emerald. Calvin slept through the entire thing (yes, my son that never sleeps :) ). We are away from our home computer, so we aren't able to dump pictures to show the damage. It doesn't look all that bad, but we can't open either driver door. We were able to drive back to McPherson. I guess we will call tomorrow and see what to do next. Wish us luck with this new event and please say a special Thanksgiving (appropriate) prayer to God for keeping us safe this evening.

Our First Kansas Snow!

Yep, that's snow you see, and on Calvin's 10 month b-day! It was 75 degrees yesterday and snowing with 30 mph north winds. The actual temp right now at 3:15 pm is 32, and wind chill is 20. Let me say again, it was 75 yesterday! What were we thinking :) Emerald kept asking "where is the snow" this morning. We didn't bring Calvin out yet, as he is just getting over a 2 weeks illness.

We went to Wichita/Belle Plaine last weekend to celebrate with Steph's family. Her 2 cousins flew in from Chicago and brought 8 month old Ben. It was nice to meet him. Her aunt was there from Florida. We had a nice visit, too bad it was so short.

This weekend we are headed to McPherson to see Skip's family and our Laney girl. We miss her lots and can't wait to cuddle up with her in this cold weather.

Calvin is looking forward to his first Thanksgiving. Emerald just wants to eat all the pie!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for our family and friends, our health, new job, and most importantly for the 2 little angels in our life that keep us smiling every day. May God bless you with as many things to be thankful for, also.

Calvin is SOOOOO Big!

It amazes me how these sweet angels continue to learn something new every day. We have been SICK, SICK, SICK at our house this weekend. Even through feeling like crud, Calvin made us smile by showing us he was "Soooo Big" all weekend. Now he will raise those hands on command every 20 seconds if you ask (and Emerald does, often). I even got one picture of him trying to say it while crawling.

It was so sad to watch both kids as sick as they were and not be able to help them. Luckily, Nana was here and she and Daddy took good care of the kids. Sad to say, they both got sick later, as did Uncle Jeff (how nice of us all to share). For Skip to take a day off work, that is saying a lot. Hopefully we will all be feeling better soon.

Since the last post, we have had Steph's friend Stephanie Lindsay and her family, Kyle, Keegan, and Gavin visit. It was tons of fun. We visited a kid's play space that was perfect for our little munchkins. It was a little busy trying to keep 4 kids under age 4 entertained, fed, and napped on a sane schedule. The best part of the week for me, though, was going to the opening night of the Garth Brooks concert! Talk about a blast! I wish Skip could have gone, maybe next time. I miss Garth.

We started to look at houses and did see 7 houses the first weekend of the month. At one of the housese Emerald was offered her favorite, a sucker, from a very sweet lady. As you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed every last lick. Maybe we should call her Smurfette. We plan to get back into house hunting once the family feels better. For now, it is lots of rest and liquids. Oh, and many, many diaper changes. I can't imagine how any single parents do this job!

We're Kansans Now!!

Here we are in front of our Texas house for the last time.

We made it....finally. It took an extra U-Haul and lots of help from family and friends, but we are here now. We have been crazy busy the last couple of weeks unpacking, taking turns getting sick, Skip getting adjusted to his new job (that he really likes a lot), and celebrating Halloween. Our rental house turned out very nice, considering we never saw it before we moved in. It has been an adjustment having to fight Calvin with the stairs. Emerald tells us several times a day that "I like my new house." It confused her a little as we began a new search for our next home (the permanent home). She keeps pointing to every house we pass and says, "That's my new house??" She misses Laney, as do we all. She is staying with Walt & Cheryl and "chasing Maggie" as Emerald thinks. Now we are just focusing on selling our Texas house, finding the right area to raise the kids, and beginning to shuffle plans around the holidays. Wish us lots of luck in our endeavors. We really need to sell the house in Texas to make Skip feel comfortable.

Emerald was so worn out from the move that she fell asleep in her cow. We searched all over the room for her, and finally looked inside the cow to see her curled up with Mango.

Calvin likes the stairs. He loves to pull up on them and laugh at the happenings below.

Calvin as the golf ball in Daddy's arms. We got to trick-or-treat at Daddy's work (Garmin). Skip is really enjoying his new job. If any of you need a GPS system, let us know!

I had witnesses for the photo session. Jeff & Heidi can agree that trying to get a happy, smiling picture of both kids is near impossible. It was a long day. As you can tell, Calvin made it thru 2 costumes. The golf ball only last an hour, then we had to change clothes and he became "brother bear." Emerald helped pick out this costume.

Under Construction!

The Pankewich household is under construction. We won't be able to post another blog for a couple of weeks. We are just too crazy with the upcoming move. Please check back near Halloween. I won't be able to resist posting pics of my sweet pumpkins then. Thanks for being patient and understanding. Wish us luck in our move! Until we are Kansans . . . . . . . . . . .

http://www.legacydigitalphoto.com/g/pankewich

http://www.legacydigitalphoto.com/g/pankewich

Check out this website to see pictures of the kids. There are more to come. These were taken by Greg Cutler, brother to Christi Cutler, my long-time friend.

There are some great "fang" shots of Calvin.

Finalization!

Yesterday we all got up very early in the morning, got dressed up, and went to meet our lawyer by 8:00 am. We signed some official looking papers, watched some office ladies coo over the kids, and walked to the courthouse. Emerald was quite impressed with all the rides in the elevators. We waited around until our lawyer could find a judge (all of about 10 minutes) and then we walked right up to the judge. It is a little intimidating going into court especially when you have a sleepy (and loud) 8 month old, and a chatty, interested 2 year old. The judge was very patient, even giggled when Calvin began blowing raspberries, and he addressed Emerald. All told, it took about 5 minutes in the courtroom (including picture time) and it was done. Calvin in now officially ours and officially Calvin Charles Pankewich. There was another family right afer us that had about 20 family members. It seemed a little silly, since it all happened so fast. Our lawyer told us that last Friday was the "adoption day" for the month. He helped finalize 31 adoptions. I have to say, though, that the description of their day was less personal. I like how our day turned out.

Both Calvin and Emerald received a stuffed animal from the judge. The police officer handed it to them, and Emerald asked if he was the judge. It was all very cute. Of course, Emerald already had Mango with her, so we ended up with more animals than kids :)

We spent the rest of the day with Daddy, as he took his last day of vacation from UST. We tried to go ride the train, but it was closed. Then both kids fell asleep in the car (too cute) from getting up too early. We went home for naps for 3 of 4 of us. Then we went out to eat BBQ, Daddy's favorite. Calvin got his first taste of ice cream and liked it. We went to pick out pumpkins and came home to work on more moving stuff and get a real nap for the kids. Trying to get pictures with the pumpkins wasn't so easy. Calvin was distracted by the hay touching his legs, and Emerald was just too busy.

Purple Team Pankewich for Family Field Day

Sunday evening we had a Family Field Day hosted by my mom's group. We were told to dress in our "team colors" and what a better way to do that than dress in purple pride? Of course it is also convenient that we have something for each family member in purple!

We were able to take part in a water balloon toss, 3-legged race, crawling contest, bean-bag toss, egg race, scavenger hunt, blindfolded Daddy diaper change, and wheel-barrow race. Calvin wasn't so sure about crawling on the grass, but Emerald jumped in there and won a prize for her throwing skills. Emerald got a little possessive over the water balloons. She became quite sad when the first one broke and refused to throw the next, she just carried it around with her. We had a blast and would love to do that again soon.

He's pulling up--look out

Calvin has decided that he really likes what he sees above crawling level. You should see his eyes light up as he raises up to a new height. He is now pulling up on everything and has even scared us by trying to take a step or two while holding on. Don't worry, I don't think he has the balance for it yet, but give him a week. He is also soon to start crawling the correct way, instead of his speedy army crawl. He took 6 "crawling steps" today before dropping back into army crawl. He has too many things to chase after and is trying hard to get from place to place.

Emerald's favorite thing to do these days is play in her castle. She has to invite everyone inside, and hope that the "bad wolf" (aka Laney) won't blow it down. Daddy makes her quite excited when he squeezes inside. Calvin loves crawling in and out playing peek-a-boo. As you can see she also loves getting into Mommy's makeup and playing with her shoes. She is trying to grow up too fast.

We finalize with Calvin on Monday! We will get everyone up early and be at the lawyer's office by 8 am on Monday morning. Tomorrow is Emerald's anniversary of her finalization day. We want to take a moment and thank Leticia and Josephine for helping us be the happy family we are!!

Hopefully be the next blog we will have an address of a rental house in Olathe. We are working hard at getting all the details taken care of for our upcoming move. Pray that the house sells soon and at a decent price. This is not a seller's market, but that could be good for us on the opposite end up in Kansas. It will all even out in the end, right?

We're moving!

After months of searching, we think we found just the right job for Skip. He has accepted a position with Garmin International (makers of GPS systems). He will be working with the units that go in the cars. We are anxious, nervous, and excited about this new adventure and hope that we have made the right decision. We listed the house on the market and hope it sells soon enough. For now the plan is for all of us to move up to Olathe (a suburb of Kansas City) and find a rental property for a few months while looking for the right location and house. He starts on October 22nd, and we plan to move a few days before that. Happy birthday to us!

On the kid front Emerald celebrates her half birthday tomorrow. 2 1/2 years old already! She is a wonderful girl and continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and sense of humor. She is still in love with her brother, Laney, and anything horse related. She carries Mango around changing diapers, feeding him, and telling us to be quiet, Mango's sleeping.

Calvin is almost 8 months old and is crawling all over the place. We are impressed with his turn, as the movement in his life has brought out a whole new Calvin. He is much happier and sleeps well these days. He has discovered how to sit up from laying position and after each successful job at this he looks to us with a big smile, like he is saying Look at me! His favorite sounds include Da-Da sounds although we aren't quite sure he is meaning Dad. It makes Skip smile. His fangs show through, and he has finally gotten a front top middle tooth to add to the 2 on the sides. We know that when he figures out how to crawl up on all fours he will be super fast chasing his big sis.

Sorry it has taken us so long to update this. I will try to do a better job. Other things have been a priority including chasing the kids and preparing for the move and house selling. Wish us luck with it all!

Happy 1/2 B-day Calvin

Calvin is 6 months old today! We just got finished having Nana & Pop Pop, and Stephanie, Keegan, & Gavin visit us. We went to the Hamilton Family Reunion in Stillwater July 6 and got to meet Grandma & Grandpa along with lots of other family members. Both Emerald and Calvin had fun swimming in the hotel pool. Calvin got to try big people food for the first time today, adding peas to his diet of cereal and milk. We are praying that this will help him sleep through the night, something he doesn't like to do these days. Emerald is still in love with her little brother and worries about him constantly.