A Pint-Sized Playdate

Emerald thought she was in charge "babysitting" the boys

Zachary with his cousin, Josiah. He is catching up on his size.
The above is the current pic, the below was where they started (or Feb. anyway)


My sweet nephew and his precious little half-smile (the full smile will blow you away, he is so adorable)

Although they are only 18 days apart, Zach's small size at first was quite remarkably different. However, he is catching up to his big cousin, Josiah.

We got to watch Josiah the other day and the boys had fun "playing" together. Luckily, neither of the boys were scared by the chaos and noise of the 2 big kids. Emerald and Calvin were so excited knowing Josiah was coming over, "Our friend, Josiah, is coming to play today!" they screamed. I am sure Heidi and I are in trouble in the future when these boys get together and come up with grand plans. Even scarier is when Emerald will be bossing all 4 of the younger boys around. Look out! Josiah is a precious little guy and we are so thankful to get to see him as often as we do. We look forward to seeing our other nephew, Simon, in a few weeks when he comes back to Kansas for a visit. If only Telluride wasn't quite so far away :)

I have to share one other, sweet, sweet story of the day. We were driving to take Emers to school today. Emerald started forever ago spelling "S T O P" then says "Stop Red Octagon". Of course, monkey see, monkey do, and now Calvin has to say it at every single stop sign. Today, same thing as always. Calvin says it, then Emerald comments, "great job Calv", that was sweet. Calvin replies, "thanks Gee," and adds, "your my hero." I loved hearing him say that. I love each day when we drop her off she has to give a "psssst"* to each of her brothers and tell them that she loves them. I love the love they have for one another. Makes a mommies heart melt.

*for those who don't know, "psssst" is the sign language sign for "I love you", thumb, pointer, and pinky out, and we all have to "pssssst" each other every night, before we leave each other, etc. "Psssst" is a very sweet and important part of the Pankewich household and started with Emerald when she was itty bitty. The tradition continues, as they are already "pssssst-ing" Zachary each night.