Lithuanian Festival

We drove to Baltimore to participate in the Lithuanian Festival!  We weren't sure what Asher and Annalise's reactions would be- Annalise wanted nothing to do with anyone speaking Lithuanian and when the dancing started, she totally shut down.  Asher on the other hand, smiled when people spoke to him in Lithuanian and responded in English, but he answered their questions!  He giggle and enjoyed the music and dancing.  So interesting their reactions!  We did get them some traditional Lithuanian food- cold beet soup and dumplings (friend potatoes with meat inside).  They inhaled it all!

At the Festival we were able to meet up with the family that we met while in Lithuania who were adding 3 precious boys to their family.  They lived only miles away from the Festival!  It was great to see how much their boys had changed, to be able to speak with them, and to see all the kiddos enjoy playing together!

New Routine

Life is crazy busy- but we wouldn't have it any other way....  Don't get me wrong, a few minuets of "boring" would be welcome, but since that doesn't happen much, we are happy to have been given a life full of laughter and tears, sickness and health, scraped knees and running medals....

Alden had Strep Throat- since Al was out of town, I was able to stay home and take care of him.  What a special time to just spend some one-on-one time with him!

Adeline won 3rd place for the 8-9yr olds!  SO proud!

It's rainy so we made a tent, watched Frozen and ate home made pizza!

Annalise and Asher by their birthday "flowers" at Goddard!

Alden reading Asher a bedtime story- he has turned into an amazing big brother!

Adeline, always the teacher, helping Annalise learn her colors- these 2 either LOVE or irritate each other- true sisters!

Annalise saw a Churro and wanted it- and then she actually ATE it!  This is HUGE!  She wouldn't eat anything like a donut up until this!!

Asher now LOVES ice cream- he didn't like it  the first few times we gave it to him!  Now he asks for it for dessert after EVERY meal!

Celebrating 4 months of having them in our arms!

Mini-Golf Fun

Golf- a traditional American sport- and the Little's were introduced to it this weekend, mini-style!  Our good friend, Ava, had a mini-golf birthday party and invited the entire A Team!  Everyone had a blast- and provided lots of laughs with the varying "golf" skills we saw!

Ready to golf!

Adeline loved it!

Alden actually has decent swing and aim...

Annalise preferred a more "hands-on" approach

Asher perfect the "sweeping" method

Blowers, pizza, Sprite- all fun and new!

SUCH fun!  Asher even "helped" Ava blow out her candles!

Run the Rocks

The school the big kids go to sponsored a 5K and a Fun Run- our family was excited to participate!  Al trained with Adeline and Alden- such sweet memories!  There was only one small problem- Friday night, Al's flight from California was delayed and he missed his connection from Atlanta to Richmond!  He is such an amazing dad that he rented a car (actually his company rented it, they are THAT amazing), and he drove through the night and made it to the school just in time to change and run the FunRun with Alden and then the 5K with Adeline.  This self-less act showed our kids how much he loves them- and pointed them towards Jesus who loves them even more!

Everyone had fun at the 5K and at the Festival that was held afterwards!  Faces were painted, bouncy houses were jumped in, firetrucks were explored, prize wheels were spun, seeds were planted, animals were petted, snacks were eaten.  It was fantastic!

The icing on the cake was that Adeline actually PLACED!  She won 3rd place in her age group!  I think we may have a runner on our hands now....

World's Best Dad!

Fun Run!

Looking good!  Alden didn't stop but had good form the entire time!

5K fun!

Face painting!

Firetrucks!

Animals and seeds!

Family Pictures

I have this amazing, kind, talented, generous friend, Katie.  She takes pictures that make me swoon.  You can imagine my joy when she gave me a gift certificate for a family session!!  We wanted to wait a little bit- for everyone to be comfortable and have Asher's eyes go the same direction....  

These turned out amazingly- thank you, Katie, for giving me the gift of my family in a way that I can treasure always!

Happy Memories!

We love our life- we really do!  Here is some proof....

Annalise dumping out her rain boot after playing in the creek!

Asher up to his knees in the creek- and he couldn't be happier! Yes, he is shoveling water into a cardboard lid... 

The new neighborhood "hang out"- so cool!

Addie, Alden and Lila putting on a "show" for the other neighbors- it involved the monkey bars and see-saw

Twins!

Thumbs up waiting for the school bus to drop off Addie and Alden

See Addie??  She was on this cover for a PTA event!!  She will happily sign autographs later....

CFA to celebrate Addie and Alden's outstanding report cards!

Asher makes the best faces- especially when eating ice cream!

See?  Isn't our life pretty amazing?!?

Easter!

Easter is such a special time for my family- it is wonderful to reflect on the amazing gift we were given so many years ago- our salvation!  It is something we could never earn or be worth of- yet, Jesus found us worthy and paid the ultimate price by dying for our sins and being raised back to life- all for us!  We did our best to help Asher and Annalise understand this, I think in a small way they did!  This is our hope and prayer for them- to understand and claim Jesus as their own!  It is so sweet to see Addie and Alden explain Easter to the Littles- God is good, All of the time!

This was a first for our family- to be home and just be "us"!  Thankfully, before I went back to work, I bought all the Easter treats so all Al and I had to do Saturday night was pull off the tags and set it up!  The kids were so excited Sunday morning- and Asher and Annalise a little confused, but happy none the less!

We actually sat in the balcony of our church- a huge treat!  I taught the preschool Children's Worship, which was fun since that is where Asher and Annalise are!  Then we headed to our good friends' the Wills' house for an Easter Brunch!  Brunch was amazing- the food was yummy and the kids all had a blast finding Easter Eggs and riding in the toy car!

Easter Morning Treats

Yay!!

Church fun- in the balcony and the playground- the weather was simply perfect!

Ready- Set- GO!

Asher was perfectly content to find 1 egg, eat what was inside, and then find another....

Annalise thought it was hysterical that there was FOOD inside the eggs!

Alden was a man on a mission- and found a crazy amount of eggs...

Addie was still graceful and helpful to the little kids!

All done!