Happy Moments

These pictures don't really need their own post- but I want to share them!

Popsicles outside with our Community Group!  This group has been incredible- thank you all for coming every Wednesday night! 

Annalise in the Goddard Cape and Gown!  She won't "graduate" since she isn't in the pre-k class, but she can still wear the outfit and totally rock it! 

Memorial Day- our thank you to the men and woman who have died protecting us! 

The pool is OPEN- which means we will live there and everyone is GREAT with that!

This is going to a great summer!  Annalise swims like a fish- and hopefully some swim lessons will help her swim like a swimmer, but at least she won't die!  Her favorite thing is to jump off the diving board- over and over and over again!  Asher loves to jump around in the shallow end and play with squirt guns- hopefully he will be more into swimming soon.... Addie and Alden are thrilled to meet back up with their old friends and show off/introduce Asher and Annalise around!  Only 3 more weeks of school and we can just spend all our time at the pool!

Annalise Turns 5!!!!!

Annalise turned 5!  We did not forget Asher- we have figured out that October is a better birthday for him....  Annalise requested an orange Hello Kitty Party- since this was her first ever solo birthday, we decided to make just what she wanted, happen!  In the orphanage, they did celebrate birthday's, but it was a group of kids and they had zero say in what happened.  The fact that she could pick all kinds of things for her party made her over-the-moon happy!

On Friday, her actual birthday, we celebrated with our traditional breakfast of donuts- she enjoyed the top layer of her donut- the frosting!  We then took custom cupcakes to her class- and I was able to help celebrate at 3pm with her class!  Saturday was her party- she invited just a handful of her closest friends- having over 60 people at the house for her baptism party was a bit much for her...  She enjoyed the food- she loves to eat!- pizza, watermelon, fruit salad, pasta salad, and juice boxes!  Between eating, games (pin the bow on Hello Kitty), and gifts, all the kids played outside!  It was super low-key and just right for our sweet, spunky, strong-willed, and totally love-able, Annalise!

Loving her cupcake for school!

Morning of her birthday- 1 whole hand! 

Traditional Birthday Breakfast!

So pretty and so loving all the extra attention! 

Loving her school "party"

Our neighbors couldn't wait for her party- and brought her her gift when she got home- a horse music treasure box- she loves it! 

Birthday Dinner of her choosing- Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and my suggestion of Mac and Cheese....  She devoured every morsel!

Some of kids ate in the front yard- aren't they adorable? 

Everyone singing to Annalise- she loved it!

Rockin the Hello Kitty hat she made

The amazing cake our friend custom made for her! 

Birthday Girl! 

A few of her BFFs

Opening her gifts- she's come a long way- at Christmas she lost interest after 1 gift! 

2 of her BFF's that are moving away- we are so sad, but so glad to celebrate with them!

Here's to this year being the BEST for Annalise!

Baptism Weekend

An important part of our life is our faith- we hope that comes across but not in a creepy kind of way.  We have been excited to baptize Asher and Annalise as a public announcement for our hopes for them- that God would call them to Himself, that He would become their source of hope, that they would find His love greater than anything.

May 18th, surrounded by friends and family, Asher Mantas and Annalise Vilte were baptized and we are excited to see more of His plan unfold for them!

Since family was in-town, we had some family pictures taken, Annalise's birthday was celebrated, and the pool opened and the kids swam in it!  It was a great weekend!

Ready!

Listening to Pastor Andrew

Swimming at the "Summer Pool" as Asher refers to it! It was freezing but they all had fun!

Adeline got her American Girl Doll on her 5th Birthday and so MarMar and PopPop bought Annalise her's! Her name is Hope- that is what Annalise's Lithuanian name means!

Matching sisters and their dolls- so sweet!

Just a sampling of the family pics we had taken!

Asher's Medical Testing Round #2

Asher had his 2nd round of medical testing- this round his growth hormone and water processing were tested.  We arrived at MCV at 7:30am and were able to leave at 1:45pm.  It was a loooong day, but Asher was a totally trouper!  We were the only ones in the testing room, and there was an extra nurse there to observe, so we had lots of focused attention!  Asher did great- only cried a little bit- when they put the port in his hand.   He played with his stickers, he watched out the window, and eventually napped.  We were warned by the Dr that when they gave him the 2nd round of medication, that many children, especially the young one, they tended to get very sick, puke, and often had to be admitted to the hospital for IV fluids....  Asher napped through this portion of the test.  The Dr was shocked at how well he tolerated it!  

We will get results from these tests in a few weeks when we meet with our Endocrinologist.  This information is the final piece of the puzzle to figuring out how old Asher really is. 

Every little boys DREAM view!

So little in his chair...

Happy Little boy!

Watching Frozen and having his stats taken

Snoozing

Sleepy...

All done!  He LOVES his SuperMan bandaid!

He downed this entire smoothie!!

Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day was special- not because I had 2 new kiddos to love- but because this was the FIRST Mother's Day that Asher and Annalise had a mother TO celebrate!  They seemed to find it fun to celebrate Mommy- they both made gifts for me at Goddard- and they enjoyed all the special treats of Mother's Day!

Beautiful roses from Daddy

4 Blessings ready for Church

One blessed and loved Momma!

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!