Happy 5th Birthday, Annalise!!!!!

It is so hard to believe that Annalise is now 5- that's a whole entire hand!!  She has been SO excited- and actually rather verbal that she wanted an orange Hello Kitty party!  I guess she's been to enough birthday parties to "get" how we celebrate birthdays and she wanted in on it!  We were happy to oblige her- and an orange Hello Kitty celebration was had and enjoyed by her closest friends!

We are excited to be able to celebrate this little girl- last year we had a cake, but not little girl to wrap our arms around.  She is spunky, sweet, strong willed, #1 helper, and super smart!

(We did not forget Asher- due to results from his medical testing, his 4th birthday will be celebrated October 10)

Orange cupcakes for school

The morning of her Birthday!!

Family tradition of donuts- which everyone loved!

LOVING having everyone sing to her!

Happy to celebrate with her class!

Enjoying her choice of dinner- Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes (and my suggestion of Mac and Cheese)

 We had a party with a few of her closest friends- she loved it and didn't seem to get too overwhelmed by it!  We ate pizza and fruit, played Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty, ate a custom-made Orange Hellow Kitty Cake, and opened gifts!

We all love you, Annalise Vilte!  We are excited to see how you grow and change this next year!

Baptisim

A very important part of our family is our faith.  We have been looking forward to publicly sharing our faith and our hope for Asher and Annalise- that their hearts would be touched and that they, too, would believe and trust in Jesus.  May 18th, surrounded by family and friends, we were able to baptize Asher and Annalise!  We are so loved- and so are they!

Medical Round #2

Asher had round #2 of medical testing- he had his growth hormone evaluated as well as his water processing.  Both tests have potential to cause serious medical issues which is why they must be performed at the hospital under a Dr's watch.  Thankfully Asher is a Rock Star- he had no adverse reactions and did great during the 6 hour test!  He watched the construction out the window, made pictures with stickers, watched/sang Frozen, and eventually napped!  The Dr's and nurses were totally floored at how amazing he did!   In approximately 2 weeks will get the results- and these results will help us better determine Asher's age.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2014 was super special-  it was the first one that Asher and Annalise had a MOTHER to celebrate!  We celebrated the fact that we are a family- that we have 4 amazing children to love- that life is immeasurably more full!

Lithuanian Festival

Every year in Baltimore there is a Lithuanian Festival!  We were excited to check it out this year- and bring our very own Lithuanians!  They both loved the foods- the cold beet soup and the potato dumplings.  Annalise did not enjoy being spoken to or seeing the dancing.  Asher loved it all!  He responded in English when spoken to in Lithuanian.  He giggled and loved the music and dancing!  It was great to have a place where our entire family can be immersed in Lithuanian culture and meet wonderful people who have adopted from Lithuania or are from there!

We were also able to meet up with the family we met in Lithuania and catch up with them and their beautiful family!

4 Months

It's hard to believe, but we have been able to actually hug our sweet Asher and Annalise, for 4 whole months!

They have changed SO much- physically they have grown, emotionally they have grown, and relationally they fit right in with the family. 

Most "issues" we deal with now are institutionalization ones and typical regression.  They seem to be attached and truly happy to be a part of a forever family.  Both kiddos have wonderful teachers at school who love them, they share an amazing speech therapist (the same one who worked with Alden), and they adore and are adored, by our neighbors.  We have had a few days with the temps reaching 80 and they thought that was "too hot, Momma"- boy are they in for a shock....  They both still love the pool and swimming.  Annalise can swim almost the length of the pool- it isn't pretty- I call it Popeye swimming- but I am SO proud of her!  Asher is trying, but at this point, he still sinks like a rock...

We are so blessed to have them in our life!