Christmas

We had such a fun Christmas with the girls. On Christmas eve, we went to Carey's parents' house for Christmas with his family. Then, that afternoon, the girls and I went over the hill to a Christmas eve party that my family always goes to. We left from there to go to the Christmas eve service at our church. The girls were STARS at the service. They had had such a long day, plus the service started right at their bedtime. Apple sat on Carey's parents' laps the whole time:) Rayley was a little more busy, coloring on post-its I had in my purse, and running up the aisle to see our friend Mandy. She was also pointing out everyone that she knew that was on the stage. "Laura! Carey! Rob!" Oh, and they both REALLY wanted to blow out all the candles!

Then, Christmas morning we had scones from TJ's (the girls actually weren't big fans) and opened their stockings over the course of a couple hours, because they wanted to stop and play with everything. Rayley got new crayons, so she wanted to stop and color. Appie got a "Wiggles" DVD, so she wanted to watch it. They both got cookie cutters to use with playdough, so we got out the playdough. Then, they got some bath toys, so we stopped to take a bath. The grand finale, though, was bikes:)

(Eric and Stacey, notice who is riding in their baskets!)

The girls went with their grandparents from 10:00-4:00. When they got home, we played a little, fed them dinner, and then had a birthday cake for Jesus. They sang happy birthday with us, and then blew out the candles!

My family came over for dinner that evening. The girls did so good with all the activity and people over the two days of Christmas! They really are wonderful girls:) We love them!

A Day At The Farm

On Sunday we took the girls to ERMCO in Prunedale. ERMCO is my friend Stacey's paretns' non-profit. It's an awesome piece of property with tons of animals: horses, alpacas, chickens, ducks, sheep, an emu, a donkey, a miniature cow and a miniature horse. Let me tell you that Apple was in HEAVEN. She was literally screeching with delight. This is what she looked like pretty much the whole time:

She kept saying "in, in, in, in, in" because she wanted to go in with all the big animals. She fed them out of her hand and sat on the miniature horse.


Rayley wasn't so sure about it all. She was definitely concerned about all the large creatures around her. This is what she looked like most of the time:

I think the rule of thumb with Rayley is that she likes animals smaller than herself (I don't blame her). She loved the guinea pig and the rabbit at ERMCO, and she likes cats and chickens and mice and such.

Stacey's sister, Kristy hooked a cart up to the miniature horse, and both the girls really liked that. Apple got the hang of it quickly and was telling the horse to "giddyup". It pretty much sealed the deal that she is DEFINITELY a horse girl. Hopefully we can afford having a horse girl.


Stacey, Kristy and the girls with Foxy the horse!

So Different:)

Okay, yesterday the girls were sitting at the table "coloring" while I was doing some dishes. I looked over at them and just laughed to myself, because what I saw was such a picture of who they are...two TOTALLY different girls. Rayley's paper was covered with lots of different colored scribbles on both sides and her crayons were laying on the table in a neat row. Apple's paper had about one mark on it, was ripped in two, and her crayons were spread all over the floor (broken, by the way)! That's totally them. It's so funny.

Bing Bing Bells!

Snow Night:)

Tonight we went to "Snow Night" on Pacific Avenue (downtown SC). They closed down part of the road and brought in a bunch of snow:) The cost to get in was a can of food, which gets donated to a food bank. Then, we got a ticket with a ten minute time slot on it, which was the time that we got to go in. We hung around downtown while we waited. We went and got pizza and saw our friends, the Lewis'. We also saw some HUMONGOUS horses that were pulling a carriage. Apple was so intrigued by the horses (more evidence that we may have a horse girl on our hands) while Rayley was freaked out. She couldn't take her eyes off of them because she was SOOO concerned about them! When it was our turn in the snow, we all had a great time. It was REALLY cold, but worth it!

Court Date

Okay, I need to correct a previous post. We thought that at the next court date (Feb. 19th) the judge would decide if the girls were going back to their mom or would become adoptable. Well, our social worker said she is almost positive that's not going to be the case. She said this is most likely going to be a really long court case, but that time is our best asset right now. So, anyway, looks like we have no idea when we'll really know anything. In the mean time, though, we are just enjoying our fun girlies!


Isn't Apple cute in the hat our friend Aleta made for her?

Two 2 year olds!

Sunday was the girls 2nd birthday. They had spent Saturday night with their grandparents, so we didn't get to spend the morning with them. And, unfortunately, their grandparents (who are WONDERFUL) took them to see their mom (we knew they were going to do that) at her house (we didn't know that). Needless to say, it was super confusing for the girls to go to their old house, and they have regressed quite a bit and are really acting up. So, when they came home to us on Sunday afternoon, they were not the most pleasant people to be around. Thankfully, they usually behave better when there are more people around, and, in the evening, we had our families come over for a little birthday party. I put up yellow streamers (because that's the only color they know) and made cupcakes. The girls loved having everyone over and they REALLY loved opening their gifts. At first, they just opened the first gift and then were ready to just play with that, but by the end, Rayley was saying "more, more"! She had gotten the hang of it: open a gift, check it out, open another gift! Carey's grandma got the girls babies, and they are so cute with them.


They also got giant bean bag chairs shaped like a bear and an elephant! Apple was squealing with delight! Rayley was a little unsure at first, but she got comfortable pretty quickly!




After the gifts, we had cupcakes. It took a while before they understood that they could actually eat the cupcake, and that it wasn't just there to hold the frosting!




Overall, I think the girls really enjoyed their birthday!

Gingerbread Houses!

My (Sarah's) brother, Nathan, made homemade gingerbread to make some gingerbread houses out of. He really wanted to make them with the girls, so, the other morning we went to my parents' house to make the houses. I did NOT think it would be fun at all. I just thought we would be constantly trying to get the girls to stop putting candy in their mouths, plus, I didn't really think they would get the concept. But, as is often the case, I was wrong. It was so very fun. We did spend a lot of time trying to get the girls to put the raisins in their mouths instead of candy, but they did GREAT! Rayley and I were totally on the same wavelength, and every time I would squeeze out the icing, she would grab the exact candy that I was picturing putting in that spot! That made it super fun for me. Carey and I couldn't really stop. We just kept wanting to put on candy, just like the girls just kept wanting to eat candy!

Surfin' Santa & Christmas Tree Hunting!

On Saturday, the girls and I (and our friend Laura) walked down to Capitola Village to see "surfin' Santa". It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, the ocean was SUPER flat, so Santa came in on a canoe-ish thing! The "reindeer" (girls with wetsuits and antlers on) paddled in on surfboards. It was pretty darn fun, although the girls couldn't care less about seeing Santa come into shore. Rayley was all about the sand and Apps was all about the water!





Today, after the worship gathering for our church, our friend Sarah came over and we went and got our Christmas tree. The place we went had a dog, so that's where all Apple's attention went! Rayley loved wandering between the trees. They both liked the inflatable Santa in an airplane, Santa on a train, and Santa on a motorcycle! So, needless to say, they didn't really help pick out the tree, but they had fun at the lot!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving with the girls. It was such a beautiful day so we went for a walk to the beach.



After our walk to the ocean, we came home and watched a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, took naps, and headed out the door for Carey's parents' house. The girls loved getting to snack all afternoon! Plus, Carey's parents have an Elmo train, which they thoroughly enjoyed. They did good eating their Thanksgiving dinner.



By the time we left we were all exhausted from all the delicious food and fun time with family!

Sugar Cookie Fun!

Well, today the girls and I made sugar cookies. It was messy, fun, and way harder than making cookies on my own (strange that things get harder when I have TWO "helpers). They loved it and hopefully they won't get salmonella from all the dough they consumed!

Our Little Cowgirls!

Court Date

Okay, so, we know the six month court date, which is when the judge will decide if the girls are going to go back to their mom, or whether her parental rights will be terminated and they will be adoptable. There is a SMALL chance that she will get an extension, but they really try not to do that when the kids are under 3 years old. Anyway, the date is February 19th. Please be praying! We are just asking that the Lord's will be done. We figure, since He's the only one who's omniscient, His plan is most likely the best!

Our New House

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. We finally got to move, so in all my free moments I've been unpacking, which has caused the blog to fall by the wayside. Anyway, we are moved and LOVING the new place. The backyard is wonderful and the washer and dryer are SO AWESOME! Plus, the girls can run through the living room, down the hall, through the kitchen and back into the living room, and they go around and around and around. It's so fun.

The girls transitioned really well. By the third day, when we pulled into the driveway, Apple said "home"! They are so funny. Yesterday, Rayley somehow climbed into her crib went to sleep. She was apparently ready for a nap! Then, later in the afternoon we were going on a walk and Apple kept saying "fly...hurt you...nooooo"! She's afraid of flies, and I always tell her "flies won't hurt you". I don't know why she was thinking about it as she rode in the stroller, but she apparently was!

Here's some pictures of them playing the backyard. They LOVE playing with chalk!

Happy Halloween

Well, we had the cutest tricker treaters out there! The girls and I (Sarah) went tricker treating around the CPS building with our social worker this afternoon and they got WAY too much candy (what else would you expect). It was fun, though. There are a lot of people around there who have heard about "the twins" but hadn't seen them. They "performed" well, saying please and thank you and staying close to me when I asked them to! Then, this evening we went to our friends', the Austins, house and had dinner and hung out. The Austins neighborhood was all decorated, and the girls loved that.

Super Duper Pooper!

Tonight, when Rayley was in the bath, she was holding herself and saying "potty", pointing to the toilet. I thought she just had to pee, and figured she would in the bath (don't worry, we always do "fresh water rinses" at the end of baths). She kept saying "potty, potty", so, I pulled her out and held her on the toilet, and, drumroll please...SHE POOPED! She pooped on the toilet. And, let me tell you that Carey and I have excellent timing, I guess, because this morning we bought a training potty! Wow. We are good! Anyway, maybe this is gross, but here's a little video of Ray with her poop. She just kept pointing at it saying "yuck"!

Pumpkin Patch

I just realized I never posted pictures of the pumpkin patch. It wasn't the greatest pumpkin patch, but it was fine. We had a good time. The girls loved wandering around. We kind of tested to see how far they would go without coming back to us. They'll go REALLY far!