After my dad and step-mom left after Thanksgiving, we headed to Manhattan Beach to play in the sand with Mikey and Kathy. This was our second trip to the beach, which was a little bit more chilly. Atleast this time, their dad was there to see their smiles.
We put our tree up the first week of December. I think that the girls had more fun putting the actual tree together than putting the decorations on it. They did a really good job working together to put all the branches in. Then I followed up with making them look better and spreading them out. I loved seeing their little faces when we started putting on all of our family ornaments. They held them very carefully and were cautious in not breaking them.
We also celebrated S turning 7 and M turning 8! We had separate birthday celebrations for both girls. Which is something different for them. In the past, they have always celebrated their birthdays together since they are only 5 days apart. Now, I can see why. They both had a hard time accepting that it was not 'their day' and that they had to wait for presents or they already had their presents. This was quite a learning curve for them. Needless to say, each day with rough for the other child. I had thought about combining them after the fact, but they need to learn and accept each others days and learn to be individuals. Nana Sandy came out for the holiday and made it here in time for M's birthday. That next weekend we all went to Knott's Berry Farms and we saw SANTA! We had a ver good time and the girls rode their first wooden roller coaster with their dad! AWESOME!
Christmas quickly arrived! We went to Sean's Aunt and Uncles for Christmas Eve. The girls played with another little boy and met many other family friends. Christmas morning was WOW! There were so many presents left by Santa!! M&S were quite calmer than I had thought they would be. They opened all their presents calmly and spent the day playing with them. Santa brought both of them new bikes and bean bag chairs. Santa brought Sean and I a trampoline! The girls got a lot of clothes and games for their Leap Frog gaming system.
It was quite a good December. It ended with a visit from my best friend and her little boy. The girls had a playmate for the last couple of days. At times it was rough, ensuring everyone was playing fairly with each other, but overall it was pretty good. He was the first guest close to the girls age, and they miss him already!
2013 was such a life changing year. Sean and I started the year with just the two of us, living in New Mexico, just starting the adoption process. We did not even know about M&S. Through the first few months, we learned of our move to California and inquired about these two siblings. Now here we are, starting off 2014 as a big, ever learning, family.
Here's to 2014!
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