Preparing For Santa Clause

The kids left our notes, pictures, cookies, and eggnog for Santa. Garrett left him a dollar to help with the costs of Christmas. Karina made a special Santa picture to take back to the North Pole. Cassidee drew a picture and told him that she loved him.

It was so sweet to see them get things ready for Santa. We had a hard time getting them all into bed. Karina saw, "A red light in the sky - Rudolph!!". They finally fell asleep shortly after midnight. I sure hope Santa did not have to pass us by since they were still awake!

Let's Make Christmas Cookies

Garrett, Karina, and Cassidee helped Leah make Christmas Sugar cookies for neighbors, family, and friends. They had a lot of fun making and frosting them. It was even more fun going out and delivering them before Christmas.

Experiencing all these new traditions and holidays with the girls have helped us remember how the true meaning of Christmas is supposed to be. We are so deeply thankful they are part of our family.

The Girls Meet Mr. and Mrs. Clause

The girls got to meet Santa on December 15. Our neighbors, The Rusts, had Santa and Mrs. Clause come and visit them during their Christmas party. The girls were very excited to meet Santa. Mrs. Clause told everyone how the girls were new to America and how they and Garrett were all in the "Nice" book.

The girls and Garrett told Santa what they wanted on Christmas morning. They must have been pretty good since Santa brought them the things they asked for.

Decorating Our Christmas Tree

We took the girls along with the rest of the family for our yearly tradition to get a new ornament for everyone. We do this so by the time the kids are ready to be married they will have several ornaments to decorate their first Christmas Tree with. We got one for each of the girls last year hoping they would be with us for this Christmas. Having them finally in our family was the best present of all!

I do not think Daniel and Trevor looked as excited as everyone else but they really did have fun.

Cassidee's Looses Her First Tooth

Cassidee lost her first tooth on November 21. We put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy came and brought her some money since it was so clean. She wanted dad to pull out some more.

Halloween

The girls enjoyed their first Halloween. They made such beautiful Princesses. They loved all the candy and wanted to keep going well after 9:00. It is amazing to see the differences between boys and girls. Those handing out candy were more generous for the girls than I ever remember them being to our boys.

They thought Leah's "Sick" pumpkin was funny!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins tonight. The girls had a ton of fun. This was the first time they had ever carved a pumpkin and they did a great job.

Cassidee was teasing us saying she was going to eat the insides of the pumpkin. She did try a few seeds and like those. Karina was too busy working on her masterpiece. It is amazing how well they are doing with their English. They are so excited for Halloween tomorrow.

We took them to a Corn Maze Monday night and they loved it. A scary guy came out right at the first. Cassidee was not happy about that. I had to carry her for the first ten minutes before she would let me put her down. Karina told us she would beat-up the guy if he tried to scare her. I am thinking she would hold her own too.

Karina Attends Birthday Party

Karina attends a costume party for her friend Jacelee. She loves her Princess costume. She did excellent at eating the doughnuts hanging from a string.

Getting Settled In

We have had many things happen since our return on 9/19. The girls are getting adjusted very well. They continue to progress with their English and are starting to even use English with each other. This is great progress.

The Girls started school last Monday. Cassidee is in morning Kindergarten and Karina is in 1st Grade. Both of their teachers are very complimentary of their progress. Karina has a friend - Jacelee - who is taken her by the hand and shown her all the things she needs to know. She has been a great helper. They have an ESL - English as a Second Language - program at their school. The ESL teacher is also praising them.

The pictures are of the girls first day of school, playing in the snow, girls with new coats and boots, and their new dresses.

Leah's father passed away on Thursday morning. We are so happy he was able to met and spend some time with the girls. The funeral is tomorrow and we will try and update more later in the week.