After a very long and very exhausting shopping trip, Santana and Rachel headed back to the cabin to unload everything they had purchased. What had been a basket and a cart for the bigger items, turned into a buggy and a cart both loaded with numerous items. Santana couldn't help but to cringe a little at the amount of money they had spent, but it was well worth it for the girls. To be fair the Halloween candy, costumes and decorations along with some every day house hold items where purchased as well. Never the less, Santana and Rachel were both excited about the numerous outfits and pajama sets they had bought. Both girls now had bedding sets and blankets, stuffed animals, books and plenty of toys (both for development and just for fun). Santana was super excited for the girls to have the baby dolls that she and Rachel had bought because they looked like the twins. Even with the extensive strides society had made to this day, it was still a bit of a mission to find baby dolls of color, so when Santana came across them in Shuebury's, she knew right then and there the girls had to have them. Rachel had to put a stop to how many toys Santana bought though, because Christmas was coming up in two months and they needed stuff to buy. If they bought it all now they would be lost as to what to get the girls for Christmas.
"It's going to take forever for us to get all of this stuff put away." Rachel chuckled as she glanced towards the back of the jeep.
"That's okay, we have the rest of the evening to put most of it up. We can leave their books in the bags until the shelves come in." Santana said as she turned onto the road that lead to the cabin.
"We need to wash the clothes that we know they will probably wear right away, like the pajamas and play clothes. Next we have to set up their gliders either in the living room or in their room somewhere, hang their stuffed animal nets, wash their bedding and make their beds...we're going to be busy the rest of the day." Rachel counted off all they needed to do on her fingers.
Santana laughed as she pulled the jeep up in front of the cabin. "Their room is going to be so full of stuff and they aren't even here yet. I wish I could start renovations sooner, but there's no way. We would only be a fourth of the way done when the first big snow hits which will most likely be in a couple of weeks. We just can't buy anymore stuff that they don't need until Spring."
"I don't think their room will be too crowded. Their stuffed animal net will hang over their beds, diaper bin can go in the corner of the room next to the door, their shelves are made for their height and hang low on the wall, behind the door and we can put one glider in the corner next to the shelves. There is plenty of room in there, butttt, we could always turn the other guest bedroom into a toy room for them for now. I mean they do need some place where they can work on their floor puzzles. Or we could always rethink about letting them have their own rooms, if you want." Rachel knew that suggesting splitting the girls up was a bit of a touchy subject. They hadn't argued about it per say, but Rachel knew that Santana really wanted the girls to be together at least until their new rooms were built. Even then their rooms would have a connecting bathroom. The two main reasons for keeping the girls together is because they will be in a new home, in a new room with new beds and both women wanted the girls close to them in case they were needed. Of course they had purchased baby monitors but the other guest room was still too far away in Santana's eyes. In the new rooms Santana and Rachel would just be down the hall, not down the hall, through the living room and up the stairs like they were now from whichever twin was in the other guest bedroom.
"I think we should stick with the original plan and keep them both in the same room. We can move the guest bedroom around to fit their toys and puzzles." Santana sighed as she turned her head and rested it against the driver's seat headrest.
"Okay, we can do that too." Rachel smiled and patted Santana's thigh. "Moving the room around means one less bed we have to find storage for."
"That's so true." Santana closed her eyes and just listened to the soft sounds floating around in the car. It was peaceful.
"What are you thinking about?" Rachel asked quietly as she brushed her knuckles against Santana's cheek.
"Honestly?" Rachel nodded her head. "Nothing. Just enjoying the stillness. We've been so busy lately, we haven't had a moment to just breathe. We should go to the tree house soon, take the dogs, pack some snacks and hide away for a day or two. Maybe we will get lucky enough to see the first snow fall from the hammock." Santana grinned lazily, relaxing in her hammock with Rachel was one of her favorite past times.
"That sounds like a lovely idea, but first we need to get all of this stuff in the cabin and then find us some dinner." Rachel began to gather her things from the front so that she could go unlock the front door before coming back to help Santana.
Santana sighed, a little disappointed that her moment of stillness was over. However, Rachel was right. They had things that they needed to get done. Things that would definitely never get done by themselves. Mustering up her energy, Santana jumped down from her jeep and opened the tailgate. Why had they bought so much stuff?! Hopefully they could get this done quickly and efficiently.
"Okay. Thank you, we will see you then." Rachel replied in a cheery voice as she hung up the phone. Santana heard the end of the conversation as she came out of the twins nursery. Everything was finally put away, minus the stuff that was going to be washed first and the books since they were waiting for the shelves to be delivered.
"Who was that?" Santana asked as she opened the pantry doors, looking for a snack.
"Alison. She wanted to know if we had plans for Halloween." Rachel clasped her hands together and began rocking back and forth on her heels.
Santana's head immediately popped up from where she had been looking for a snack on the bottom shelf of the pantry. "Why did she want to know that?"
"Well, one weekend a month she's allowed to sign "her kids" out for the day and take them to do stuff. Next weekend is finally Sierra and Samara's weekend and she wanted to know if we would like her to bring them for a visit with us. I told her about the trunk or treat and she said she would be more than happy to bring them out. She said she would even come early if we wanted to meet and have dinner before hand." Rachel was practically jumping up and down at this point.
"Oh my gosh! That's amazing. We get to take them trick or treating, well trunk or treating. Someone will have to watch the jeep so we can take them around. OH shit! We have to go back to Shuebury's and get costumes for them? Did she say if they had costumes or not? I don't want them to feel left out. We should also still ask Chloe and Agetha to see if they can or want to bring any more of the kids out, I just don't feel right leaving them out." Santana rambled, she began searching for keys, long forgotten about hunting for a snack.
"Honey, calm down. I don't know if they have costumes, but we can find out. We can call Chloe and Agetha tonight, but I think they might be coming to the new home tomorrow. We can just ask them. I'm sure if they have something planned that the girls would have already been included in that. If they don't have costumes, we can get them tomorrow when we come back from the new home, okay? Lastly, I am sure that we can find someone to watch the jeep since we know everyone that will be there." Rachel was laughing while she wrapped her arms around Santana to try and ground her.
"I don't know if they will be there tomorrow or not. Either way, I'm just so excited to spend time with the twins. It's going to be their first time trick or treating with us. I mean yeah, Alison will be there, but it's still with us. We have to take tons of pictures." Rachel could feel the energy bubbling off of Santana as she spoke. There was something so mesmerizing watching Santana get so worked up about the girls. At one point, Santana questioned if she would make a good mother or not and this was just the tip of the iceberg in proving that she was going to be an amazing mother.
"So if they don't have costumes, what do you think we should get them? I know we're going as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, but I don't know what the girls should be." Rachel said as she let go of Santana and picked up her phone, ready to start searching for ideas.
"Uh..they will be Batman and Robin?" Santana stated as if it was obvious. "It would be super cute and they will obviously match us."
"Why on Earth didn't I think of that? We could be a whole Batman family!" Rachel exclaimed. "Even if they do have costumes, we are so totally going back to Shuebury's tomorrow, we can just change them after dinner."
After deciding what costumes they were going to get the girls, Rachel and Santana decided to go ahead and move the guest bedroom around. It was tiring, but they were able to get everything into a position so that the girls would have plenty of room to play and not get hurt while in there. Both women were still beyond excited to the upcoming visit they would be having with the girls. Soon they wouldn't have to worry about a social worker following them around as they spent time together as a family. The next few weeks couldn't come fast enough.
Dinner that evening was prepared by Rachel once they had finished moving the guest bed room around. The chicken fajitas and rice that Rachel had made was glorious as Santana had so graciously put it. She loved to cook and usually the kitchen was her sanctuary besides her studio, but she didn't mind letting Rachel run the show. She was definitely going to have to search her cook books and mind for kid friendly recipes once the girls came home. It was kind of fun to imagine the nights where they could all cook as a family and just enjoy each others company. Oh the messes they would inevitably make, but half the fun would be cleaning them up.
Sometimes it still hit Santana with full force that she went from a home body with one dog to a wife, two dogs and a set of twins. As someone who grew up fairly lonely, even with a large group of friends, it was amazing that this was now her life. There was truly no other place she would rather be. As she laid down in bed, Santana smiled as she pulled Rachel close. She couldn't imagine being anywhere but here. There was no way in hell that anyone would ever take this from her, despite how many people that had already tried in the past.