Well, there is daylight coming in through the kitchen windows that are across the room. There is a fairly large window across the room. Not sure if ambient light is enough or should I place them closer the the window? Or is it better to leave the two 26W bulbs on during the day?
They really should have more intense light especially if you have moss growing in the tank. Even the brightest bulbs can't compete with a little natural daylight so I would use an aquarium light hood on top. You don't want the tank too close to a window because you could overheat it.

I don't understand 12 hour photo period, which I have heard before. Does this just mean, a 12 hour period where they have lights on?
Exactly, my tank lights come on at 0700 and off at 2000

I don't know what full spectrum light is, I assume this is what I bought when I bought the 5.0 tropical exo terra spiral bulbs 26W?
Probably is full spectrum. You just don't want aquarium spectrum.

Where can I find the 12 volt LED's? At Home Depot or any hardware store? Or should I just get a night light? I have so much vegetation (fake and some real) in the tank that I don't think I could see them if I wanted too unless I had the lights on. I used a lot because this is their first week with me and I didn't want them to get stressed out.
I get mine at Radio Shack. Just drill a 1/2" hole in the plastic tank top and push them in, very easy. Power them with a cell phone charger.

BTW, they have been on my kitchen counter in the room where most activity takes place in the house in the evenings. Is this a bad place for them? They have only woken for a couple hours at a time. One of them gets up every morning around 6:30 to soak in the water but as soon as we are up and around, he goes back to sleep.
If they aren't being woken up by the activity then they should be fine. Mine are up from about 2100 to 0400 then back to sleep for the day.