They still play "party" a lot. This morning Elizabeth said, "Will you come to my par-ee? I ha eh-eh-thing reh-ree: my bowl, a cuh an a bah-bah." (cup and bottle)

Gramma Jan and Gramp Al completed our VeggieTales collection over Christmas. One of the tapes the twins got was 'God wants me to forgive them?'. In the second episode, a take-off of 'Gilligan's Island', Larry makes a mistake that causes them to be shipwrecked and everyone's so upset that they won't forgive him. So he runs away

I told you that to tell you this.

We drove back to Tulsa from Lake Charles on december 28th. We left around 230p. The twins went to sleep pretty shortly after we left. Wil woke up first, but played quietly in his seat for about an hour. He talked and sang, too. Then his tone changed. We turned around and he was crying, two crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks. Come to find out, he was replaying the episode I described above in his mind and came to the part where Larry ran away and he was sad. What a sweet boy! It makes me think of the movie 'Little Man Tate': 'It's not what he knows, it's what he understands.'

We went to church to eat supper with Sean since he has a meeting tonight and won't be home before bedtime. When we were driving away, Wil was puzzling out the problem of leaving Daddy behind. His monologue went something like this. "We can't go back in to church. Daddy is sad. Daddy has to go to meeting. Daddy can't come home. We leave Daddy. We not see Daddy anymore. Daddy is sad." It was so sweet.

Kitty likes french fries and root beer.

Momma to Wil: Did you ever get a clean diaper?
W to M: Did you hear the one about Alfred?

On Monday Elizabeth conjured up an imaginary kitten. She carried "Kitty" with her everywhere - to the store, to church, in the bath, to her crib for a nap. "Kitty tired. Kitty nee to way down." The best was after naptime when I got her out of her crib. She said Kitty wanted to get out too, so I leaned over, put out my hands and said, "Here Kitty." Elizabeth laughed and said, "No, Kitty by the purple cup."

Kitty reappeared briefly on Tuesday to get out of bed and be introduced to friends. Then we didn't see Kitty again until today. The twins and I were playing in their "fort" which was doubling as Granma Sue's house at the time. Elizabeth was reading to her doll when Kitty reappeared to hear the story. "Kitty wuh ow-sai Gamma Sue how." She cuddled Kitty for a bit and then announced it was time to take Kitty home.

When we got back from our Christmas trip I meant to do a Christmas update about the things the twins did and said and got. Oh well. In summary, we had a great trip, my parents loved taking care of the kids though Mom has said multiple times she doesn't know how I get anything done, and everyone got great gifts. Elizabeth is having fun with her Little People Van, but one of her favorite gifts wasn't really a gift at all but a hand-me-down doll that was mine. "Leh-low Baby," she calls it because it was wearing a yellow dress when she first saw it. Likewise, Wil has enjoyed playing with a Playskool workbench that was mine. It goes very nicely with his new toolbox. "Tuhl-bah! Daddy gah a tuhl-bah too!"

At some point during my birthday celebrations, Elizabeth said 'I need more cake.' I said 'Sweetie, you have all of that yellow cake.' She said 'I all done with my brown cake.' I said 'Sweetheart, the brown part is frosting, not cake. She said 'I no want to call my brown cake frosting.' Sheesh.

The twins love Fisher Price Little People. I wanted to give "Sarah Lynn" to Elizabeth for Christmas. Sarah is Eddie's twin and we already have Eddie. Sarah Lynn comes in one playset which, I now know, cannot be found in any store in Tulsa. Elizabeth is going to get the "Family Van" instead. She was with me yesterday when we went to Toys R Us to pick it up, so I let her hold it in the car. I told her when we got home I would wrap it to take to Giji's house and she could open it on Christmas day. Amazingly that worked. She says, "We go to Giji how an I oh-oh my preh-preh. Furse we geh reh-ree to go to Giji."

If anyone asks the twins about Christmas, they always get the same response. Whether the question is "What do you want for Christmas?" or "Are you excited about Christmas?" or "What's the best thing about Christmas?" they always answer, "Id baby Jee-juh bir-day!"

When Sean opened a bottle of wine the other night Elizabeth said, "I wan one tay." Then to me she said, "I geh one tay, theh you can dree, Momma." Sean gave her a drop off his finger. She made a face.

My Secret Santa gave us You Are My I Love You. Thank you.

Thursday was a tough day. They had a tough time napping and a tough time going to sleep. Christine went out, so I put them to bed by myself. Wil didn't want to go to bed. He fussed for a long time - various complaints. Then he cried out 'Grampa, come back. I need you. Gamma Sue, come back. Elibeh need you. An Eheh (Aunt Erin), come back. I need you and Elibeh need you.' (Mom and Dad and Erin had visited over the weekend and left tuesday). It was pitiful, but sort of funny.

We're in party mode having gone to our playgroup's Christmas party this morning and getting ready for a Homemade Gourmet party at our house tomorrow. Wil and Elizabeth spent almost an hour this afternoon exchanging little sheets of paper and saying to each other, "Will you come to my party?"

Going to the grocery store is a very popular game in our house these days. This morning the twins were writing "lists" on scrap paper. "I nee my lih," Wil says.

In addition to lists, Elizabeth made "gift tags." She'd write for awhile, then hold up a scrap of paper covered in scribbles as if she was examining it and say, "Fum Momma an Da-da."

I sell Usborne Books for children and often when I go to a home show I tell the kids I'm going to see if anyone wants to buy my books. We recently borrowed You Are My I Love You, by Maryann Cusimano, from the library. Elizabeth was "reading" it to herself and said to me, "Can we buy thih book?" It's a beautiful book so I added it to our amazon wishlist.

Wil and Elizabeth are so worn out from Granma's and Grampa's visit that they asked to be put in their cribs less than two hours from when they got up. Wil is reading I Spy Little Letters and Elizabeth is pretending to drive to the grocery store.

Also yesterday: by happenstance, Dad and Wil and I got left in the living room. I said to Wil 'The boys are in the living room. Daddy and Grampa and Wil are the boys.'. And Wil said 'And Mama, Eh-beh, Eh-Eh [Aunt Erin] and Gam-ma Sue are. the. girls!' And I said [glowing] 'That's right! What a smart boy!'.

Long time no update. Sorry.

Mom and Dad and Erin have been visiting, which is always a great time for stories.

Yesterday, when Dad and I were home with them, Elizabeth was explaining a photo-ornament to Wil and said 'That Baby You, Wil.'.

Elizabeth and I have come up with a great way to transition to naptime and bedtime.
After I put her in her crib, cover her up, give her water, etc. we agree that I'll go
clean up the kitchen and then come back to check on her. Sometimes she is awake
and sometimes she's not. Today she told me to go clean the kitchen before I even
thought about it. "Furse keen kih-kih. Theh come ba." It works like a charm.