The Moll's at Sweet Sky Farm

Everyone had a lovely day today. In preparation for Santa (yes, Addison knows who he is now... see below for the picture) Addison and I baked cookies, Addison and Emme helped Daddy (un)wrap presents and the girls had fun in their new matching pajamas. Baking cookies... Un-wrapping presents... and frustrating Daddy just a *little* bit. Dreaming of Santa Claus...

Emme always somehow manages to have a bucket on her head. Seriously. Always. Addison doesn't walk around with a bucket on her head, but she finds herself in precarious positions more often than not. That's our end table right there, in case you were wondering.

Emme IS the dog whisperer!!!

Three days later and Addison is still weirdly fascinated with flamingos. Interesting girl, that one.

Mommy (Driving): Addison, what do you want to get Daddy for Christmas? Addison (kindly picking her nose in the backseat): I don't know. Mommy: Take your finger out of your nose please. Addison: Okay. Mommy: So what do you want to get Daddy for Christmas. I think it would be nice if you gave him a present. Addison: Ummm... Okay. He needs a. a. a. um. a. SUITCASE! Daddy needs a suitcase. Mommy (realizing this isn't going well): Are you sure a suitcase? What would he do with a suitcase. Addison: Mommy, he needs it to keep the flamingo that we're going to get him. A flamingo and a suitcase for Daddy!

Yeesh, finally able to get caught up for a few minutes; long enough to give you an update on my trip to Cabo!  So, this was a guys trip to get away celebrate Matt's ??th b-day (21st?), and we booked the Riu Palace all-inclusive resort in Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula.  Here is the view from the bar that we took over, where someone would bring drinks nonstop all day and night... The coastline here is at the intersection of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. Here is a shot of the Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) that I caught ...and making up fish stories at dinner that night... And here is the sunset from the hotel. All in all, it was a great trip.  Highly recommended for a vacation destination.

Did I really need to be thrown up on this morning... really? Emme is fine, but my jeans are ruined ;-)

This week was meant to be a "vacation" of sorts for me. I took the entire week off in order to finish writing chapter 5 of my dissertation. I guess I didn't set explicit expectations with the girls about how important this week was, since Emme ended up getting sick first thing on Monday. Yep, she had her first ear infection and was sent home with a fever of 102.0 degrees. She's doing better, but still congested, even on antibiotics, and isn't sleeping through the night. At least Andy is back from his vacation in Cabo. Stay tuned for more updates about the paper and hopefully some pictures from Andy's vacay!

I thought this was just great and asked Erin (cousin Peggy) if I could include it here. She's just that great a person and let me post it. I was reading your blog and thought your postings about the princesses and the Dove campaign and all that was just great! So I just wanted to let you know that Thomas and Christopher made a donation to the Girl Scouts/Dove program Uniquely Me Self Esteem Program in honor of the girls for Christmas! I thought they might send you a notification about it but they don't. So they wanted me to let you know!! Oh yeah and I am so glad that I don't have girls! HAHA So Merry Christmas and lots of love to Addison and Emerson! ~Erin Burke~ Isn't that cool! Thanks, Erin. By the way, Thomas and Christopher are her two cutey boys that are a bit younger than Addison and Emme.

I love what Dove is doing with their Real Beauty. Real Women. campaign. Just another reason why we don't need more "princesses" in the world, just Real Girls. Check out their website for more information. If their website doesn't get you, check this video out. Consider all of the ways that young boys and girls are bombarded with information on a daily basis. Even if we don't have it on our television, they can't help but see it when we check out at the grocery store! From the Real Girls, Real Pressure report just released: 7 in 10 girls between the ages of 8 and 17 believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including looks and performance in school.

We had such a nice evening tonight. We took the girls to see the annual lighting of one of the largest and oldest oak trees in our town. Addison loved spinning under the lights and also saw some beautiful horse drawn carriages. Perhaps next year we'll take a ride. Addison and Emme also saw Santa for the first time riding in a fire truck, a definite favorite, and now Addison wants to know when she can go meet Santa in person. I think this discussion started with some prodding from Nana, but nevertheless, we'll go to visit Santa. Andy and I just haven't talked about Santa very much. We also don't talk about princesses and fairy tales either, not that we are against make-believe, we just like a different type of make-believe, with puzzles and dancing and singing and silly stories and non-mainstream marketing bias... you know, the easy stuff. I bring this up because today was "Prince and Princess Day" at school and Addison firmly told me that she didn't...

Go HORNS!!!!! Number TWO?!?!?! Are you crazy? Andy and I had the chance to go to the UT v. Texas A&M game last night. We had tons of fun, the rain held off, and the weather was gorgeous at 72 degrees when they kicked off at 7 pm. It was our last UT game in the student section, but a great time. Hmmm... maybe next year we'll get season tickets for the whole family... the down side of the student section is that you stand... you stand the whole time... even during half-time you stand... do you know what standing on a metal bleacher after cooking Thanksgiving Dinner and chasing two rugrats around all morning does to 33 year-old hips and knees??? Ahhh, the joys of being a student... I should have brought some yule-tide cheer with me in a flask like all of the other students did :-) While we were out playing, Addison and Emme had the chance to make their first gingerbread house with Nana and Papa. They had fun and only tried to eat a few of the candies. Addison did the right s...

These are happy grams from Addison and Emerson's teachers. Very sweet!

From all of us at the Moll-Madness house.

There is just something to say about being three, being able to jump in an inflatable castle, and being on cloud nine because you have cute tights and the ability to wobble around.

I've procrastinated enough on posting about Addison's birthday. It was such a wonderful day and a wonderful way to celebrate three years of life! We had tons of friends and family over, plenty of children, bubbles, stickers, pumpkin decorating, Hello Kitty tattoos, swinging, cake, presents and a pinata. CLICK HERE for photos of the entire event. Kerry p.s. Please excuse the way Emerson is dressed. There is just no excuse for it!

Addison and I went to UT's football game this weekend. It was her first UT game and we had fun. We only went for a bit of the second half, but at least I know that she could make it at least a few hours watching the fun. These pics are not the best since they were taken with my iphone, but you get the idea.

I can't wait to tell Emerson and Addison about how they were able to go vote with Mommy and Daddy during this election! P.S. YES! I took a picture of my television... so? ;-)

Birthday posts will be forthcoming, but I had to send out this picture of the cake and the decorations just for my cousin Erin. It was too cute!!

Halloween was loads of fun but we definitely tried to do too much in one day. To start with, we went to the Halloween Parade at the girls' school. Addison was upset and didn't want to walk with everyone. It turns out that she thought Papa had left her (he got there early to help out the class) and she was upset that she was left at school without him... not knowing that Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa were waiting with all the other parents to see her. Poor girl probably thought she was going to have to sleep at the school overnight! Emme on the other hand had a blast. I have been trying to get her into her costume for over a week as "practice" but she refused each time. Her teacher, Miss Kamila, was able to do it the very first try... ahhhh, the power of a talented teacher and a little bit more peer pressure. Her entire class was ADORABLE!!!! After the parade we all went home where Addison and Emme were able to decorate their pumpkins from school. After rela...

I just know it!!! Emerson was triple-dog-dared by some older 18 month old punk who told her that "everyone was doing it" and she'd be cool if she did it also. That must be why she decided to use the jungle gym at school and do a no-hands-flying-trapeze-triple-gainor that landed her face first into the cedar chunks. This girl gives me fits!!! The fact that she never cried and the preschool teacher didn't see it happen was just icing on the cake and classic Emme... you can't turn away from her for a millisecond! And just for the sake of documentation, this picture was taken a good three hours after it happened. You should have seen her poor face when I picked her up at 4:00!

Don't forget to vote. We took the girls this morning... of course they were dressed in their "Vote for my tomorrow" shirts (any excuse for a fashion parade)... to vote and they were a hit at the polling place. If you can, please vote early!!!!!!!