Santa Claus is comin' to town

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, the house is decorated, and we are more than ready for Christmas to be here. We are ever so (NOT) patiently counting down the days until the 24th when we make our long drive out to Utah to enjoy the holidays with our families. Until then, I am attempting to find things to fill our long and car-less days while having a fun and festive time with the kids.

Daddy is MIA at school all day every day as he is taking exams for the next two weeks. He's a hard worker, sometimes getting up at 2 or 3 a.m. just to get a little more studying in! I don't know how he does it, and I'm glad it's him and not me :) Although, we really miss him being able to enjoy the festivities of pre-Christmas with us. Also, he takes the car to school, so we are pretty house-bound. Still, the days are ticking down and we'll soon be going home. We can't wait!!
I took Kassidy and Korbin to go see Santa at the mall last week with some friends. The set up was adorable, like a winter wonderland, and all Narnia themed. They had a huge dome with fake snow to play in. Fun and a mess! We were cleaning fake snow out of crevices all day. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let you take your own photos, and they wanted $20 for a 5x7 picture. Being a tightwad with no money, I had to pass. So standing in line is as close as we got to a picture :) Kassidy loved Santa and he was so sweet!

Cotton Corner

Kevin's very talented big sister made us this adorable little hat. I LOVE it!!! It fits my little football head boy perfectly :) If you're interested, she started an etsy site. She sells custom hats and bows and more. Check it out, they'd make great gifts!

www.etsy.com/shop/cottoncorner

Good helpers

My kids love to be on the bed when I bring in a warm batch of laundry right from the dryer. They are great helpers and Kassidy helps bury her brother under the clean clothes. He loved it so much he decided to take a nap right next to sister's clean undies :)

Can you spot the kids?

Thanksgiving

Since we didn't have enough time off school to travel home, we had another Thanksgiving here in sunny California. We invited Kevin's sister Kelli and her family (she was a trooper to come since she just gave birth 5 days earlier!) and our friends the Tabish's ended up coming too. It was a wonderful day full of delicious food (yes, I cooked), good company, Christmas movies, playing with friends and cousins, and playing games. It gave me a warm cozy feeling and felt like being home. I guess home really is where you're surrounded by friends and family :) Here are a few, ahem, (a lot) of pictures.

My little helper and I preparing the bird.

The boys, Kevin, Scott and Andrew.

Cute Jen and Korbin.

Best buds Kassidy and Sara.

Cory and the newest addition to the Marchant/Fletcher family...Braxzyn! Only 5 days old.

The kid table. These 4 played together so well all day!

Watching Elf and playing Boggle.

More turkey (aka rice cereal)!

Doesn't Kelli look so good for just having given birth?

Here's to many more wonderful Thanksgivings with the people I love!

Another post below.

Kelli's new addition

Kevin's sweet big sister Kelli just had baby #3 last week and we couldn't be happier! We were lucky enough to get to see them in the hospital and have the two older boys come stay at our house for a couple days. Kelli's family just moved out here near us a few months ago. It's nice to have some family close by!

New baby boy was 9 lbs 3 oz and 22 inches long. We like 'em big in the Marchant family! He and Kelli are both healthy and doing great. Kelli and Cory named him Braxzyn K. Fletcher. Big brothers Treyson and Cayden are really excited. Congrats Kelli!

Korbin looks GIANT next to newborn Braxzyn! And he's only 4 months old :)
Waiting in the hall with my kids so we don't crowd the small hospital room.

Things I look forward to:

Disclaimer: I truly love being a mommy and everything that comes with it. This post is all in good fun and highlights some of the things we mommies go through every day.

Things I look forward to when my children are grown:

*Taking a shower without having a conversation with a toddler in a princess outfit on the other side of the glass.

*Eating a meal and not hearing, "But I don't like this!"

*Sleeping through the night!!!

*Going to the bathroom alone (I don't even shut the door because someone always comes and finds me )

*Being able to quickly run into the grocery store for a gallon of milk without having to unload the kids. It's quite the production.

*Having a clean house that STAYS clean!

*Going to the movies with my husband again.

*Actually having a date night that doesn't include little people :)

*Not feeling like a milk cow (sorry boys, but it does happen).

*Having nice things and not worrying about them getting broken.

*Not having to watch Dora, Super Why, Sesame Street, and EVERY Disney movie ever made.

*Having nice things, not disposable things.

*Reading a book in one sitting. Right now I get about 10 minutes at a time while I'm feeding Korbin.

*Watching an entire movie without having to pause it.

*Not having to carry a humongous diaper bag everywhere I go.

All in good time Robyn, all in good time.....

He's an eater

I am tired. This is to be expected since I have a 4 month old. But seriously, kid, why do you have to wake up every 2-3 hours! Korbin was a great sleeper last month. We were getting 6-7 hour stretches. It was bliss. So what happened?! I know, he's still young and trying to get into a routine. Maybe he's having a growth spurt. Who knows. But I am tired.

My solution was to try and fill up his little tummy to capacity so hopefully he'll sleep a little longer. I need this for my sanity and so I can be a good mommy the next morning.

The plan didn't really work. He still wakes up about every 3-4 hours now. But man, isn't he cute eating his rice cereal? On to plan B...a live in wet nurse.