Dreaming of a White Christmas

We're having a fantastic time in Utah. It was exactly what we all needed. Playing in fresh snow this morning with bright-eyed Tretnon was magical. I love seeing the world through a toddler's eyes. He did great for about 40 minutes, until all at once the cold caught up with him and he was ready to, in his words, "go home!"

I hope I always remember the sound of Trenton's little voice yelling, "I got the carrot, Dad!" as he trudged toward our snowman with that little cooked carrot in hand.

Partying It Up

Tonight I threw a holiday party for the 52 owners who live here in our complex. When no one volunteered to help out this year, the HOA board seemed to assume I would throw it...so it's a good thing I did! I decorated the Lounge with a mixture of complex decorations and my own. I dragged in our Christmas tree and some lamps for "ambiance." :) I cooked. I smiled. I hosted. And now I am so glad to be done!

Finally the real fun can begin—packing for vacation! Have I mentioned how excited we are?? With Ryan around so little and vacation SO close I can taste it, I am at the end of my rope. The boys deserve their old mother back—the patient one! Hopefully I will be back to my old—better, though not perfect—self at the start of the new year!

He knows if you've been bad or good...

We took the boys to our church Christmas party last night. I told him Saturday morning that we were going to see Santa that night, and for the rest of the day he kept asking me, "Sleep? Wake up? Presents?" About a week ago I told him ONCE that on Christmas Eve, we go to sleep and when we wake up, we get to open the presents Santa brought us. This story really stuck with him (way better than the Baby Jesus story seems to be sticking... go figure), so he was so confused at the ward party as to why Santa would not be bringing presents that night. Poor guy. All this waiting!

Only one more week till our Christmas vacation begins!!!

New Nickname

I just came home from two hours at a hair salon. I have a new nickname for my three boys: The Wolf Pack.

Filed.

Yesterday Ryan sent me the best text ever. One word: "Filed."

The last few weeks have been a little insane because one of his clients was going public. We barely saw Ryan before 3am all week! That means he was working about 19 hours a day. Torture for us all! (Oh the visions I have of exactly what I would like to say to the managing partner...!) I don't know how Ryan does it.

But yesterday afternoon, they filed—so we've got him back! At least until the SEC gets back to them with comments... But we will take what we can get!

So today is celebration day in the Nielsen household. We headed straight for my current favorite San Francisco destination: the farmers' market on Embarcadero, near the Ferry Building. This is the perfect activity for us. We can all sample foods, Trenton climbs on big beams and chases seagulls, I browse Sur la Table (a cookware store that I love!), and Ryan eats Mexican food from a tent! (At least, he did today. Okay, we all did... :)

It was perfect. It's easy to love the Bay area on a day like today.

The boys watching a trio of musicians playing holiday music. Trenton loved it and would not let us leave for a long time. He even pawned a dollar off me to put inside their cello case!

The boys playing, on our way back to the car.

BIG BOY

Guess who is potty training??

The T-Monster has been diaper-free (except for nighttime sleep) for almost two weeks. So far, it has been a surprisingly non-stressful process, even for me! In fact, I have honestly enjoyed it. He's just so stinkin' cute in underwear!

Super fancy sticker chart, huh? He lost interest in it after about the first 8 times. :) He also would tell me to stop when I tried to do a way elaborate "potty dance" for him. (Hey, don't judge - that's what my book recommended!)

We stayed home for the first three days, drinking lots of juice to give him plenty of chances to try. He did great! On day three I arranged to walk over over to two of our neighbors condos to show Trenton their toilets. :) That way he got the idea that everyone has one. Then one by one we visited other friends' houses, and Trenton went potty everywhere we went! For some reason he thinks it is super awesome to try other people's toilets. :) He even went twice at church and stayed dry all the way through nursery.

I'm so proud of how well my little sweetheart is doing! I do, though, realize that potty training usually takes several months to solidify, so I know we won't be an accident-free household for a while yet, and that's okay. I am definitely enjoying changing only one set of diapers, though!

My beautiful little big boy at 2 years and 4 months old