Happy New Year!

Nolan with Andrew and Brandon Beth on NYE.

DuPage Children's Museum

We were all convinced that Papa had even more fun at the museum than Nolan!
Having fun at the water table with Grandma Jeanne.

Driving to the Basket!

"Santa, House"

This is what Nolan told me as I put him to bed on Christmas Eve. He is definitely starting to get the concept of Santa which was cute to watch. Nolan really enjoyed his 2nd Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we went to the children's service at our church, then had fondue at our house with some of my family and Becky and George. Yum! We spent Christmas morning at our house opening gifts, then went over to Grandma Jeanne and Papa's house for dinner. Nolan thoroughly loved opening his presents and has been having fun playing with all of them. He's especially loving the basketball hoop, books, and safari animal set from Santa, a tabletop easel from Bob and Laurie, a big stuffed dinosaur (duckador as Nolan calls it) from Uncle Ryan, a motorized ride-on truck from "Mana" Jeanne & Papa!, Mr. Potato Head and Tonka trucks from Uncle Boo, Aunt Jeanne, David, & John, a Finding Nemo View-Master from Aunt Beth and Uncle Keith, and a portable DVD player from "Mana" Becky and "Pada" George which was a livesaver on our 7+ hour drive this weekend (January 2nd) to the Hurter Christmas party in KY. Nolan even got a cool Budapest T-shirt from his world traveler cousin Jennie who was back in the states for Christmas. It was so great seeing her.

Fondue at our house on Christmas Eve:


Check out my new animals!

What could it be?
A basketball hoop!

Family pic on Christmas morning.
Nolan made us a plaster handprint at daycare. These are the best kinds of gifts!
Nolan loves looking at pictures on the camera after I take them.







Nolan took Jennie's hat right off her head and wanted to wear it!

Sugar Cookies!

We made sugar cookies on Christmas Eve and Nolan really got into putting on the different kinds of sprinkles. Then he really enjoyed eating them when they were done. He kept saying, "More, more". I had to cut him off!
Works of art!I hope the cookies are done soon!

Hamman Christmas Party

The extended Hamman family gets together every year the week before Christmas. It's always nice to see everybody. The party rotates between my parents' house and my dad's siblings' houses. This year it was at Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jim's house. Nolan had a blast. Here is Grandma Hamman (Nolan's Great Grandma) with all her grandkids and great-grandkids that were able to make it to the party. Everyone was so generous and Nolan had fun opening presents.Reading his new Thomas the Train book with Uncle Ryan.Grandma Hamman with her kids.Then came the highlight of the night for Nolan....Santa Claus made an appearance at the party to hand out all the presents!! We had seen Santa the week before and Nolan wanted no part of him, but this time after taking a few minutes to warm up to him, he talked to Santa, sat on his lap, and even gave him a hug!

Lincoln Park Zoo Lights with Uncle Bob & Aunt "Lulie"

Dave and I took Bob and Laurie up on their offer to babysit this past Saturday. So while we enjoyed a nice dinner in the city, they took Nolan over to Lincoln Park Zoo to see all the cool lights. Nolan had so much fun and just adores the two of them. Aunt "Lulie" as he calls her is Nolan's new favorite person. He asks for her all the time...so cute! They got him a box of animal crackers at the zoo and a wooden animal puzzle so he was loving life! Thanks Bob and Laurie for a fun night!

You can click on any of the pictures in the slideshow to see it bigger.

Wheee!!

Ever since the first snowfall of the season, Nolan says "Walk on snow!" anytime he looks out the window and sees snow. He loves telling me all about his boots and snowpants. We took him sledding this weekend and he went down a pretty good size hill all by himself! He has a toddler sled that is the perfect size for him. Whenever he sees a sled he says "Wheee!" So Dave stood at the top of the hill and I caught Nolan at the bottom. Nolan thought it was pretty fun the first few times, but then said "bye-bye" and looked at the car in the parking lot. He had his fill and was ready to go home. Granted it was pretty cold out too. Here's a video clip of Nolan's sledding debut:

'Tis the Season

We took a trip out to the farm this afternoon for our tree. We went with our friends Kevin, Susan, and thier boys Andrew and Brandon. Afterwards, we took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch where Nolan and Andrew loved going on all the different rides.
We had a few ornament casualties since Nolan thought the round bulbs were balls that he could throw!
Becky and I turned my wedding dress into a Christmas tree skirt a few years ago. It brings a smile to my face when I bring it out each year.

The Prince

Nolan made this crown at daycare awhile back. We found it in his closet the other day and he now wants to wear it all the time! This is the same kid who until recently would never keep a hat on his head. But now he'll actually keep on his winter hat without putting up a fight. I'm hoping this means he'll wear a hat next summer (along with his sunglasses).

This absolutely cracked me up!

So after a long seven hour drive home on Monday night, Nolan was completely wiped. It had been a busy week and he was such a trooper going from place to place and seeing new people each day. After I put him down for bed, he decided it was time for a meltdown. He cried and cried and wasn't very consolable. He finally fell asleep (several hours past his normal bedtime) and when I peeked in his room, this is what I saw. Nolan fell asleep sitting Indian style with his head practically in his lap.