Nell's Birthday

How old are you? Four
What makes you happy? Giving Daddy squishes
What is your favorite animal? Pandas!
What is your favorite thing to eat? Cupcakes
What is your least favorite thing to eat? Hot and spicy peppers
What is your favorite thing to do? Wrestle Daddy
What is your favorite TV show? Little Einsteins
What are you really good at? Making bead necklaces
What is your favorite Movie? Sofia the First
What is your favorite color? Pink and Purple
What is your favorite song? You are my Sunshine
Who is your best friend? Evie
What do you and your mom do together? Bake cookies
What do you and your dad do together? Wrestle
Where is your favorite place to go? To Target
What is your favorite book? Peanut Butter and Cupcake
What do you want to be when you grow up? A momma. A ballerina!

Once upon a time I wanted to do little birthday interviews with each of my kids. I found a cute template and went to a lot of trouble to make Reid's when he was 3. Which was probably way too young. I did the interview again when he was four, but never filled out the template. Last year (Reid 5 and Nell 3) I didn't do one for either of my kids. So ... here's to reviving that goal! No fancy templates, no set questions. This way there are no obstacles that make me avoid the whole thing. I really just need a basic little getting to know you interview for each of my kids -- a snapshot of their life as they turn a new age.

We measured Nell the morning of her birthday (Reid's idea). She weighed 50.5 pounds and was 42 inches tall. She wears size 6X or 7 clothes. Earlier this week she asked me if I knew who her real best friends were. When I replied "Who?" She quickly said "Reid and Coraline" and that is the truth. She is such a good middle child.

She is also hilarious. I wish I wrote down all the funny things she says each day. She's always got me laughing. Of course, some just have to do with the moment and her mood. Monday morning Reid was still eating breakfast when he saw his bus go down our street (my fault). This meant he had to brush his teeth, pack his bag, and get his shoes and jacket on before the bus flipped around in the culdesac and made it back to our door. Nell ran to the front room and (almost excitedly) shouted "damn it! damn it!" as she swung her hands around. In the moment, it was hilarious. She also frequently requests that we "smell the air" and discover the stench of her fresh farts. This is always said with pride, a twinkle in her eye, and a soft giggle.

On her birthday, when Ben finally came home for dinner (at 6:30) and asked Nell how her day was and she replied, emphatically "Yummy!" Even as we laughed, I don't think she noticed her mistake. She was just so excited to finally dig into her PB and Jelly Crepes. That evening we decorated for Halloween. I made the kids hold off until her birthday. I honestly think she was as excited about the Halloween stuff as she had been about the celebration we had over the weekend. When she woke up on the morning of her birthday she was sure to put on her Halloween shirt and immediately asked me to start reading all the Halloween books we'd gotten from the library the day before.

Last weekend we went to the Green Bay Zoo and had cake and presents. She was cracking us up there too. When I gave her a quarter so she could get some hay pellets to feed the sheep she looked down at the shiny coin in her hand and shouted "They eat these?" But the funniest part of the day was when she ran away from the peacocks. They were her favorite animal and she really wanted a picture with them, but when one crossed her side (with a good 3 feet to spare) she took of running and shouting. She didn't stop until she came to a wall (about 20 feet from the rest of us). Even the other parents around us were laughing.

Being Black Bears, checking out the Red Pandas and the Tamarin Monkeys

Checking out the Penguins

Reid with the Red Foxes

The thing I love about this Zoo is feeding the giraffes. I talked it up to Nell for weeks. She was so excited, until it was actually time for those long giraffe tongues to take the witchazel leaves out of her hands. She dropped the leaves, twice! And after that she was ready to go home! Reid on the other hand, was over the moon excited about the experience. It was fun to hear him gab and gab about how cool it was.

(video of feeding giraffes)

Back in Oshkosh we went to Red Robin and then came home for cake and presents.

She was in heaven when she found the Lego set she wanted, an Elsa dress she'd been asking for, and so much more. The best part of the weekend though, was having Grandma Szilagyi around to celebrate it all with us. Grandpa was in Utah for business, and we sure missed him!

She had a very good birthday week and we all loved celebrating our special Nelly Belle on several different occasions. She is such a blessing to our family. She provides lots of giggles, loves, and happiness.

Boone County Fair

To help us cope with Ben's long absence we headed down to Illinois Thursday afternoon, after swim lessons and a couple errands were completed. Bonus: it was the week of the Boone County Fair.

Ben's family doesn't live in Boone County, but for whatever reason going there each summer became a sort of tradition among his parents and siblings. So we've been several times. When we lived in DC, Ben would often time our summer visit to the Boone County Fair.

Reid and Nell both had a lot of fun and immediately asked, "can we come to the fair again next year" as we were driving away. All three kids were asleep before we even hit the highway, headed back to Wisconsin. It was an exciting (and tiring) day!

We started off watching the tractor pull and the Clydesdale carriage pull. Then we found the cousins and Reid wanted to do anything they did -- naturally. That's what put him on this mechanical bull. He did excitedly tell me it was "super fun" as we walked away, but I'm not sure I'm convinced. You can watch the video and decide for yourself.

Then we checked out the animal barns. Coraline loved the horses and giggled the whole time she petted them. Reid and Nell both loved the rabbit barn. I tried to have them take a peek at the stockshow kids showing their cows, to let them know I did that back in the day -- but they weren't at all interested.

Next we made our way over to the carnival rides. On the way we stopped by a face painting booth and had the kids each get a couple of little paints. Coraline even wanted one and sat so still through the whole thing. I was impressed. We also stopped by the doughnut shop. Coraline essentially ate cheetos and a doughnut for lunch. She was a pretty happy (and messy) little girl.

I let the kids pick two rides and Reid let Nell choose both of them. She was so excited about the carousel and the teacups. Before the fair we watched a show with a ferris wheel and Reid told me he wanted to ride one, but once he saw it he happily backed out and tagged along with Nell on her rides. "I'm afraid of heights, remember?" he suddenly started saying. My response was to remind him of hiking up to the edge of the world with daddy in Canyonlands NP last summer, "Buddy, you went higher up than I dared to go. So don't tell me you are afraid of heights. If you don't want to go on the ferris wheel you don't have to. But it isn't because you are afraid." Silly boy.

Nell wasn't quite tall enough to go on rides by herself, but they refused to let her pregnant mamma stand next to her on the carousel, so Grandpa was a great sport and came to her rescue. And Coraline had to do whatever the big kids did, so Grandma was nice enough to take her on the carousel as well. I think I distracted her with some graham crackers when they got on the teacups.

I loooooooved listening to their giggles as they spun on by. Nell's was especially joyful and completely melting my heart. She loves stuff like this (ie turbulence on the plane) and was as happy as could be.

I also let them play one carnival game before we left (and I really should say Grandma did, as she paid for it). I knew Reid would really want to go fishing, in fact he about gave up his teacup ride, thinking he only had one more thing to do and he knew he wanted to fish for a prize more than he wanted to ride a teacup! Lucky him, he got to fish for two prizes -- one for him and one for Coraline.

They were all in heaven as they loaded into the car, new little stuffed animals in hand, doughnuts in bellies, and light sunburns on their faces. It was a wonderful Saturday morning/afternoon with family. The only thing that could possibly make leaving exciting was the prospect of coming home to daddy!

July

Last week I was going to write up a post about each of my kids, but then time slipped by me and this week brings a whole new month. So it's time to recap our July (but I did get one about Lou written, back here). I can't believe we are already in August. That means only one month of summer left!

I started the month with a baby bump photo. Here we are on July 1st, four months to go!

The kids snuggled up on the couch and watched TV while I went through all of Reid's old clothes (that's all the stuff on my bed/floor etc) and got them ready to sale on facebook. 

This girl loves snuggling her babies. 

Plus, Nell was sick on the 5th, so we just took it easy for a few days. 

We also celebrated our 10th anniversary and the 4th of July, back here. And of course, the search for our new van was in full swing (back here).

Once Nell was feeling better we got back into our play routine. I love how well Reid and Nell play together. They were very excited about the picnic they set up for me in the basement. We also read our chapter book snuggled up in the tent.

Nell drew her first picture of our whole family. If you are wondering why there are only four of us, it is because I am holding Coraline. We also made it back to the YMCA so I could swim and the kids could enjoy the drop in care (probably the reason we've had so many sickies this summer -- but still totally worth it).

My pictures from the second week of July are pretty lame. But I suppose that captures a rather ordinary week in the life of the Szilagyi's.

After being drug around to two different pregnancy/errand appointments these kids were spent. This is how they rode around in the back of Ben's car for almost two weeks. What troopers.

While I mowed the lawn Reid rescued a baby toad. He was pretty excited and I was impressed with his detail to gentle care. Yes, Nell wears ear phones while I mow the lawn.

One day I came home from the YMCA and plopped the kids down on the couch while I quickly made their lunches. I wasn't quick enough though, as Lou fell right to sleep.

We finally got our van that Thursday so we took it down to Illinois on Friday. Ben and I wanted to get one last Temple visit in before they closed it for cleaning. Rick and Carol agreed/offered to watch the kids for most of Saturday and Sunday. Here's some photos of the fun things they did with Grandma and Grandpa. 

At a local petting zoo, which sounded pretty exotic. Reid got to pet an alligator!

Swimming with the cousins at Uncle Brian and Aunt Jamie's community pool. Reid went off the high dive!

All ready for bed after a super fun day. 

During the third week of July we bought our big box of peaches (details back here), and spent a lot of time trying  to keep cool with the aid of our kiddie pool and some homemade popsicles. 

Also, Reid started his one and only rec department activity for the summer: Sports of all Sorts. He really enjoyed all the play time, despite the scorching hot sun. I took the girls down the street to a park (or Target) each day. We also found time to watch him in a few of his games. 

I scored lots of adorable pictures of Lou during  this week. Check them out:

So proud of herself for following along during family scripture study. 

Trying to beat the heat, and in need of a diaper change.

Dug through the outside toy bucket and insisted on these.

Nell had a couple of neat accomplishments this week. We went on a bike ride down our street and she didn't need any help the entire time. It was a first, that's for sure. 

She also made a big beautiful sidewalk chalk design. 

On Saturday we had a couple of friends over for a BBQ. The little kids loved playing together and spent the full two hours splashing in our pool and running around our yard. It's always fun to have a couple of extra little friends around. 

The next week was similar. We went to Sports of all Sorts each morning, tried to cool off with fresh fruit and some nice (hot) rain, went to the library and YMCA, did some grocery shopping -- you get the picture.  We've had pretty simple weeks around here this July.  

They wanted Watermelon but I deem it too messy to eat inside, so they agreed to enjoy it in the rain. Does this make me a mean mom?

We started the week screen free but when Reid caught hand-foot-mouth on Thursday we quickly changed our tune, so Lou and I got lots of snuggles on the couch that afternoon (while Reid was suffering).

Nell was pretty proud of her temple building, "take a picture for daddy to see my temple!"

And Lou entertained us with her silly antics. I just love the 18 month old stage, it is so adorable!

I already documented our weekend with Grandma and Grandpa at Air Venture, back here. But that post didn't include this adorable picture of Lou enjoying her ice cream cone. We knew Nell was really getting sick when she took two bites of her cone and then insisted on just going back to sleep on Grandma.

July really was so simple, it flew by really fast, it started and ended with little bouts of illness, and it squeezed in lots of quality family time. The perfect summer month (even with the sickies). 

AirVenture!

During the last week of July Oshkosh is always transformed into one of the busiest sky's in the world. This isn't an exaggeration. During EAA's AirVenture the Oshkosh control tower is the busiest tower in the world. And nearly all those planes stay right here in the sky that covers our beautiful valley.

I think Ben has gone with his dad every year we've lived here, but this year was my (and Nell and Coraline's) first. It's a pretty cool event and I wish it were easier to explore it all -- I think I'd have to go without kids for that to happen. Reid loves it and is a real trooper despite all the heat. Ben and I had to leave early with the little girls. Nell actually came down with hand-foot-mouth while we were there (Reid began that on Thursday).

The girls were testing out the new wagon before we loaded up and headed out. 

You can tell Reid's hand-foot-mouth was pretty mild. This was day 3, which is suppose to be the worst day. 

My favorite plane there was probably the cargo plane. It was HUUUUGE. I wish they had tours for the public, but they didn't. I can't even describe how big it was. Another cool stop was the Federal Building. They had kiosks for the National Parks (featuring the Wright Brothers), Coast Guard, Air Force, National Weather Center, and more. There was a tornado simulator and a couple other interesting things.

The War planes were a top spot to check out. As a group, they were definitely the most exciting to look at. Reid loved checking them out.

And the air show for that day was made up of WWII aircraft. That was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, this was when Ben and I decided to take the little girls home. Reid was happy to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, as he wasn't about to leave before seeing a couple bombs drop.

Because of the kids sickness we had to skip Church, so that gave us a great chance to go out to the seaplane base and check out that portion of EAA. I'm telling you, airplanes take over this whole city.

The highlight of the whole weekend was simply having Grandma and Grandpa with us for a full 48 hours. The kids were in heaven. 

Popping bubbles with a jet plane, of course.

Final Day in Utah

For our final day in Utah we headed north to spend the afternoon with the Szilagyi cousins. Reid and Henry were immediate buddies and ran around Aunt Bizzie's house like crazy wild boys having the time of their life. I was surprised by Nell's more calm and reserved nature. Usually she is right in there with the boys, but maybe all the extra babies around helped her feel more subdued.

Bizzie and I went to the Salt Lake Temple for about an hour's worth of temple work. I was so glad she wanted to go with me, as getting to the temple was one of my Utah "to do's." Back at her place we enjoyed a pizza dinner and then a walk to the neighborhood elementary school for some playground time. The kids really enjoyed staying at Henry's house and will definitely convince you that their favorite part of visiting Utah was playing with all their cousins. It's fun to see how important cousin time is to my little kiddos.

We had Bizzie and Steve's whole basement to ourselves, but somehow I ended up in a room with all three kiddos. Ha! I didn't think they'd do as well in a new place and separate rooms, so we made it work best for us. Reid and Nell both passed out and were even hard to arouse the next morning. But we had to get up early to catch our flight out of SLC.

Aunt Lauren picked us up and took us to the airport. The kids were excited to get back to Wisconsin, and most importantly, to Daddy. They were great little travelers and though the SLC airport was busier than the O'Hare, we were bumped up to pre-approved TSA so things went a little smoother. Maybe I've finally traveled enough they realize I'm not a terrorist, and only a threat when made cranky by the inabilities of people to give a pregnant lady and her three small kids a little space.

We loved our time out in Utah and can't wait to do it again next summer. The moment we got home the kids were already asking me why we can't see Grandma and Grandpa Bassett more. We sure were spoiled for those two weeks.